Jonathan felt like his eyes might fall out of his head.
It was midnight, and he'd been standing behind the gas station register for eight hours. He'd decided to cover Sean's shift and had barely seen a customer the entire time. Boredom ate away at his brain as the buzz of the fluorescents rang through his ears. He'd finished all his homework, organized the back room, scrubbed the counters clean. He'd done everything he could think of to alleviate the boredom and now he was left with absolutely nothing to do but wait for another two hours for his shift to end.
The shaggy haired boy stared wistfully out the window into the mid March air, watching the ice as it was trapped in a sort of half frozen, half melting state. Not for the first time that night did he wish he had his mother's camera with him.
He could hear his boss, Rufus, talking to someone down an aisle in the back of the store. Probably some girl he was trying to pick up. His greasy drawl made the teen want to plug his ears or run out of the convenience store head first. Whichever came first.
Jonathan ran his hands over his face, trying in vain to stay awake. Maybe smacking himself in the head would help?
"...So you'll just be restocking the shelves for the next day and shit like that", Jonathan heard Rufus drone on to someone. Why the hell was he talking about the shelves?
"...not a hard job, just don't rob us and we're good." Rufus continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm while making his way towards the cash register, "Not to mention the absolutely dazzling conversations you'll have with your coworker."
Coworker?
"Wait", Jonathan croaked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "Coworker?"
Rufus turned around, his head poking out from behind one of the shelves. His little rodent eyes squinted over at Jonathan, as if he was looking straight through him.
"Did I forget to tell you?", Rufus inquired passively, resting his elbow on the shelf beside him, "Shit. Sorry, bro."
Rufus shrugged before turning back towards the aisle, calling out to whoever was down there. They were obscured by a large stack of soda boxes and energy drinks. "This will be your fellow graveyard shift buddy, Jonathan."
Jonathan heard someone squeak in surprise down the aisle and something fall to the floor. The figure dropped down, apparently scrambling to pick up whatever it was they had dropped. Jonathan peered over, seeing a flash of brown frizz as the figure made their way around the corner. When he saw who it was, he wanted to slam his head against the cash register.
Sammy fucking Thompson.
Why did he keep running into this girl? Why did he have to keep humiliating himself in front of a girl who clearly wanted nothing to do with him?
Sammy scampered through the aisle, shoulders hunched together and head ducked down. Once again, she was rubbing at her nose to the point that Jonathan wondered if the skin was going to rub off. Rufus apparently didn't pick up on the awkward tension.
"So", he drawled, scratching at his ass without shame, "You two will be working until about two, then you're free to go. Sarah, you'll-"
"Uh, it's Sammy, actually", she provided quietly, dropping her fingers from the bridge of her nose and holding her arms stiffly at her side.
"Whatever", Rufus responded passively, waving her off, "You'll be restocking the shelves, making sure no one robs the place. Blah blah blah."
Jonathan watched as Rufus swayed slightly on his feet, smelling the stench of stale beer and nicotine rolling off of him. He snuck glances at Sammy, who still had her head ducked and hair covering her face.
"Well, one extra rule now", Rufus continued, gathering his bearings, "No fucking on the job."
Jonathan choked on his spit. His face burned as he stared down at the cash register, avoiding looking at either one of the people in front of him.
"What?", Sammy squeaked, her ears burning pink.
"Yeah, you know", the manager chuckled, winking at Jonathan grossly, "Boy and girl, late nights, that sorta shit. But it's kind of a rule that you can't go into the back room and-"
"Why would you think we would- that we'd-", Sammy sputtered, sticking her nose in the air angrily, "I wouldn't- just because he's a boy and I'm a girl doesn't mean we're gonna-"
"Look", Rufus cut in, sending a stale breath towards Sammy, who scrunched her nose at the foul stench, "I don't give a fuck what you to do. Just no robbing and no fucking. Got it?"
The manager didn't wait for an answer before heading down the aisle towards the parking lot. Sammy still stood there, her lips opening and closing as if she was still trying to figure out what to say to that. Jonathan felt his face still burning and rubbed at his cheeks to try and make the redness go down.
"He- uh, he does that a lot", Jonathan stuttered, trying to break the silence, "He goes to his car to get high during the shift."
She shot an embarrassed glare over towards the parking lot. "Classy", she muttered, fiddling with the backpack slung over her shoulder.
The two teens stood like that for what felt like an eternity. The buzz of the fluorescents was the only sound that cut through. Sammy stood there, shuffling her feet and clutching the strap of her backpack so tight her knuckled had turned white. Jonathan stood stiffly behind the register, unsure of what to say.
Before he could try to open his mouth, Sammy pointed towards the back room. "That's where we keep our stuff, right?"
Jonathan scratched at his ear, somehow struggling to answer the frizzy haired girl. "Yeah- uh, you can stash your stuff back there. You'll be- uh, you're stocking the shelves now, right?"
"Yeah", she responded, quickly ruffling through her bag and pulling out an old Walkman and headphones, "I'd better store this, you know, and get to work. First day, can't screw up."
"Oh- oh, yeah" Jonathan stuttered, retreating back slightly, "Just, if you need anything- questions or whatever- just ask. No one ever really comes in this late, so…"
"Well, at least it'll be quiet", she chuckled uncomfortably, turning towards the break room, "I'll just… yeah. Can't wait to work with you."
She quickly turned away and practically ran towards the break room. Once again, Jonathan had the urge to slam his head against the register. Silently, the boy cursed the universe for sticking him with the same frizzy haired girl who just couldn't seem to leave him alone.
It had been two weeks. Two weeks of awkward attempts at conversation and endless uncomfortable silences. Sammy had no clue what to do about it. Every time she tried to get Jonathan talking, he started to stutter and seemed to forget how to talk. Either that or he gave quick, one word answers and made it clear he was in no mood for conversation.
The silence was driving her crazy. And she was running out of cassettes to fill the quiet.
Currently, the brunette had her headphones stuck firmly over her ears, old Beatles songs crooning into her ears. She was turning over glass jars of tomato paste label side out due to sheer boredom. She's spent the better part of ten minutes intermittently trying to talk to Jonathan, but was quickly learning that it was pointless. The boy in question was scribbling something down in an old notebook.
The night crept on like that, only the Beatles and cans of pureed tomatoes to keeps her company. No one had come in, as per usual. Only the occasional straggler who had to stop for gas passed through.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Sammy heard the faint ding of the door from over her music. Curiously, she pulled her headphones down around her neck and looked over the shelves to see the Unholy Trio themselves sauntering through the store, randomly grabbing snacks from the shelves and dropping extras on the ground without care. The brunette felt herself glare over at the redhead in particular, who somehow still seemed to be popping gum.
Jonathan had noticed them, too. But instead of glaring, he seemed to retreat into himself nervously. It was like he was afraid of them. She couldn't help but feel bad for him as the group approached him, arms laden with snacks.
Steve, who seemed to be the leader at the moment, dropped the food he was holding unceremoniously on the counter. He gestured lazily to the pile, smirking over at Jonathan. "You mind ringing these up?"
Jonathan didn't respond, just began putting the prices into the register. Sammy could see his fingers shaking all the way across the aisle. This didn't sit well with her. She irritably tapped her own fingers against the jar of tomato paste still clutched in her fingers.
"Aw, look at him, Tommy", Carol simpered, her high pitched voice cutting through the entire store, "He's so cute when he's all shaky."
Sammy felt her temper flare at the comment. Those assholes had no right to mess with Jonathan or anyone else. She began to take a step forward, a retort ready on her lips. Jonathan, however, noticed her moving and quickly but discreetly shook his head, telling her to stop. His eyes pleaded for her to stay out of it. So, with some difficulty, Sammy clamped her mouth shut and stayed put.
The group of teens hadn't noticed. So Jonathan rang them up as quickly as he could. "Um, you owe twenty three dollars and- uh, seventy seven cents."
Steve hissed comically as if he had been caught off guards, causing Sammy to roll her eyes. Man, did he think he was witty. "Oh shit, man. We ain't got that kinda money. How about you take this?"
After shoving his hand in his pocket, Steve dropped a few crumpled up ones on the table. Sammy watched as Jonathan stared at the bills, unsure of what to do. Steve didn't take the time to get a response and made a swipe for the snacks.
"Um", Jonathan began to stammer, curling even deeper in on himself, "You can't- you can't do that. I need twenty three dollars and-"
"Hey, how about you shut it, Psycho", Tommy cut him off, sneering down at the smaller boy, "You're lucky we even came to this shithole."
"Hey now, Tommy", Steve responded smoothly, waving his friend off, "No need to be rude. I'm sure Byers was gonna let us off the hook. Right?"
Steve fixed Jonathan with a look that was somehow equal parts charming and intimidating. Sammy watched as Jonathan seemed to cower under the older boy's shadow, too scared and offended to do anything except stutter.
Sammy decided in that instant that enough was enough. Screw those assholes. Thinking quickly, she swiped a mop out of the bucket a few feet away from her and held her tomato jar at her hip like a weapon. She kept her head ducked as she set a collision course towards Steve.
With carefully planned clumsiness, Sammy ran straight into the big haired ringleader and dropped the glass jar right by his feet, spraying thick tomato paste across all three pairs of shoes. It even made its way across their pant legs, staining their overpriced jeans an ugly red color. Carol let out a screech and the two boys let out yelps of surprise and anger.
"Hey, what the hell are you-"
"Oh, shoot", Sammy implored with a fake earnest voice, holding her hand dramatically to her heart, "I'm so sorry. I'm just so clumsy. Here, let me clean that up."
The brunette then proceeded to take the soaking wet mop and swiped it across their shoes, spreaded the paste around them. The water soaked the paste into their shoes and added the murky grey of the mop water to the already unattractive mix. All three jumped back, still yelling out at her to stop.
"Holy shit, what the hell are you doing?" Steve yelped, jumping away from her.
She continued to mop vigorously, keeping up the act. "If you'd just-"
"Do you know how much these shoes cost?" Carol hissed, backing away from the mop like it might burn her, "You fucking piece of trailer trash!"
Quickly, the redhead snatched her boyfriend's hand and started dragging him out of the store, her pointy nose stuck high up in the air. Steve quickly followed suit, sending Sammy a glare that almost looked impressed before exiting.
Sammy gave them an exaggerated wave, sending them a giant smile. "Come again soon!"
As soon as they were out the door, the brunette sighed and leaned against the mop. She let out a chuckle before picking it back up and actually getting to work on cleaning up the mess she had made.
"I could have handled that."
Sammy looked up to see Jonathan, red in the face and ashamed. She felt the awkwardness set back in as she looked over at the boy who was probably appalled by what she had done. She bent down to pick up the large shards of glass and dumped them in a nearby trash can, keeping her gaze away from the boy behind the counter.
"I know", she reassured him in what she hoped was a kind way, sending him a halfway confident smile, "But I could too. And my way worked faster."
"It also damaged more property", Jonathan shot back, though not unkindly.
Sammy smirked slightly, getting the sense that he wasn't as upset as he wanted her to believe. "A simple thank you would suffice."
With that, all the paste was cleaned up and she had managed to pick up all the glass. Swiping her hands on her jeans to dry them, Sammy picked up the mop and walked back over to the canned foods aisle, plopping the mop back in the bucket.
She was just about to snap her headphones back over her ears when she heard Jonathan's grainy voice from across the room.
"Thank you."
A smile spread across Sammy's face as she turned back towards Jonathan. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Without another word, she set her headphones on and pressed play, letting John Lennon's voice fill her ears as she went back to work. Though she could have sworn she saw the other boy smiling slightly out of the corner of her eye.
The next night started the same as all the ones before. Silence, Walkman, awkwardness. Jonathan scribbled in his notebook. She rearranged cans. No one came in. Nothing was different.
Sammy couldn't help but feel disappointed deep in her chest. She'd hoped that yesterday could be an opening to at least some polite conversation. Possible discussions about annoying teachers or polite talks about the weather. Anything to fill the quiet. However, Jonathan seemed to be stuck inside his own head, as usual. He continued to count the cash in his register, scrub the counter, do anything at all to avoid her. The brunette didn't say anything, however. She had no idea how to. She had very little experience with any of this, and she had no clue how to make it something closer to a normal relationship.
So, she continued to move cans. Stack boxes. She continued her monotonous job, tired beyond belief and still smelling the stench of frying oil from working at Benny's Burgers only a few hours before. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the smell out of her skin that day.
Jonathan had moved on to his notebook. He seemed distracted, though, as he scribbled away at it, pausing for long periods of time before moving on through the pages. His pencil hovered over the paper in front of him before he dropped it with a sigh.
"Tomorrow's payday", he mumbled, grimacing at the words that had left his mouth.
Pulling her headphones down off of her head, Sammy sent the boy a surprised expression. She hadn't expected him to speak to her. Ever. "Yeah. Looking forward to it."
The two were then stuck in a strange sort of silence. Sammy could see that he had given her an opening, but she had no idea how to take advantage of it. She nervously scratched at her nose as she noticed his fingers drumming across his notebook.
"So, uh…", she stammered, pointing at the book beneath his fingers, "What are you always writing in there? Haven't seen you without it this week."
Jonathan glanced down at the book, his cheeks heating up. He scratched at the back of his neck nervously, almost like he was embarrassed by the book itself. "Oh, it's- uh, it's for my brother. He and his friends play this game and I- uh, I help out."
"What kind of game?", Sammy inquired curiously, pushing on with the topic since it seemed to yield some sort of result, "Anything I might know?"
If it was at all possible, Sammy watched as Jonathan's face turned a deeper shade of pink. It was actually pretty entertaining, watching him change shades every few seconds. It was like a Looney Tunes cartoon come to life.
"It's…", he muttered, tapping nervously on the notebook once again, "It's Dungeons and Dragons. I- I'm the dungeon master."
The boy retreated into himself, almost as if he was expecting her to laugh in his face. This reaction made Sammy frown. Why would he be embarrassed at all? She supposed she knew. People like them weren't able to do anything without getting it thrown back in their faces.
"I think that's pretty awesome", she stated firmly, trying to catch his gaze, "I wouldn't have the first clue how to put together something like that. Must be pretty complicated."
The look on Jonathan's face made Sammy feel like pumping her fist in the air and giggle at the same time. His brown eyes widened in surprise and his face began to return to normal color almost as quickly as it had changed. "Yeah", he stuttered, almost like he was trying to make sense of what she had just said, "Yeah, it's pretty fun. But I'm teaching his friend Mike how to do it."
"Wish I had the time to learn something like that", the brunette sighed, swiping some hair behind her ear, "Not much time to spare as of late."
"Yeah, what's up with that?", Jonathan inquired, seeming to become more comfortable with the conversation, though still avoiding her gaze, "What's with the three jobs?"
"Sorry", Sammy jested, turning back to the boy with a playful smirk, "You have to be a level three friend to unlock that information."
Jonathan chuckled, an airy sound that seemed to come from the top of his chest. He ruffled the front of his hair almost as an afterthought, sending the blonde strands falling into his eyes.
"So", Sammy continued, moving on to the cans of peaches beside her to keep her hands busy, "What sort of thing do you want? With your paycheck, I mean."
Jonathan glanced over at her again, shrugging as if what he said was common knowledge. "Oh, well, I usually save up for groceries and helping out with the water bill-"
"Well, I know all that", the brunette cut in, turning the cans over so the labels pointed forward, "I mean, like, what you're saving up for. What you want. I mean, there's gotta be something."
The teenage boy's eyes went down, staring intently at the counter. "I- well, I'm trying to get this, uh, this camera. It's a Pentax- or, you know, whatever. Doesn't matter, I just- I want one of my own."
Sammy lowered her hands from the shelf and turned towards the boy at the cash register with a small smile. "You're a photographer?"
Jonathan shrugged, still glaring pointedly at the counter and fiddling with his fingers. Sammy, however, wouldn't drop the subject. She wasn't exactly known to be the giving in type.
"Would I have seen your stuff anywhere?", she continued, leaning against the shelf beside her, "School paper or anything?"
Jonathan scoffed, finally looking up at her with a little proud smirk. "The school paper is a joke."
The brunette shrugged, pressing on. "What about a gallery? Anything around town?"
"You really think I'm good enough for a gallery?", Jonathan questioned, leaning over the counter, "You haven't even seen anything I've done."
Smirking, Sammy gently tapped the end of her mashed in nose before responding in an old timey agent's voice. "I've got a nose for talent, sweetheart, and I can smell it all over ya!"
"You can smell me from over there?", the boy chuckled, his face breaking from a smirk to a real smile.
"I was-" she started to stammer indignantly, "You know I was- whatever. Try to be nice and this is what I get."
"Hey, I'm sorry", Jonathan said over a little bout of laughter, smile spreading on his pale face, "I'm joking."
"Yeah, you better be", Sammy sneered playfully, turning back towards her peaches.
"What are you saving up for?", he asked curiously, leaning further into his elbows and becoming comfortable.
Sammy shrugged, her answer simple and uninteresting in her mind. "College."
"Nothing fun for you?", Jonathan asked, seemingly interested in what she had to say.
"Nah", the brunette shrugged, unbothered by the question, "College is the top priority. No time for other stuff."
The silence that followed then wasn't tense. It wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. It was as if the two of them knew that if they wanted to, they could open that line of communication again. So they continued like that, quietly finishing whatever meaningless jobs they had to fulfill for the next hour. Jonathan continued to scribble in his book and Sammy listened to her music. Things were good in the store for what might have been the first time. The night continued until it was almost time to close up.
"Hey, Sammy?"
The girl turned, turning her Walkman off as she faced the pale boy behind the register. His book was closed and he was looking at her with only a little fidget to show his nervousness.
"You're not that bad." he stated plainly before promptly turning his gaze back to the counter and pulling his backpack out from underneath, ready to leave.
Sammy felt a small smile tug at her lips. This wasn't some movie moment where suddenly the sun rose and they were best friends, but it was something. A hand reaching out, saying it was okay to reach back if needed.
"You're not so bad yourself, Byers", she responded simply, stuffing her Walkman into her bag before hoisting it up on her shoulder and turning towards the door, sending a wave at the boy behind the counter.
A/N: Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Sammy has been a character that's been bouncing around in my head for a long time and I've finally decided to put the stuff I've written out there. I mean, why not? I thought I might respond to the comments since they make me so happy and it seems like the polite thing to do.
Masquerade flower: Thank you so much! I'm so glad Jonathan is in character and that Sammy has piqued your interest. Hope I continue to meet your expectations :D
amanidwalker: So happy you think it's great! Hopefully, I'll update fairly regularly. However, I'm working two jobs right now so that might be a little harder than I want.
zaneri0t: OMG that is the sweetest thing you could have said! I'm so glad you enjoy what I'm writing and I hope I continue to entertain you :)