AN1 I am back with more New Beginnings. I hope that you are all having a pleasant weekend :)
AN2 Thanks so much for the expressed interest in my story. I appreciate it very much, and so too would Esardi have.
New Beginnings
Chapter Two
Sarah entered the grounds of the Burbank Buy More at the strip mall she worked at. She was dressed in her Orange, Orange work attire because she was on her lunch break while she had her boyfriend's phone in hand. The device was faulty, and he had asked her if she could find the time to have it fixed for him, so here she was.
Sarah headed over to the Nerd Herd desk, which she assumed would be the place where she could have the phone fixed. She had never visited the store before, so she simply had no idea.
Arriving at the desk, she observed a tall man with broad shoulders wearing a black jacket, and a much shorter man dressed in green who had their backs turned to her.
A bell was placed on the desk, but Sarah opted to wait a short moment because the two men were locked in conversation, and the taller man with the filled out physique was also on the phone.
"Come on, buddy. I need Wednesday off. I need to take Anna on a date," she heard the short man say.
"Morgan, that is the third time in two weeks! I have a conference with Buy More Corporate that day," the tall man protested as he continued to hold a phone up to his ear.
"Are we buying the Encino Branch?" the short man asked.
"It depends on what my accountants say," the man in the black jacket replied.
The short man then turned, and Sarah gazed at him as she prepared herself to ask for his help. His frame was slender, and he wore a beard, and he had jet black hair. He quickly met her glance, and his face lit up in wonder and amazement.
"Stop the presses. Who is that? Vicki Vale," he said towards her.
Sarah frowned as they continued to glance at each other before the short man proceeded to tap the tall man on his shoulder.
"Yes, what is it, Morgan?" the tall man asked as he started to turn to face Sarah.
Sarah changed her glance towards the man turning to face her, and she gasped as her jaw dropped in shock at who the guy was. Now in her sight was the same man who she encountered at Echo Park three days ago. In the days since Sarah had met Chuck there, she had contemplated returning to the park each day with Charlie in the hope to meet him again, but ultimately she had opted against it. Firstly, because she was in a relationship, she did not think it was appropriate to be purposely returning to try and reencounter someone, who so happened to be of the opposite sex, and someone she found very attractive to look at. Second, Sarah had been busy the past few evenings job searching. Due to a lack of custom, the Orange, Orange that Sarah worked at would soon close, and Sarah would be out of a job. Her attempts to find another job so far had proved unsuccessful.
Chuck, meanwhile, instantly dropped the phone out of his hand as he met Sarah's gaze. Right now, he had forgotten Morgan's existence, as he was looking at the breathtakingly beautiful young female he had encountered a few days ago while walking his dog. In the days since he had met Sarah, he had contemplated returning to the park, but Chuck lived on planet Earth, and there was no plausible way in which someone as beautiful and as young as her would be interested in a guy like him.
As the stunned silence continued between Sarah and Chuck, Morgan watched the exchange between his best friend and Vicki Vale with great interest. Sensing that neither of them was about to talk any time soon, Morgan intruded on the moment between them both. "How can we help you, ma'am?" Morgan asked.
Chuck and Sarah snapped out of their gazes towards each other to look at Morgan.
"I'll take it from here, Morgan," Chuck said as he moved to depart the Nerd Herd section, and he walked into Sarah's proximity, who was continuing to gaze at him.
Morgan, too like Chuck, had departed from the Nerd Herd, and he closely followed on after his best friend as he also wanted to have a conversation with Vicki Vale, but Chuck suddenly stopped walking.
"Excuse me one minute, please, Sarah," Chuck said, gazing at her.
Sarah nodded, and she observed as Chuck turned towards Morgan, and he grabbed hold of his arm.
"Morgan, if you want that day off that you just asked for, then you will disappear right about…" Chuck paused to glance at his watch briefly to add suspense. "Now," he finished as he returned his glance onto his best friend.
Bowing his head, Morgan said, "Disappearing right now, sir," as he turned away from Chuck, and he headed over to engage in conversation with Jeff and Lester.
With his best friend now out from sight, Chuck turned once more to greet Sarah.
"Hello again," he said to her while he sported her an enormous trademark Bartowski grin.
"Hi yourself," she replied, as his grin rubbed off on her, and she returned a warm smile to him.
"So, how can I help you today, Sarah?" he asked her, feeling very interested in what the beautiful woman he had met three days ago was doing standing in front of him. Of course, he was delighted to see her again. Chuck had berated himself the entire walk back to his home for not attempting to remain in contact with her. However, he had never really had those types of feelings about a woman before, so it was an awkward situation for him, and he didn't quite know how to approach asking her out, so he reluctantly parted ways with her. She probably had a boyfriend anyway. She was far too beautiful not to.
"I'm here hoping to have this fixed," she said, showing him the phone in her hand. "It's my boyfriend's phone, and he suggested I bring it here to have it fixed for him."
"Oh, boyfriend, huh?" Chuck asked, and his gaze sunk to the floor briefly, and his smile faded in a brief moment of regret before it emerged once more, and he returned his gaze to her. "Sure, I can absolutely help you with that."
Chuck collected the phone from Sarah, and she watched on as Chuck went to work on the phone, displaying excellent craftsmanship. Chuck had almost finished fixing the phone after a minute when suddenly, a man with a young child dressed in a dancing outfit arrived in the presence of Sarah and Chuck.
"Excuse me, excuse me, I have an emergency," the man said, glancing at Chuck. "I don't know what I did wrong, but I shot the entire recital, but now it won't playback."
Chuck changed his glance between Sarah and the man in their presence.
"I will be happy to help you in a moment, sir. I'm just finishing with this task," Chuck said to the man as he connected numerous parts of the phone back into place, and he gazed at Sarah once more. "There you are, all fixed."
Sarah smiled at him, and she moved to collect the phone from out of his hand, and Chuck turned his attention back to the man with the young girl.
"Okay, let's take a look then," Chuck said as he collected the camera from the man. Proceeding to open the camera up, Chuck grimaced. "You don't have a tape in here."
A perplexed look formed on the man who stood in Chuck and Sarah's presence. "But it's digital," he said.
"Oh, boy," Morgan said, who had now arrived back in the vicinity of the Nerd Herd.
"Right, yes, but you still need digital tape," Chuck said.
The man's gaze hit the floor. "Oh, no. Her mom's gonna kill me," he said.
The young girl in the presence of the small group sunk her head, and her lips creased in sadness.
Witnessing the sorrow from the young girl and her father, Sarah's heart melted, while Chuck too was feeling sympathetic to the situation of the father and his daughter. His gaze lowered briefly, and he started to frown as his mind entered contemplation on how he could help make things better for the family.
After a moment of consideration, he glanced at Morgan. "Uh, Morgan, I need the wall."
"It's yours," Morgan said, pointing at Chuck.
Glancing at Sarah, Chuck said, "I'm so sorry. I need to help them with this."
Sarah beamed him a warm smile, and she nodded graciously.
Chuck took her visual confirmation as the indication to walk away from her, and he proceeded over to a wall of television screens, and a crowd soon gathered.
Chuck was kneeling close to the ballerina, and grinning at her, he said, "Are you ready?"
The young girl gave him an apprehensive look, and Chuck instantly picked up on it. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm usually in the back row," the young girl declared.
"Why?" Chuck asked softly.
"I'm too tall. I block the other ballerinas," the girl said.
"Can I tell you a secret? You can't tell the other girls," he said, and the girl nodded. "Real ballerinas are tall."
Chuck grinned at the young ballerina, and she smiled at him.
Chuck began to walk away from the screens to give the young girl space for her performance.
Sarah waited on, along with the rest of the audience in attendance at the store, as Chuck arrived in her vicinity. Making eye contact with him, he grinned at her, and she gave him an adoring smile with her eyes feeling slightly moist, as she had overheard his exchange with the young ballerina.
Changing her gaze to Morgan, who was in her immediate proximity, she said in awe, "Chuck is a wonderful employee."
"Employee?" Morgan laughed. "Chuck owns the Buy More."
Sarah's eyes widened in shock. She had not heard of a store owner to be on the floor of their shop helping customers in the way Chuck already had before.
"Wow, most owners wouldn't have done what he just has for the little girl and her father," Sarah said.
"Heh, well, most owners aren't Chuck," Morgan said with pride.
Clearly
The performance started as classical music began to play, and the young girl captivated the audience with her act. Most of the workers and customers alike offered encouragement to the young girl with warm glances.
The performance soon ended, and the store erupted with a lively round of applause, and the crowd soon dispersed to resume their individual activities.
Sarah was waiting at the Nerd Herd desk as Chuck approached her. On his arrival, he grinned at her, and she smiled back at him as her eyes sparkled.
He's such a great guy. He is unquestionably one of a kind
"I'm sorry for the delay, Sarah," he said.
Sarah held her smile towards him. "Chuck, you have nothing to apologize for," she said.
He grinned at her.
"So, how much do I owe you for the repair?" she asked.
Chuck waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing at all. It was a simple repair, and I was more than happy to help," he said, holding his grin.
Her warm smile towards him developed further still. "Thank you. If you're sure?" she asked.
He nodded. "I am. It's on the house, and you're welcome."
Sarah nodded before she broke her glance from him to look at her watch. Returning her gaze up at him, she said, "Well, I have to go now. My lunchtime is almost over," and her gaze lowered because she didn't particularly want to leave his company right now.
"Did you even get a chance to eat lunch, Sarah? I kept you waiting for quite a while, and I'm feeling a little bad about that right now," he admitted, and his gaze broke from her briefly in shame.
"No, I didn't. But it's ok. Consider it a payment for the repair," she said, smiling at him as he met her gaze once more.
"Ok, well, I am still sorry about that anyway. Bye again, I guess," he said, as a massive grin towards her formed.
Sarah returned his warm glance. "Bye, Chuck," she said, and she paused as they glanced at each other for a few seconds more before she turned away from him, and she promptly departed the store.
Now outside in the open air, Sarah slowly walked back to her shop. Her heart was pounding, and her entire thought process was consumed with thoughts about Chuck.
Arriving outside her place of work, she paused in an attempt to compose herself enough to focus on the remainder of her day.
Get it together, Sarah. You're already in a relationship…
End of Chapter
AN3 Next chapter: Chuck helps Sarah out with her hunger problem, we learn a lot more about Chuck's life, and we encounter the 2x4 (Daniel Shaw to those unfamiliar with the piece of wood) for the first time! Boo!
AN4 Are you liking New Beginnings so far? Leave a review and let me know :)