A Place for Me to Rest My Head

No one was even here at this time of day. Everyone swarmed TCBY after or before lunch and dinner, because that’s when couples went on dates to restaurants around here or the movie theater right next door. I only signed up for this shift because we were having band practice later today. I wanted to get work out of the way. So, I took the earliest shift possible – eight to noon.

And it was only eight thirty.

TCBY was awesome and all, and I needed the money, but, let’s face it. No teenager should have a job. You’re gonna have to work for the rest of your life, so it’s like, why start so damn early? Ridiculousness! I was still so sleepy, so I just slumped down behind the counter, put in my headphones, blasted my favorite Blink song, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep…which was impossible. My neck was starting to hurt, and then somebody started ringing the bell like crazy.

“Helloooooo, is anyone here?” a bubbly female voice half sang, continuing to obnoxiously ring the bell.

“Ok!” I grimaced, scrambling up to my feet. She let out a little squeak of surprise when I lurched forward to grab the bell out from under her hand.“Can I help you?” I asked as politely as I could manage. You know what they say, it’s better to mess with a drunk person than to mess with a sleep-deprived person that just woke up…or something along those lines.

Her slender hands dropped the largest frozen yogurt tub size available onto the scale. I had to blink at it a couple times. I just couldn’t believe how full it was. There was a little bit of every yogurt flavor in it and a little bit of every topping on it. It was so full, it looked like it would overflow or the toppings would spill off when I moved it. Most importantly, it looked like way too much for this girl to finish. “Your total is…eight sixty,” I said after I punched the numbers into the cash register and reached around it to stick a spoon into her yogurt.

“Keep the change, Mr. Grumpy Gills,” she giggled, handing me a ten.

I got a good look at her when I took her money. She was a tiny, cute little thing…and she was wearing a Dulaney hoodie. “You go to Dulaney, too?”

She had the spoon in her mouth, but at the mention of our school, her face lit up and she nodded vigorously, taking the spoon out of her mouth before speaking again. “Lottie,” she introduced herself, putting down her yogurt to stretch one of her slender hands out to me.

“Jack,” I said as I shook her hand. “Are you a new sophomore or something?”

She pouted. “No! I’m a senior!”

“Oh, sorry…you’re really fucking short.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I get that a lot…bye, Jack.”

“Bye, Lottie...”

Lottie came by every Saturday morning, getting the same massive amount of frozen yogurt or more, and yet she remained as slight as ever, like me. I could eat everything in our house and stay the size of a toothpick. No sports for me! I enjoyed our random conversations about topics that ranged from favorite things to eat for breakfast, most embarrassing things our parents had caught us doing, and craziest things we had done in the middle of a Wal Mart. Lottie was so random and just awesome and fun to talk to. I had actually been considering quitting just because I hated working, but Lottie made it worthwhile.

Lottie and I became good friends, but, I swear, I never saw her around in school. Probably because I wasn’t in any honors classes and I was on the work study program, so I was, like, never in school, and the little time I spent in school, I usually spent sleeping. Sleep is a wonderful thing...

Prom was rolling around, and I had half a mind to ask Lottie, but I could never fucking find that girl, and whenever we talked, prom wasn’t exactly a topic I could easily slip into the conversation. Plus, she never stuck around at the TCBY for very long. She got her frozen yogurt, chatted with me for fifteen minutes, maybe half an hour, or whenever another customer came in and we were no longer alone, and then she would leave. I wanted to ask her to prom in a special way. I didn’t know her enough to like her like that, but Lottie was nice, and more than just pretty. I did give up, though, and tried to ask this one girl in my French class, Abigail Walker.

---

We were playing a game in French class today. Mrs. Devereaux kept looking at me because I’d asked her beforehand to play this game, so I could ask Abigail to prom. She would shout out random French verbs and we would have to act them out. I was sitting next to Abigail and it wasn’t a huge class, so this would be good. I hoped everything would turn out the way I planned.

When Mrs. Devereaux said the French equivalent of “Undress yourself,” I slipped off my hoodie. Abigail laughed and just took off her scarf. “That counts, right?” Everyone was just standing around after removing a single article of outer clothing, but I was unbuttoning my plaid shirt as well. “Jack, what are you doing?” Abigail laughed when she saw me taking it off. “Jack, seriously, you…!”

I slipped my plaid shirt off to reveal the shirt I had on underneath, stretching my arms out a bit. It was a plain white shirt that I had painted on with fabric paint last night, and it read, Abigail, will you be my prom date? Abigail stood there, speechless for a few minutes. The rest of the class was also silent. I swallowed hard, feeling my face heat up as the seconds ticked by. I was getting really nervous. She still hadn’t said anything…

Then Abigail hugged me tightly. The class erupted into a chorus of “Aww”s and I hugged her back tightly. We spent the rest of the class holding hands. It was fucking great. The rest of the day, I was congratulated by the rest of the school’s male population on my originality of asking her and whatnot. None of that mattered, though, because when I went to work that Saturday, Lottie didn’t drop by. I had a prom date, sure, but that still bummed me out, not seeing Lottie as usual. Work was particularly boring that Saturday without her.

The next Saturday, I just went back to sleep behind the counter as usual…when my phone rang, but it was a call from a restricted number. “Hello…?”

The last time I answered a restricted call, it was some voice machine that went. “Do not hang up. I have an offer to make you. There is a box on your front door.” But, you know, I’d seen that box movie and I wasn’t a fucking idiot. I hung up!

“Jack? It’s Abigail.”

“Oh! Hey, Abigail! What’s up?”

“Look…um, about prom…” Her tone made my already not so good mood sink even lower. “I didn’t want to turn you down in front of all those people, but…I’m not going to our prom. I got asked to prom by this guy at Towson, so…”

“Oh…”

“But the way you asked me was so cute! You should ask another girl. Any girl would be lucky to go to prom with you, Jack. And no girl would say no to your shirt asking thing!” Abigail said hurriedly, so I could tell she genuinely felt bad. “You know what, I could hook you up with my friend Charlotte Rousseau. She doesn’t have a prom date yet, and –“

“I think I can get my own prom date, Abigail,” I laughed, trying not to sound too bitter about it. She let me down pretty easy. “Thanks, though.”

“Thanks so much for understanding, Jack…I’m really sorry…bye.” She hung up.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep some more…but something poking my face irritated me. I sighed loudly, trying to keep my eyes closed. “Sleeping on the job again?” a familiar voice teased. “Wake up, Mr. Grumpy Gills…”

Eyes still closed, I grinned. “Who needs sleep? That’s what school is for!”

Lottie laughed, and I felt her sit down beside me. “What’s wrong, Jack? Shouldn’t you be the happiest guy in the world right now? Abigail Walker is your date to prom!”

“Wow, you heard about that, too? I feel like I spend more time in school than you, though! I swear, I never see you around Lottie.”

I heard Lottie laugh softly. “Oh, I’m around. You’re just not looking!...Seriously, though, Jack.” I felt Lottie leave my side. “I want to pay for my frozen yogurt.”

I sighed and opened my eyes. “Help me up?” I whined, stretching my arms up to her since she was already standing. Lottie was so slight, and she didn’t have much strength, as I suspected. It took her a while to pull me up, and when she did, we were standing so close. Lottie had to look up at me. “Damn, girl, how short are you, like, four foot ten?”

“I am five feet and one inch, thank you very much!”

I grinned, ringing up her frozen yogurt. Lottie whipped out her wallet, but I quickly put my hand up. “No, Lottie. You’re like, a frequent flyer, so this one’s on the house.” Lies. I’m paying for it. I missed her.

“Want some?” Lottie said, holding out her concoction to me. She always did the every-flavor-every-topping thing. “It tastes a lot better than it looks!”

I grabbed a spoon. “Alright, why the hell not?”

Lottie and I sat at a table, eating the frozen yogurt together and talking. I told her about the whole rejection ordeal. She felt bad, but I didn’t want to dwell on it. And when I asked where she was last Saturday, she didn’t want to dwell on that, either. She stayed a little longer this time, and we talked a little more this time, and I felt like we had grown a little closer this time, too.

But I still didn’t get to ask her to prom.

---

“Jack? You came to work?” my manager asked, surprised. “Isn’t it prom night for you kids?”

“I decided not to go this year,” I said with a shrug. I never worked nights, but I needed something to do. All my other friends were a t prom. So, this yogurt shop was more or less empty once again. I had the stupid corsage in my pocket because I already bought it for Abigail and I didn’t want my mom to see me throw it away. I was just going to dump it here.

“Well, good. We’ve got a new employee that I’d like you to train.”

I rolled my eyes when he wasn’t looking and nodded when he was looking. “Charlotte? Are you ready?”

And then, of all people, she walked out of the employee lounge, nervously fixing the collar of her polo and trying to tie her apron by herself. “Please, call me Lottie.”

“Alright, Lottie. This is Jack, and he’s gonna show you the ropes.” Lottie’s eyes met mine when our manager said our names. “Get to it! And don’t forget to lock up tonight, Jack. I’m heading out now.”

“Yes, sir,” we said in unison, and then he was gone. We stared at each other for a few minutes, then asked each other in unison again, “Why aren’t you at prom?”

“You first,” I laughed nervously, going behind her to tie her apron for her.

“I didn’t get asked,” Lottie said with a shrug. “I mean, my friends were trying to hook me up with a date, but I wanted to get asked properly, you know?”

Something clicked in my head. “Lottie…is your last name Rousseau?”

She turned around to look at me, blue eyes wide in alarm. “Um…yes…how did you…”

I took the corsage I bought for Abigail and gently tied it onto Lottie’s wrist. She was the one the corsage was meant for. “Abigail was trying to hook me up with you for prom. And…I always wanted to ask you to prom, anyways...I just could never find you.” Lottie stared the corsage, speechless. I smiled to myself and sighed, going down to my usual spot behind the counter. “But now we’re stuck here,” I said dejectedly, closing my eyes and trying to get some more sleep, as usual.

I felt Lottie sit down, too, snuggling into my side and hugging my arm. I opened my eyes to look down at her. She was smiling. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Jack,” Lottie murmured, and I saw her admiring the corsage. I smiled, too, leaning my head on top of hers. This felt right.

“At least now I have a place for me to rest my head...”