Jo
PEN IN HAND, I scribble down words that come to my mind into my journal. Today, my head is a truckload of ideas willing to be seen by someone. Anyone. But I'm not confident enough to show my writing to the rest of the world, so I do what I always do; write, fold and give to grandma who always reads them after I've left for school.
I've come up with a short prose today and when I read through it the third time, something at the back of my mind tells me it's article worthy. Worthy enough to be in the school's newspaper. I think about Lakeville weekly and what it would be like to actually gather the guts to submit any of my writings at their department. I think about the attractive head writer and school paper president and I think about the little crush I may or may not have developed on him. It's weird really. We barely take any classes together so I'm at least 99.99% sure he doesn't know who I am. I'm pretty much invisible at school anyway but that's who I've made myself to be.
It's good as much as it's bad.
I sigh and fiddle with my pen before placing my head on the desk. I feel the computer's light glaring at me from it's previously used state and I pick at the small dirt on the table. I lift my head again and take out my blood glucose meter and prick my finger before waiting for the results. Just as it comes and I sigh in satisfaction, a rap on the door makes me dump everything into my purse and sitting upright.
I don't get the chance to invite the person in, because Eloise suddenly appears behind the door with two heavy boxes in her hands and a smile on her face.
"Hey," she greets breathlessly. "These two just came in. Otis is too lazy to help."
I get to my feet and walk towards her immediately in an attempt to relieve her of her burden. "Thanks, you didn't have to."
I take one of the boxes and place it on the floor just as she places the second one right on top of it. "It's no problem," she waves me off. "I'm used to this."
She dusts her hands on her little dress and then she says, "Oh, it's already six but I'm sure you wouldn't know because you've pretty much been cooped up here all day."
I smile awkwardly and flail my hands about. "So much work to do." And so much writing to do as well.
"Nah, I get it. Well, it's breaktime so come on out. What do you feel about sushi? We're thinking of ordering sushi."
I beam. "Sushi's good."
She gives me two big thumbs up. "Perfect." And then she disappears behind the door.
I lean down and open one of the boxes before perusing through some of the books. They're newly donated books from the label on top of the box and most are in good shape. Deciding to sort them out later, I close the box and leave the office.
There's a tang of roasted coffee beans in the air as soon as I step into the warmth of the bookstore. There's a few customers here and there, and two of them are already leaving. Through the glass windows, I'm able to see that the sun is half asleep and the sky is a warm blue and the light activity going on beyond these walls. Lakeville is pretty much a sleepy town so not much goes on when it's almost night.
I divert my attention from Otis who's bickering about something with Eloise and head towards the aisle between bookshelves, tracing my fingers along the spines of each book as I go. It calms me a little, grazing my fingers on the edges and spotting one that has been tainted with an orangish hue. I pick that one out and look through the gap that has been formed to see a man facing a bookshelf.
His back faces me, hidden from view by a black Tee and the muscles contract when he raises his hand to pick a book from the top shelf. I stare at him for a moment, at his neck, his arms and then his head. His head and his dark hair. I frown. I know that head anywhere.
Book in hand, I march towards the aisle he's in and spot the tall guy from earlier. He turns around once he hears the sound of my shoes and looks me up and down with those intense eyes of his.
"Hi there, stranger."
I narrow my eyes at him and fold my arms. "What are you doing here?"
Flynn looks round and gestures to the bookshelves before waving the book he's holding at me. "Books, shelves, bookstore. A place where books are sold and bought. Ta-da."
I roll my eyes, unimpressed and I don't get to say anything else because Eloise is suddenly by my side.
"Oh good," she says taking the book from my hand. "You've met Flynn."
"He's a regular?"
"Don't insult me, Pryce. I own this store."
Eloise sighs and turns to my stunned expression and shakes her head. "He's Talia's son. And an idiot at that."
Flynn ignores her comment and grins. "Whatever's hers is mine."
He places his hand into the pockets of his sweats and strides towards me purposefully. "You look rather shocked."
"I am shocked. When Eloise told me Talia had a son, I was expecting someone, y'know, not like you. A good son."
"What?" Flynn smiles once he's close enough that his face is a few inches away from mine. "You don't think I'm good enough?"
"Arm's length."
"You two know each other?" Eloise asks.
"Oh yeah," he swings an arm around my shoulder. "She likes me. So she offered to tutor me at English Lit."
I swat his arm away from my shoulder and glare at him. He's not moved. "You really think everyone has a crush on you, don't you?"
"No," he shakes his head. "It's just hard not to fall for this face."
"And yet, Semia doesn't like you."
Flynn looks insulted. I grin.
"You don't know that."
Eloise chuckles. "The redhead?"
I turn to her. "Yeah, you know her?"
She shrugs and smiles. "She comes here once in a while. With different guys. And well, Flynn's always looking like a lost puppy."
He scoffs and shakes his head. "That's a lie."
I give him an evil smirk. "That's kind of sad, really."
"Sushi's here." Otis announces and Eloise whoops before going towards the door and turning the open sign to 'We open in thirty minutes'.
"She's lying," Flynn makes sure to tell me and I ignore him and walk out of the aisle.
Otis ruffles my hair as soon as we get to the usual corner of the bookstore and sit down on the small multicolored rug. I swat his hand away and Eloise places the order right in the middle.
I groan once I see Flynn taking a seat next to Otis. "Does it have be here?"
"It?!"
Eloise bursts into laughter as soon as he reacts and Otis laughs as well. It makes me feel good. The feeling of people laughing at your jokes. Makes me feel like I've achieved something.
"Yeah, well. His mum pays us so-" Otis trails off as he opens the lid of the container and the sweet smell of Japanese attacks my nostrils.
"And he works here, like I told you. Just doesn't show up very much."
Flynn folds his arms. "I'm a very busy person."
"I wonder why. You were kicked out of the swim team and that's pretty much what used to take your time," Otis carelessly says and Eloise lightly nudges him on the shoulder and throws him a cautious look.
The atmosphere shifts immediately, a strained information I'm unaware of floats in the air between the three of them and Flynn looks annoyed. If anything, his clenched jaw indicates it.
I'm curious but it's obviously a sour topic for now so I clear my throat as I pluck a sushi from the tray with my chopsticks and dip it into the soy sauce. "If you really like Semia, I think you should just tell her."
His eyes move towards my face and he watches me as I place the sushi roll in my mouth and chew with a raised brow.
"Jo's right," Eloise says. "Instead of moping around when you see her with someone else, just walk up to her and tell her you like her."
"She's into me," Flynn adamantly says. "I can tell."
I scoff and turn to him with an incredulous look. "Wow, this again."
"I'm actually serious. We do stuff, y'know, talk, make out at parties when we're both drunk and not talk about it the next day. Then she's kissing other guys and all of that like nothing happened between us. It's like push and pull with her."
"Huh," Otis says thoughtfully.
Eloise chews as she speaks. "You've had sex with her?"
"No. We've never gone all the way."
"It's just going to be the same, if you eventually have sex." I tell him without looking at him and take a huge sip from my cup.
When I look up at him, he looks comical. Frustrated and maybe even slightly annoyed. The whole scenario seems like he's come to us for relationship advices.
"I think she's doing it on purpose," Eloise says and Otis mutters a 'Duh' but she hears it and ignores him anyway.
I'm oddly full after my second sushi roll so I lean back a bit and drink from my cup, watching their exchange with interest.
"You should try getting her attention if you can't full on talk to her about what's going on with you two," she tells him.
Flynn scratches the back of his head with a genuinely confused look on his face. Scrunched brows, a slightly upturned nose and parted lips.
"WhatâI don'tâhow do I do that?"
I let out a sarcastic laughter. "Flynn Cauley doesn't know how to get a girl's attention? Didn't see that coming."
Flynn glares at me. "It just happens, you know? I don't have to work to get a girl's attention. It just naturally happens. You might not understand cos, y'know, you can't relate."
"Whoa," Otis laughs and Eloise shakes her head.
I drop my cup on the floor with an aggression that causes the drink to slosh back and forth. I feel woozy all of a sudden but it doesn't stop my cheeks from burning with embarrassment.
"Can you just stop being cocky for once in your life?"
He starts to grin a little and it annoys me even more. "If the truth is cocky, then be my guest."
My ears are hot. "You don't think I can get a guy's attention?"
"I don't think, I know."
I grab his shirt and pull him towards me. Flynn's brows raise and his lips spread into a crooked grin. "Well, that's too bad because I've already gotten one's without even trying."
He taunts. "Whose? Someone in debate? Khalid's? Austin's?"
"Yours." I place my finger on the vein in his neck and feel his pulse race beneath the pad of my finger. "Stupid," I mutter, smirking a little at the flush in his cheeks as I flick his neck and lean back to watch his expression.
Flynn hastily looks away from me and folds his arms again. "What happened to the arm's length rule?"
"What's the arm's length rule?" Eloise asks but we both ignore her.
I shrug a single shoulder. "Maybe it doesn't exist when I'm tipsy."
He turns to me with a dark look. "I'll take your word for that."
I match his stare. "Good."
"What did you put in this drink, Otis?" Eloise laughs and Otis says, "Just a little something."
"Seems our Jo is a lightweight," he leans forward to high-five me and laughs when I meet his hand above in the middle.
"But really," Eloise continues as she gestures to Flynn. "You should do something. You know like make her jealous or something. In case you don't know, she's sort of playing with your emotions. Wouldn't hurt to do it back."
"Or you could just use the conventional, 'Hi, I like you. Let's fuck.' Simple as that." Otis explains as he adjusts his beanie. He attempts to take another roll but one glare from Eloise stops him.
"Not everyone's a horny ass like you," Eloise scolds and Otis shakes his head.
"That's what most teenagers want these days. Sex."
"I don't want sex," I counter, frowning at him.
"Oh?" he looks intrigued. "Well, what do you want?"
"I want to leave."
"What?"
I tuck my hair behind my ear and point my chopsticks to the window. "Lakeville. I want to get out of this stupid town. Like, pack my bags and just disappear. It never ends well here."
"Says who?" Flynn questions me with a strange look before finally grabbing a pair of chopsticks and sighing when he discovers there's only one roll left.
"Says me." I reply firmly. It doesn't look like it's going to end well for Woody and it certainly didn't end well for my dad.
Eloise sighs and pours herself a cup of juice. "She's kinda right. I want to leave too. But sometimes, it's like something's holding me back. Plus, college is a different story."
"Well then, I guess now's a good time to say I'm moving," Otis announces and beams.
"Moving to where?"
"Appleton."
"Really?" I ask.
"What?" Eloise cries.
"One question at a time ladies," he hushes. "And yes to both. My uncle's set up a new store again and he thinks I should manage it and my parents think I should do it."
"Wow, that's... amazing."
"Yeah," Eloise unconsciously blurts as she pours herself more juice. She's trying so hard to hide what she feels at the moment but I caught it even before she attempted to do so.
"Right? I'm super psyched about it."
"When do you leave?" Flynn asks as he leans back and drops his chopsticks.
"After Christmas."
"We should throw a little sendoff for you, before you leave. I'll tell mum," he responds and Otis beams and then notices Eloise who's strangely quiet.
"Sup? You good?"
She blinks and nods. "Yup. I'm just thinking about how much of a bad manager you'll become."
Otis laughs and I smile a little before her watch beeps signifying that thirty minutes is over.
We get to our feet while Otis engages us in a light conversation and somehow, him and Eloise start bickering again. I've been tasked with the disposal so I gather everything in my hands and nudge the door open with my shoulder. A cool breeze tickles my skin and a distant horn reaches my ears as I walk towards the huge trashcan at the back of the store and dump everything I'm holding into it.
When I'm walking back and admiring the way the lights from inside the store gleam and splay unto the sidewalk, a new customer walks in and Flynn steps out right at that moment. He meets my eyes from where he stands, hands in his pockets and a lollipop in his mouth. The lights from the store strike his clothes in slanting angles and he takes one step towards me.
"Pryce."
"Cauley."
"I want your number."
"Good. Keep wanting."
He rolls his eyes. "I really can't get anywhere with you, can I?"
I shrug. "You could if you just asked politely."
"You wouldn't even if I did."
"Fair point."
He walks towards me while I remain rooted on the spot. "Well, now that you've effortlessly gotten my attention, you could try, can't you?"
I look at his face and shake my head. "No sir. Maybe you'll just have to work for it." I respond, using his own word against him.
He smirks and runs a hand along his jaw. The lollipop in his mouth protrudes his cheek and he turns to look at the road for a split second and turns his face back to me with a nod. "I could try that or I could just take it from the debate group."
"Sure," I tell him unfazed. "Do you what you want. The question is if I'll respond or not."
He walks backwards to his car, raises his phone and shakes it a bit before dialing a number on it. I feel a slight jolt in my chest once my phone rings. He's staring at me as my phone vibrates in my pocket, lazy gaze, hooded eyes and protruded cheek, watching to see if I'll pick or not.
I don't break his stare when I take out my phone. I look down at the unknown number and slide my finger across the answer button and then he leans against his car and runs a hand through his hair. My stomach drops when he speaks.
"Save it, Pryce."
"Delete my number."
"Goodnight love," he smiles and ends the call before getting into his car and driving off.
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