Well... whaddaya know... I updated

CHAPTER 2

Arthur shifted through some papers as he found his perfectly stapled essay. He slid the paper into the metallic drop box for his professor. He couldn't believe he was late again. His professor was at least kind enough to let him turn it in late, but the struggle he had had when writing this essay was insane. Not only that, but he could no longer go to his favorite café due to the chance for running into that…

No, Arthur was not going to risk it on a day where he didn't feel like dealing with such idiocy. He fumbled with the papers in his hands trying to hold all of them. He walked quickly down the hallway. He stumbled a bit causing him to drop a paper; with a frustrated sigh he bent down awkwardly to pick it up. Although someone had beaten him to it, Arthur's frustration only grew.

WELL, WELL, WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?

"Thank you," Arthur strained, not really looking up.

"Haha! No probably Artie."

Arthur felt his face heat up; in anger or embarrassment, it didn't matter. "I don't know you!" Arthur said bluntly. He looked up and stared hard at the charming smile being flashed his way, "Don't call me that."

"You're grumpy today, huh?" Alfred said, his smile never leaving his face.

Arthur frowned so much he felt his mouth was going to fall off. He snatched the paper back, and moved around Alfred with hast. His eyes stayed on the ground.

DAMMIT

The sound of running feet was something, Arthur greatly ignored them. It fact, it caused him to go faster. "Woah, hey!" Alfred said catching up to Arthur, "I'm sorry if I offended you." He walked quickly so he could go in front of Arthur and block his path. He held up his hands to show his defenselessness. "Listen," Arthur really didn't fell like listening, but he watched as the man before him seemed to grow in nervousness, "I think we got off on the wrong foot," You think? Arthur felt himself inwardly chuckled at his own sarcastic bite. God, he was hilarious. "And I think we should proper introduce ourselves."

Arthur stared at him. Hell no. He attempted to move around him, but the American refused to let him go.

"I'm Alfred F. Jones, nice to meet you." He held out his hand in a friendly gesture.

Arthur stared at him then at the outreached hand. The silence seemed to stretch but Alfred made no move to let him go and, Arthur found no way to get around him. Arthur gave a long sigh before clasping his hand. "Arthur Kirkland," he stated shortly. "Now can you please move, I have somewhere to be…" No he didn't.

"No, you don't" Alfred said with an enthusiastic smile.

Arthur felt an eyebrow rise slowly but quickly lowered it and removed any confusion from his face. "Even if I don't, I refuse to spend time with you," Arthur bit out before taking a chance and moving around the larger American, "Good day!" He shouted back as he made his way out the building.

Arthur tapped his pen on his desk in irritation. Math was definitely not what he was good at. Why did someone who planned to write a book need to know about how to take the derivative of a function? What point was there to that? He pressed his thumb hard into the back of his pen cause it to click close as he chewed on his lip. And what was the deal with pi? Why was it called pi anyways?

"It's 6x dx,"a female voice interrupted.

Arthur looked up find the same girl he has seen the other say. He never really took a good enough look at her. Her hair was tied back in pigtails and she wore the private college's uniform. She smiled down at the hunched over Arthur, her perfect white teeth contrasting quite a bit with her dark skin. He stared at her before tilting his head to the side.

"Huh?"

She pointed to the worksheet that sat on the counter. "The answer to the derivative of three x squared plus two," she said with ease.

Arthur stared down at his paper for a moment, and then it clicked. "Oh geez," he sputtered out before shoving his paper under the counter, "Sorry, I didn't hear anybody enter the shop. What can I help you with?"

The girl laughed. "It's cool," She said with a shrug, "You seem to need more help than I do." She stuck out her hand, "Michelle."

"Arthur," They shook hands.

"I know," She said pointing to her chest. Arthur looked a bit shocked until he heard her mind continue.

I saw your name tag.

"Sorry," Arthur said lightly, "sometimes I forget I'm wearing one."

The girl's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Forget you're wearing what?"

Shit. That wasn't supposed to happen. "Oh nothing," Arthur said quickly, "You go to the private college?"

Michelle shrugged. "Yeah…"

God, no, can we not talk about school and shit.

Arthur bit his lip. "So what did you come here for?" he said changing subject.

Michelle light up with a smile. She pulled her bag off one of her shoulders and dug in the small pocket. She pulled out a paper and slapped it on the counter. "My book just arrived!"

Arthur took the slip and gave the other a brief smile before going into the back room to get the book.

I can't believe you were right! He is totes attractive! I called dibs on this one, girl!"

Arthur winced as he caught a piece of the thought. The girl must have been texting on her phone; that was only time normal people seemed to think in conversation. It was an odd habit that seemed to happen to the best of people. It was interesting how some people would even reread their messages over and over again. Although those thoughts caused Arthur a lot of headaches, it was sometimes cute to see people getting flustered about the simplest things. Oh god, that didn't make him creepy, did it?

When he walked back out of the room, his suspicion was confirmed. Michelle closed her phone with a click and gave another cheeky smile. Arthur ran the rest of the transaction and handed her the two books. "Thanks, Arthur," She said taking them but making no move to leave. Arthur was going to respond but he was cut off as Michelle continued.

Her cheeks became a lil tinted as she spoke, "If you still need some help with math, I could-"

The door slammed opened. The bell clanked about as the door hit the wall.

AH SHIT!

Ah, shit…

Ah, shit. Arthur quickly handed the book and attempted to run into the back room but was cut off by the sound of his name.

"Hey, Arthur!" Alfred said barreling his way to the counter.

Turning back around slowly, he crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you want?" Arthur said tiredly.

"What? Alfred said scratching the back of his head, "Can't I say hi to a friend?"

"You're his friend?!" Michelle sneered.

"Hey Michelle," Alfred said with the same cheerful tone.

"Ugh," Michelle spat out before turning away and walking out the room with a bit of anger in her step.

I just can't believe him! Showing up just when I start to move on!

Arthur had to stop himself form saying something as Michelle stormed out the door. It was a surprising change to say the least. Alfred was a bit of an annoyance but he didn't expect that kind of bitterness.

"Do you know her?" Arthur said intrigued by the sudden turn of Michelle's attitude.

"Who? Michelle?" Alfred said playing with one of the toys sitting on the counter. Arthur grabbed the toy to cease his playing and waited in silence for his answer. "I dated her, like, once," Alfred said with a shrug, "No big deal."

"It seemed like a big deal."

IS HE GOING TO LECTURE ME ABOUT LEAVING HER, TOO?

Arthur shrugged. If Alfred didn't want to talk about it, neither did he. It's not like they were friends or anything.

"Well if you came to bother me on the job, you can go home," Arthur said moving on.

Alfred rebounded quickly. "But that's what friends do!"

Arthur sneered. "Don't say that…"

"Say what?"

"That we are friends."

"But we are!" Alfred said with a goofy smile on his face.

Arthur frowned. Nobody wants to be friends with him. That's why he doesn't have friends. He has acquaintances. To think some idiot wanted to be his friend was completely laughable. He snorted.

"I have things to do," Arthur said moving around the counter, "If you're going to be in here don't get in my way."

Arthur took off his apron and hung it in with the rest of the employ uniforms. He sighed and reaching up stretch wearily. That blond idiot had followed him around all day. He hadn't even bothered to hold the conversation. When he as quiet; Alfred was quiet. It was so stressing to have someone watch and think about him. Not to mention, embarrassing.

"Did you need something?" Arthur said to what would appear to be an empty room.

His boss looked up from where he had been sitting. He was reading a paper under a dim light. Arthur couldn't help but think that must be horrid on the eyes. His boss gave him a wary look.

"Arthur, tomorrow we are going to have to meet with the Vargas family," His boss stated factually.

These meetings were something Arthur never attended. It was something the Beilschmidts did once a week. Ludwig and Gilbert talked little about the visits, and Arthur couldn't very well ask his boss now, could he? During that time it would mean that Arthur was going to be running the store alone. The additional work and hours would mean he would get extra pay so it wasn't too bad.

"Alright," Arthur said, "What time will I need to be here to open the store?"

"What do you mean?" Arthur turned at stared at his boss a little confused. He was about to repeat his question when he was cut off. "I said 'we'," his boss said evenly shuffling through more papers, "That includes you."

Arthur was a little taken back by this. He paused in grabbing his bag off of the floor.

"You'll have to be riding with Ludwig and the other one… so be here at 5am."

Arthur nodded slowly, still in a slight shock. He reached down and grabbed his bag off the ground and made his way to the door. He stopped in the door frame. "Why?" he asked with a bemused expression.

His boss looked up from his papers a second time. He gave Arthur a tired frown but didn't say anything. When Arthur tried to read his mind, it was clear. There was nothing but silence between them before Arthur awkwardly shuffled out the room. Why did he even bother questioning Mr. G's methods?

He pulled his jacket out and wrapped it around him. The nights were getting colder which signaled the approaching winter. He sighed.

CHAPTER END