Still Water

The Daily Grind

Astrid awoke to the sound of NEEDTOBREATHE's Washed by the Water. The bright red letters of her alarm clock flashed 6:00 A.M. in the darkness of her room. The teen groaned. It was only her second day of work, and she was dreading showing up.

Nevertheless, Astrid still managed to report to her post thirty minutes early with a can of Diet Coke in each hand—she didn't believe in coffee. In fact, she was a firm believer that those who drank coffee did so because they hated themselves; it wasn't worth the calories either.

Roger had given Astrid a set of keys to the Wicked Wench so that he wouldn't have to swing by every morning to open the doors for her and Oliver. The pirate-themed book shop was of a manageable size for two teenagers—after all, Roger managed the entire shop by himself every other day and on weekends.

It took some maneuvering to get inside the shop because of her full hands, but the teen managed and set her things down by the register on the long, wooden counter. The shop was completely dark. Outside, the sun had only started to rise, and it did little to help Astrid from bumping into shelf after shelf as she struggled to reach the light switch at the back of the store.

Note to self: thwack Roger upside the head for putting the only light switch in this place in the worst possible location, the teen huffed as her outstretched hands finally made contact with the back wall of the building. It took her another few minutes to find the switch, but she finally succeeded and bathed the book store in warm light.

As if on cue, a familiar disheveled redhead dragged himself through the front door. Astrid was about to comment on his untimely arrival but was distracted by the state the boy was in.

"You look like hell, Ollie," she quipped with a playful smirk on her face. The lanky teen scowled at her as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"And I'm sure you always look fucking fantastic at 7:00 in the morning," Oliver fired back, catching the short girl off-guard. She held up her hands in surrender and returned to her supply of Diet Coke at the register.

"You have my deepest apologies, Langley," Astrid said as she gave the ginger an exaggerated curtsy. "Please, do tell why you look so ruggedly handsome on this fine morn," the teen requested, hoisting herself up on the wooden counter and perching her head on her hand.

Her co-worker sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Daph and I exchanged a few words last night that were less than civil." Oliver admitted with shame, "She's dating this wretched troll of a guy, and I couldn't sit by any longer and watch her get treated like trash. I may have told her as much when we went out for Italian last night—she didn't take it well."

Astrid hopped off the counter and gave her friend a reassuring pat on the back. "You're a good friend, Ollie," she praised him, "I'm sure Daph will come around and realize you're telling the truth."

"I sure hope so," the ginger sighed. "Now, you owe me an explanation for the assorted nuts," he prompted the brunette. Astrid held up a finger and finished off what remained of her first can of Diet Coke.

As she set the empty can down with a clang, she motioned for her co-worker to follow her to the back of the shop. The brunette lead him to the worn, wooden benches that framed the stage. They weren't the most comfortable and were rather low to the ground, but the children didn't seem to mind them at all.

"I told you already, Langley. The nuts were a gift for my grandfather," she spoke after the two were seated. Her warm, brown eyes met his ocean blue ones in a gaze that dared him to challenge her. He didn't.

"I'll take it, Bonny, but I also want to know how things went with your Latin lover girl." Oliver said, leaving no room for argument. Clearly, he was intrigued by the exchange between the two girls.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a nosy rat?" Astrid halfheartedly jeered. It appeared that the boy would not waver either, and she hadn't had enough caffeine yet to fight him on it. "I guess you could call it a success," she began, "But it went downhill in the morning. We ended up coming back to my place after our beachside picnic. The banter was good—a little personal—but still good."

"So what happened?" Oliver interrupted as he lost patience. The brunette flicked him on the shoulder in annoyance.

"I was getting to that, you twit!" She reprimanded him before continuing her train of thought, "Then she had a few glasses too many and asked me to touch her. I wasn't about to take advantage of a vulnerable girl with no inhibitions whatsoever, so I sent her to bed. She remembered none of it when she woke up the next day; I fed her a lie to fill the time gap in her memory. What she does remember, though, is my shirtless chest."

She looked over to her co-worker and found a shit-eating grin on his face. Astrid's brows furrowed in confusion.

Sensing she wanted an explanation, Oliver spoke, "You said you weren't going to take advantage of her." The brunette nodded and waited for him to continue. "Astrid, you admitted that you thought about it. Of course, being a decent person, you wouldn't take advantage of her when she was drunk. However, that implies that you thought about it beforehand. You actively considered what you might do with her had she not been drunk," Ollie exclaimed in excitement.

Astrid's face held an expression of utter shock. Fuck, he's right, she admitted to herself. Holy shit! I'm gay...or bi...or something? Astrid dropped her head, exhausted by the new information about herself. Oliver gave her a playful punch on the arm in celebration.

"So are you going to court her?" He asked animatedly.

The brunette wrinkled her nose in distaste. "'Court her'? This isn't the Dark Ages, Langley." Astrid mocked her co-worker, "I'll try to spend more time with her, though. She doesn't remember that night, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the attraction is still there."

Her friend was about to respond when a jingle signaled that the first customer of the day had entered the shop. Oliver gave her an apologetic look before leaving to assist the middle-aged woman.

Astrid recovered her second Diet Coke from the front counter and retreated to her own desk. Only one thought ran through her head: she needed to see Elicia.

A/N: Happy Pride month!