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HARD PLASTIC

Chapter Two

The next morning, the sky outside was a hazy mix of gray and blue, as the fog from last night hadn't yet lifted. I forced myself out of bed and was pleasantly surprised to see a pot of tea sitting on the table with the sugar and milk laid out prettily. I figured Alice was trying to sweeten me up in thanks for granting Jasper a home in our apartment.

As I sat down, Jasper walked out in nothing but sleeping pants and a robe that was wide open. He had a giant mug in his hand that matched the giant smile on his face. Seeing him here, especially without Alice around, was definitely going to take some getting used to. "Good morning, Bella! Did you sleep well?" He was certainly a chipper fellow in the morning.

"I did, thanks. How was your first night here?" I was thankful that the conversation with him seemed to flow comfortably.

"Better than I would have at my old place; Alice's bed is terribly comfy." He smiled, and I could see on his face that sleeping a couple more hours would have been easy for him.

"Good morning, my dears!" Alice sauntered out of her room, looking rested and obviously pleased at Jasper's being there. Her work clothes were, as usual, impeccably styled. Alice placed herself on Jasper's lap and I laughed at how tiny she was compared to him. They worked in perfect harmony as they each prepared their toast and tea. I smiled with them as we ate but I was suddenly very aware of my desire to joke with someone in the mornings while we had our breakfast together.

I finished my food quickly then showered and dressed for work. By the time I was ready they had both left and I found myself thankful for the quiet.

I managed to scrounge up enough change to be able to take the bus both to and from work and left, realizing I would be late very soon.

I finally arrived at the stop that was less than a block away from work and mentally high-fived myself when I saw that I still had a few minutes to spare before my shift started. As it was the beginning of August, my hair had frizzed somewhat with the humidity and I tried in vain to smooth it down, wishing I had whatever product it was that kept Alice's hair sleek and frizzless.

A moping Lauren was the first thing I saw when I walked inside and I groaned. "What's going on?"

Lauren sighed, "Heidi sprung a new girl on us. We're going to have to spend the next few days training her. I hate training people." That was true; Lauren was at the shop before me and I had to teach myself everything while she talked about how much she hated training. "Plus we have a ton of boxes to unpack and I'm not feeling it today."

I was confused about why Heidi would hire someone new since Lauren and I could easily handle the store's open hours on our own. We started cutting into the boxes and trying to organize the new shipments when we heard the front door open. "Hello?"

I quickly walked to the front, not wanting to lose a sale, and saw a tall blonde woman at the front. "Hi, can I help you?"

She smiled widely, "I hope so! I'm Rosalie and I just got a job here and I'm not quite sure what to do…" she trailed off, almost nervously. Her accent was crisp and eloquent.

"Oh! I'm Bella, Lauren's in the back. Heidi didn't mention you would start today." I smiled back at her and showed her to the back where she dropped her personal items. I then brought her back to the front and gave her a quick description of all the jobs she would have to do. Rosalie seemed overwhelmed. She also didn't have much experience, something Heidi valued since she wasn't one to waste time. I realized that Rosalie was more an aesthetic addition to the store; if she wore the clothes from here, so would everyone else (hopefully). It was a smart business move considering Rosalie was tall, slender and could have been at home in one of the magazines we kept on the table.

The hours passed slowly and little by little Rosalie got the hang of each job. Sort of. Eventually, since there hadn't been a customer in a couple of hours, we all went to the back to unpack and organize before it was time for my lunch break. The shop took up the entire floor of what used to be a very extravagant brownstone and part of the upstairs was the break room, Heidi's office, bathroom and a hardly used extra storeroom. There was a balcony through the French doors in the break room and this is where I normally took my lunch.

I sat on one of the metal chairs and nibbled on my food, watching the people on the sidewalk. Though I wouldn't admit it out loud, I enjoyed watching people pass by, knowing I would never see them again but enjoying the fact that for a moment in time we were in the same place at the same time. Admittedly a weird hobby, but something I enjoyed all the same.

As I looked on, I was startled when I locked eyes with a man sitting on a bench across the street. I wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there or how I hadn't noticed him yet. The first thing I noticed about him was his odd posture; perfectly straight compared to all the people slouching around him, yet it was almost as if he was posing. The second thing was that I recognized his outfit as being piece for piece what I had dressed the mannequin in last night. And the third thing I noticed, and the most odd, was that he was smiling beautifully right at me, and his smile never faltered.

I was shocked, yet I couldn't take my eyes off him. I bit my lip and slowly raised my hand in greeting. This seemed to please the man and his smile broadened, though I wasn't sure how it could have. I pulled my hand down and shot up, glancing back at the man before rushing back downstairs.

"Bella? Are you okay?" Rosalie asked sweetly, seemingly concerned.

I looked at her for a moment, "I think so. No, I am. I just saw something really strange outside."

Rosalie laughed, "Must have been really strange to catch your attention." I laughed with her, brushing off the little incident. "Look! It's almost closing time." This made me laugh even more.

"Rosalie, have you ever worked before?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

Rosalie blushed slightly, "Not exactly, especially not a job that had set hours. And call me Rose, please." I was taken back by how polite and gracious Rosalie was, especially compared to Lauren.

After Rosalie and I had talked a bit more, we went back to work, but the time to head home finally arrived and I couldn't have been more grateful. Although I had been able to shrug off the strange feeling I got after the incident with the man on the bench, I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I figured a change in location might get him out of my head.

"Have a good night, Rose!" I called out as my new coworker grabbed her bag and headed towards the front door.

"Night, Bella! Thanks for everything, really," she said to me before slipping out.

Lauren had left already so I was the last one out, and the one who had to lock up. My purse was messy, as usual, and I had trouble fishing the keys out. When I finally had them in hand, I heard something else crash to the ground and groaned, hoping it wasn't my phone.

After I heard the last click of a lock, I turned around to locate whatever it was I had dropped and nearly had a heart attack. "OH MY GOD!" I screamed, feeling my eyes go crazy wide.

The man from earlier stood there, holding my pack of Tic Tacs, smiling that broad smile from earlier. He said nothing, just smiled and extended his palm to hand me my item. "Oh, um, thank you…" I said awkwardly, trying not to be afraid. "Can you talk at all?"

He seemed confused for a moment, "Yes, I can talk," he responded, resuming his smile.

I nodded slowly, "Oh…okay. Well, thank you." I grabbed the Tic Tacs and started to walk away. I don't know why I wasn't afraid. Maybe it was because there was an instinct inside of me telling me that he didn't have the intention to harm me. Maybe it was because we were on a busy street and I had a full can of pepper spray on the outside pocket of my bag. Either way, I was neither shocked nor fearful when I heard him walking behind me.

I stopped and turned to look at him and he stopped in time with me, still smiling. "Can you stop smiling, please, just for a second?" He seemed confused and almost hurt but stopped. I slowly moved closer to him but he didn't inch back a bit. He raised his eyebrows at me and I couldn't help but notice how endearing his eyes became when he did that.

All of my talk about spontaneity and my desire for change seemed to clutter my head and instead of breaking away from this strange, strange man, I found myself asking him if he would like to walk home with me. After I said that, I felt like I couldn't say any more lest I choke on my own words.

His smiled reappeared, "I would very much."

And so we walked.