Chapter 3 - Happy Christmas (War is Over)
"You going up?" I asked as I pushed the button to call the elevator down to the basement.
"Yeah." He answered with a smile.
I looked up to see the light indicating the elevator was stopped on the second floor, when it didn't immediately begin to move I knew we'd be waiting for a while. There was only one elevator that went to the bottom floor and it was a slow extra large service elevator on the back side of the building that we used for moving merchandise, which is what I suspected was happening now. I leaned against the wall and smiled at my companion.
Edward Masen and I had met on my first day of training and developed a fast friendship even though he was technically my supervisor at the time. Edward was only a few years older than me and was one of the other members of the staff that had attended business school. We had found we had much in common and now I considered him one of my best friends. When it came time for my promotion Edward had been the one who'd put my name in. Edward was a floor manager at Cullen's, all that really meant was he made sure none of the department managers killed each other, our sales reps, or ourselves in our attempts to "offer the best service possible to our customers".
Working with Edward, you came to realize there were two personalities living in the same body. The Edward that was all about work and the Edward that was as sarcastic and snarky as the rest of us. The physical differences between the two was always slight, but I knew how to read him. His hair was combed and slicked back and his eyes shone a vivid green behind his black framed spectacles, but it was the smile that gave him away. It was his sincere smile, the one that was infectious. "So…how was your holiday?" I asked with a small chuckle.
His mouth twitched up into an even larger grin as he responded. "Oh it was okay, watched the parade, ate too much, fell asleep on the couch to a football game the usual. How about you?"
I laughed, "Pretty much the same actually."
"You watch football?" He scoffed.
"Your tone wounds me Masen." I exclaimed sarcastically. Edward looked at me over the rims of his glasses skeptically, so I amended my tone and told the truth. "Okay so I sleep to football."
Edward chuckled once, "Why even have it on then?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "It's kind of tradition for me and my dad, even though he couldn't be here this year…"
Edward reached his hand out rest on my shoulder in a comforting manner. "I'm sorry to hear that Bella. I'm sorry I couldn't make it."
I waved off his apologies. "That's fine, I understand. I had Alice and Ellen to keep me company."
"Well that's good." He said dropping his hand from my shoulder.
"Yeah. It was nice." I answered truthfully because it had been. I enjoyed spending time with my NYC family. I had invited all of my close friends but I understood that many of them already had commitments to keep. I didn't know what Edward's plans had been, for as close as we were, we never really talked about many personal things like family. I got the feeling that the discussion made Edward nervous so I steered clear of it. "I have plenty of leftover's, if you're interested," I told him trying to keep my tone light.
"Oh really?" He said with a raised brow and I chuckled thinking of all of the food in my refrigerator.
"Yeah. Apparently none of my thanksgiving recipes come in any quantity other than extra large. So I'm pretty sure I'll be eating turkey for the next week anyway."
"Well I'd be happy to take some of that off your hands."
"I thought you would." I said with a genuine laugh. "You know, you'd figure a grown man living on his own would learn how to use a stove."
He held his hand over his heart as if he'd been mortally wounded. Quickly catching on to my teasing tone. "I know how to use it. I'm just not very efficient at it." I laughed again at his understatement. "Maybe I should watch one of your cooking demonstrations." He made a reference to my by weekly demos that I had to put on in the cookware.
"Maybe you should." I told him with a sly smile. "Then you might be able to at least use more than the microwave." I said the last part over my shoulder as I walked into the open elevator.
"I know how to use more than the microwave." I gave him a disbelieving look as he came to stand next to me. "What? I do." He assured me pressing the button for the fourth floor.
"The sandwich press incident." I reminded him with a raised brow.
"One time Swan…one time."
"Yeah and it was the last time I let you help me test out a new product."
"True." He told me. His eyes took on a far away look and I knew that he was remembering the incident as well. I had needed help that day and Edward was the only one that could be spared. Needless to say it was lucky we kept a fire extinguisher near by.
"Have you been up there yet?" I interrupted his contemplation and pointed to the ceiling of the elevator.
He shook his head slightly as if to clear it and then answered. "Oh yeah. I've been here for a few hours already. Hope you're ready Swan. Today is D-day."
I laughed at his history reference. "Are we at war Masen?"
"I think so." He said before the door opened and I saw exactly what it was he was talking about. I was seeing absolute madness even in this far corner of the store. The staff elevator emptied out in the very back of the woman's department and I hadn't seen it this busy since last year's prom season.
"Oh…my." I said as I was almost run over by a woman with her arms full of sweaters.
"Yeah." Edward said grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the way.
"I've never seen it this crazy before." I told him as I watched with wide eyes.
Edward chuckled. "It's something else this year. With the economy so down everyone is looking for deals."
"I guess so."
"It should die down after the early bird sales are done with." He tried to reassure me.
"I hope so. I didn't bring enough five hour energy to deal with this all day long." I tried to walk away but Edward grabbed a hold of my wrist.
"Hey you never did say what is it that you won't regret." He reminded me.
I laughed. "Oh it's Nothing. I just agreed to help Emmett out with his crush."
"Oh."
"Yeah…don't tell him I told you this, but he's been pinning after Rosalie for years."
"Rosalie?" His brow furrowed in confusion.
"Yep."
"Oh I thought…I thought she was engaged."
"Not anymore." I said softly. I didn't want to say much more because it really wasn't my news to share, and even though I knew Edward wasn't one to spread gossip I didn't know who Rose wanted to know.
"Well that's too bad." He said with a sad smile.
"Yeah." I agreed before turning again.
"Hey careful out there Swan, it's a war zone." he told me.
"War is over if you want it. War is over now…" I sang out.
"Really Swan?" Edward asked with a roll of his eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me. It's a Christmas song."
"Uh-huh," Edward said sarcastically, but he couldn't fool me. I knew him too well.
"Don't pretend you don't know it," I said with a smirk.
"I'm never letting you see my iPod again."
"As if you could stop me," I said shoving his shoulder playfully before walking away from him. I walked under a speaker and heard what song was playing over the store sound system. I turned back to see Edward still standing there watching me. "Ha! It's a sign!" I pointed to the ceiling indicating the Lennon song I had just been singing.
Edward laughed along with me. "Get to work Swan!" He reprimanded jokingly. I laughed loudly as I walked toward my department to start what might be the longest day I'd had in quite some time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~SB~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It really was a zoo. From nearly the first moment I set foot on the floor, I was in motion. If I wasn't helping customers or running the register, I was doing one of four of my cooking spots. Demo's were my favorite part of my job. It gave me a real opportunity to connect with the customers and to showcase my cooking ability to more than just Ellen, Alice and Quincy. Although they were always appreciative, it was nice to hear other people say that they liked my food.
I was in the middle of a conversation with a regular customer, Mrs. Cope, when I noticed Edward walk into my line of site over her shoulder. I smiled at him and finished bagging up Mrs. Copes purchases. "Here you are Mrs. Cope," I told her handing them over. "Your receipt is in the bag as well as some extra cookies for your husband."
"Bella...you think everything. Thank you."
"Thank you Mrs. Cope. Happy Holidays."
"Happy Holidays to you too dear," she replied to me in a sweet grandmotherly way as she walked away.
I fell back against the back counter "That was nice of you." Edward said coming closer to where I was leaning.
"What Mrs. Cope? She's a sweetie. She's in here at least once every week sometimes more. I think she gets lonely," I said with a sad smile. I could relate. I got lonely sometimes too. "So...what's up."
"Oh...I didn't see you at break."
"Oh. Is it already time?" I looked at my watch to see that I really had worked through my break. "Huh...I honestly didn't even notice."
"Well...I brought you this," he said producing can of diet coke from his pants pocket.
"You brought me 'on the floor contra-ban'?" I asked taking the can from him. "What kind of floor manager are you?"
"The kind that doesn't want his housewares manager to fall over due to lack of caffeine."
I laughed taking a long drink from the can. "Ah..." I sighed. "Thank you."
"You're very welcome. Just don't let the other managers know."
"You're secret is safe with me," I told him closing my eyes for a moment. When I opened them I saw Edward digging into my cookie stash on the counter. "Hey!" I exclaimed slapping his hand away. "Those are for the customers," I told him, even though he and I both knew I'd been nibbling on them all day. He raised one brow before taking a very deliberate and exaggerated bite of the cookie.
"Oh my god these are amazing!" He exclaimed taking another bite. "What on the earth do you put in these?"
"It's pretty much a basic sugar cookie recipe, but I always add a little bit of orange zest to cut some of the sweetness. I added peppermint oil to the ones shaped like candy canes," I explained as he finished one cookie and picked up another. "Don't you have work to do that doesn't involve scarfing down my cookies."
"Yes, but I like this better." I rolled my eyes at him.
"Excuse me miss!" A voice called out from around a display. I sighed and smiled at Edward before pushing off the counter and heading toward the man who was clearly out of his element.
"Hey Swan!" Edward called out to me before I got to far. I turned to him. "Try taking a break before the end of your shift okay? Besides you have to draw out a name for the company secret Santa"
"Oh that's right. I completely forgot. I will," I told him with a smile. "I saw that!" I called back without turning.
"I did nothing!" was Edward's all too innocent reply.
"You took another cookie," I accused turning this time to see him quickly hide the evidence behind his back. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"What do you have cookie radar?" He asked incredulously.
"It's one of my many Jedi powers." I nodded trying desperately to keep my face serious.
"I have to say Lennon and Star Wars in one day. I'm a bad influence." I smiled and shook my head trying to control my chuckling before going and helping the gentleman, who I'm sure still didn't understand what the differences were between the two mixers he had been looking at when he left the store a half hour later. I had made the sale none the less and quickly began to wind things down for the last hour of my shift.
