At the Shop 'n' Save Dillon found Damian standing in the magazine aisle, staring at the racks of periodicals and tabloids.

"Hey man." Dillon nodded shyly toward his new co-worker, his long blond hair falling over his eyes.

"How's it going?" Damian replied.

"Okay. Just changing prices, you know?

"Not really."

Dillon shrugged and shifted his feet. "I looked for you on break..."

"I took an hour. I had somewhere to be for a while."

Dillon waited for a few moments, but Damian didn't offer more details.

"Yeah, so I noticed you like to look at the magazines, but, um, I've never seen you pick one up."

Damian turned his inscrutable gaze on his scruffy companion. Dillon had a hand-held scanner and a an apparatus called a price gun tucked into the front pockets of his Shop 'n' Save apron. He held a clipboard in one hand that was stacked with papers listing details of upcoming sales and product price changes. Dillon shifted a bit uncomfortably, turning the clipboard over and moving it's contents out of view.

"I like to look at the covers. I'm not all that interested with what's inside," Damian said. Dillon nodded sagely, as if he understood, but he didn't get it at all.

"So... today is payday. You ought to drop by customer service before you leave and see if they have your first check. That's one good thing about this place. They don't make you wait two weeks or anything."

Damian nodded. Suddenly the store intercom crackled to life.

"I se enamoro de LuLu Spencer." The unexpected words were intoned without much enthusiasm. The intercom fell silent once more. Dillon chuckled. "I thought for sure Diego wouldn't follow through on the bet. He took long enough. I guess he's hoping not many people in the store speak Spanish! It was so sweet the way you and Cassius beat those guys."

Damian didn't acknowledge the compliment. "LuLu Spencer. What do you know about her?"

Dillon blushed and glanced away. "Um, I don't know much more than you do. I haven't been here all that long either." Damian looked back at the magazines. Dillon could sense that he was losing interest in the conversation; he rushed to come up with a better answer. "I mean, seems like she's best friends with that girl Maxie. They, uh, they don't hang out much with guys like me. They've kind of got their own clique, you know? She's cute... really cute." Dillon stammered nervously, then cleared his throat self-consciously. "But she's always with Maxie, and that girl kind of scares me. Doesn't she scare you?"

Damian's demeanor remained detached, his face unreadable. "Guess not," Dillon continued, "I don't think she has a boyfriend, if you're, you know, interested. LuLu I mean. I think that guy Logan has something going on with Maxie, but nobody really seems too sure what's going on with them."

Damian nodded. "I wonder if Logan is even sure. From what I've seen she treats him like crap."

Dillon sighed. "Well she's consistent. Nice to know she treats everybody the same I guess. I've heard that she's been so mean to some girls that she didn't like that they never came back to work."

"Anything else? You know anything about her family?"

"LuLu? Not really. I mean I've seen this older guy pick her up after work before. Maybe her dad or granddad. Thin guy with white hair. He never comes in the store."

"He's an outsider I guess," Damian said quietly.

Dillon wasn't sure what to say. He didn't have many friends and something drew him to this fellow employee, but every time he tried to find common ground he couldn't help but feel that they were talking about two different things- possibly in different dialects.

"Um I could try to find out more if you need me..."

"I've got to get back to work," Damian cut him off. Without another word he turned and headed for the stock room.

"Um yeah, me too. Catch you later... I... guess." Dillon called after Damian's quickly receding back. He stood alone for a few moments looking blankly in the direction of the magazine rack. He wondered what Damian found so fascinating about it, if his new acquaintance could see something special, some sort of mysterious code when he stared at the shelves of periodicals for minutes at a time. Finally he laughed softly under his breath. "Don't get all crazy Dillon!" He flipped his clipboard over, let one hand fall to the price-gun tucked in his apron and shuffled away.

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Later that afternoon Damian made his way to the customer service desk. It was more of a booth surrounded by a thick window. He could see Maxie and LuLu inside chatting and laughing. Damian wondered if the glass was bullet-proof. With Maxie's reputation, maybe it wasn't a bad idea.

Damian stepped up to the the small opening in the glass and waited for one of the girls to notice him. Seconds dragged on and the two girls didn't show any sign of interrupting their conversation. Maxie cut her eyes in Damian's direction, but went right on ignoring the young man standing at the service window. It felt like the seconds invited over friends and became minutes while he waited. Finally Damian leaned forward and spoke into the opening. "Excuse me."

The blond girl with longer hair, LuLu, began to lean in his direction, but Maxie placed a small hand with perfectly manicured nails on her wrist and the light touch served to restrain the other girl. Maxie carried right on talking in LuLu's ear, not giving her companion a chance to break away. LuLu obediently waited and listened, but she began to look a bit uncomfortable.

Damian gripped the edge of the desk and his knuckles slowly whitened. "Hello? I could use a little help here."

Maxie rolled her eyes. Her back arched in annoyance. "One second, if that's okay with you!" She replied before huddling again with LuLu and exchanging quick conspiratorial whispers. Finally she turned, and in an exasperated manner, approached the window. "What's so important that you had to interrupt a private conversation?" Her tone was only slightly warmer than glacial, and an equally cold hostility shone from her ice-blue eyes.

Damian waited, meeting her gaze evenly.

"Well?" She asked again.

"This is where we are supposed to pick up our checks, right? I'm not sure If I have one yet, so I..."

"Name?" Maxie asked curtly.

"Damian Spinelli. I've only worked a few days so..."

Maxie turned her back on him and walked across the enclosed cubicle to a filing cabinet. She opened a drawer and and picked her way carefully through several folders, taking her time. She finally plucked an envelope from the drawer and held it up between two slim fingers sporting perfectly manicured nails. She shot a wicked glance to her companion and said something that Damian couldn't make out. Both girls burst into laughter and looked back at Damian.

Damian felt the blush of embarrassment rise to his cheeks, which frustrated him more than anything Maxie had done. He slowed his breathing and refocused his thoughts, letting the turmoil of frustration sink into a calm sea. Maxie sauntered over to the window and slid the envelope through. Some of the hostility in her eyes had been replaced with cruel amusement and arrogant satisfaction.

"There. I'd make a few suggestions about where to spend it, a decent salon for starters, but I'm sure it wouldn't do much good."

"Thanks," Damian replied wryly. He continued speaking in an even, conversational tone."I understand that it's your thing to try to make the people around you feel small, so you can have some reason to feel good about yourself, but in the future when you're dealing with me- try doing your job without being such a bitch, okay? I'm not here to play into your inferiority complex, I'm doing a job, and I don't need your attitude. Clear?"

Maxie stared through the glass at Damian as if she had discovered some new and inexplicable disease. Behind her, LuLu watched with wide eyes. "Eh... excuse me? What did you say to me?"

Damian picked up the envelope. "Should I write it down for you?" He opened the envelope and removed his check, folded it and put it in his pocket. He picked up the pen attached to the desk by a light chain and wrote four words on the back of the now-empty envelope. He slowly and clearly pronounced each word as he wrote them. "You... Are... A... Bitch." He drew a smiley face at the end then slipped the envelope through the glass. There was no emotion on his face as he watched Maxie dazedly accept the envelope.

"Hey!" A male voice exclaimed. Damian turned to see Logan Hayes who had evidently arrived just in time to witness the end of the exchange. "Man, what the hell are you doing?" Logan glared at Damian with disbelief, his arms spread wide exhorting an explanation. Damian regarded the newcomer coolly.

Maxie made a hurt face and pleaded with Logan. Her voice was muffled slightly by the glass. "This guy just went off on me for no reason!"

Logan eyed Damian critically and took a step toward him. The proximity emphasized how much taller and more broad-shouldered he was than Damian. "Did you call her a bitch? What are you trying to do?"

"You think I'm wrong?" Damian asked.

Logan glanced at Maxie, who was now skewering him with a hard stare. He clenched his fists and a slow breath hissed between his gritted teeth. He was confused and wasn't sure how to deal with the sudden confrontation or who exactly was to blame- but this was a hassle he didn't need.

"Look, that's my girlfriend. You get it? You need to apologize. Right now."

Damian turned slightly and looked at Maxie who had folded her arms and was waiting. LuLu watched silently, one slim hand placed over her mouth. Damian strummed his fingers on the desk. Logan shifted his feet impatiently. Finally Damian turned back to Logan. He looked down at the floor between them.

"I'm sorry..." he said quietly. Maxie's lips stretched into a grin as she watched. Logan nodded, his stern features softening. Damian raised his eyes to meet the gaze of the taller young man. "...I'm sorry for you that she's your girlfriend. It must be difficult. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Have a good afternoon." Damian shouldered past Logan and disappeared through the check-out lines. Logan put his hands on his hips and shook his head in disbelief. Maxie smacked her hands onto the glass partition. Pressed against the glass in one hand was the envelope which quite clearly read, "You Are A Bitch. :)"

"You're just gonna watch him walk away?" She made a frustrated growling sound.

Logan threw up his hands. "What do you want me to do, Maxie?"

Maxie grimaced and jabbed a finger repeatedly in the direction of the break room. With a sigh Logan headed that direction. Maxie stormed across the customer service cubicle. "LuLu, I'm going on break... and just what the hell are you grinning at anyway?"

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In the break room Maxie paced back and forth between tables, each step landing as if grinding an offending insect under her heel. Several young co-workers scattered, sensing approaching disaster. In moments the two were alone together. Logan sat slumped in a chair, watching her back-and-forth progress with concern.

"All right. Just let me have it."

Maxie turned on him. "How could you let him say that to me and do nothing? How... how could you?"

"Maxie, he was out of line, but we're at work. I can't just knock-out anyone I please." He leaned down over his knees and ran both hands over his head and short dirty-blond hair. "Did you do something to him? Say something?"

Maxie threw the envelope in Logan's direction and exploded furiously. "Some guy, a nobody, an idiot gives me this and now it's my fault?"

"I didn't say that, but why are you always in the middle of some ridiculous drama? I don't know this guy that well, but so far he seems like he's quiet... just minds his own business. And I've never met anyone who likes stirring up trouble as much as you do. Maxie I..."

"You are supposed to be my boyfriend!" she cut him off.

Logan sat up and the muscles in the strong line of his jaw tensed and jumped out. "Yeah, it's a real funny thing about that. I'm your boyfriend all right- when it's convenient for you. The rest of the time I can hardly even get your attention. I hear the rumors... about you and other guys." Logan cleared his throat. "I just want to know that you care at all." He frowned and slumped sadly.

Maxie stopped pacing and walked over to him. She reached out and placed a petite hand on his head. She trailed her nails down his scalp and along his cheek. "I care about you Logan. I do."

He looked up and his pleading eyes searched her face. "You know how I feel about you, but you have to give me something, anything to work with here."

Her fingers stiffened, the nails digging in to the skin of his jaw. "Fix this Logan. Fix him. Do it after work and away from here if you are so scared of getting into trouble. He's finished... or we are. Work with that."

She spun on her heel and stalked away leaving Logan alone in the empty room.