"Krelborn! Get in here!" Mushnik's sudden bellowing made Audrey almost jump out of her skin. The store was finally quiet after three straight hours of people swarming to see the strange and interesting Audrey II. Their lunch hour was the only peaceful moment any of them got in the shop nowadays.
Seymour ran towards Audrey and Mushnik, miraculously not knocking over anything in the process. Perhaps Audrey II was gonna be his good luck charm. Mushnik just stared at him. "I'm starving! Run down to Schmendrick's and bring me a club sandwich."
"Right away, Sir!" As Mushnik went back to reading his paper, Seymour glanced over at Audrey and smiled. She had been pretty quiet today, presumably after another bad date with Orin. She had a fresh bruise on her cheek and was failing miserably to hide the row of hickeys dotted across her neck. "Audrey, can I get you anything?"
Still a little dazed, she snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh, nothing for me. I'm not very hungry. Thank you, Seymour." Those little moments of kindness meant to Audrey than anyone could possibly know.
He grinned haplessly back at her. "I'll be back in about 20 minutes. 15 if nobody stops me on the street again." Seymour had become quite the local celebrity thanks to a certain exotic plant. Before he walked out, he turned his head and called "see ya, Twoey!" This made Audrey smile.
Mushnik, still engrossed in his paper, was only aware of Seymour's absence once the bell over the door chimed. He lowered the paper and moved over to Audrey who was sitting quietly, fumbling with her nails. As he approached her, she looked up at him. He gestured to her cheek, "That looks bad."
Audrey's hands delicately traced over the bruise. "Oh, it's-uh-nothing."
He exhaled and exasperatedly pointed to her neck. "How about those? Those nothing, too?"
Her brown eyes began to fill with tears. "Sure."
"Oh, Audrey! Come here!" He motioned for her to stand up and pulled her into his embrace. Even in her heels, he was taller than her which gave her an unfamiliar sense of protection. When he allowed himself to be compassionate, Audrey likened him to a giant teddy bear. She hadn't had someone show her this much physical care, without some ulterior motive, in a long time. After a minute, she regained her composure and pulled back slightly, looking up at him and smiling gratefully.
"Thank you." She uttered, barely audible. He cupped her cheek, the one sans bruise, and suddenly pulled her lips to his own. Without waiting, he had slipped his tongue into her mouth and his free hand was already fumbling with the zip on the back of her dress.
When she realized what was happening, she launched herself backwards, which was not easy to do in spiked heels. "Mr Mushnik! Wh-what are you doing?!"
He looked at her, dumbfounded, while also sporting an unmistakable erection. "Come on, Audrey. We have 15 minutes! 20 if we're lucky!" He started to touch himself. "I understand you, I can provide you with that. You're a smart girl when it comes to these things. I let you come and go as you please, you've been late God knows how many times, I try to help you with your boyfriends or whatever it is you wanna call them. Flings?" His words stung Audrey to the core. "You must've suspected at least something was going on between us?"
With that, Audrey started to doubt everything she had done while working for him. Had she touched him too flirtatiously? Had she worn the wrong thing? Was she giving him the wrong impression? "I-I always thought of you more like a father figure to me. I-I thought you saw me as a daughter?" She was internally praying that this was all just one big misunderstanding.
He stopped touching himself and walked over to her, causing her to instinctively take a few small steps backwards. "Audrey, I want you." He kissed her again and she put a stop to this one immediately.
"No! S-stop!" She retreated and stood behind the counter. As kindly as she could, she said "I respect you, Sir. I do. And I love working here. But I just don't see you in that way, I hope you can understand? Not to mention, I'm in a relationship. Why don't we just put this all behind us? Forget it ever happened?" Her hands were shaking.
There was a pause. "You love working here?"
She beamed and nodded vigorously. "I really do."
He knew what he was about to do was wrong. But his primal desires were in control now, not his moral compass. He gulped. "I think if you love working here, you should come closer." He looked down at his erection then back up to her.
"You mean...you'd fire me? If-if I don't?" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
His eyes were glued to the ground "I'm not saying that." As he slowly rose his head to look at her, he added "But I'm not not saying that."
Audrey couldn't lose her job. She just couldn't. The thought of having to take on even more hours at The Gutter made her sick to her stomach. As it was, she was barely keeping her head above water. And the thought of not seeing Seymour? She didn't know what was worse. Financially she couldn't afford to lose her job. Emotionally she couldn't afford to lose her job. She made her decision without saying a word.
From behind the cash register, she took off her panties and folded them on the counter. She was doing her best to maintain some of her dignity. Without saying a word, she simply lay back on the marble floor and parted her legs a little. It was over practically as soon as it began. He was loud. And clumsy. And not the type of person she had thought him to be.
He finished pretty quickly and began to tuck his shirt back in. She closed her legs but didn't have the motivation to stand from the floor. He took her panties off the counter and handed them to her with a smile which made her feel even worse, if that was possible. He then offered her a hand to help her stand up but she rejected, instead opting to use the floor to push herself up. She walked behind the counter and pulled her panties up.
The atmosphere was indescribable. He calmly walked back over to his paper and resumed reading like nothing had happened. She stood in complete disbelief, unsure of what to do then…*ding.*
Suddenly, Seymour stumbled back into the shop holding two brown paper bags and a plastic cup.
"Well!" The sound of Mushnik's voice sounded foreign to her. "Took your time, Krelborn!"
"I'm sorry, Sir!" Seymour handed him the brown paper bag then walked over to Audrey. "I know you said you weren't feeling very hungry but I got you this." He placed the cup on the counter. "It's an iced tea." He said with a crooked grin.
Her hand was shaking as she reached for the cup. "Thank you, Seymour." He simply nodded in return and noticed what looked like a fresh bite mark in between her neck and shoulder. "Huh", he thought. He could've sworn that wasn't there before.