Troublemaker

She sat at the window, waiting for someone to come and order something. The gas station wasn’t the greatest job she could have taken, but she liked it because all of her best friends worked with her. She’d received a degree in accounting, but who wants to be stuck in an office all day?

The summer Georgia sun beat down on her through the window and the AC not working in the small station wasn’t helping. Her black, raven hair stuck to her head with sweat and her black eyeliner was starting to run. She did admit to herself that it was helping her tan better because she could climb into the small cubby that held the window.

She was a small woman, shorter than five feet, and curvy in all the right places, or so all the men said she was. She didn’t believe a word of it though, she felt like she was fat more than anything. Her friend Chase was working the front register of the small place and he loved messing with her on the days they worked together.

“Hey Zoe, what you doing tonight?” He asked.

“I’m not sure.” Oh she knew, she was planning on going home and sulking over the lost love of recent times and eat ice cream till she passed out on the couch.

“Come out with me?” She had to admit her gay friend was an eccentric person and maybe a super exciting night was exactly what she needed. Zoe wasn’t sure if Augusta had anything that was that exciting.

“Maybe, let me think about it.” Zoe smiled at him, not wanting to give him an official answer because she still wasn’t sure herself.

An hour had passed since they last talked and the lunch rush was going to come through for gas and sodas. She prepared herself for all the country boys who were going to come through and hit on her like they always do.

Zoe thought of the guy that tips her five dollars every time he comes through. The window says no tips but he doesn’t care and gives them to her anyway. He was an older man than she didn’t prefer but with the way her love life was going she was going to start considering him if something didn’t come up soon.

She heard the bell toll that told her someone new was at the window and she scurried over, knowing they would fuss if she wasn’t fast enough.

“Can I help you?” She was paying attention to something Chase was doing and giggling at it, so she didn’t notice the young man with the shaved head.

“Yeah, I need a diet coke, please.” He looked down at his wallet instead of the window where she was standing, not paying attention.

“Give me a minute, that’ll be a dollar.” She ran off to get the drink, shutting the window behind her.

He waited patiently for her return and when she was finally paying attention she was taken aback by the young man in the car. He couldn’t be over twenty years old, which was a little younger than her. When she went to take the dollar, the drink slipped from her fingers and accidentally spilled the drink in his lap.

“Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry!” She squealed and grabbed a rag from the counter. She didn’t realize it was dripping with soapy water and flung it out the window into his car. He screeched and flung it back into the window. “I am so dumb.” She put her hand over her face in embarrassment as he started laughing slightly.

“You’re not dumb. Here, take this,” He handed her the dollar, “And I’ll come inside and get another.” He was still chuckling when he drove around the building to get to the small country stores parking lot.

He walked in with a slow gait to himself and she instantly started swooning over him. He was dressed like something out of a movie, nice jeans, white shirt, and a vest. It looked like it came from a really nice tuxedo.

Her jaw almost physically dropped when he walked past her to get to the drink machine. She watched his every move. His walk was something you’d see a large cat doing on Animal Planet and it had her animal instincts going. When he was done he came up to her at the counter.

“Am I okay to just leave? I paid, you know.” In her mind what he said was a garbled mess, but he spoke the clearest English.

“You ain’t from around here, are you?” Was the only thing that came to mind to ask him, but she instantly felt embarrassed in asking.

“No, I…ain’t.” He chuckled as he spoke the last word.

“But yeah, you’re good. I’m sorry, the heat is getting to me.” She tried not cracking into a maniacal laugh while acknowledging what he said.

“I could understand, it’s hot as Hades here.” He smiled and started walking off. “Have a good day!” He waved and left. She watched him get in his car and drive off, probably never to be seen again. She was disappointed at the idea that she’d never get to see this creature ever again.

“Oh my word…” Chase said after he got done serving another customer. “Was he not a dream boat?” He asked Zoe.

She tried playing it off cool like she hadn’t thought he was a Greek God or anything, “Yeah, he was something like that.” She shrugged for extra effort.

“Girl, you’re crazy.” He smiled and playfully smacked her arm. “Okay, seriously you need to go out with me tonight, for real. You’ve been mourning over the loss of that stupid ass ex of yours for long enough. I won’t have this.”

She cringed at the thought of having to get dressed and put something on that wasn’t sweat pants or her work uniform. She was still seriously thinking that maybe a night of going out and drinking a little, she’d get a little ease from the constant nagging emotions running through her mind.

“Fine.” She muttered as he stared at her, waiting for an answer. He knew deep down inside she didn’t really want to go, so he was going to try to have the most fun they could have for a Thursday night.