Mello's POV
I woke up to two things. My phone screaming What's Up People at maximum volume and a text reminder of how much my life sucks.
Your shift starts at seven, do not forget, Mello-kun. I will attempt to keep you employed, but I can only do so much.
OX OX OX,
~L
I groaned and flipped over on my bed, burying my face in my pillow as I glared at the text. My phone, being the piece of shit that it was, continued scrolling down the message automatically, revealing a slightly cheering addition to the text.
P.S. I apologize for asking, but what is the significance of oxen in text speech? Misa refuses to tell me.
Rolling my eyes I kicked the covers off of me. Contrary to any former belief you might think about a bitchy person like myself, I'm actually pretty good at getting up in the morning. I am what you might call a 'morning person'… at least, if I have my coffee, that is.
Coffee. Jesus… I needed that soon.
I crawled out of my bed and slunk across the floor, bare feet slapping against the cold tile below my feet as I entered the kitchen. My kitchen, if you can even call it that, is really just a fridge, a microwave, and four cabinets, one of which has a door that refuses to close properly no matter how hard I slam it, so instead rests wide open, exposing random items (bread, peanut butter, a few bananas, ect.) to the world. There's also a mini-fridge, which I stole from my University buddy Halle Linder (not technically stole, since she said I could take it, but oh well) which is full of nothing but chocolate bars. I don't need my chocolate to be cold, but cold chocolate is just amazing on a hot day, you know? And…
I better not get on my chocolate rant again, or this will get longer than it needs to be.
Snatching one said chocolate bar from the mini fridge I swing around and throw open my large fridge, rolling my eyes as it makes a loud squeaking sound in protest to being opened. Old shit fridge. After grabbing the milk carton from inside, though the smell of the stuff makes me decide to skip breakfast. I really should go grocery shopping….
I toss the carton into the trash on my way out the door, trying my best to keep my mind of what exactly I'm heading out to do, but really it's rather hopeless. Mello, Mello who hates children, Mello who avoids all things pink at all costs unless it's raspberry filling for chocolate, Mello who has two guns stashed in his house and in his pants (don't judge) at all times, Mello who detests sparkly headbands and the tween girls who wear them, Mello who is not a girl, is going to work at Justice.
How freakin' lovely. But then, Nice-Ass would be there. Nice-Ass not only was insanely attractive (at least from behind) but he looked pretty decent from the glance I got of him. Probably a total nerd, but still. It could be at least a little fun, right?
As the thought passed through my mind, a car zipped by and splashed me with mud, dousing my entire lower body with wetness, thus ruining a perfectly good pair of leather pants.
I didn't believe in omens, but hell, that could not be a good sign.
I arrived at Justice four minutes early in a new pair of pants (these ones were just black jeans, since I couldn't find any other leather ones when I sprinted back to my house to change thanks to that fucked-up mud-splash from that ass-hole driver). Believe it or not I tend to be early to a lot of things, despite my chronic tendency to screw shit up. I'm good at the little things like that, and plus, I hate missing things, any things. Even if such things were little tween girls and L and…
Oh, and Nice-Ass. I scanned the store nondescriptly with my eyes before I actually entered the dreaded place, trying my best to spot him, but he was no where to be seen. Shit, do we have different shifts?
"Mello-kun."
I twisted my head around to find the source of the voice that had called me, which of course was L, standing in his usual hunched fashion right inside the door. I nodded to him but didn't smile, instead just stalking my way into the store. There was no one inside as of yet, meaning the store wasn't open quite yet (thank god, I could not deal with little girls right now).
"Hey Lawli, I'm here~" I chirped with fake enthusiasm, ensuing some sarcastic jazz hands beside my head. As usual, though, L didn't catch the sarcasm, flashing me a smile of his own.
"I am glad you are so enthusiastic, Mello-kun. That's one of the requirements here," he replied cheerfully. I frowned deeply at this, but he ignored me, spinning on his bare heel and gesturing to the cashier's desk. "That's the cashier desk," he explained pointlessly. "Which is where you'll probably be working most of the time, but you'll also be required to do other jobs such as helping customers and-""L, I think I get it," I cut him off in a rough tone, something most people would never dare do, since it was L and he was a rather intimidating person to people who don't know him well. L blinked and looked up at me again, a slight glimmer of anger and distaste in his eyes for a moment before he seemed to remember it was me he was talking to and let his expression soften into his usual blank gaze.
"Ah, yes, I suppose that is correct, you did work at Hot Topic for a while there, correct?" he inquired. I nodded my head (that hadn't been a fun job, actually, since the ass-hole guy I worked with kept trying to make me let him dye my hair and shit) and he continued, "Well then you'll get the gist of this. Since you're new in the store, however, you'll be expected to listen to everything you're elder employees tell you, alright? Matt will help you with any problems or questions you have."I scan the room with my eyes again, spotting a bubbly blonde girl with pigtails scampering about on the other side of the room who sends shivers down my spine just looking at (is THAT what the employees are like here?) but who most certainly isn't Matt. "Where's the guy? The Matt kid?" I inquired. Inwardly I was praying he wasn't some kind of jock or something lame, which is what the name Matt makes me originally think of since there's a Matthew in our University who's a total blockhead, because I wouldn't be able to deal with that.
L's half-smile fades into a scowl. "Good question," he replied bluntly, turning towards the door. "He should be here soon, he's always a bit late."Just as the word late escaped L's mouth, said youth came bursting through the doors, slowing his pace just inside the door at a screeching halt. I froze looking at him, all senses immediately activated into overdrive.
Red hair, very red hair, goggles (yes, goggles, weird as hell right?) adjusted on top of his eyes, really soft looking fuzzy vest that I really wanted to poke, black and white long-sleeved shirt, tight skinny jeans… a very tell-tale ass…
So Nice-Ass had my shift after all.
I watched with dim curiosity from behind a rack of really disgusting looking flavored lip-gloss (who on Earth wears all this crap?) as Nice-Ass scrambled around at the counter, exchanging a few words with the blonde girl before settling down at the counter. I pretended half-heartedly to listen to what L was saying (something about being respectful to customers despite age or some shit) as I watched him discreetly pull out some sort of hand-held game system from his pocket, eyes darting over to L worriedly before burying himself into the gaming world. It clicked in my mind then.
Nice-Ass was a nerd. In fact with t hat get-up he looked like the kind of nerd who stayed up all night playing video games, just to beat a level. The kind of guy who joined those weird guild things and spent all their money on the latest update on their Playstation-Whatever.
The kind of nerd who had a really freakin' nice body. What the fuck?
"Mello-kun, are you listening to me? I just asked you a question." L insisted on my attention, it seemed, and I turned my head to look at him.
Keeping my expression casual I let out a tiny lopsided smile as I answered, "Not really."
L rolled his eyes, turning and gesturing to Nice-Ass (which I suppose must actually be called Matt, but whatever) with a nod of his head. "Well, I suppose Matt will keep your attention better than I will," he guessed whimsically, a tiny flicker of something or another in his eyes, possibly teasing. I shot him a glare, but he was right, of course. I always paid more attention to people who interested me, and though L was a very interesting man, I'd gone through enough years of trying to figure him out.
Nodding, L took this as his leave, striding off towards a small office in the back that I hadn't noticed before just as the first few customers filed in. The giddy girl in the back of the store, blonde hair bobbing behind her, rushed to greet them with a giant grin on her face, high pitched voice calling out, "Welcome to Justice! Looking for anything in particular todayyy~?"
Note to self: avoid spaz-head blonde.
Striding across the store and dodging a over-excited brunette on her way towards the bathing suit section of the store I made my way over to the cashier's desk, leaning half-casually on the counter in front of Nice-Ass. I didn't say anything, though, choosing instead to simply stare him down until he noticed me. It wasn't that hard of a thing to do at least at first, since he was quite the looker, and not just in his ass. High cheek bones, full lips, animated face that twitched and expressed as he played (he was probably playing some difficult part judging by the concentrated frown on his lips at that moment). His hair was cut nicely so that it just brushed his goggles, which annoyingly covered any evidence that he had eyes, and I could tell he had some sort of muscle under that baggy shirt as well by the way it laid on his back when he crouched over the game.
After about twenty seconds Nice-Ass finally noticed my presence (it usually takes less than this, trust me) but barely glanced up from his game to do so before looking back to it as he talked. "So you're the new employee, right?" he inquired. I mm-hmmed in reply, not bothering to give him an actual response since he clearly wasn't paying any real attention to me (jackass). Then he seemed to remember something, blinking and turning around, eyes not leaving his game as he shuffled one-handedly through some t hings under the desk. I frowned and watched him as he did this, a look of extreme concentration on his face until he inexplicably pulled out a sparkly dark-blue headband from the shelf under the desk, slapping it down on the counter.
Before I could ask what the hell that was about, he told me. "Just wear the headband," he said bluntly, clicking a few more buttons on his game. "All the new female employees have to."
I froze, eyes widening in shock. Female? This nice-assed son of a bitch thought I was a chick! I felt the temper inside of me start to boil, my hands clenching into fists as I watched Nice-Ass happily click away at his game, not even bothering to look up at me to see what the deal was. What a fucking…
I really shouldn't have done what I did next, but I did it anyway.
"I am a boy you son of a bitch!" I roared, slamming my fists down on the counter, voice ringing over the sound of Justin Beiber shit-music playing in the background. Nice-Ass jumped in surprise, head snapping up just as my fist was sent on a collision course with his face.
His perfect face crumpled under my attack and he fell backwards, howling in pain and surprise as I found myself doing a forward flip over the counter, sending the both of us barreling onto the floor. I shouldn't have been surprised that he wasn't much of a fighter, though he did get a few solid kicks to my thighs before I finally just pinned him face-first onto the pink-and-white tiled floor.
In the back of my mind I knew this position was rather compromising, what with me pinning him down, knees resting rather blatantly on his ass - which I was rather seriously tempted to feel up, by the way, but resisted, instead twining one hand in his hair and holding his head down and pressing the other hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he was pleading, wriggling helplessly under me with a look of extreme panic in his eyes. "I seriously didn't even look at you that well, I can tell you're a guy! I'm easily distracted!""You're a fucking idiot, that's what you are," I growled back, still highly irritated. "You could have glanced up from that thing for two fucking seconds, you ass."
He twisted slightly to glare up at me, much to my surprise, though I could barely see his eyes at all from under the goggles. "Well so-ree if you have a feminine figure!" he snapped, squirming a bit.
My eyes widened in shock, not altogether offended by his accusation but rather surprised that he even argued with me. Most people simply begged for mercy until I got off of them, but-
Nice-Ass took my shock as an opportunity, spinning his body around and throwing me to the side. I caught myself on my palm just barely to avoid collision with the counter (which was luckily obscuring most of the view of our fight from customers, though we were frightening the hell out of a duo of small redheaded girls waiting to check out) but it was futile, since he jumped at me in attempt to pin me down again.
He was a lot bigger than me, in bulk anyway since I'm rather lithe (though I'm happy to say I think I'm at least a few centimeters taller) but I'm a better fighter, and I tuck my legs into my stomach and deliver a kick to his chest, sending him falling upwards and stumbling over his boots. I leapt to my feet and threw myself at him again, quite ready to hastily rip him to shreds (or at least his pants… oh god, mind out of the gutter please) only to have myself choked by the edge of my shirt. Gagging I spun around to find that L had grabbed me by the back of my shirt, said raven-haired man's leg currently pressed against Nice-Ass's chest in order to block him from moving forward as well. He was twisted in such a way that would look impossible on anyone but him, but I'd seen it many times before - what was horrifying to me was the intense blackness of his eyes, the only way one could tell anger on L's face.
Shit.
"Mello, do not attack Matt, at least not in my store, please," L said monotonously, just a hint of anger there. It was a tone that would make you think you were off the hook to anyone who didn't know him well - really, L was furious. "Matt, do not make offensive comments to Mello, and try to pay more attention - put the game away." Matt seemed to know that tone too, his face paling slightly as he shoved the game device back into his vest pocket.
L then turned to me, clearly taking this problem as my fault (and probably rightfully so) and narrowing his eyes. "Mello, I can't really say I'm surprised you've caused a fight," he told me bluntly, causing me to flinch slightly under his reprimand, since he was one of the only people I actually cared about the opinion of. I felt myself shrinking little by metaphorical little as he continued, "But I am rather ashamed of you - Matt is here to help you, and just because of one comment you shouldn't have attacked him. If you weren't a close friend of mine-"Out of seemingly no where, though, Matt spoke up, something that surprised me highly. "It was my fault too," he squeaked, the high-pitched nervousness in his voice being what would be amusing in almost any other situation. L blinked and turned to him, a frown on his face. "We'll be better," he added, flashing a smile. If I wasn't currently irked at him, I'd have melted because of that particular nervous, lopsided grin, but instead I only glared in his direction. Still I failed to keep the gears in my head from turning. So he's not a total dick, I guess…
"Very well," L said after a while, sighing and shaking his head. "Just get back to work. Mello, take cashier duty." Wait, he was letting us off the hook? That was new. I grinned a little at this, mostly because I knew it wouldn't last.
Matt - who it seemed I had subconsciously started calling by his real name, what a pity - seemed to deflate with relief, the smile vanishing to a lopsided half-smile that seemed to be his default expression as he scrambled away to do whatever Justice employees do. Just as he did this I caught him glancing over his s houlder at me, though, a weird expression on his face; I met said glance with a snaky smirk, just for fun, and he quickly looked away with a scowl. I grinned and turned to the cash register, glancing over it's simple workings without even a trickle of interest. No, my interest was invested in Nice-Ass (or rather in Matt) at that moment. I couldn't place exactly why, but he was interesting. Fun to toy with, in any case. Plus, he was fucking hot.
This job wouldn't be so bad…maybe.
Oh fuck who was I kidding. Between random girls flirting with me (oh the look on their faces when I told them I was gay, though, that was priceless), to being forced to give people advice on what pants matched their body types (you're twelve, you don't even have to worry about that yet!), to dealing with Misa (who turned out to be the most annoying girl on the planet), to having Nice-Ass avoid me all day (well you did punch him in the jaw…), to listening to Disney-channel shit all day (Hannah Montana? I mean really!), to just plain sitting around waiting for customers, the rest of the day was pure hell. I survived only because L, being the sweetheart that he is, bought me a chocolate mocha from StarBucks. That, and because when Matt was swerving around to avoid me I got a lot of good looks at his ass.
Yeah, I'm kind of a perv, sue me.
By 10:30 I was nearly spent, full ready for my eyes to start bleeding or some shit, and I still had half an hour left. I had only been there three and a half hours and I was already dying - how pathetic. Still, it was almost done, though my shifts were a lot shorter on week days. I took all afternoon and night classes at the University (praise the lord for that, it made everything so much more convenient…) so I could take morning shifts as I was now for Justice, which is why I took the 7-11 shift.
I peeked at the clock for the seventeenth time in the last forty seconds to see that it was 10:45 now. I was about to mutter more profanity when a bouncy brunette girl came sauntering over to the counter. And by bouncy I am being completely literal - I'm talking her chest was practically pornography. There was no way in hell judging by her outfit that she was actually here to shop, in any case, and by the way she was eyeing me I knew exactly why she was here.
So before she could say anything, I quipped, "I'm gay." My voice was so casual you might have thought it was my normal greeting towards people (it isn't), and her face went pale. Clearly I was correct, because she quickly pulled up her shirt, face flushing out in a rather unattractive way.
"I-I… alright," she blurted stupidly, twirling her hair around on her finger nervously. "I-I'll just take some nail polish." I had to smirk a little as she clumsily grasped for a random bottle of polish beside her, which happened to be a pasty yellow (who has pasty yellow nail polish anyway, would that even show up?) and clacking it down on the counter in front of me with a lopsided, nervous grin. If this were an anime, it would be her cue to have sweat drops go down her forehead.
"Alright, that'll be twenty seven dollars," I told her, making up a random price off the top of my head and not even scanning the item. She was so caught up in her own little nervous breakdown that she didn't even notice, slapping down thirty bucks on the counter and snatching the bottle. Just to be mean out of general spite for skanks like her, I added, "And please, this is a children's store. Don't expose yourself - it's fucking distasteful."
Not pausing to get her change she nodded hastily, shoving her shirt up almost to her neck before scrambling away, almost colliding with a mother toting a toddler on her way out the door. I snickered to myself and turned around…
…To find Matt bent over searching through some sort of box, wiggling his hips back and forth to whatever techno-rap was playing above our heads (better than Disney whatever it was) as he did it. I immediately stopped whatever I had been doing (I don't remember what, too distracted at the moment) to ogle him. Damn, I hadn't been kidding myself before when I said he had a fine lower half, because holy Hershey-flavored hell, he did. Every gay gene in my body wanted that ass.
Fuck, I'm turning into a complete pervert. I realized after a few more moments of staring that Matt had twisted around to look at me over his shoulder, an awkward yet adorable kind of position. The next thing I noticed was that his eyes were wide behind his goggles, a look of great confusion and concern on his face. "Um… what are you doing?" he inquired tentatively, pulling a frilly pink tank top out of the box he was shuffling through, eyes flickering with uncertainly.
Not bothering to be discreet, I shrugged and told him the truth. "Just staring at your ass."
I swear, I'd never seen a boy stand up and flee so quickly as he did right then. And all I could do in response was laugh.
This boy was entertaining.
Matt's POV
I was late again the next morning. Normally I wouldn't care, but dude, that's the eighth time in a row. A guy like me does eventually get guilty, you know? Plus, I'd taken the 7 am - 11 pm shift, meaning I had an extra hour to sleep. Yet still, I was late.
I woke up at exactly 6:55 am and had a minute to choke down a handful of cereal. I took a swig of milk before starting to get dressed, finally finishing in two minutes. I tripped down the stairs more than once as I tried to run to the front curb, where my car was. As I usually did, I unlocked my car(no complications, thankfully), shoved myself in, and was hurtling down the road so fast I nearly ran over several of my neighbors(sorry, old lady with the cat!).
Surprisingly, I haven't been given any speeding tickets yet. I mean, I drive with an average of 25 miles above the speed limit, but no cop has stopped me and charged me for breaking the law. Not that they'd catch me, of course... My lips twitched up in a little smile as I conjured up an image of the cops chasing me, though only losing in the end. I was so caught up in the fantasy that I nearly ran into a stop sign. I swerved the car to the left and didn't stop, only going faster.
See what I mean? I'm 30 miles per hour above the speed limit, yet no cop has popped out to arrest me. It's either they love me, which is weird, or I'm lucky. It's probably the latter.
I was entering the mall's parking lot sometime later. Just before I turned off the ignition, I caught a glimpse of the time. 7:02 am.
Cursing to myself, I walked to the mall's entrance. I was silently thankful that it was too early in the morning for people to be shopping, and not many children were up this early anyway, so the halls were completely kid-free.
I hoped L wouldn't be roaming the store. Usually, Misa was the first one to arrive and L assigned her to take attendance most of the time. L was really, really strict about being on time. Being one minute late to him was like committing a crime. He punished us by giving extra shifts, or giving us customers to help that were hard to work with.
My anxiety grew, the fact that I was now three minutes late didn't help. I found myself sprinting to Justice. I reached the store, skidding to a stop just as I passed the entrance, narrowly avoiding a rack of clothes. The first thing my eyes were drawn to was a blob of yellow. Well, I could guess it was yellow. It was brighter, and shinier. Maybe gold? Damn, it made me want to run my fingers through the silky str-
Oh, shit. I noticed L, who had a scowl etched onto his face. I instinctively locked my eyes with the floor, walking quickly past him and behind the counters. Misa was there to greet me.
"Sorry, Mattie," she whispered. "I tried to get him to stay in his office 'til you arrived, because Misa-Misa knew you were going to be late. But he said there was a new employee and he needed to greet them." She had a guilty look on her face.
"It's all right, he doesn't seem to mad," I murmured. She let me past, and I busied myself with setting up the register. Once it was ready, I scoped the room and found that it was still empty, save for Misa, L, and another blond girl who I thought was the new employee. I figured I could probably play for a while, at least until someone was ready to check out.
I took out my PSP(I'd be lying if I told you it was easy to pocket anything in these damn skinny jeans), resuming my game of Street Fighter. I'd won two battles with Ryu already when I heard the noise level slowly escalating, a signal that customers were coming. Great, I probably only had about five more minutes of gaming until one of those annoying girls would come up and either start flirting or hand me things to ring up(well, at least they couldn't molest my vest if I stayed behind the counter the whole time). Either way, I was unhappy. Ryu was getting his ass kicked, and I swear to god if I lost the match, I'd dramatically throw my PSP to the ground and then scream in agony. Not that I actually would. Scream, maybe. But harming my precious PSP? No way in hell.
I focused on my game harder, the tip of my tongue poking out from the corner of my lips as I frantically tried to beat my opponent. Punch, Ryu, punch, punch, punch-!
I became aware someone was staring at me.
Pausing my game, I glanced upwards. Oh. It was just the new girl. Unpausing my game, I balanced my PSP on my right while simultaneously pressing buttons. My left hand expertly dug around a cardboard box beside my foot until I found what I was looking for, setting the accessory on the counter. The thing was sparkly and dark blue, and even though I found it a little pretty, it was too girly. Which was perfectly why all the female employees had to wear them.
I told the new girl this fact, pushing the headband towards her. I returned my left hand to my game, finally beating my enemy when Ryu delivered a hard kick to his stomach. I allowed myself to grin triumphantly, basking in the glow of winning. Now, I just needed to save...
"I am a boy you son of a bitch!" I heard the girl screech, her voice effectively overpowering my game's theme music. I noted the manly tone in it, and I realized my mistake. Stricken, I looked up to apologize, only to find my face in the way of a fist.
I let out a surprised noise, tumbling backwards and losing grip of my game. I watched in horror as it landed on the tiled floor, only to be tackled to the ground also by a flurry of leather and blond hair. I automatically started to fight back, because no one messed with my PSP and got away with it.
Apparently, the man was freakin' strong and he pinned my face down to the floor, practically forcing me to taste the pink tiles. Eww, tastes like nail polish and lip gloss and barf...
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I repeated, trying to wriggle my way closer to my PSP. I needed to know if I'd saved. "I seriously didn't even look at you that well, I can tell you're a guy! I'm easily distracted!" I told him honestly, feeling desperate.
"You're a fucking idiot, that's what you are," he growled lowly. "You could have glanced up from that thing for two fucking seconds, you ass." His blond hair was touching an uncovered part of my neck, and I was reminded that this was the guy who had hair I wanted to run my hands through. Damn, looks could deceive.
I twisted my neck into an uncomfortable angle to glare at him. "Well, sorry if you have a feminine figure!" I said angrily. Jeez, all this for a teensy little comment I made?
His eyes were wide now, and I took this as a cue to act. I twisted my torso 180 degrees, throwing him to the side. I caught him off-guard so my plan worked, and I dove at him like some fuckin' rabid dog jumping after a cat. I tried to pin him down, but he delivered a hard kick to my chest. The impact forced me on my feet a little but then I went down again, crashing on my butt. It hurt and I bit back a groan of pain, knowing the psychotic blond would be going at my throat again. I rose to my haunches, ready to meet him halfway. Unexpectedly, someone's bare foot collided with my chest and I was almost thrown back had not my arms been supporting me.
The moment I felt an impending sense of doom I knew it was L(who else walked around barefoot, anyway?). I looked up, drinking in the sight before me. The crazy he-she(well, he) was being restrained by, indeed, L.
"Mello," my manager said, addressing my attacker, "do not attack Matt, at least not in my store, please."
So his name was Mello. I was tempted to say the name out loud, but figured it would be rude to interrupt L.
"Matt," L said, turning to me, "do not make offensive comments to Mello, and try to pay more attention." I kept my eyes on him dutifully as my hand reached to the side to grab my PSP. "Put the game away," L ordered. I paled, knowing that L had blown a gasket. Shit, he rarely got angry, and when he did...
I figured that trying to shove my PSP into my skinny jeans wouldn't be fitting in the situation, so I had to resort to putting it in my vest pocket. I was trying to secretly check that my game had been saved(it had) when I heard L blaming the Mello guy for the fight.
"It was my fault too," I spoke up in a tiny voice. Sure, Mello had started the fight, but I had fought back, so...
When L looked at me with a hard look, I added, "We'll be better." I even threw in a smile, hoping they'd do the trick. Luckily they did, and L sighed, shaking his head in what I thought was disappointment.
"Very well," he said. "Get back to work. Mello, take cashier duty." As he walked away, I exhaled in relief and stood up, a lazy expression taking over my face. I shuffled away to fold some shirts that had been sloppily put back when I realized Mello was still back there. I glanced back, not really sure what to say. I considered apologizing, even though he didn't look like he would apologize back. I caught his eyes and I was about to say the apology when he smirked at me.
The bastard. Fuckin'. Smirked.
All intentions of apologizing went out an imaginary window, and I scowled, sharply looking away. I stomped to the misplaced shirts, silently seething.
Calm down, Matt, I told myself. He probably wants you to get worked up at him. Nodding slightly to myself, I began to fold a white t-shirt neatly. I was halfway done when I saw Mello getting too close to me in peripheral vision. I dropped the shirt I was folding and tried to be casual about runni-walking away from him.
Three and a half hours slowly dragged on. I was on edge the whole time, practically sprinting away the moment I saw that Mello was within ten feet of me. Needless to say, he look amused, which angered me even more. He also looked miserable, though. I didn't blame him; the first time I worked here without my goggles my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from all the pink. That was why I'd made a point to wear my goggles everyday. They tinted the pink and made it seem purplish.
I realized, as I sneaked a fiftieth glance at Mello, that he seemed to avoid Misa like she had a plague. I inwardly did a victory dance and walked over to Misa, sure that I was now untouchable. Sadly, the girl Misa was helping was asking if we had a bigger size of a shirt she was holding up. Misa turned to me and asked me if I could go get it for her. Being the nice person I was(that, and L was doing his hourly check-up on us), I nodded and turned towards the directions of the cashiers.
Fuck. Mello was there, talking to some slutty-looking girl with short shorts. I slipped behind him, unnoticed as he commented on the girl's too-revealing outfit. I bent down to rummage through a box of shirts, trying to find a size 9 shirt. As the song over the radio ended, a new one began, and I noticed with glee that it wasn't any of Disney channel's usual crap. I hummed along with the song, unconsciously moving my hips too as I searched for the shirt. I was perfectly focused on the task at hand until I felt that feeling again. The one where it was like someone was staring at me. (Jeez, I wonder why I've been feeling like that so much lately.)
Clutching a random shirt, I turned my head to look at Mello, who I'd been fully suspecting before I even turned around. With a blush, I noticed that his eyes were trained on a specific part of my lower back.
"Um... What are you doing?" I asked dumbly, though I already knew the answer. I didn't why I just stayed in that position, still bent over with my ass exposed to Mello's perverted gaze. It took a few seconds for his blue eyes to flicker over, meeting my gaze with an air of confidence.
He shrugged. "Just staring at your ass," he stated bluntly.
I let out an indignant little squeak as I scrambled away, back to the safety of Misa. My squeak went unheard as Mello's laugh resounded behind me.
I was fuming when I reached my fellow female co-worker, handing her the top.
"Mattie," the perky blonde said, "This is a size 12!"
My eye twitched. "Well I was paying attention until I caught him staring at my ass blatantly," I muttered, taking back the shirt.
Misa giggled. "Who?" Her eyes locked on something behind me and she was smart enough to catch on. "Ohhhh!" She giggled again, saying in a teasing voice, "Mattie-kun has a stalker!"
My cheeks warmed and I pulled her behind a column, the one with a mirror on it. "Yeah, and he's being pretty open about it," I grumbled.
"I'll get back to you later!" Misa chirped to the girl she was helping. "Wait! You can give this to the nice guy up there on the counter and ask for the size you want!" Misa suggested.
The raven-haired girl nodded, taking the shirt and rushing away. I peeked out from behind the column after her, watching as Mello yanked the shirt out of her hands and replace it with the correct one. I saw the girl lean forward closer to Mello, obviously flirting... Then Mello smirked and said, "I'm gay." I was too far to actually hear him say it, but I was fairly good at lip-reading. Besides, what else could he have said? 'I'm hay?' Yeah, he'd definitely just announced his sexuality.
Suddenly, he was looking at me. Smirking, too, as if he knew that I'd heard him and he was happy that I had.
Pervert. Creepy, perverted stalker was a title that nicely suited him.
I quickly ducked behind the column again, looking at Misa for help. She was smiling. "Aww, Mello's attracted to Mattie!" she sing-songed.
Yeah, I thought wearily. He's definitely attracted.
"Anyway, it's not Mello's fault!" Misa exclaimed, spinning me around to face the mirror. "Mattie's so adorable." She pinched my cheek playfully.
I winced. "Um, sure," I said uncertainly, wondering what was so cute about my appearance. My hair was as red as it could be, always sticking out in a crowd. With my lanky figure (although I did a few muscles) and weird outfit I looked... Well, I looked like a nerd, especially with my goggles. They hid my eyes, the only thing about me I found nice.
So why did Mello harass me, anyway(besides my ass)? He was just probably creepy that way.
After an involuntary shudder, I walked out from behind the column and tried to focus on helping customers. I stayed behind a rack of jackets as often as I could, helping the people there. When I glanced at the clock and saw it was 11 o'clock, I silently cheered and got ready to leave Justice. God, I couldn't wait to get home.
Now I just had to cross my fingers and hope Mello's shift didn't end at the same time.
A/N: Sooooo, did you like it? XD I loved Atreyl's part personally. Anyhow here's an update, the next one will be soon...erorlater. X3 R&R? -Holli