A Girl With a Broken Smile

My mind was doing summersaults; I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me. The rich party guy, manger of a dinky pet store? That just didn’t add up at all. Slowly I opened my mouth to say something, but once again nothing came out. God, this guy must think I’m brain dead or something. However when I finally gathered the courage to actually look up at him, he was just smiling. Okay, so either he really did think I was brain dead and he was trying to be polite or he found my shock funny. I was beating on the first one.

“Well?” He asked, that perfect smile still on his face.

Come on Anna! Speak up already! He already thinks your brain dead, what else do you have to lose?

“Umm… Well, I was wondering if I could get a… Umm… An application. You know, a job application?” God, how stupid could I sound?

“Oh, right! I wasn’t sure what kind of application you were talking about for a moment.” he chuckled.

Clearly he found amusement in my embarrassment.

Slowly I followed him towards the front of the store. I kept my eyes locked on the floor, careful not to trip over anything and make myself look like an even bigger idiot. Although at this point I wasn’t even sure if that was possible. As much as I would have loved to run out of there, I still trailed behind the Greek God, my head held low as if I wasn’t worthy enough. I was starting to rethink this whole job thing. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t even realize I was standing in what appeared to be a office.

“Have a seat,” he said with yet another smile.

I blinked hard not really sure why we were in here, or why he was telling me to sit. Isn’t he suppose to just give me the sheet of paper and then I leave? That’s how these whole thing work, right? I blinked again, staring straight at him with a confused look on my face.

“What?” Was all I could ask.

“Have a seat,” he repeated, I blinked again, but slowly sat down.

“I may be wrong, but I don’t think this is how this all goes,” I explained.

Matthew laughed softly, shaking his head slightly. I sank into my seat, wishing I could just vanish now.

“You’re right!” He smirked. I gave him another one of my confused looks, but before I could ask him anything he spoke up again.

“But I’m not just giving you an application. No, this is your interview.” He most have noticed how big my eyes got, because he laughed again.

“What? Why? I haven’t even filled out the application yet!” I exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, do you want the application? I just thought this would save more time, but if you want it…” He paused and started shifting through his desk.

“No! No, it’s fine. I’m just… It’s just sudden, that’s all.” I said quickly, placing my hands on the desk to see if he was still pulling one out, but when he finally resurfaced he was laughing again. Why did he keep doing that? Oh yeah, I’m brain dead, I forgot.

“Alright, I was pretty shocked myself,” He smirked, brushing his chocolate colored hair out of his eyes. I just let out an embarrassed sigh and sank back into my seat.

The next twenty minutes just went on with him asking questions, me choking up, him laughing and me sinking farther into the seat. By the end of the interview I was surprised to see that the chair hadn’t swallowed me whole by now.

“Well, Anna-Marie…” He smiled as he looked up at me. “I think you’re hired.”

I really didn’t want to seem so surprised, but I couldn’t help but to get excited. Hell, my whole body showed how happy I was. I was pretty sure my whole face lit up. I wasn’t only happy that I’d soon be getting money, but I was also happy that I’d be able to get out of that house more. This was such an amazing feeling!

“Really!?” I exclaimed. “When do I start?”

Matthew smiled faintly and slowly glanced out the window. I was confused on the sudden mood change, it didn’t make any sense. Was he lying? Was this some sort of cruel trick? I just didn’t understand why he was suddenly so… quiet?

“M… Matthew?” I asked as I started to get slightly worried.

“Come in tomorrow and I’ll train you myself.” His words were so soft it was like he was whispering, or talking to the window.

“Oh, alright.” My voice softened as well. I wasn’t sure if I had done something wrong or not. Maybe that was my queue to leave? Yeah, that must be it. Slowly I got up and started to head towards the door, but a sound of quick movement brought me to a halt.

“Wait!” He said quickly, ducking back into the desk again. Quickly he pulled out a sheet of paper and started scribbling down something on it. Probably my hours I thought, but I was far from wrong. The sheet he handed me did have numbers on it, but it was a phone number.

“What’s this?” I asked, glancing up at him for a moment.

“It’s my number. Call me if… If you…” He trailed off and turned away again. “If you ever want to talk.”

“Umm… okay.” I said more than confused at this point. Slowly I shoved the number into my pocket, thanked him for everything and headed back out the door.

The ride home was a silent one, well other then my thoughts. I couldn’t get my mind off three things. One, that I had a freaking job! Two, why he gave me his number, and three, how amazing his smile was.

Once home I slowly snuck into the house, Mark was still passed out on the couch, so I quickly made my way towards my room. Throwing myself onto the bed I pulled my phone out of my pocket and started to dial Blair’s number. I soon stopped though, remembering that she was upset with me. I would have called and apologized, but I was tired of saying sorry for things I didn’t do. She always started these stupid fights, it was her time to say sorry first.

With nothing left to do I made my way back downstairs and heated up a quick dinner. Instead of waking the beast up and eating in the kitchen I decided to take my meal to my room and eat it there. It wasn’t much, just some rubbery pasta from three nights ago. We really needed to go shopping, but I knew Mark wouldn’t give me money to do so. We’d have to wait until my first check.

After a finished eating I quickly brought my plate back downstairs, washed it and then put it away. By now Mark was up, starting deeply into the TV screen. I tried my hardest to quietly get back up the stairs without out him seeing me, but due to the fact that I nearly tripped over the old stereo system sitting on floor he caught me.

“Anna?” He called out, muting the TV for a moment.

I tightly shut my eyes, perhaps hoping that if I didn’t make a single movement, he wouldn’t notice me. Mark was not a dinosaur however, he knew I was there.

“Anna, answer me when I’m talking to you!” He growled.

I heard a faint clicking noise and then what sounded like someone shuffling around. Great, he got up, he never gets up unless he means business.

“What did I say young lady?” He asked with a low husky voice. His bushy brown eyebrows forming what appeared to be a glare. Honestly, he looked as if he was glaring all the time, so I wasn’t really sure when he was glaring and he wasn’t.

“I know dad, I’m sorry. I just stubbed my toe on your stereo.” Shit, wrong choose of words.

“My stereo? So, are you saying that you stubbing your toe is my fault?” His eyes narrowed slightly, and I knew right away that he was in fact glaring.

“No, no not at all, but this is your stereo. Right?” I asked as I slowly glanced up at him. All he did was cross his arms and stare at me.

“Don’t get smart with me girl.” He growled and before I had a chance to make a single move a hard smack nearly knocked me on the ground.