Somber Resplendence

Break time finally came after selling discs for hours on end, while enduring Storm’s rambling about this customer, or that. “Her pants are way too big for her. They make her thighs look huge.” “He’s got way too many piercings. I bet he self-harms.” “Now she has seriously got to get down and do some sit-ups.” “That whole family has no fashion sense. It must run in the genes.”

The big hand finally touched the blissful number and I sighed with relief, just about to leave Storm alone in the shop, when the doors burst open. It was Jannie, walking into the shop to greet me, a black backpack slung over one shoulder. She threw her head back abruptly to get free of the dark brown dreads that had fallen in front of her amber eyes. She set her bag on the floor and threw off her dark brown leather jacket to reveal a tight wine-red muscle-back singlet, which showed off her biceps, made hard, tough and shaped after years of doing what should be a man’s job. She was about five foot six, with rather long muscled legs, dressed in flared dark blue jeans, and a dense torso. Her neck was short and a little thick, but that factor did not take away from her beauty, although, I doubt you could call Jannie beautiful. She was far too tough and masculine for such terms. Her cheekbones were rather low, allowing more room for her wide eyes, easily framed by curled lashes. Her nose was quite convex, but small, allowing her to get away with it. Her lips were slightly plumped, and accentuated by her pointed chin. All in all, she possessed a beauty like no other.

“Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” I smiled and gave Jannie a loose one armed hug.

“Yeah, I have a day off today, and I thought I’d visit you during your break.” She gazed up at me, her eyes deep and silently making a point that she remembered when my break was. I knew Jannie was attracted to me. It was obvious the day we met – the way she had batted her lashes at me and the way she had ignored all her friends and drowned out the outside noise, so that she didn’t notice when somebody was calling her on her cellphone. And I knew that her attraction for me grew deeper, although she would never admit it. I returned the feelings, but mine were not as intense as hers. She was looking for more than the one night stands I was willing to give her. Still, she didn’t annoy me. I rather enjoyed her company. She was a lot more fun to talk to than any other girl I’d ever attempted to converse with.

“Well, I appreciate you coming round, Jannie, but can we please get out of the shop? This environment is seriously giving me head spins,” I pleaded with a grin. I didn’t want to be taken too seriously, but I wanted my point to be made. I found it was an easy way to get girls to do what I wanted.

Jannie grinned in return. “Yeah, sure, let’s go.” She seeped back into her jacket, slung her arms through the straps of her bag and we left the shop together.

“Storm seems pretty cool with me today,” Jannie voiced when we were about twenty meters from the shop. Normally, Storm threw some kind of insult at Jannie whenever she came to see me, and I was also quite surprised when she remained silent this time.

“Yeah, she’s kinda strange today. All dressed up and stuff…” I trailed off. “She thought I was flirting with her,” I laughed slightly. Jannie looked away from me and at the ground. She always did that whenever I mentioned other girls and sexuality in one sentence.

“Do you wanna grab a bite?” Jannie changed the subject, as she often did when conversations came to females other than herself.

“Yeah, let’s go.” We headed towards a random coffee shop, but as soon as I saw the phone booth outside it, I remembered about Vera sitting all alone in my house.

“Crap, I’ve gotta make a phone call, can you get me something for under ten dollars? I’ll pay you back as soon as I get inside,” I stumbled over my words, in a hurry to get to the box.

Jannie’s face turned cold. “Sure,” she replied with a bitter tone and walked into the shop.

I stood in one spot for a while, wondering about what I had done wrong, then shrugged and walked into the red confinement. It was warm in there after I closed the door, but I chose to keep my jacket on, in case I had to run out and head home for whatever reason. I put a few coins into the slot, dialed my home number and listened as the first ring stretched on. Then the second, then the third, and after the tenth, I realised that no matter how long I stayed on the line, Vera was not going to pick up the phone. If she was afraid of people seeing her, why would she be willing to talk to people over the phone? Besides, I doubted she felt confident enough in her English to hold a phone conversation. I slammed down the receiver and hugged myself for a few moments. I considered driving home to check up on my fragile friend, but decided that that would make me late for work, and Storm would use that against me at any chance she could. I sighed and walked back into the cold weather, before stepping into the warm coffee shop.

“That was quick,” Jannie remarked coldly after I joined her at a tiny table in the back corner.

“No one was home,” I mumbled and stared Jannie in the eyes. Jannie never pried into my personal business, and I loved that about her. Any other girl would have asked me whom I had called, but Jannie just sat there, glaring at me, before looking down to the tray of food, which she hadn’t even started.

“What’s the problem?” I inquired, sending a little smile Jannie’s way, hoping to cheer her up and spill whatever was on her mind.

“Nothing,” she mumbled and continued staring at the ceramic plates with sloppy looking sandwiches on them.

“If it’s nothing, then why are you acting like that? Come on,” I encouraged.

The girl looked up. “I was hoping we could spend some time together, seeing as you only have twenty minutes before you have to go back to the store, and you just go and spend the time on other people.”

“Oh, come on Jannie. It was important.” I could have saved a life, I thought, but decided to keep to myself in case even Jannie couldn’t resist questioning. “It’s not like I don’t spend time on you when I’m supposed to be with other people,” I winked and Jannie developed a tiny smile on her face. She knew exactly what I was talking about – all the times I ditched people I was with whenever Jannie sent me a text message saying she was either bored, or lonely, and I rushed over to her house, where one thing led to another and the next thing we knew, we were in the bedroom.

“Well, do you want to hang out with me after work then?” Jannie smiled at me across the table, but her smile froze when she saw my unwilling expression.

“Sorry, I really have to meet somebody.” I attempted to drown out the conversation by taking a bite out of the sandwich she bought me.

The nasty taste hit me as soon as I began to chew. “What the hell?!” I spat the remainders of what was once a piece of sandwich into my plate. Jannie simply smirked. She knew of my deep hate for seafood, especially for tuna.

She giggled under her breath.

“Nice revenge tactic,” I mumbled and took a sip out of the plastic coffee mug to drown out the taste. However, the drink went right back where it came from when I realised that Jannie had bought me tea. I was almost as passionate about tea as I was about tuna.

“Yummy?” Jannie leaned forward on one elbow with a one sided smirk.

“Screw you,” I half joked, but she took it a little seriously. Her face froze again and she stood up, grabbed her coffee and walked out.

That girl’s moods changed like the weather in autumn today. She was not usually this moody. At least I didn’t have to pay for the food. Not yet, anyway. And Jannie still hadn’t started her sandwich. I looked inside it, and was dismayed to find that hers was also filled with fish. I knew that was her way of making sure she pissed me off.

“Silly weather girl,” I mumbled, and left the shop to go back to work and attempt to hold a civil conversation with Storm.