Listen To Your Heart

To my surprise, my manager wasn’t even in the store when I had arrived, but I still knew I had to talk to her about me being late. Without losing any more time, I placed my purse in the small lockers they provided us with and clocked in. I’d been twenty minutes late, but I shrugged off and got to the cash register to get my shift started.

“I’m surprised you showed up,” James spoke as I logged onto the register, but then actually confused myself with the comment he’d made.

“Why are you surprised?” I questioned him as I waved over to a customer to let them know the register was open.

“Well didn’t Celest call you and tell you, you didn’t have to come in today?” he cleared his throat. “I mean, that way you could go with your brother to that Eclipse premiere.”

“I didn’t get a call at all, and why would I have to go to the premiere? It’s not like I’m a character in the movie.”

“I don’t know; I told her you weren’t going to go anyways, especially since you didn’t like the special treatment,” he responded.

“Just...whatever, I’m here now and I’m not going to leave,” I sighed handing the customer their change and purchases.

“Why were you even late anyways?” he quizzed now facing me as my back was still to him.

“I accidently bumped into someone and spilled my entire coffee on me and them. They offered to buy me a new shirt and coffee, but I said no. So then he asked for my number so that we could do it another time,” I explained as my second customer left and I turned around to face James.

“Oh, so it was a ‘he’,” he softly laughed crossing his arms across his chest. “I seriously don’t get you at all…I mean, you’re Taylor Launter’s sister, don’t have a boyfriend, and you work when you basically could already have it all.”

“So? What’s the problem with any of that?”

“What’s the problem? The problem is you already have cash, you’re beautiful…you don’t have to live like this,” he sighed; his smile fading down and his eyes now looking to the floor for a couple of seconds before looking back at mine.

“James, the cash isn’t mine, it’s my brothers, he earned it working hard on those Twilight films, besides I like to work and make my own money that I can spend without giving anyone an explanation of where I spend it. Now, the boyfriend part, all the guys I meet are only interested in the fact that I’m related to a celebrity, besides they are all pigs,” I explained to him for probably the hundredth time.

“You’re hard headed aren’t’ you? Shit, why can’t I just switch lives with you?” he questioned as he uncrossed his arms and stuffed them in his pocket.

“Alright, all you’d have to do is get rid of something and dye your hair,” I joked shaking my head and laughing as I checked another customer out.

“What are you talking about?” he asked now confused about what I’d just said to him, “I don’t need to get rid…never mind, I like myself just the way I am.”

“I’m guessing you finally got what I meant?”

“I sure did, and I wish I hadn’t,” he sighed. I could feel him still staring at me with his bright blue eyes. James was a great guy; he had to be one of my best friends I’d ever had. I could confide in him with anything, and even though his feelings towards me weren’t the same as mine towards him, I couldn’t let that change our friendship. “What time do you get off work anyways?”

“I’m only here for like 4 hours, so around 5,” I replied, “What about you?”

“Same, I’ve been here since nine o’clock and trust me, I’m ready to head home and eat. Or maybe, I’ll get something to eat on the way home and then clean up my apartment.”

“Oh, that sounds great. I was going to go down to Pei Wei and get some take out, you want to come with?” I asked as I finished up with the customer and closed the money drawer.

“Eh, I don’t know, I mean I did invite you last week to come with me to get some take out and you said no, so I don’t know,” he replied dramatically as he shrugged and looked around.

“Quit messing around, I know you want to go,” I smiled punching him on his arm.

“For a girl, you punch real hard, and since I’m pretty sure you’ll punch me again if I say no, then I’ll go with you,” he laughed shaking his head.

“I thought so. Well anyways, just make sure to meet me in the break room before you leave,” I informed him and locked the cash register before leaving to fix up the clothes around the store.

----------------------------------------ooooo

I quickly ordered my Teriyaki Chicken with Chow Mein and an egg roll, while James took his time to order a double side dish with two egg rolls and sushi for both. The waitress took our menu’s and excused herself to get our drinks. I had to admit that it had been a while since I last went out and enjoyed a meal at an actual restaurant.

“This is pretty fun,” James added as he took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. “Don’t you think?

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” I admitted. “Good thing you came or else I would’ve been very bored.”

“I know, it’s pretty hard to go a day without me,” he shrugged as he crossed his arms on the table. “But anyways, you never told me who this guy was that you bumped into this morning? I mean, you guys exchanged numbers, so he might be convincing.”

“Well, it was the last person I could ever expect to bump into and spill coffee all over them,” I admitted.

“Well? Who was it? You’re like making a huge deal out of this,” James groaned wanting to know who this mystery guy was, but as I was about to mention the name, the waitress came with our drinks and told us that our food would be out in fifteen minutes.

“It was Joe Jonas, you know…that guy that sings in that one band that you’re not a huge fan of but like their style,” I finally told him and the look on his face was an ‘okay, is that it?’, which almost made me laugh if it wasn’t for the person I had spotted a couple of seats down from him. “Speaking about him, he’s like four chairs away from you.”

“Oh aren’t you going to have fun,” he smiled and then turned around to see if I was telling the truth. “I bet you’re wondering if he’s seen you or if you should go over and say something to him.”

“Neither, what I’m actually thinking is if I should punch the hell out of you again,” I smiled sarcastically at him. I really wasn’t thinking of going up to him and saying something or if he had noticed me, but if I did, I would be glad if he just stayed where he was.

“Liar, I know you’re secretly dying inside.” Okay, so maybe I was, but I wasn’t going to admit it to James and I wasn’t going to make it at all obvious to him either. “Just go talk to him, I mean you two already know one another, so why not?”

“Because, it wasn’t an actual, ‘hi, how are you?’ conversation,” I explained, “I spilled coffee all over him and myself. Embarrassing don’t you think?”

“Right, but do you really think he’s going to remember?”

“James!” I groaned getting annoyed by his comments, little did I know that I had said it out way too laud. “See what you make me do?”

“Yeah, and I could make you do a lot more,” he laughed at what he’d said.

“Pervert,” he looked over at me and told me it was all a joke. Right as all of that had blown over, our waitress came over with our food and refilled our drinks. “I can’t believe what you make me go through.”

“What can I say? That’s what best friends are for,” he smiled softly as he began to dig into his food. “You know, this is so good!”

Both of us carried on with the conversation and talked about things we hadn’t really talked about in a while. I found out that his brother was back from his trip in England and that he’d landed a great job in the marketing industry. Not only that, but his dad got promoted at his job and they were now in the process of buying another house. I sure had missed a lot of things about him, I guess I’d just been so distracted with my stuff that I hadn’t actually paid any attention to him.

“Excuse me, but we’ve met before, right?” a familiar voice sounded from above me. As I turned around to look at them, I saw no other than Joe standing there. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I had to come over and say hi, since we never really got a chance to introduce one another, sorry if I’m interrupting.”