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The door chimed to announce someone’s entrance. Q didn’t pay it any mind. It was a lazy Thursday afternoon, and the gas station was as empty as usual. Most likely, the new customer was one of the locals, maybe Sue from down the road or that guy with the delivery truck. Whoever it was, they would not be as interesting as the gossip magazine Q was flipping through. Not that he hadn’t already read the magazine front and back four times since his shift started. It was quite fascinating, actually, how the articles seemed to become a little more stupid every time he read them.
Someone cleared their throat. Oh.
“Hello, how can I hel--? Oh.”
Looking up, Q realized his mistake. That was not Sue. That was not even a local. Nope. Definitely not. He would remember seeing that face around. In fact, he would have followed that face around. Did that make sense? Q was having trouble breathing.
The man was wearing a suit. He looked misplaced in the small shop, like a cut-out from the shiny pages of the magazine Q had splayed over the counter. His confident posture, however, said he could belong anywhere, anytime he wanted. His smile, although charming, was enough to raise the hairs on the back of Q’s neck. He looked…predatory. Like nothing would surprise him and everything would please him. Like he could get anything he wanted.
“I’ll have a lighter, please.”
Now Q was definitely having trouble breathing. The man’s voice should be illegal. It felt like it was slipping over his skin in a slow caress.
“Alright then, I’ll get you one! Any preferences on color, or brand or whatever? We don’t have a large selection or anything, but I could take a look in the back to see if we have some more, or I could order in some more, or maybe they have some in the store a few blocks from here. Would you like me to call them and check? Because I could call them, or if you would rather….”
“Any lighter you have here will do, thank you.”
The man’s voice was amused. Oh no, had Q been talking too much? He always did that when he was nervous. Or turned on. Both seemed to be happening right now.
“Oh, okay.”
The man only smiled in response. Q felt his cheeks heating up. Yes, he had definitely been talking too much.
“Sure, I’ll get you one.”
The silence was louder than anything Q had ever experienced. He was convinced his unsteady breaths could be heard across the room. Ringing up the purchase, Q willed himself to at least attempt some sort of smile or nonchalant goodbye before the man left. He would not come back, Q was sure. Why would he? A man like that could never remain in a place like this for any longer period of time. He probably had some yacht or private plane waiting for him somewhere.
“Here you go, that’ll be…”
“You can keep the change.” With another one of those charming smiles, the man handed over some cash and turned to go. Within seconds, he was gonna walk out that door and be gone forever. Desperate to keep him in the shop for as long as possible, Q found himself shouting at the man’s back.
“Thank you! Come back soon! We have a great sale on towlines!”
Immediately, Q wanted to bang his head into the counter. Towlines? Really? What the hell was he talking about? This was the worst day of his life.
The man stopped halfway out the door. Turning around, he looked Q over slowly. Filled with dread and feeling his face heat up again, Q tried to look cool and nonchalant. Judging by the man’s amused snort, he did not succeed.
“You know what, Q…”, the man said, freaking Q out until he remembered his stupid name tag. “...I think I just might come back soon.”
ohutblog Sat 02 Apr 2016 09:28PM UTC
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Xedra Sat 02 Apr 2016 10:13PM UTC
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Linorien Mon 04 Apr 2016 05:26AM UTC
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Kat_in_an_Impala Mon 02 May 2016 09:56PM UTC
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SinsOfOurFathers (Guest) Sat 14 May 2016 06:04PM UTC
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