Paper Bags and Plastic Hearts

The next day when I got home from school, I was sort of in a hurry to get changed for work. I hadn’t mentioned anything about Andy to Lacey, only because I knew she’d gloat till there was no tomorrow. Amazing how she knew I’d end up with Andy when I myself had doubted it.

I whizzed past my mom and headed up the stairs. She obviously noticed my rush and didn’t hesitate to follow me into my bedroom.

“Fare?” She said, confused.

“Yeah?” I answered while removing my shirt and tossing it on the bed. Then I grabbed a clean one from the drawer.

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Oh, uh….I have to get to work early today,” I replied, pulling the blue shirt over my head and fixing my hair afterwards.

She crossed her arms. “Why?”

“Because, mom. Jeez.” I rolled my eyes while slipping into a hoodie since it was a rather cold day outside.

“Farrah, is your boss making you work overtime?” Mom asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No.”

“Hmm.” She looked at me suspiciously. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, mom. I’m sure,” I muttered.

“Y’know, I’ve been thinking,” she started saying while taking a step into my room, “you don’t really need this job. I mean, I can provide perfectly well for the both of us.”

I shot her a weird look. “What?”

She chuckled. “Hun, I make good money. You seriously don’t need to work.”

I shook my head fast. “Of course I need to work.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Mom, I know you can provide,” I sighed. “But I want to make my own money.”

“Farrah, I know you’re independent and I love that about you. But you’re only sixteen. You’re still my baby,” she reasoned, giving me a sad look.

Ugh. Does she seriously need to go into this right now?

“I know you don’t like my job and to be honest, sometimes I don’t either. But I like earning my own cash,” I stated calmly, grabbing a brush and combing my hair out.

Mom sighed loudly and theatrically. “It’s just….I barely see you anymore, y’know?”

“Mom, that’s sort of your fault. I mean, you’re out with Archie all the goddam time,” I mumbled, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

“I know, I know. Maybe we can change things. We can spend more time together,” she suggested with a smile.

I dropped my arms and raised an eyebrow. “No boyfriend included, right?”

She laughed. “Just you and me.”

I gave her a look of suspicion. “Okay…?”

She grinned. “Really?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” I shrugged, snatching my bag from the bed.

“Great. We should decide on what to do. We can go to the movies or something.”

I nodded. “Yeah, sure. Sounds great. Look, I really need to be at work right now. Can we talk when I get back?”

She smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

“Bye mom,” I said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before passing by her and out the door of my bedroom.

“Bye!” I heard her calling after me.

I darted down the stairs and grabbed my car keys from the small table beside the front door before leaving the house. I got into my car and drove at a fairly regular pace, listening to classic rock music. When I arrived at Dash-Mart, I was greeted by my co-workers, who all smiled widely at me. Especially Mrs. DeLuca.

I seriously didn’t know what the big deal was. Old people are so weird.

I walked towards the staff room and halfway there, a hand suddenly pulled me to the side, causing me to stumble. I gasped in shock. I looked up and saw Andy.

He abruptly leaned down and kissed me quite fiercely on the lips, which had me stumbling some more. After briefly recovering from severe whiplash, I started kissing him back just as fiercely. My hands placed themselves on Andy’s face and I felt his arms snaking around my waist. We started going backwards and stopped once we’d hit a wall. We stayed like that for a while before stopping in fear of somebody seeing us. Especially our boss.

I breathed heavily and stared at Andy who had the most smug look on his face. Then he started laughing.

I made a face. “What?”

“Your hair looks kinda messy,” he stated, lifting a hand up to fix the disarrayed strands.

I laughed as he started patting my head. “I think you’re only making it worse now.”

He grinned and continued ‘fixing’ it before letting his hand drop. “There, I fixed it.”

My hand flew to my head and I combed all my hair back with my fingers. Andy smirked.

“What are you smirking at?” I asked.

“Nothing. Messy hair suits you,” he replied with a shrug.

I smiled. “Thanks.”

He winked before leaning back against the wall. “So what are you doing tonight?”

I mimicked his actions, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “Nothing.”

“Wrong,” he said as another smirk reached his pierced lips.

“Huh?”

“You’re coming with me.”

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Where?”

He shrugged. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Um, why can’t you just tell me now?” I questioned.

“Because I don’t wanna tell you now,” he replied smartly.

I rolled my eyes.

“Stop being so curious,” he laughed, doing a hair flip.

“Stop being so demanding,” I retorted.

He looked pretty amused which made me cross my arms.

“I’ll stop being demanding if you stop being curious,” he said, smirking.

“And I’ll stop being curious if you stop being demanding,” I quipped, smirking as well.

“Well then I guess we’ll never change.”

“No, I guess we won’t,” I agreed.

We both stared each other down for about five seconds before a smile cracked on each of our faces.

“God, we’re lame,” I muttered, chuckling.

“You’re lame, not me,” he snorted in laughter.

“Shut up.” I rolled my eyes.

“Look who’s suddenly being demanding now,” he teased, pointing at me. Then he laughed. “You’re not lame.”

I smiled. “I’m not?”

“No. You’re the total opposite,” he said, patting my head.

“So that makes me awesome,” I stated with a laugh.

He shrugged. “Pretty much.”

I grinned.

“Hey, you two. What’s with the talking in the corners?” Our boss’s voice suddenly rang in our ears, causing us to step away from each other.

“Oh, uh, we were just…..uh….” I began saying, but was cut off by Lenny clearing his throat.

“I understand that both of you have been canoodling around,” he started saying in a deadly serious tone, crossing his arms.

Andy and I exchanged glances before looking back at our boss.

“Canoodling? Uh, no we haven’t been canoodling, sir,” Andy said.

“Yeah. No canoodling for us,” I agreed, shaking my head.

Lenny raised a brow at us. “It’s fine. Just as long as it doesn’t affect your progress in work,” he continued, now speaking in a businesslike voice. “How about we keep the makeout sessions to a minimum, eh? At least in Dash-Mart. You can do anything else you want outside the work area.” He cringed a little.

I bit my lip, holding in a laugh. Andy looked like he was doing the same.

“Farrah, please, go put on your vest. It’s required,” Lenny sighed, rubbing his forehead. I looked down at my attire and realized I hadn’t put on my tacky uniform.

“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled.

Lenny sighed once more and took a good hard look at both Andy and myself. “Alright, you two. Get to work.”

We both nodded and waited as our boss gave us a stern look before walking away. Andy and I erupted into quiet laughter once our boss had disappeared completely.

“Canoodling? What the hell?” I laughed.

“Like I said, we’re the main attraction,” Andy said with a shake of his head.

“Tell me where we’re going,” I said, after my laughing ceased.

“Sorry, Hanley. We have to get to work. You heard what the old guy said,” he stated in amusement.

I pouted. “If you don’t tell me where we’re going, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Yeah you are,” he laughed. “You’re curious, remember?”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll see you later,” he said with a wink before spinning around and walking off.

My shoulders slumped and I let out a grunt before walking to the staff room to get my damn vest.