Morning Shift

Elizabeth Stone

"Would we get fired if we left early?"

"How early?"

"...could we leave right now?"

Jonah peered over at the clock on the wall that read 6:04 and shook his head. Priya let out a groan before she sunk down further on the ground, squeaking her dirty snow boots on the linoleum.

It was an exceptionally cold day in the Midwest. The weatherman said if you stayed outside for more than ten minutes, you'd die of hypothermia, which is exactly why Priya and Jonah dug out all the money they could find in their pockets and pooled it together to buy a single Snuggie to share and fifteen Cup Noodles. That was definitely a perk of working at a convenience store.

Priya picked up the change sprawled out on the tile, counted it, and then chucked it back on the floor. "I don't think there's enough in here for a space heater," she said with a frown.

Jonah shivered and wrapped his arm of the Snuggie around him tightly. "Why are we working today? Nobody's going outside in this."

"Even if they were, they wouldn't come here," Priya commented, "this place is kinda awful."

She wasn't wrong. The beige paint was peeling off the cinderblock walls, and the whole place was lit up with buzzing lights that flickered out when they were left on for too long. If those lights went out for good, they'd be screwed, because their one window was packed with snow, blocking the only natural light out. The whole place gave Jonah a bad vibe, like someone had committed a murder there or something. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if Happy used it as a coverup for a drug cartel.

He liked to think like that sometimes— making up stories to keep himself entertained. It only really got him in trouble when he'd confuse one of his stories with real life.

Like that one time at hockey practice where he spent warmups making up a story about how his coach was actually a woman in disguise because it was hard for women to make it in the hockey world, then he accidentally called his coach ma'am. This not only got him in deep shit with his coach, but also made him the laughing stock of the team for the day. He didn't mind it all that much when the other guys left him out of team outings or used him as the team punching bag— he knew he was better than them and they were just jealous— but it hurt a bit on those days where all he wanted was a friend.

Priya slapped his arm and he jumped, snapping himself out of his thoughts. "Are you even listening, Jo?"

"Course I am."

"What'd I just say?"

"Um..." Jonah started.

"You said you wish Happy would just fire you so you could go home and hang out with your boyfriend," someone spoke up from the other side of the counter.

Jonah jumped at the sound of the raspy voice that was slurred with sleep, hitting his head on the top of the counter he was under. He hopped right up to find the boy from a few days before narrowing his eyes at Priya, who didn't seem like she gave a shit.

"Thanks for eavesdropping," she said.

The boy rolled his eyes. "I've been standing here for two minutes. What was I supposed to do? You sounded like you would've gone on for another hour if I didn't say anything."

Under the counter, Jonah could see Priya's nicely manicured nails digging into her palm as she clenched her fist. She opened up her mouth to talk back, but he slapped her arm lightly as to remind her that she's not at school where's she can do whatever she wants and get away with it, she's at a pharmacy owned by a guy who's name does not fit his face.

That was when the boy noticed Jonah, and his hardened features seemed to soften a bit. He stopped biting his chapped, bleeding lip and unclenched his jaw right when Jonah smiled. "Hey," he said.

"Welcome to Happy's. Need help with something?" Jonah asked, being as excited as he possibly could be at 6:30 in the morning as to make up for Priya's callous nature when it came to being called out.

"Uh... Yeah. I'm picking up a prescription."

"Alright," Jonah mumbled, looking at the tiny clipboard on his desk of prescriptions that were ready today. "And you are... Elizabeth Stone?"

The boy cocked an eyebrow at him. Jonah wasn't usually a blusher—honestly, he didn't pay enough attention to what other people said to be embarrassed— but he was praying the guy wouldn't be able to see the red tinge on his brown cheeks. "Right. Your name probably isn't Elizabeth."

"No," he laughed. His laugh sounded good to Jonah, like something he'd want to hear often. It was crackling and raspy like his voice, and you could tell he didn't use it often, because he looked a little worried when he let it out. He quieted down quickly, going back to the cold, intimidating guy Jonah had seen before. Jonah sorta wished he would keep laughing. "It's under Nicolas Haddad."

Jonah put his things in a bag and handed it to him, trying extremely hard not to look into his hazel eyes. Something about him with oddly alluring, like he couldn't help but stare at him. "Here you go, Nicolas."

"Nicky."

"What?"

He hesitated before he answered, like he didn't fully understand what he said either. "That's what I go by. I mean, I'm not sure if we'll ever see each other again... but if we do call me Nicky."

"Nicky," Jonah repeated, letting it roll of his tongue. "Alright. I'm Jonah."

The two boys smiled at one another— Jonah with his bright grin and Nicky with his small, suppressed smile. Still, Jonah noticed the dimples popping up on his freckled cheeks, which made him smile a bit more.

"That's a stupid name," Priya spoke up, reminding everyone she was there too.

Nicky tore his eyes away from Jonah and glared at her. "Thanks."

"I'm Priya."

"I don't care."

She looked about ready to jump over the counter and attack him. Jonah thought she was about to break the top in half by the way she gripped the sides of it so hard her fingers turned white. He subtly placed his hand over hers and waved to Nicky with his free hand. "Nice to meet you."

Nicky gave the two a quick nod before walking out, causing a gust of cold air to fly in and hit them before they could prepare for it. They scrambled for their side of the Snuggie, gripping onto their lukewarm Cup Noodles like their life depended on it.

"Jeez," Priya said, "that kid's lucky he's sorta cute."

Jonah nodded without realizing, focusing more on the vegetables floating around in his watery cup than Priya's smirk.

———————

Yay chapter 2

I'm probably gonna be uploading chapters sort of quickly because I don't have that much left to write and I don't wanna get bored. So expect a new one soon!

So the guy from last chapter has a name. It's Nicky. I love that name. Opinions on him?

Shana Tova to all my fellow Jews out there!

~Teddy