Sugar

18

chapter eighteen
florence thompson
song: worthy of you – plested

The next day was Thursday, and the thought of seeing Vincent again tomorrow was unnerving but I did my best to push the thought aside and focus my attention on my shift. Rico was out "sick" which I had a strange gut feeling had more to do with the boy he'd been seeing recently who was visiting town.

In place of Rico, another one of our coworkers was on, Audrey Adams. I rarely had to work with her since Glenn often scheduled Rico, Ben and myself together upon our request when we came to realize how much we didn't exactly care for our other coworkers. Audrey Adams was no exception to this, her blatant flirting with Ben was obnoxiously annoying.

The three of us unfortunately had the closing shift, meaning we couldn't leave until after we closed at one in the morning. It was currently almost midnight, so at this point in the evening we were merely just counting down the minutes until we could close up and I was counting the minutes until the moment I could escape Audrey's excessive flirting that Ben was awkwardly dodging.

"Hey, Flo," Ben's voice grabbed my attention and I looked up from where I was stood, wiping down an empty table. He stopped in front of me, a hand lazily on his hip as he leaned most of his weight onto his right foot. "Wanna go wash dishes with me? I'm sure Audrey can handle our one customer," he whispered the last part, nodding towards the older gentleman in the corner, reading the newspaper and eating a glazed donut with his coffee.

I sighed, grabbing my rag and turning to face him more.

"Sure, why not." I shrugged, following behind him as he started towards the small entrance that led behind the counter.

Of course there stood Audrey, hands on her hips and a pointed look on her face.

"We're going to wash dishes," Ben informed her, his tone even and polite. "If you need any help give us a holler."

Audrey just smiled sweetly at him, going back to leaning against the counter and checking over her chipping nail polish, her other arm around her waist.

The part of my brain that was roughly three years old wanted to stick my tongue out at her as Ben's back was turned but I refrained and instead just followed behind Ben into the kitchen area where the dishes were currently all stacked up.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, Glenn has yet to invest in a dishwasher so instead we get to wash dishes by hand every night. Not that I'm complaining too much since I've come to not mind the job all that much. It helps keep me awake when I feel myself nodding off on the night shifts.

"I'll wash them, you dry them?" Ben offered, rolling his sleeves up as he glanced over to me.

I nodded, skating over to where a clean towel was sat, grabbing it and watching as Ben began washing the dishes with the detachable head.

"So, I heard you went on a date last night?" He asked playfully, a smirk tugging on his lips and immediately I groaned aloud, leaning back against the counter behind me. This guy.

"I would hardly call it a date," I scoffed, shaking my head as I glanced down to the maroon towel in my hands.

I suppose what happened between Vincent and myself last night would be considered a date but the last thing I need right now is to attach romantically involved labels to an open financial relationship that doesn't even begin to delve into the idea of exclusivity. The idea of even discussing commitment together made me nauseous in a million different ways.

I'm trying to find my soulmate and as Aria so classily put it, I'm just seeking out company during this hunt for Mr. Right, and if that company happens to be a super attractive, super rich man, then whats so bad?