"Read in an aloof manner." - Ailidh, my friend, and my Queen.
Chapter One
Rudy hated Tuesdays at the Bookshop. He hated Kelly that worked on Tuesdays with him and he hated that crowd of old women that came in every week without fail and cooed at him until he couldn't feel his cheeks any more from the pinching, then smelling smelled like a hundred cats had pissed on him and then covered him in clay water and lilies.
Rudy sighed over the counter, letting his long, bony arms reach right across and his hands hang over the front, and then sighed again. There was no one in the store except for him, Kelly, the new guy who was mulling about like a lost lamb, some weird guy in corner, looking at the cheapest books, that hadn't moved from an hour ago, and their boss in the back. There usually wasn't many people at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a week day, just the rare stray and the almost suffocating feeling of boredom that passed through Rudy and didn't quite leave, only thickening every time he entered the damn building. Rudy wondered if one day he'd become so full of it that he'd just collapse and die, or snap and throttle Kelly beside him.
Wouldn't that be exciting.
He stared at the bookshelf at the other side of the store, his head now on the counter and his eyelids half shut over his eyes. The shelf was filled with half price books, like always. In fact everything in the store had some kind of deal on it. It was fairly popular, they had their bad days, and the days Rudy felt like taking one of those 3 for £1 pens in the tub beside him and stab himself through the heart before another person pushed their way through the crowd with twelve books in hand (some people called this busy days). He'd avoid the ones encrusted with jewels though; go for the relatively more tame stationary with the black glitter and light up star at the top. He'd die fabulous either way.
There was a sudden commotion at the back of the store, a clang of metal, thing falling and crashing and a small yelp. Rudy sighed, sliding over the counter, titled his head onto one arm and peered over the fluffy note books they had been trying to sell for over a year. They were freaking hideous.
"New guy," Kelly murmured beside him, popping her gum loudly from the counter beside him, also leaning over the side, chest almost bursting out of her uniform.
Rudy didn't answer, mostly because he had done so well in pretending Kelly didn't exist. It was in fact the new guy. He had somehow managed to knock a whole rack of artistic postcards over and then fell into a whole display of John Green books.
The new guy was staring at the mess, his small legs shaking in his too big trousers, his hands balled up into fists.
Rudy was not clearing that up.
"Oh my God," Kelly stifled a laugh. "Girls shall not be happy if they get a copy with bashed in corners. Poor guy."
Rudy sighed again, turning his head over so the cool of the counter was felt against his forehead. Really he had expected the new guy to mess up sooner than now. He had been for more than a week now, hadn't actually interacted with anyone else and always took to himself, the kid was more timid that his sister's Pomeranian, and that thing pissed itself every time the kettle whistled.
"Oh, here comes Costanza," Kelly observed.
Costanza, or Archie Archer, was his boss. He owned the bookstore. Contanza referring to George Costanza off some American sitcom of the 80s because apparently he "looks just like him " - well at least according to Mark, one of the shop's clerks that worked Saturdays and Sundays. Many others agreed with him and the name sort of stuck. Mr. Archer even let them get away with it when he was in a good mood. God how Rudy hated everyone.
Rudy let a long, suffering sigh and turned his head, curiosity getting the better of him. Although Mr. Archer wasn't a bad boss once you got to know him - at least, to everyone but Rudy just because he was the one out of all employees that didn't seem to be writing his own failure of a book in his spare time - at the beginning of working for him he was basically a good example of what the devil seemed to be. He remembered in Kelly's first week she had cried, it had been a glorious sight and not one he had ever seen again, unfortunately.
So to be honest, he expected more than just a few tears. Maybe a show of full out sobbing or running out of the shop. Maybe even a surprise mass shooting of all of them, at least that would be entertaining.
It was a surprise when he saw Mr. Archer sigh, survey the art supplies scattered about the place and then approach the kid who was slightly shaking and looking intently at the ground, his face hidden by his floppy hair like he always was, Rudy hadn't even properly seen his face. Mr. Archer grasped onto the boy's shoulder, making him jump a little and whisper something and then the guy nodded as he spoke.
"Now that's something you don't see every day, "Kelly commented, hanging over him now, her weight only slightly bothering him due to the fact he was used to it by now. The guy that had been in that corner so long Rudy had thought he set up camp there was walking past them and gave him a glare. Rudy gave a bored stare back. "Costanza'd be practically setting me on fire if I did that. Do ya think they know each other?"
Rudy didn't answer her and looked more on at his boss and the new kid. Mr. Archer seemed to be almost trying to console the boy until he calmed down and then turned his head towards the counter where he and Kelly were. Immediately Kelly got off of him and Rudy snapped up. He saw Kelly give a wave and emit an awkward noise of greeting. Rudy outwardly cringed.
"Sampson!" he called. Rudy caught his eye and braced himself at his second name, "clear this up."
Rudy cursed under his breath, so ready to just point-blank refuse with multitudes of swearing and names, but he couldn't. He needed this job and Archer was his boss no matter how many days he let them call him after some fat, bald guy with hideous glasses, or gave them days of whenever they needed one. So instead he nodded then glared as his boss turned his head, catching the eye of the new guy who went white as their eyes met and looked away, his ears turning scarlet as he followed Archer into the back.
He kicked the counter once the door closed.
"Hey!" Kelly scolded him."Do you want him to come back out here?"
Rudy ignored her as usual, putting one hand over the counter and jumping over it with practised precision and ease, like he had a hundred times before and not even jiggling one counter sale or cup of pens and stomped over to where the new guy had clumsily scattered the numerous postcards with pictures of puppies on the front or the Eiffel Tower, his Doc Martens landing heavily on the floor.
He gritted his teeth and started bundling up matching postcards. They were everywhere and Rudy was just glad they had fallen in groups so he didn't have to go through every damn picture to put them in the right plastic holder on the rotating stand. Still, he hadn't done this why the fuck did he have to it. He remembered on his first day he had accidentally knocked a stack of books and he cleared it up by himself after a stern talk with Mr Archer. He hadn't knocked or dropped anything since but there was plenty of other of employees that had done the same and picked it up afterwards. So why was the new guy the exception?
Kelly was probably right - which was rare and Rudy hated to admit it - he was already on some kind of friendly term with Mr. Archer and was getting special treatment and that just boiled his blood. He wouldn't last here long, Rudy would be sure of that. He'd make his work place a place of living hell so he'd have no choice but to quit.
"Listen here Mr grumpy-pants, you leave that poor kid alone," Kelly warned as he approached the counter after clearing up the mess. He looked at her, lifting one eyebrow. Why should he listen to her and her fake hair and cakey make-up. "I'm serious. That other girl - what's her name," she thought for a moment." Sarah! She was funny and just because she took your tea cake that one time you terrorised her so much she quit! Not cool, Sampson. Not cool."
Now that had been fun.
"Just be grateful I didn't turn on you, "he grumbled, annoyed that he'd had broken his silence.
Kelly gave him a side-eyed look," aw you do care, for a moment there I almost forgot that you totally love me."
She bumped his side with hers, a wide grin on her face as she looked away as an old woman walked into the shop who she greeted.
Rudy hated her, he regretted letting her stay around.
"Oh m'am, I'm not exactly sure where that is, but I'm sure Rudy here would love to help you look," Kelly indicated a hand to him and the old woman looked up at him with a warm smile, expectantly.
Yep, definitely hated her.