Lifted

   This place is so quiet and there are barely any customers here. I don’t understand how this place survived. I don’t understand how I survived working here. Maybe because I’m used to the smell of the stale, empty air that has been filled this place for years.

     20 minutes of drowning in boredom, the bell that was hung at the door rang my eardrums and I quickly readjust my posture after standing like a zombie for almost 20 minutes. The customer is a girl.

     There is something about this girl that makes me stare at her and trying to not make it too obvious. Maybe because I have been staring at my foot for almost an hour and my eyes could literally starts to peel itself from me for not having a life.

       But there is no doubt the girl is pretty. Not the Sharpay Evans kind of pretty but the sweet –sundress Gabriella kind of pretty. But the girl is not wearing a sundress, she’s wearing an oversized flannel and black jeans. The colour of her socks doesn’t match her flannel at all. The socks are these very dark green colour while her flannel was dark blue. At least her shoes matched the flannel. Those are blue loafers. She has a little blond hidden in her chestnut hair. Maybe was a blonde when she was young. Some people are completely blonde when they were young and become a brunette as they grow older.

     She’s holding two thick books in her right hand and also a schoolbag. She must be quite a reader.

     I was trying to catch a glimpse of the books she was carrying but I tear my gaze away from her as quick as I could when she starts to walk to me slowly. She glares at some other snacks while she walks.

     When she finally arrive at the counter and place her choices of food and drinks, she put the books that she was holding on the counter and reach her backpack to retrieve her purse. I take my chance to at least catch the title of the book and start to scan her things before packing it into a plastic bag. She likes sci-fi, I assume.

     ‘16 dollars and 30 cents,’ I said.

     She hands me $20 and in a light voice she said, ‘Here you go.’ She smiled at me after she takes her packed stuff with her and thanked me.

      ‘You know, it’s rude to stare at people like that,’ she said suddenly. I shot my head at her with wide eyes but she’s not looking at me with those bright hazel eyes, instead she was shoving her purse into her backpack and sling it back to her shoulders.

     My eyes are still wide because I’m still shock by what she said earlier when she looks directly at my eyes and smiles at me like there is something funny on my face.

     She says a quick thanks and leaves. She’s still smiling after she left the shop and I stare at her through the display window until she’s gone. My heart is still racing and the adrenaline keeps running through my veins.

     And I swore for a minute there, her eyes shined when she smiles and I hope to see that shine again.

End