by Josh Vasquez
Chapter One
Jeremy Riggins sat in the break room, procrastinating about going back to work. Brian, his douche of a manager, told him before his ten minute break that when he was done, Jeremy was on shopping cart duty. Jeremy hated shopping cart duty. What made it worse was that Jeremy was a cashier, not one of the courtesy clerks. They were short a few people that day, so Brian told Jeremy to close his register and take care of the carts.
Now, the carts weren't below Jeremy; he had no problem doing what needed to be done. He was a team player. He just didn't like Brian. Brian was one of those guys who, once they got a little authority, liked to flaunt it and abuse it. Everybody was now his peon. He must have had a rough life in high school and now it was his turn to be on top of the food chain.
Jeremy downed the last sip of his energy drink and tossed the can into the recycling. He slowly made his way back downstairs. He was in no hurry. It was way too hot outside. Middle of November and still ninety degrees out. He was already wearing his work polo and khakis. Add the reflective vest he had to wear while in the parking lot and you had one extremely sweaty Jeremy.
As he passed by the registers towards the time clock, Ashley smiled at him and mouthed the word, 'sorry.' He nodded. She felt bad for him.
Great, he thought. The pity card isn't exactly the way I wanted to work things.
The two of them had just started “talking”. Jeremy had yet to work up the nerve to ask her to go see a movie or something. Timing just hadn't been right. But now that he was going to be all hot and sweaty bagging her groceries, now seemed like the opportune time.
Jeremy clocked back in, grabbed the safety vest off the rack and then began to make his way outside. He soaked in the store's air conditioning, mentally preparing himself for the sauna outside. Savannah's heat wasn't just hot, it was humid too. Within a minute, he'd be drenched.
"Jeremy!"
He turned to see Brian behind him. His large, obtuse belly hung over his belt and his hands were sitting on his hips. The man was tall, which probably led to more awkwardness and ridicule in his teen years.
"Hurry up with the carts. We need you back in here bagging too."
"I can't be in two places at once, Brian," Jeremy said. "Maybe you should bag while I'm out there frying in the sun."
Jeremy noticed Ashley giggle, but Brian turned bright red. This wasn't the first time that Jeremy shot back at him but it always produced the same results.
"Just hurry back in here!"
He pointed towards the doors. Jeremy started to say something else, but decided against it.
What was the point?