Just Tonight

“Enjoy the rest of your day, sir.”

 A polite smile graced Tegan’s face as she handed him a brown paper bag with a rectangular box inside that appeared to be containing the shoes the man bought. The man thanked her and turned his back to walk out the door. He was seemingly average and not at all who you’d expect to see in a skate shop.

Tegan worked at “FootBoardz”, a small skate shop with a total of four employees: the owner, the floor supervisor ,Tegan(assistant manager), and a part-time associate. The shop often got a decent amount of business during the week for being located near a failing shopping mall. The store housed everything from decks to riser pads. They even sold skate shoes and a variety of tees.

The thirty-year-old-woman had been working this same job for five years with no prospect of growth beyond her role. She leaned over and laid her head against the cold, black, germ-infested, marble counter.  

“When will this shift end?”, she softly whispered, tracing her finger in a figure eight pattern in front of her as she drifted off into a daze. An image of a grown woman who resembled Tegan’s bone structure grabbed her limited skate deck and broke it in two.

You live here, then this has to go, said the grown woman.

Yes, Mom. Tegan replied.

She lifted her finger from the table and placed her hand under her chin as she whispered to herself. “It’s been eleven years. I do everything right now. She said people won’t hate me if I did the things everyone else liked. If I just…smile.”

 Through the earpiece draped over her pale, left ear, she heard a crackling sound.

“Tegan? Everything Ok out there?”, a light, kind voice barely caught Tegan’s attention.

“Tegan?” The soft voice got loud enough that it jolted the girl out of her trance.

“What was that?” Tegan said

The voice on the other end giggled. It was a short, child-like laugh.  Out of the other three employees, Tegan had always liked hearing this laugh on the other end of the intercom, but it was just another thing she’d have to keep to herself.  What do they say? Happiness is for the weak...or so she thought.

“I asked if everything was okay. Is it?” The voice was soft, but now sounded more concerned than playful.

Tegan paused for a moment. She was entranced by the sound of the smooth tone in her co-worker’s voice. You could tell it was the voice of someone who would make one of those guided meditation podcasts and do really well.  I wonder if she’s ever done a podcast or tried ASMR? She whispered to herself unknowingly leaning on a small, black, and round button clipped to her name tag.

“What was that?” the angelic voice replied.

Tegan panicked. “Umm..I just said It’s all good!” She took a breath. “Our numbers are looking good so far. So let's keep up the good work today. I know we had that one return, but it didn’t hurt us too bad.” Tegan stood up straight and placed a smile on her face, a habit she had become accustomed to.

“Sounds good, Bosss!” The playful voice came out from behind the fixture lined with rows of socks. Curling her fingers in toward her hand, she placed it against her bronzed skin and leaned it against the fixture with her opposite hand on her hip pushing the fixture slightly off to one side. “Can I request we move that fixture to a different location?”

Stacy, 5’8”, was the floor supervisor with a supermodel-esque physique. Tegan always thought it was like catching a glimpse of the holy grail. Since the girls were the same age, Tegan rarely had to pull rank.  It made store operations run smoothly for her when Stacy worked.

Tegan grinned at Stacy as the floor supervisor rolled the sock fixture across the store.

“It just doesn’t fit.” Stacy sighed

The 5’5”, podgy girl walked out from behind the counter and took the other side of the fixture.

“Let me do it.” Tegan said with a straight tone.

The hourglass-shaped, redhead let go of the fixture and stepped back. The girl pushed the fixture back across the room and placed it where it once was.  She pulled out her Samsung and went to the notes section and wrote:  

Find a new place for sock fixture. Maybe rearrange the floor?

She showed Stacy the note she made on her phone. The blue-eyed girl smiled from ear to ear.

“Yay! I’ll totally help too!” Stacy exclaimed

Tegan shook her head.

“For now, it stays in its original spot until I can map out our store and figure things out. Our store is tight and I just don’t want things in the way.” She looked at Stacy with her darkish hazel eyes and extended a sympathetic smile, an action that had become second nature to her.

“Is that a good idea?” She asked.

Stacy’s blue eyes softened and her lips stretched out to form an adoring grin. She nodded. “Yes. It’s a great idea.”

Time had flown by that day. The bustle of customers would have made any day feel short. On a day like this, when it was just the two of them working, it often saddened Tegan as the night drew closer. The girls closed the store doors after the final customer.

“Have a nice night! “They waved in unison.

Stacy’s shoulders sank as she let out a deep, soulful sigh before turning her attention towards Tegan.

“Now it’s just us. I don’t have any plans if you want to take our time tonight.” The small-waisted girl stood towering in front of Tegan with a disarming smile. Her shiny, vibrant orange hair was tied up in a simple braid and laid over her shoulder. Stacy raised her eyebrow and placed her delicate hand on her hip as she flashed Tegan a cocky smirk. “Unless you’re sick of me already?”

Tegan turned her back to the girl and walked over to the registers. She pressed the corresponding keys on the register to open the drawer and counted the bills. Stacy stood on the other side of the counter, tilted her head and looked at her with an uneasy expression.

“Tegan?”

The girl with back-length, chestnut colored hair finished counting and peered up at the ocean-blue eyes.

“Hmm?” She answered

“Do. You. Want…To take our time? Or are you sick of me, already?” Stacy asked while fidgeting with a nearby pen.

Tegan saw worry on Stacy’s face, but she knew she couldn't tell the truth.

“Can you count this?” Tegan slid the money across the table.

“Mhmm. I’m glad I get to close with you.” She said

Tegan pulled her phone out and looked down at the time on her lock screen. She saw it was already 8 o’clock. The girl, who always kept her long, straight, brown hair up in a high ponytail concealed her flushed cheeks and hard to hide small, joyful grin.

“It’s getting late.” She said under her breath.

Finally, the registers were closed, the shoes were put away, the tees were folded properly and everything was put in its proper place, but Tegan still thought of Stacy’s words.

 She enjoys working with me, but would she enjoy working with the real me? I don’t smile all the time. I’m not pretty or interesting. I don’t like what normal people like. Everything that matters to everyone else, does it matter to her?, she thought as she leaned against the wall in the back office.

Bam! Stacy slammed one of the locker doors to snap the shorter girl out of her haze. The roaring boom made Tegan’s ears twinge and her back tense so it was almost board-like.  A sudden sense of alarming guilt fell over the queen-like woman like a shadow looming over her.

“Can we hang out tonight, Tegan?”  Stacy inquired, knowing full well Tegan had seemed strange today.

The song “Misery Business” by Paramore began playing as if it came from thin air. Stacy opened her black leather crossbody bag and pulled out her phone. “Sorry it’s mine. One minute.”

“Hello?” She answered the phone and on the other end was a male voice Stacy seemed to recognize. He sounded interested in her and her whereabouts from what Tegan could overhear.

The smaller, less significant, girl scooted past her coworker and grabbed her dingy, vintage-looking black canvas crossbody. She dropped her head and walked towards the door.

“Stacy, can you walk and talk please? I’d like to go home.” She said in a rather dull, heavy voice.

 Stacy informed the voice she needed to go and hung up without waiting for an answer. She hurried to stop Tegan from progressing to the exit. Tears bubbled in the corner of the chubby girl's eyes, streaking down plump cheeks, dripping to the floor as she stared at her shoes.

“We need to go. I need to get home…now.” Tegan stated in a seemingly unemotional tone.

She has no right to be so irresistible. She thought as the charming woman bent over and placed the tip of her elegant finger beneath Tegan’s grim face and lifted it to meet her gaze.

“Do you want to go somewhere and talk about what’s got you upset?” She paused. “Is it about me?”  Stacy asked. 

 The assistant manager’s eyes widened and and a light, almost inaudible, gasp escaped her mouth, her bottom lip curled in and she began to sob as she lowered her body to the floor.

“It’s not you. Skating is seen as delinquency in my family.  My mother broke my limited edition deck in half right in front of me when I was nineteen. She told me that she would only help me pay for college if I gave up skateboarding, and learned to like what everyone likes. I really wanted to go to college because at the time, I had dreams that skateboarding couldn’t fill. So, I smile, I do what they ask and I pretend to like everything that everyone else likes…including the types of guys the other girls like.”

Stacy, whose hair reminded Tegan of the sun, sat on the floor beside her.  She stretched out her legs and leaned back. Placing her arms behind her head, she laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling.

“What kind of guys do YOU like?”  Stacy asked.

“Umm..Well…” Stacy grabbed the hesitant girl by the back of her shirt and pulled her to the floor.

“You don’t like guys at all do you?” Stacy turned to her side and stared, a few stray strands of hair had fallen in her face, the moonlight reflecting in her eyes from the store window, her perfect smile faded from her appearance.

Tegan, her back flat against the floor, eyes as empty as if she was disconnected from the world, hands one on top of the other as if a corpse were laid out on the tile underneath rolled her head to the side to meet her coworker’s stare.

With bags under her drooping eyelids, she sighed. “No, I am not romantically or sexually interested in men…If that is what you’re asking.”

The reflection of the crescent moon through the store window made Tegan’s eyes look like pure gold. This was the first time Stacy had ever seen her assistant manager so vulnerable.  She’s always smiling and supporting everyone else. She never shows weakness…and never shows what’s really important…herself. Does she really think no one will like her?

“What’s the workplace policy here?” Stacy asked as she started to lean toward Tegan.

“Huh?” Tegan asked.

Stacy pushed herself up and held out a hand to Tegan. She grabbed her hand and pulled her up forcefully. The holy grail was in reach and its arms were wrapped around her wide waist. She ran her palms around the waist of the towering beauty before her and laid her head upon her shapely cleavage.

“I used to pretend too. My parents used to set me up with all types of guys and some of them still call. I answer to be polite, but I don’t exactly care. I used to think I wanted that kind of relationship, that kind of life. School. Marriage. Kids…But I don’t. I love being alone.”

 The stout, small-chested girl pricked up her ears as she directed her gaze up at the goddess-like beauty. She took her hand away from Stacy’s waist and placed it delicately along the shell of the girl’s heart against her soft, cotton t-shirt. She took a few slow deep breaths as her dark, golden-like eyes locked with shining ocean-blue ones. Stacy’s finger found itself tracing around the slightly pointed shape of Tegan’s ear as it made its way just beneath her chin.

Tegan paused. She silently stepped back.

Before she could turn away, the freckled supermodel of a woman had wrapped her arms tight around her. She felt a rush of warmth and desperation as she swung her arms around her neck. Their hearts raced as their vision blurred and their parted lips met. Their bodies melted into each other and it felt like all time had stopped.

Disoriented, she slowly pulled away “That’s why you asked about policy?”

Stacy answered. “Yes. But can I tell you something?”

Tegan grabbed her hand and placed it in her own. “Of course.”

Stacy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she opened her eyes, she saw the patient girl standing in wait. A sense of calmness washed over her. “I’m Aromantic” Stacy leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Tegan’s cheek. “This is all I can offer.”

The seemingly unlovely girl stayed silent. Stacy jerked her head. “You’re not going to say anything?”

Tegan swung her head back and forth. “No, because I already knew.”

The freckled goddess was taken back by her answer. “How?”

A snicker escaped the lips of her rounded face. “You told me one morning when you came in hungover from some one-night stand.  You came in, threw your stuff in the locker like always, and sat against the wall while I was on the computer. You said…” She changed her voice to sound like a drunk frat girl. “Tegan, why do all these guys expect you to go home with them? All I ever want is just a good night of sex and for it to end there.”

Stacy’s face turned beet red.  “I didn’t. Please tell me I didn’t say that.”

“Can’t because you did.” She took a breath. “Stacy, I wasn’t sick of you. I was jealous of the phone call.” She pulled her hands away and tilted her head towards the shop window that led toward the lunar-lit street. “You’re the only one who can see through me. I don’t know who the real me is anymore, but what I do know is I find you breath-taking… but I want to keep my friend.”

The picturesque, exquisite woman took a single step forward and stood behind Tegan. She hugged her, holding her in her warm embrace.

“I’m your friend?” Stacy asked

Tegan nodded “Yeah.”

 The Floor Supervisor placed her chin atop the other woman’s head. “For four years, you’ve paid attention and listened to me. I want to learn about the real you. What do you say?” 

Tegan, whose eyes reflected the sparks of the rekindled flame in her heart, turned and kissed the woman gently on the cheek. 

“Okay…as long as you’ll still like me.” Tegan answered

“Brrring!” A default chime rang. She pulled her phone from her pocket and cringed at the caller I.D. Right under the screen that read 8:45pm, flashed the word “Mom”.

 “I’m usually home by now.” The spark that lit her eyes dimmed.

Stacy grabbed the phone out of her hand and placed it in her pocket as she bolted for the door. “Come on. Lock up”

Tegan pulled her keys from her back pocket, ran out the shop, closing the doors behind her and locked the doors. She held out her hand to the redheaded queen next to her.

“Phone, please.”

The statuesque, red head, gave a crooked smirk. “Your mom left a message. Are you going to go back?”

The petite, wide-hipped, brunette took the phone from her hand, stared at the screen and pressed the callback button.

“Hello?!” The voice on the other end was furious. Tegan sighed and looked at Stacy. “Mom, I still enjoy skating and I’ve been working at a skate shop behind your back. I don’t find guys attractive and I will never live up to what YOU think I should be. I’m going to be me.” The voice on the other end began screaming. Tegan held the phone away from her ear “Oh…and one more thing…I’m moving out.”

The shorter, plump-ish, girl hung up the phone while the voice was still screaming. Tears began to linger in the corner of her eyes. The model-like, smooth-skinned woman placed a warm, gentle hand on her shoulder.

“You can stay with me tonight.” She offered

“I thought you said you couldn’t get involved with me?” The tear-filled woman turned her head to meet Stacy’s overpowering gaze.

A bright, sympathetic smile adorned her face. “I’m not. I’m just helping out a friend.”

The hopelessness began to disappear and Tegan’s heart began to feel lighter, even though the road was still long.

“I guess tonight is okay…but just tonight.”