My day hadn’t much improved once I’d arrived at work; we were short on staff; one of the machines were broken, we ran out of 1 dollar bills…
It seemed life was not on my side that day. Once Jake, my favorite coworker, finished his work day, I was left in the empty shop for the final two hours of closing. That was my favorite about closing, however; sitting in the dimly lit, usually empty shop with the quiet allowing my mind to wander. I browsed on my phone for a while, contemplating texting Jack but deciding against it. The last thing I wanted was to seem obsessive.
Cleaning dishes in the kitchen, I heard the bell ding, quickly wiping my hands on the towel and making my way to the sales area. I felt a grin appear.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, playfully swatting his arm before sitting on my stool.
“Well,” Jack leaned forward, placing his arms on the counter and smiling widely, “I felt bad about cancelling our date, and I knew you had to work late tonight, so I decided to come make it up to you.”
“Is that so?” I mused.
He smiled in reply, sitting pointedly on the stool on the other side of the counter, looking at me expectedly.
“Coffee?”
“Of course,” he scoffed, “Umm… Vanilla cappuccino please.”
I looked at him over imaginary glasses, earning a questioning eyebrow raise in return. I smiled, turning to make us our drinks.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“That’s such a… girl’s drink,” I laughed.
“Probably because I have a vagina,” he replied casually, shrugging when I looked his way.
I worked quietly, and then set the identical drinks on the counter.
“You have pretty hair,” he said, looking up shyly.
“Thanks,” I smiled, refusing to meet his eyes. I didn’t know if he was being sincere, but it woke the butterflies that had been dormant in stomach.
“Mhm,” he took a large gulp, “So, wait, why didn’t you go off to some huge college? You’re a genius.”
“I wanted to be in a band instead,” I mocked him, and he stuck his tongue out at me. “Besides, I’m not a genius. I’m taking classes online, I just wasn’t ready to move out, and I figured I could work for two years and take classes online and then figure out what I want to do, you know?”

“Cheers to that,” he raised his drink, smashing it into mine and spilling a few drops onto the counter. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. I had just wiped the counters down moments before. He raised a finger, “I’ve got it.”
He leaned down, his face a mere inch from the counter, and sucked the coffee off its surface.
“Gross,” I giggled. “Stop it, that’s gross! How do you know I’ve cleaned that, you’re probably going to get some sickness or something.”
He stood, grabbing a napkin and cleaning the rest up, “It’s okay, I’ve already got herpes.”
I simply shook my head.

Jack was surprisingly patient as I cleaned for the next hour and a half; I swept the floors, put chairs up, wiped down counters, cleaned windows, mopped, cleaned coffee machines, took out the trash, and did the dishes. He wandered around the shop, usually screaming the occasional profane thing or two at a game on his phone, or badgering me with incessant questions about myself. In return, I questioned him as well, however much less ridiculously.
I learned a lot about Jack. I told him a lot, as well; things I didn’t really trust most people with.
After I finally locked the door and turned the lights off, it was time to leave the shop. Jack and I spent another two hours wandering around Target. We took ridiculous pictures on the cameras in the electronic section, tried all of the furniture they had, and spent a good half hour in the toy section, lightsaber battle included.
“Well,” he sighed, eyeing my front door.
“Thank you for an awesome night, Jack,” I said sincerely as I gave him a large grin.
He winked before slurring seductively, “My pleasure.” I rolled my eyes and opened the passenger door.
“Have a great tour, then. I guess I’ll talk to you soon.”
“I’ll call you, okay?” His large brown eyes were wide and sparkling.
“Deal,” I smiled, kissing his cheek before making my way to my front door. As soon as I unlocked the front door he honked the horn and waved at me before driving off.

Notes

Things will start to move forward from now on. :)
And thank you to KayleeLAUREN for commenting!