Chapter 3:
I sat in the hotel business center the next morning scrolling through the list of open jobs. A bookstore at the mall I shopped at yesterday caught my eye because they hired young teenagers like me. Printing out the address of the store, I walked out of the room and to the breakfast area. I knew that I needed to find a job and start saving up money for when my stay here ends. My plan was to save up enough money to where I could move from cheap hotel to cheap hotel until I was old enough to buy an apartment, which was a long way away since I'm only thirteen; but, it's the only plan I have right now.
Lucky for me, the bookstore owner bought my sob story about my single mother losing her job and us needing more money, so I dropped out of school to help us survive. He said I could start tomorrow, and I was ecstatic about it. I went shopping after that at another mall and got a few more cloths and more makeup, before returning to the hotel and spending the rest of the day in the library and the business center studying to stay a little on top of my education. Not like I got much education to begin with, but luckily, I liked to read and study, so I considered myself educated enough.
The next morning, I woke up early and prepared for the first day of work. I wore jeans and a simple black shirt then pulled my hair up into a ponytail before doing my makeup and leaving the hotel after breakfast. I arrived at the bookstore an hour before it opened, and the owner let me in with a smile.
"Good morning Chloe," he said nicely, and I followed him to the back employee room where a few more people were.
"Alright everyone," the owner announced, "this is our new staff member, Chloe." Everyone nodded or said hi to me before slowly leaving to attend to their job duties.
"Nick," the owner said and a boy who looked to be around fifteen walked over with a coffee in hand, "can you train her on stocking and merchandising?"
"Sure thing boss." Nick said with a dimpled smile as he brushed his slightly long black hair away from his brown eyes. The boss left to his office then and Nick placed his empty coffee cup in the dishwasher.
"Alright Chloe," he said walking out, "lets get started." He stopped in the middle of the hall and turned to look at me.
"By the way," he said with a curious look, "how old are you?"
"Thirteen." I muttered and he thought for a moment then nodded before continuing to walk towards the front of the store, "that's how old I was when I started working here." He said and I glanced at him. "My mom up and left dad and I, so I took up a job to help pay for rent."
"Oh." Was all I could say as we stopped in front of the first shelf and Nick handed me a clipboard with a think stack of paper on it.
"Ok," he said pulling out his own clipboard, "our systems here are ancient, so we have to go though our store once a week to see what we need to restock on…" I listened to him explain our job for today and follow him around the store as we worked. He liked to talk and I think I eventually tuned out his never ending storytelling. When lunch time came, Nick took me to the café next door saying it's the best place to go if you don't bring a lunch. He was right, the staff was very nice and the food was very good to. I looked up Nick as he asked me never ending questions at lunch.
What was my favorite book? Movie? Color? Country? Flower? It went on for the whole lunch break, but I found that after a while. I enjoyed his company. Perhaps it's because I haven't had many friends or people to talk to. I think I liked Nick though because he seemed like a genuine guy. He spoke his mind and from what I observed on our first day together, he seemed to be a laid-back go with the flow kind of guy. The day ended with Nick and I going our separate ways and I found as I took a cab back to the hotel, that I was happy. That was a feeling I haven't felt in a long time….
~3 months later~
I laughed with Nick in the back room of bookstore as we looked over comics during our lunch break. Nick quickly became a good friend and we've done a lot together. I haven't told him about where I'm living right now and why I'm really in Athens. He may be a good friend, but I still don't trust people. Although, I've been greatly relieved that my last foster family hasn't reported me missing so I've been able to relax a little.
"Ok this reminds me of the monkey we saw at the zoo." Nick laughed and pointed to a photo in a magazine, and we both giggle like little kids. When our shift was done, we walked back out and resumed stocking the shelves. I looked up while working to see a couple enter the store. My eye widened a little at their appearance. They both looked like the man from the bus all those months ago. They were unbelievably pale and there was something very graceful in the way they walked. They also looked like they could be supermodels or something. The woman had beautiful wavy blonde hair that kind of looked like my dyed hair. She wore an expensive looking dress and jewelry. The man had short, neatly combed black hair and he was wearing an expensive looking black suit with a navy-blue shirt. Nick noticed my stared and tapped my shoulder, making me look at him.
"They're regulars," he said, "although they must have been out of town for a while because they haven't come in since you started working."
"Who are they?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low.
"Athena and her husband Damien." He said, "Athena come in here more often, but every now and then her husband is here. They're really nice though." He said then returned to his work. I took another glance at the unusual couple then returned to my work as well.
"Excuse me Nick," I heard an Angelic voice from next to me and looked over to see Athena standing a few feet away.
"Ya?" Nick answered, putting down his books.
"I'm looking for a new book that was just released," she said, "but it's not on the shelves. Do you have it in the back by chance?"
"I'll go check." Nick said after she gave him the title and he walked away. I tired to focus on my work but the woman decided to speak to me.
"You're new here." She stated and I looked back at her.
"Um, yes," I replied quietly, "I just started three months ago." She smiled a perfect, white teeth smile.
"Ah," she said, "my husband and I have been on vacation for a few months." Ok I don't know why that's important information to me, but whatever.
"What's your name?" she asked, and I held back a sigh. Are all unbelievably pale people so talkative and prying?
"Chloe." I replied nicely and returned to focusing on my work. Thank heavens Nick chose to return then with the woman's book. He gave it to her, and she said 'goodbye' with a soft smile. I watched her and her husband walk out of the store before putting my last book on the shelf.
"Want to go to dinner?" Nick asked after closing and I smiled.
"Tacos!" we both said at the same time and laughed while walking out of the store and earning an amused eyeroll from the owner. Nick and I chowed down on some tacos at our favorite taco place and giggled as we made fun of today's rude customers.
"Oh!" Nick said suddenly as we walked along the emptying mall streets, "I'm applying for art school."
"Cool." I replied, trying to stop the melting ice cream from getting onto my hand. "where at?"
"Just a small local one," he said, "but if I do good the first year, I may be able to go to Paris!" My heard ached. It's not like I shouldn't have expected it, everyone I start to care about always leaves at some point.
"That's great!" I said, putting on a big fake smile before taking a lick of my ice cream. Luckily, Nick didn't notice my fake smile because he was too busy trying to stop his top ice cream scoop from falling off. Which he failed as we both stopped to look down at the splat of chocolate ice cream.
"Oh man!" Nick whined and I laughed as we both continued.
"By the way," Nick said, "I've been dying to talk to someone about this; but isn't it unreal how pale Athena and Damien are? I mean come on we're in Greece where the sun is always out. You'd think they'd be a little tan."
"I'm pale." I stated and he smiled, "well I guess that's true, but no where near as pale as them! I mean don't they seem unreal? I've never seen anyone like them."
"I have," I muttered a little.
"Really?!" Nick gasped, "where?!"
"Um," I started, "when my mom and I first moved here," I lied a little, "we saw a guy on a bus with similar features."
"Wow!" Nick exclaimed loudly as he tossed his trash from the ice cream away and I did the same, "Well I'll see you on Friday! Enjoy your day off!" Nick waved goodbye as he jumped onto a bus. When the bus was out of sight, I hailed a cab and returned to the hotel. However, the second I entered the hotel, I had to quickly hide behind one of the big plants when my eyes landed on Athena and Damien sitting in the lounge talking to people with pale skin like them. I briefly wondered if there some model convention in town or something. I slowly moved behind pillars and plants, making sure to keep out of sight and breathed a sigh of relief when I got into an elevator and the doors closed without anyone entering.
"That was close." I muttered to myself as I flopped down on the couch in the suite lounge. I decided that tomorrow, it would be safer to just stay in my room, read, and study to prevent a run in with the odd couple.