The wind whipped at her long dark hair as Kora Gretzky strutted through the cobblestone paths of Boston's very own Quincy Marketplace. She was on her way to work on a chilly Saturday afternoon. Kora smiled and waved at a few vendors who she was familiar with as she hurried along. Kora worked at the Abercrombie and Fitch located in the Marketplace with a few of her closest friends. It was a dream job for her while she went to college: flexible hours, great pay, and a relaxed environment.
Kora entered the seven story building, happy that the store didn't occupy all seven floors like it used to. Now that would be a nightmare. She slipped off her light jacket the second she stepped inside, heading straight towards the employees room. Quickly checking over her neatly pressed chinos and A&F button-up, Kora slid her card in the time-stamper and exited the room. At the counter was her best friend Alycia, who waved happily at her, calling out a semi-quiet, "Hey bitch!"
Kora looked over her shoulder to make sure no customers were around before she flipped Alycia off. Alycia laughed as Kora continued walking, heading towards the glass stairs that would take her up to the third floor dressing rooms. A few people were on the second floor milling about, but the third floor landing was packed. Her eyes popped open wide and she gasped at the amount of people crowded onto the top floor. In all her time working for the company Kora had never seen so many people.
Quickly turning her ear piece on, Kora called for her friend Zack, telling him it was an emergency. Within minutes he had appeared, out of breath, large hands on his knees.
"Still not used to those stairs?" she teased, laughing, but then pointing to the immense crowd when he lifted his head.
"How did all these people even get in here?" he exclaimed, shock taking over his face. "I've been on the first floor all morning and never saw this many people come in."
Zack sighed, rolling his eyes as he tried to push through the crowd, which mainly consisted of girls. The girls didn't seem to like what he was attempting to do and started to push him back. Zack muttered into his earpiece and a few moments later two large security guards appeared. They too looked shocked.
"What have we got here?" Chris boomed, surprising some of the customers.
They turned and when they noticed his artillery of security guard items booked it past Zack and Kora and down the stairs.
"All right people, we're going to have to ask you to leave the store. There are far too many of you on this floor. This is a safety hazard," Brett yelled.
The two started ushering fuming customers down the stairs and soon no one was left on the third floor. Kora sighed, leaning against a column.
"What was that about?" she asked Zack.
He shrugged. Just as he was about to speak, the two heard a gaggle of noises coming from the dressing rooms. Silently, Kora and Zack made their way across the landing to the enclosed dressing room hall.
"Do you think they're gone? It's pretty quiet out there," someone said.
"Hello? Do you need any help in there? Can I grab you any sizes?" Kora called out worriedly. She had no idea what the person was talking about, but had to at least offer her help.
"Do you work 'ere?"
Kora nodded, but then mentally slapped herself when she realized the person couldn't see her. She shouted back a yes and the last door in the hall opened, a boy's head peaking out.
"Are they all out there still?"
"The girls?" The man nodded his head eagerly.
"No, we had security take them away..." Kora trailed off.
The door swung fully open and five boys piled out of the tiny dressing room. They all sighed and started stretching. She raised an eyebrow at them, looking at Zack but he seemed awestruck.
Kora smiled at the boys. One was very model-esque, with styled dark hair and a chiseled face. Two were basically hanging off each other laughing, and a third had styled blonde hair with bright blue eyes. The last boy had thick, curly hair and two dimples as he smiled cheekily at her.
"Can I help you boys?" she asked again politely, smiling unsurely once more.
"Is that a pair of Jack Wills chinos?" One of the boys who had been laughing with another exclaimed suddenly.
Kora was taken aback but nodded nonetheless.
"I love Jack Wills!" he continued, "They make the best stuff," he sighed.
Kora looked to Zack and motioned for him to take over. "Zack can help you with anything you need."
Kora booked it out of the dressing rooms and headed back downstairs, opting to take cashier duty with Alycia today instead of her normal post upstairs. How had it already been such an odd day in so little time?
When she reached Alycia downstairs, she hopped up onto the counter and rested her chin on her hands. Alycia mimicked her movements, but placed a soothing hand on the back of her friend.
"What's wrong babe?" she asked, her blonde hair falling into her eyes.
"Weird day. Did you see all those girls come in earlier? There was basically a riot upstairs. I had to call security to escort them all out," Kora replied.
Alycia looked at her strangely.
"You do know why they were here right?"
Kora shook her head, grabbing Alycia's Starbucks cup off the counter and taking a sip.
"Those One Direction boys are here for a concert tonight. I'm assuming they wanted to come shopping here, hence the massive amount of girls that probably followed them here. Good for business though!"
Kora nodded, now understanding why the boys had accents. Kora had never watched the X Factor or listened to the band, but she had heard of the Beatles-like mania over the boys. She didn't recognize them either. In all honesty, Kora was very out of the pop culture loop. Alycia was telling her a story about a crazy customer this morning, but Kora wasn't listening. She couldn't keep her mind off the curly haired boy.
Only three more hours and Kora was free for the day. Kora pushed the thoughts of the boy from her mind as a customer approached the counter. She slid off, holding up a hand to Alycia so she would stop her story for a moment.
Making small talk with the customer, Kora rang up the large amount of clothes. She was surprised to see such an immense pile of clothes. A&F's prices weren't exactly cheap, so usually people would leave with one or two items max, not more than twenty.
The girl finally paid, having taken at least ten minutes to ring out. Kora rolled her eyes and listened to Alycia continue her story. Her pager buzzed in her pocket and she sighed.
"I have to go upstairs. Those boys must be finished so Zack won't want to clean up by himself."
Alycia laughed and gave her friend a gentle shove. "Go to loverboy!"
Kora's face turned bright red. "Oh my god Aly, he's not my loverboy." She laughed. "If anything he's a slave driver."
Alycia's roaring laughter could be heard as Kora ascended the stairs for the second time that morning. She dreaded seeing the mess that five seemingly unruly boys would have made in the short time she was gone. When Kora entered the dressing room she immediately spotted Zack, a pile of neatly folded clothes piled in his arms.
"Help," he groaned. "These are going to the first room. I can handle the rest."
Kora took the large pile and walked to the first door. She knocked quietly. Two seconds later the door swung open and Kora was greeted by the curly haired boy. He grinned, showing off his dimples.
Grabbing her arm excitedly, he pulled her into the dressing room, much to her protests.
"Please? I just want your opinion on these clothes."
Kora made for the door but he put his hand on it. She looked up, feeling a tiny bit intimidated by him. His eyes bore into hers, his face close and breath hot. He froze, backing away with his hands up. Kora was frozen though, completely enraptured by the mere scent of him. She had never had feelings like that, just by a scent. It was such an amazing scent, she would stay just so she could smell that.
"Please?" he asked again, a slight puppy-dog look crossing his face.
Kora sighed, running a hand through her hair and sitting on the bench in the corner. Immediately, she put her hands over her eyes. The boy chuckled at her actions and proceeded to take his shirt off.
"I'm Harry by the way," he said, extending her hand.
Without meaning to, Kora removed her hands from her eyes and shook his hand. "Kora."
She smirked at his bare torso, not expecting to see that.
"You know, I usually like to be taken out on a date first," Kora laughed.
Harry cracked up at her reference as he slipped a shirt on. Kora gave her first impression of the shirt, being completely honest each time. Harry went through the entire pile of shirts before he reached the pants.
"You might want to close your eyes now love," he murmured as he winked at her.
Kora turned in her seat, crossing her legs Indian style as she faced the wall. When Harry gave her the OK Kora turned around, smiling at him.
The pants he had tried on were perfect. They hugged his frame in the perfect ways, accentuating his [i]assets[/i] and making him look classy. The pants were a nice pair of dark blue chinos that A&F had just released.
"Those are the ones Harry." Kora grinned and gave him a thumbs up as she stood.
She reached for the door, but turned and stopped before she left.
"Glad I could help you today. Alycia is downstairs at the first floor counter when you're all set to check out."
It was a practiced line that felt wrong when it spilled off her lips. Harry's happy smile faltered a little, knowing right away that it was a well-rehearsed line that she said to everyone she helped. Kora closed the door and headed for the stairs, not waiting for Zack and the boys to leave so she could pick up and refold everything. It could be taken care of later.
For some reason, Kora was enraptured by Harry and she had just met him. He was fascinating and funny, and even surprising. Kora slid behind the counter next to Alycia again.
Alycia raised her eyebrows at her friend's tired expression. Loud voices filled the stairwell and Kora looked up to see the five boys heading down. She sighed, leaning against the counter before she realized she should at least act professional. Kora straightened up and plastered a happy smile on her face as Harry spotted her.
In her head, Kora felt somehow guilty for saying what she had to him. It wasn't like she was being rude to him or anything, but it felt so impersonal and he seemed like a new found friend. Harry placed his items on the counter in front of her.
He watched Kora as she rang the clothes up, ignoring his friends jokes and laughter as they started to give Alycia their clothes. Alycia chatted happily with the other four, unlike Kora and Harry who were absolutely silent.
"That'll be $109.85," Kora said, meeting his eyes for the first time since he approached the counter.
"What are you doing tonight?" he asked suddenly.
Kora looked at him, shocked, her lips forming a surprised 'o' shape.
"Working," she replied, taking the credit card he was handing her. "Debit or credit?"
"Debit," he replied swiftly. "Come to my show tonight. Please."
"I just told you I am working Harry."
Kora's rather stern tone startled Harry and irked him a little bit.
"I can get you backstage passes, whatever you want. Just come! It'll be so much fun. We can get to know each other more!" he exclaimed, a happy smile taking over his face and revealing his dimples again.
"I'm working," Kora repeated.
By now the other boys were finished and standing around Harry, watching the duo's interaction with curious faces. Kora grabbed the receipt and shoved it in his bag as she handed it over to him.
"Have a nice day!" Kora added, a tiny, forced smile on her lips.
She really didn't understand Harry, but it didn't matter anyways. Once he left the store he would be out of her life for good and she wouldn't have to worry about her confusing thoughts.
As the boys exited the store, Harry turned, meeting her eyes again. He winked and sent her a last cheeky grin before letting the door close behind him.