A/M: So, so sorry it's been such s stretch of time and I know this chapter isn't too long and won't make up for the long time but I hope you enjoy anyway!
"Did they leave for their break already?" Kelly asks, almost finished with dusting a shelf as Eve emerges from the back room. Eve nods, the feeling of being shoved aside making her even more introverted and shy than usual. Kelly sighs, seeing the saddened look on the other girl's face.
"Look, they'll be back in a little while," she tells her. "For now, you can just look around and let me know if you see anything you like."
"Thanks," says Eve quietly, feeling a little more comfortable around Kelly. "But I'm not really into sports that much, just surfing." Kelly's eyes light up as she wipes a bead of sweat from her face with a hand holding the dusty rag.
"Really? Are you any good?" At her words, Eve shrugs, not wanting to brag. She thinks she's decent but nowhere up to Tori's level. After almost drowning yesterday, it makes her think she's gotten worse as time has gone on, not better.
"I'm okay," mumbles Eve, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "But Tori is much better than me." She bites her lip and looks around the shop, hoping Kelly won't see the sad look in her eyes.
"Hmmm." Kelly looks at her curiously, then shrugs. "I'm sure you're fine. Ugh, really?" She had just taken out a compact to check her hair and saw the huge dust streak on her cheek from the rag. Eve turns to see her frowning.
"What's wrong Kelly?" she asks, the notices the dust on her face. A feeling of slight relief engulfs her, for a moment she had thought Kelly was talking about her. "Oh."
"I'm going to wash this off. Would you mind looking over the register for a couple seconds?" Kelly glances at her hopefully. "It will be no longer than two minutes."
"Sure." Eve takes her place behind the counter, nervous about manning the register but she couldn't have said no to Kelly.
Why does she always do this to herself? It seems to be almost impossible for her to say no to anything. She always says yes, always says it's okay, always says it's not a big deal. This is getting out of hand. But I'll keep it up anyway because if I don't, everyone will leave. Like usual.
"I'd like this, please." A voice snaps her out of her thoughts and she blushes to be caught not having her guard up.
"Uh, yes," she mumbles, taking the silver bike helmet. She's old enough to know how a cash register works but confronted so suddenly is making her clumsy. Her fingers shakily ring it up and she continues to look down, not meeting the eyes of the customer.
"Thank you," he says after she puts it in the bag. She allows herself one glance up and is startled by the bright green eyes and curly dark hair. He smiles at her, teeth flashing.
"Come again," Eve says softly, unable to look away from him. Something about him is captivating…but for the wrong reasons. The man winks at her and she feels her face heat up.
"I'll make sure to," he tells her, then turns around and leaves, bag swinging on his arm. Eve watches him leave and feels her face slowly cool down. The strange feeling she also had is now gone.
"I'm back," announces Kelly, coming to join her at the register. "Any excitement?"
"Just one purchase," says Eve, still feeling a little wobbly. Noting how Kelly reaches out for the rag and her newly cleaned face, she stops her. "Do you want me to do that?" She gestures to the rag left on the counter.
"Would you? That'd be great!" exclaims Kelly gratefully. As Eve picks up the cloth, Kelly studies her. "Do you want to work here?"
"Hm?" Eve tilts her head, not believing what she just heard. "You want to offer me job?"
"That's right." Kelly nods. "You obviously know how to work a register and since you offered to clean, it's kind of a no-brainer for me."
"That's very kind of you," Eve smiles, her heart fluttering. If she worked here, she would be able to spend more time with Tori and her friends…more specially Hunter.
Which is stupid. Why would he be even remotely interested in me? No, no, don't think about that. She will just have to accept the fact that there is nothing nor will there ever be anything between them.
Even with the strange feelings she gets whenever she sees him, there is nothing going on between them. There can't be.
"Why not?" She looks at Kelly with a small smile on her face. "Thanks so much. It'll be fun."
-PRNS-PRNS-PRNS-
"What do you think Zurgane meant by that?" Dustin says as they walk into Storm Chargers. "I mean, he made even less sense than usual." He rubs his arm ruefully, a bruise starting to form from their fight.
"I'm not sure," responds Blake, letting the glass door close behind them. "It was weird. 'A pure soul worthy of the soulless'? Who comes up with this stuff?" He wipes away a trail of blood coming from a cut near his right eye.
"Clearly not him, he's not smart enough," says Shane, nudging the navy ranger. "But neither is Lothar so we're kind of out of options right now."
"It sounded more like a prophecy then anything," comments Tori, flipping her blond hair over one shoulder. "A clue of some sort to something."
"Question is, what?" Hunter wonders aloud. As the others continue to speculate about the strange encounter, he gazes around the store, hoping for a glimpse of already-familiar brown hair. But to his disappointment, she's not here.
Wait. Disappointment? He barely knows the girl and he's already disappointed when she's not around? He's really starting to worry himself.
But he just can't help it. There's something about her that just draws him in. she looks like she needs to be protected and that interests him.
"Well, you guys will be happy to know if won't be just me anymore when you run off," Kelly says dryly. The rangers look at each other sheepishly.
"Why is that Kelly?" asks Shane, leaning his forearms on the counter.
"I decided to offer Eve a job here too," she tells them. "So when you all take off, I'll have someone to be dependent on."
"That's great Kelly!" exclaims Tori excitedly. "That's great."
"Yeah, now she'll be able to spend more time with her hero," teases Dustin. He winks at the crimson ranger who stares back, unflinching.
"Whatever. I don't care," he says but it's so, so hard to say this when really he feels a rush inside of caring too much.