Jo started to place tubs of paint into their correct slot when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned, expecting to see a customer, but instead saw an extremely attractive boy. He had blond hair that was messy looking with a purple sweatband keeping it slightly out of his face and beautiful violet eyes. Jo almost dropped the tubes of paints she had in her hands. "Uhm, yes?" She asked, trying to remain calm.
She had come across many attractive boys while working her summer away in the art supply store, 'The Paint Box', but this boy really took the cake.
"I'm here for a job interview, but I can't find the manager..." He trailed off and Jo practically threw down the tubes of paints back into the box.
"I'll find her for you!" She smiled and hurried off, probably too eagerly. He followed her and she prayed that she would not trip or embarrass herself in front of this boy. She stopped by a register and grabbed the mic for the intercom. "Oh, Deborah! There is someone here for an interview. Please report to register 4 right away!" Jo said and it was heard throughout the store. "She'll be here in no time." Jo said, putting the mic back in its normal spot. "She probably lost track of time. We're all pretty laid back in this store."
"That's why I like it here." He said as the manager approached them.
"So sorry to keep you waitin', sweetie. Follow me to the back. Jo, make sure those tubes of paint are all put up." The woman said before she turned on her heel.
"Thanks for the help, Jo." The boy flashed her a smile. "I'm Morty, by the way. I hope I get to work with you soon."
Jo swear she saw him wink. Was that a good thing? Maybe it was just some nervous twitch? Maybe he was blinking but Jo didn't notice his other eye moving and just took it for a wink? She groaned and went to go finish stocking the paint.
As she finished stocking the paint, she saw her manager walk by and she ran out of the aisle. "Deborah!" She got the attention of the older woman. "Please tell me you hired him?"
"Why? Do you know him?" She questioned.
"No….but….we could use an extra set of hands ar-"
"You think he's cute, don't you?" Deborah asked interrupting the girl.
"Yes."
"Well, that's good, because you and him will be on stocking duty for the rest of the week so you can show him around." The woman was surprised when Jo hugged her.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" Jo gushed, smiling brightly. This was so lucky! "My week just got better!"
Jo was regretting thinking her week just got better when stared at her blue hair in her car mirror the next morning. It was not cooperating. She groaned and brushed it back, putting it in a ponytail. She was adjusting it when someone knocked on her driver's side window. She jumped away before glaring at Morty, who was standing outside her car. She took a deep breath and grabbed her purse and car keys. She opened the door and shut it, locking her car.
"Was that really necessary?" She asked, her heart still beating fast.
"Probably not, but you've been sitting in your car for twenty minutes. I've been waiting for you to get out so I wouldn't look like I got here too early for my first shift." He admitted. "I got sick of waiting."
"So scaring me was the right answer?"
"Scaring people is fun." He chuckled. "Sorry."
"It's fine. Come on." She hoped he didn't see her mess with her hair. She didn't want him to think she was trying to impress him or anything. She was, but, she didn't want him to know that! She grabbed an apron for him from the backroom and printed his name out on a label marker. "Here you go." She said as she placed the label on a nametag and handed it to him. "Welcome to 'The Paint Box' staff, where you are forced to spend beautiful days in a freezing cold store, stocking art supplies."
"Gee, don't make it sound more glamorous than it already is." He joked and Jo chuckled. "So, what are we doing today?"
"We're going to finish stocking the paint tubes!" Jo exclaimed, heading into another room to grab a box of paint tubes.
"Weren't you doing that yesterday?"
"Yes, but, alas, I did not finish." Jo whispered. "So we need to do this before Deborah clocks in." She left the backroom and headed to the paint tube aisle, Morty right behind her.
"You didn't finish your work, so I have to help you?" Morty asked, crossing his arms as she set the box down on the floor.
"Of course. It's teamwork." Jo shrugged, trying to keep herself calm. "So…start stocking, newbie."
Morty was too attractive…and funny…and smart….and attractive…wait, didn't she already say that? Well, he was super attractive, so it was okay to say it twice. She barely got any work done with him around. He was constantly joking or telling her some creepy ghost story. Plus, she loved to look at him. It was a crime not to. Jo usually had to rush to get all of her work done at the very end of her shift to avoid getting in trouble with Deborah, but it was so worth it.
She was able to control her blushing and giggling by the end of the second week with him. Thank god. She also begged Deborah to at least try to keep her and Morty on the same side of the store. She hated it when he was across the store. Neither of them got to talk to one another and it made the day drag on and on.
Jo was heading to the aisle Morty was stocking when she heard a male voice. She stayed still, since she figured Morty was helping a customer and she didn't want to interrupt him. "Hey, Jo. Can you come here?" Morty called out. She loved it when he said her name. It was so beautiful.
She waited a few moments before stepping into the aisle. She didn't want him to know she had been standing there. "Yes?" She asked, seeing a male with slicked back brunet hair.
"Hey, I'm Eusine." The male greeted.
"He's my friend." Morty explained. "Uh, do you know if we have any more light sky blue paint tubes? He needs one but I think we might be out…"
"I can go check." She smiled and walked out of the aisle.
"That's the girl you're always talking about? You're right, she's very cute." Eusine chuckled and Jo felt her face get red.
MORTY THOUGHT SHE WAS CUTE?!
SUCCESS.
"Hush, she might hear you." Morty said, sounding embarrassed.
"I doubt it, and what if she does?" Eusine asked, shrugging at his friend. "Aren't you going to ask her out? You should. You talk about how funny and cute she is, like, all the time. It's kind of annoying, in a cute way I guess."
"Dude." Morty groaned, his face bright pink. "I'm going to see if she needs helping finding that paint tube." Jo panicked when she heard this. She rushed out of the aisle she was hiding in, hoping she could get to the backroom before Morty. She crashed into someone and fell back and groaned. "Jo?" Morty asked, embarrassed all over again. "uh…how…long had you been standing there?" He held out his hand and helped her up.
"Uh…thank you for calling me cute." She said, not knowing what else to say. He sighed, his face red. Jo took a deep breath. "I think you're cute too." She said, then bit her lip.
"Oh…" Morty muttered. Jo had no clue if he was happy about that or not.
"Ask her out…" Eusine whispered, quite loudly, to Morty.
"Shut up!" Morty growled, turning to his friend. He turned back to Jo and rubbed the back of his neck. "Jo, do you wanna go see a movie with me or something?"
"Yes!" Jo said quickly, hoping she wasn't dreaming. This was too perfect!
"Great!" Eusine clapped his hands, smiling at the both of them. "So, now that that is over with, do you have that color I need?"
"Uh…let me go check." Jo muttered, turning around.
"I'll help you!" Morty called out, rushing after her quickly. "You didn't even go check if we had the color?"
"I'm noisy. It worked out well though, didn't it?" Jo asked, smirking at the blond boy.
Jo is not my oc! She's my friend's, Edicedia, character! Thanks for being a very nice friend to me! I hope you like it and sorry for not asking you if I could use Jo, but this was meant to be a surprise! So, surprise! I hope you like it. I'm not sure how Morty acts, so, sorry if it's OOC
