Just Making Things Harder

Through the rest of the day, I was thinking about the two accented boys who came in earlier. I even entertained myself on downtime by trying to mimic their thick accent.

“’Ey. ‘Ow are yeh doin’ todey?” I stressed, dancing around as I cleaned counters and fixed some of the stock, “I’m doin’ great, jus’ thinking’ a’out wha ‘M goin’ at do aftah work.”

“What the fuck are you doing, Kye?” I heard a voice from behind me and spun around.

“Cam! How long have you, uh, been there?” I asked, my face getting hot from embarrassment.

“Long enough to hear you answering your own questions. And in a British accent?” He gave me a skeptical look.

I just nodded, “Yeah, these two British guys came in today. Never been here before, but their accents were heavy as fuck. From somewhere called Sheffield, I think.”

He looked at me fleetingly. I could see a tinge of jealousy behind it. But why? I mean, I’ve talked to guys before. This was weird for him.

“Anyway, I’m getting off in-” I looked up at the clock, making sure my guess was right, “-about 20 minutes. Want to go to your house today?”

Without warning, his face lit up and he pulled me into a hug. “Of course, Evvie, my darling” He stressed, putting on a high class accent. I just laughed at him.

“There’s something not right about you.”



Cam was waiting for me in my car when I was done. I took a second to pause and wonder how he got there, since there was obviously no other cars around.

“I got a ride over” He asked, reading my mind, I guessed. I chuckled a little, we did this all the time. Answered questions that weren’t even asked.

I hopped in my car and stuck the keys in, then paused and looked over at him. “Do you have any food, or do we need to go get some?”

He looked away in embarrassment and I took that as “Yes, we need to go get food”.

I just nodded and reached in the back of my car and pulled out another shirt. I always kept a spare back there for when this happened, because I hated being in public, anywhere but my store, in my uniform.

I quickly pulled off my shirt, not worrying about Cam seeing me, or anyone else for that matter. The parking lot was empty.

Pulling the other shirt over my head, I briefly fixed my hair, then put the car in reverse and pulled out of the space, heading off to the grocery store. I mean, sure, my store had all the necessities that no one wanted to go into town for, but it didn’t have all the junk food we wanted.

Pulling into the second parking lot of today, I pulled out a 20 dollar bill and handed it to Cam. He always knew exactly what to get, because we got it every time.

I sat there for a few minutes and then notices a familiar face walking towards my car. I rolled down my window, inviting him up to it.

“Well, ‘ey there. Di’nt fink I’d be seein’ yeh again. Wha’ are yeh doin’ sittin’ out ‘ere alone?” Oli asked, leaning on my open car window.

“A friend and I were heading over to his house and he was getting some food. What about you?” I asked, trying not to stare every time I heard his accent.

“Ah, ‘bout the same, I suppose.” Then I noticed Matt walk out of the store, Cam almost right behind him. The look on Cam’s face was more confusion when he saw who was standing at my window. I watched him slide in next to me, Oli giving him a suspicious look.

“’Ey, Matteh. It’s tha bird from tha store earliah” Oli called. Matt looked over, smiling when he saw me.

“Well, if et isn’t?” He said, walking up next to Oli.

“Yeah, didn’t think I’d see either of you here” I said lightly.

Oli smiled at me, then looked over beside me, making me remember that Cameron was there, “An’ who’s yeh friend?”

“Oh, this is-” Cameron cut me off, answering in a less than friendly tone, “I’m her best friend, Cameron. And we really need to be going. C’mon Kye.”

I shot him a disapproving look for being so mean, then looked back at Oli.

“Yeah, we really should be going. Nice to see you, Oli” I said, turning the car back on.

“Nice to see yeh too, beau’iful. We need ta be goin’ too. See ya” He said, giving me a wide grin before walking away.

I watched and Matt continues to yell at him, again, to hurry up. Then Oli ran over and tackled him, yelling something. I just laughed at them as I pulled out, hoping they don’t somehow kill themselves.

“Ready?” I asked Cam, looking over at him. He looked sullen, staring out the window. He just nodded in response.

I sighed then headed off to his house.

Briefly, I hoped I would be seeing more of Oli, and maybe even Matt.

But then I remembered, everyone comes through my store every once in a while, of course I would.