Oh no no no. Just shoot me now. I watched Paige Micalchuk walk into the office of my boss Meeri, and the door shut, and I thought: No fucking way. I was not going to work with Paige. Perfect Paige. Cheerleader Paige. Popular Paige. I was so far from being a cheerleader it wasn't even funny. I didn't give a crap whether some Degrassi team won or not, never mind cheer for it.
So maybe I banged shit around when I was cleaning up and maybe I was a little rude to customers while I stared at that blank gray door. Of course she would get the job if she wanted it. From what I could tell Paige Micalchuk always got what she wanted.
So fine. Whatever. Why was I letting it bother me? It couldn't be because I was always secretly afraid of Paige? No, it couldn't be that. Maybe she was a little bit…beautiful…but so what? It was crazy to think Paige swung that way and even crazier to think she might be interested in me so I wouldn't think it.
That gray door had been shut an awfully long time. I glared at it. No. I didn't want to work with her. One rude, annoying customer after another came up and I bit my tongue, I was professional and nice and goddamn it would they ever come out of there?
"Hey, gorgeous," I swung around and looked up at Jay. What had I ever seen in him? He was a criminal. He was the kind of guy my mother dated, no wonder she liked him so much, hung all over him like white trash. He grinned at me and I saw that he hadn't shaved in a while.
"What are you doing here?" I said, and stared him down. He backed up a little like he always did when I gave him that look. I wasn't even sure he was aware that he was doing it.
"What? Can't I come see you?" That fake innocence of his just grated on my nerves.
"I'm working,"
"Okay. I'll see you after," he went and I watched him go, watched him blend into the crowd. The thing was I'd probably hang out with him after because I had no one else, I had nothing else. I wasn't exactly overwhelmed with friends.
"Alex, this is Paige. You'll be working with her," Meeri had somehow materialized at my elbow and I nearly gasped, would have jumped a mile if I wasn't so good at hiding my surprise. I gave Paige my sideways glance and she looked as thrilled to see me as I was to work with her. Meeri wasn't dumb, I could see her sensing the tension between us and dismissing it all with one cock of her eyebrow.
Paige slunk away. Slunk. Shoulders up, eyes wide, hands balled up in the sleeves of her sweatshirt. I don't believe I'd ever seen Paige slink away from anything. Saunter, yes. Strut, definitely. Swagger and march, hell yeah. But slink? Slink? I watched her leave, blond head bent down, and I thought, maybe she's human, too. I thought maybe this could work out.