Shade

Madeline pushed the cart of books towards the history section. A new shipment of biographies had come into the store late that day and Madeline had to stay late to shelve them since she was the manager.

"Maddie, can I go home now?" asked Sarah, the youngest salesperson on Madeline's team. Madeline looked up at her and softly smiled.

"Yah Sarah, go ahead. Thanks for offering to help me unpack these. You can come in an hour late in the morning to make up for it."

Sarah smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Thanks boss, you're the best!"

Madeline liked Sarah a lot. She was the youngest of the sales associates, only sixteen, but was also the hardest worker. She also had a charm that brightened the store, with her short, blonde curls bouncing every time she laughed her high, bell-like laugh. Madeline walked behind her to close the gate to the mall. She started to pull it down, but a hand stopped the gate.

Madeline looked up straight into the eyes of the man from the lake. She jumped back.

"Hey, nice to see you again." he said coolly. He cracked the same small smile he had had at the lake. Madeline didn't know how to react. "Cat got your tongue?" he asked.

Madeline shook her head. "No, I just don't like when men I don't know well at all keep me from shutting my door." Madeline tried to pull the gate down again but it did not budge from her hand. She started to panic a little when he tried to step into the store.

"We are closing, sir. You cannot come in here." Madeline had a little panic in her voice, worried about his intensions.

"You said you wanted to know more about me, right?" he asked. But the question was said in more of a statement, and when Madeline looked into his eyes, she felt compelled to let him in. His face still held the slight smile, but his cool, green eyes had an almost hypnotic look.

Madeline stepped back and he followed right in front of her.

"Would you like to know more about me?" he asked, still looking into her eyes. He leaned on a table of books, looking very pleased with getting inside. Madeline's panic seemed to leave her body, but her mind was still telling her something was wrong. She still felt compelled to nod her head.

"I'm Hue. I work down the hall at Carter's. And, I think you should go on a date with me. Give me your number." Hue's eyes became more compelling and all resistance left in Madeline's head left. She quickly went and grabbed a pen and paper to write it for him.

As Madeline walked behind the counter and away from his eyes, her resolve to give him her number faded. And she slowed down.

"Why do I feel like I need to give this creep my number? Why did I even let him in?" She wondered. But as she turned around behind the desk, Hue came up and caught her eyes again. Madeline fell completely under a spell again.

"The number?" he asked. Madeline scratched it down and handed it to him. "Thank you, Madeline. I will see you tomorrow night at eight for a date. Do you think you could add your address on here?"

Madeline nodded and wrote it down for him, too.

"Thank you." Hue smiled and leaned over the counter. "Be sure to put on a dress and curl that pretty hair of yours."

And with that, Hue walked out of Madeline's store, slamming the gate behind him.