The soft haze of the afternoon wore on, giving into languid breezes, too easily swayed by the growing heat. It all became harsh in the sun; smell of old things oozing out of the opened door, hoping to catch cool air. The store was on main street, in one of those small towns where downtown became a gathering of antique collectors and tourist junk. Nothing useful, or interesting. The store itself had become more a collector of dust than anything of value. Useless things, old plates, family portraits or cheesy decorations from the eighties. But for some reason she liked it, she liked the slow pace of the town and how rare it was for a customer to come into the store. She felt freedom in her job, she didn't have to be on edge all of the time. This was her third job since moving here, it paid horrendously but the owner had a small flat upstairs where she was allowed to stay. For some reason the old lady had taken a liking to her, even in a small town there weren't many people to trust.
Felix continued staring out of the window, it was too hot to care about anything else. She hated the smell of the store, the musty, almost rotting stench of forgotten things. Each item had memories behind them, she shuddered to think where they'd come from and what they had seen. All the while fascinated by the knickknacks, everyday she was finding something new in the store. Yet hardly selling any, the store was maze of shelves, furniture and paintings. Occasionally a few young people would come in, staring at the aloof girl at the counter, dark eyes bleak as Felix concentrated on appearing cool. Most of the time they didn't bother to talk to her, which was good because she was terrible at conversations. It didn't help that she intentionally tried to appear intimidating, anything to stop the awkward small talk.
Today however it didn't seem like she'd need to talk to customers, today no one had even looked her way. Sullen expression barely expressed a tenth of the boredom growing inside of her, it was too hot to do anything. Not that she'd ever go do anything, the safety of her room was good enough for her. She'd made a few friends since moving here most were elderly, happy to talk to a pretty young girl. One of her old coworker's still tried in vain to remove her friend from the dusty confines of her books, succeeded once, much to Felix's dismay. Swirling green and blue eyes watched as a laughing couple passed by. Twinge of jealousy, a part of her wanted to do what other kids her age were doing. The other, a far more arrogant and oddly childish piece of her kept telling her it was a waste of her time. That she had far more important things to do than to goof off. Or that she was above the partying and silly relationships of youth. She wasn't, she was just terribly afraid of being around all those people.
Sweat trickled off her skin, mostly due to the heat and at the sudden approach of a very familiar face. A tall, golden haired and skin plump girl swanned into the room, a scowl formed on Felix's oval face, knowing exactly what this girl wanted.
"Felix! I've been trying to text you all day, why haven't you replied back? It's not like you're busy or anything." It was hard to imagine how the girl kept up a jovial tone without it being marred by the obvious disgust shown on her face. Linda. This girl wouldn't leave her alone, occasionally out of guilt Felix would reply to her text and even had gone out with her to the movies or a party. Just once. After the party she vowed never again. It had been painful, unsure of what to do with herself Felix had stood in the corner the whole night, holding the same cup of beer that tasted bitter and thick that she'd been given hours earlier. Comfort had arrived in the door of the guest bathroom, entire night passed as she fell asleep slumped on the toilet seat. She didn't know why she had panicked so badly, all she knew was that she never wanted to feel that anxious again. So never to party seemed a good decision.
"Sorry my phone doesn't work inside the store." Smirking slightly to herself, she never actually left the store, so it was nearly impossible for people to text her or call her for things. She was, gloating happily, an evil genius. However Linda was as determined as a zit.
"I figured, so hey Bobby is having a party Saturday. A bunch of people from all over are coming down, I hear even a couple of gangs are showing up." Excitement hardly suppressed in her voice, bright white teeth flashing back Felix's resistance. She felt obliged to Linda, after all she was the first person she had ever hung out with after moving here. Gangs were a stretch, yet were possible because the surrounding town had a college. While it made for excitement for Linda, Felix couldn't help but frown severely. Gangs usually were violent, it made her sick to the stomach even thinking about pain.
"I'm totally forcing you to come, I mean you're beginning to get dusty Felix. It's about time you got out of this place." Brown eyes scanned over the store, little twitches of abhorrence across her face. Felix glared angrily, the store was her home now, even though she too hated parts of it, it was hers. She should be the only one to hate it. Desire to protect rose the often too slow fire inside Felix.
"Last time I went to a party with you it turned out horrible. Someone thought I was a table and tried to put their drink on me." Linda rolled her eyes having heard Felix complain for weeks about the stain on her favorite sweater. But the girl was determined, would keep pestering her until she said yes, and Felix felt guilty at having ignored her for so long. "I can go, I guess. I'm bringing my bike though, so I can leave when I want." Quickly sneaking in her terms before the deal was struck. She had an old moped that barely made it up the hills of the small mountain town, however slow it took, she would get away from the party. Small tilt in the full lips of her friend, feeling quite triumphant. The sullen glare tried to battle the shining, bubbly personality of Linda and failed miserably.
"Great! It's on Saturday, I'll pick you up and you can put, your uh, bike in the back." Buzzing violently, Linda picked up her phone scanning the contents. "Oh crap, I've got to go. I'll pick you up at seven, wear something I would!" Watching the light, far too flirty walk of her friend turn back and walk out of the store. An air of victory following close behind. Drained from the meeting, Felix sprawled her arms on the table top half eyes hooded with sleep. Feeling rebellious, she decided to wear the most boring item she had; an old green sweater.
Roar filled the air, she knew that it was a group of motorcycles passing by. The mountains attracted them because of the twisted roads and sharp curves. She watched them ride by, an old fashioned bike in the front where the rider was far too big. His knees jutted out of from the bike awkwardly, he was wearing a dark blue members jacket. She couldn't help but stare, she'd seen pictures of biker's like this in the old 60's magazines littered around the store. They stopped just in front of the store, the light was red, the man slowly turned as if he'd noticed her stare. Before their eyes could meet the light turned green and the group was off, following the odd man down the road.
Another weird sight to add to her list. Rest of the day was slow, predictable in it's customers, elderly poking around hoping to find valuable things. Only to leave disappointed and irritated by the lack of Felix's customer interest. Saturday was after Friday, today was Thursday. Not much time to make an excuse to get out of it, but enough time for her to panic. At least time, she thought, there will be a book involved. Linda didn't say anything about her not bringing something to entertain herself with. Sighing heavily, she closed and locked the door of the shop. Jangling it hard to make sure. Turning off the lights she recalled the stranger biker, a smile flickered across her face. It had reminded her of the circus where the bear was riding a tricycle.
Upstairs in the safety of her room, where a small bed was shoved in the corner as if forgotten as shelves of books, movies, toys covered the walls. A very fat cat glanced up angrily at the sudden intrusion, its yellow eyes blinked slowly. Suddenly, changing its mind the gray mass of fur and fat rolled over whining pitifully. Used to this, Felix poured food into the bowl watching as the cat pulled the bowl closer with her paw.
"Blue, I think I got myself in a bind." Hand brushed the fur, before settling into the small bed with a book. A few moments she was interrupted from reading by the memory of the biker again, it kept getting funnier each time. Held back the fear of the party. She knew it would be a big one, Bobby's parents owned a house high up on the mountain. There were no other houses around ensuring it would be difficult for police to be called in. Also meant the road up was horribly curvy and thin, her moped would be practically useless on the road. If worse came to worse she'd just walk home. The night called as the sounds of the town died down, and she dressed for bed letting Blue up on the window sill. Dreams arrived heavy and pointless except for flashes of a great bear riding around on a tricycle.