Alec didn't really know what to think as he walked toward the building. With absolutely nothing to go on, he was having a hard time picturing how his first day at work would go. For as long as he could remember, work meant waiting for people to get home. The idea that he was the one out doing the work was very alien to him.
Walking in it felt just like any other time he'd been here. Alec was after all familiar with how a grocery store looked. By the main doors were the fresh vegetables and fruits displays, and then the aisles started on the right. The problem was that Alec didn't really know what he was suppose to do, or where he was suppose to be.
To his great relief, someone was there to greet him. The man's tag read Brentan with the word Manager underneath it. Brentan gave Alec paperwork and set him with the task of filling them out.
And so Alec started his shift sitting in what was probably a staff room, filling out forms about himself. So far so good, though he wished Maia was here. It would be nice to see a familiar face. With a sign, Alec looked up at the clock again. Had he really only been here for a half hour?
The silence in this room was intimidating. Alec could hear the sound of the fridge whirring as if it were a loudspeaker. Finishing another set up paperwork, Alec looked up at the clock again. It had only been five minutes since he'd last checked it. Eventually a staff member came to eat their lunch, and Alec was spared from the silence. Though this staff member didn't talk to him at all, she created some background noise that drowned out the humming fridge.
When Alec was pretty sure he'd completed all the paperwork, he got up and went to find Brentan which turned out to be easier than he expected in such a large building.
"Good," Brentan said as he accepted the tediously finished paperwork."Today you will be working with Jamie." Then he pointed behind Alec who turned.
Standing behind the deli counter was a rather tall man with dark black hair, a round face and tanned skin. He had a hat on with the grocery store logo on it as well as a black shirt with the same logo.
"Just shadowing for today," Brentan told Alec, pointing again. Trying to take a hint, Alec turned and headed toward this Jamie person.
"Hi," Alec said awkwardly as he approached.
"New meat!" Jamie said with enthusiasm.
"Alec," Alec corrected, trying to avoid getting an unfortunate nickname.
"New meat," Jamie repeated with a grin. Alec's face must of given him away since Jamie added, "Oh don't worry. You'll only be new meat till they hire again. And besides, you'll get your name tag in a few weeks."
"Great," Alec sighed.
"Onward," Jamie chuckled. Then he turned and pointed to a display before explaining exactly what it was. "Pre-made salads are here, and deli meats over there. Past that is the fancy cheeses, but that case requires far less maintenance."
Alec tried to remember everything as Jamie continued the tour. He took specific note of the large rotisserie oven full of chickens.
"Don't go getting fond of that," Jamie told him. "That is every newbies worse nightmare."
"Why?" Alec asked nervously.
"Because you have to clean it," Jamie grinned. Alec gulped. Then Jamie stopped in his tracks and turned to face Alec. "Oh don't look so worried. I'm just teasing."
"Oh," Alec said cautious.
"Yeah," Jamie replied. "You won't get stuck doing that till you've had a little more training. And it isn't that bad really. Just think how bad it would be if we didn't have a rotisserie to cook the chicken."
"Surely rotisseries were invented a long time ago," Alec offered. "I mean, it's basically just a piece of meat on a stick. How hard could that be to figure out?"
Jamie laughed. "I don't know," he said. "But now I'd sure like to find out when meat on a stick was invented." He paused then added, "I bet it was the french."
"You like history?" Alec asked, thinking of Magnus.
"And engineering," Jamie elaborated. "I'm taking classes up at the university."
"I'm there too," Alec said with enthusiasm.
"Oh what program?" Jamie asked.
"I'm taking business," Alec shrugged. "Fourth year."
"I'm going for a master's," Jamie explained. "Majoring in engineering, but I'm taking as many history electives as I can."
"That's impressive," Alec smiled.
"Thanks," Jamie smiled. "Though I did just start the third year of my bachelor's, so don't congratulate me yet. Technically you're ahead of me."
"I don't think that matters so much," Alec smiled. "Not when you're doing something you are really passionate about."
And Alec found himself once again looking at the clock. Still almost 6.5 hours to go. He sighed.
"Did you not want to go into business?" Jamie asked.
"Nah," Alec shrugged. "My parents did."
"Ah well," Jamie said clearly not sure how to respond to this. "We should probably get back to work."
"Right ah," Alec sighed. "Sorry. This is a lot to take in. To be perfectly honest, it doesn't quite feel real."
"Wish I could say that," Jamie sighed. "I feel like I've been working here forever."
"Will you be the one training me tomorrow too?" Alec asked.
"No," Jamie answered. "That will be Maia, but you'll like her. She's really good at her job. She trained me."
"I know Maia," Alec said eagerly.
"Oh?" Jamie inquired. "How do you know Maia?"
"Good question," Alec laughed as he tried to come up with a reply. "The easiest answer is that she's my sister's roommate." He decided to leave out that without Maia, he didn't believe he'd have gotten this job, as that didn't strike him as something to instill confidence.
"And what's the complicated answer?" Jamie asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Well she's friends with my best friend's girlfriend, and my best friend's girlfriends ex," Alec replied. "Any deeper than that and I'm gonna need a diagram."
To his surprise, Jamie laughed. "I like you kid," he said. Alec didn't know how to reply to this, since Jamie looked no older than him.
The small talk ended as Alec listened and learned about how the deli worked. The leftover rotisserie chickens were used to make chicken pot pies. The deli meat could be sliced at almost any thickness, depending on what the customer wanted. Jamie had lots to say on dealing with picky customers who wanted their meat sliced oh so perfectly.
And once again Alec looked to the clock. Still 6 hours to go. It felt so strange to Alec, being on this side of the counter. He'd been buying groceries for years, but had never once given a thought to what happened behind the counter. It was like a whole other world back here.
"I have a tradition for new hires," Jamie said as he paused near the back of the deli. "Something to get their hands dirty."
"What kind of dirty are we talking about?" Alec asked, growing nervous.
"Elbow deep in chicken bits dirty," Jamie said grinning. Alec felt his stomach turn, but he didn't say anything. Jamie handed him a pair of gloves.
"Food safe requires the gloves," Jamie said almost disappointed. "But it does ruin the ick factor."
Alec looked into the bucket Jamie indicated, and felt like even with gloves, the gross factor was high enough. The bucket was full of little bits of chicken meat floating around in… something.
"Oh relax," Jamie sighed. "This isn't near so bad as cleaning out the ovens."
With a deep breath, Alec plunged his gloved hands into the bucket of chicken bits. It had an oddly mushy texture and after a moment, Alec found he quite liked the feel of it, though likely never again eat a chicken pot pie.
Looking up, Alec glanced at the clock on the wall. Still 5 hours left. That meant he'd only been here four hours, so why had those hours from like forty?
"Alright, you've had your fun," Jamie said. "That bucket is mixed. Next we need to make them into pies."
This proved to be a simple enough task. The dough arrived pre-made, and they just had to assemble everything.
"Do you cook?" Jamie asked.
"Not really," Alec shrugged. "I've made pancakes, but not much."
"Well now you can make pies," Jamie said. Alec smiled back, then glanced up at the clock. Still 4 hours remaining.
Sweet relief came in the form of his meal break. Alec found himself back in that staff room, only this time to eat. But it was just a half hour break, and it flew by faster than he thought possible.
All too soon, Alec found himself stuffing salt packs up raw chickens butts. He couldn't help but flinch when Jamie showed him how to skewer the things onto rods, breaking their backs in the process.
Still almost 3 hours to go.
There was a sheet on the wall that specified all the allowed times for food to remain on the hot table. If the food was left out longer than allowed, bacteria could make the food unsafe to eat. Alec would have to remember those. He also learned the correct way to make a seven layered dip.
Still 2 hours to go.
Alec stood at a counter, assembling sandwiches to be sold tomorrow morning along with the seven layer dips.
He glanced up at the clock. Still over an hour to go.
As the last of the sandwiches were packed and labeled, Alec glanced once more at the clock, and wondered if it was running slow. How did he still have 50 minutes left in his shift? Hadn't he been making sandwiches for longer than that?
Alec's mind was starting to fail. It was quite a new concept to him, this being on your feet for eight hours, working steadily. He wasn't over weight by any means, but that didn't mean his leg muscles were used to all this standing. Alec's feet hurt.
Still thirty minutes to go.
Twenty five...
Twenty…
Fifteen…
"This is your first ever job, isn't it?"
Alec jumped, spinning around to face Jamie.
"What gave you that idea?" Alec asked defensively.
"The way you keep checking the time," Jamie replied. "Take it from me, the less you check the time, the faster your shift will pass."
"Thanks," Alec said, determined not to check the clock once tomorrow.
"Now get out of here," Jamie laughed, clapping Alec on the shoulder.
"But I still have over ten minutes left in my shift?" Alec objected.
"You've learned all you can for today," Jamie smiled. "Just say hi to Maia for me tomorrow, will ya?"
"Sure," Alec smiled. "When will I see you again?"
"I'm off till Friday," Jamie replied. "Now get." He made a gesture as if to shoo Alec away.
With great relief, Alec collected his things and left the store, completing the very first work shift of his life.
Alec couldn't believe how much work was involved in working, he thought as he made his way home. It was so much different than waiting for others to return from an unknown place called employment.
As Alec walked into his apartment, he called out to his husband who replied. Alec followed the sound of his voice, and soon found himself in the dining room.
"Welcome home," Magnus turned to smile at him. "How was your first ever day of employment?"
"Long," Alec replied thoughtfully. "If I had to use one word to describe it, that word would be long."
Magnus chuckled. "You know, I don't think I even remember my first day working," he added.
"That's because you started too young, and you work too much," Alec said, sitting down at the table with a grateful sigh. "Speaking of, how was your day?"
"I was at the museum today," Magnus answered. He paused looking slightly concerned before adding, "That strange man was there again today."
"I remember you mentioned him last week too," Alec observed. "But it isn't like he's doing anything bad, right?"
"Right," Magnus confirmed. "He didn't say anything, or even get close to me. He just like, hung around all day. He wasn't doing anything disruptive so no one kicked him out, but I could have sworn he was looking at me the whole time. It was weird."
"Have you thought about maybe going over and talking to him?" Alec asked.
"No, I haven't," Magnus replied.
"Why not?" Alec asked.
"Because he's creepy," Magnus stated. "And no one else seems to think I'm right about the 'him looking at me' thing."
"Maybe he just has a crush on you," Alec giggled.
"Nah, he's an older guy," Magnus explained. "And I'm not getting that vibe at all. This is about something else."
"Maybe you're being poached for a job?" Alec tired.
"I don't think so somehow," Magnus mused.
"In that case, maybe he is bad news," Alec said. "The way you describe him, it sounds a bit stalkerish."
"Don't sound so worried," Magnus replied with a smile. "I'm sure it's nothing. Probably all in my head."
"You're just saying that to stop me from worrying, aren't you?" Alec narrowed his eyes at his husband.
"Guilty," Magnus smiled, leaning forward to kiss him. Alec quickly forgot what they were talking about as he embraced his husband's kiss. Just then a cat jumped up onto the table interrupting them.
"Chairman," Magnus sighed. "You've had my attention all evening. Shoo."
"Awws, don't shoo him," Alec cooed, reaching for the cat.
"Meow," Chairman said from Alec's arms. Alec scratched behind the feline's ears absently as his mind wondered.
"Have you told someone at the museum that the guy's acting weird?" Alec asked.
"Yes," Magnus sighed. "And they agree it's weird that he's there so much, but it has happened before. Usually people with no where else to go."
"But surely if he were homeless, he'd look homeless," Alec offered. "You said he was dressed like normal."
Magnus just shrugged. "A problem for another day," he said. "Right now I have a cat to battle for my husband's attention."
Alec laughed, smiling as he put down the cat.
I'm back! And hopefully gonna start updating more than twice a month. Yeesh, I've been such a slacker lately #TooMuchTV. I've been watching Downton Abbey and Avatar: The Last Air Bender way too fast these last few weeks.
Also I FINALLY finished my Girl Meets World story about Shawn and Katy called 'Hart Hunter' :D Yay! Cause boy was I getting sick of writing that one. Plus it's always very satisfying to be able to click the button and mark a story finished! I can't even imagine how strange it will feel to finally mark R&S as complete. I mean, I've been writing this story for like what... two years now? *Goes to look up date* Yeah, so it was September 5th 2016 that I uploaded the first chapter of R&S. For a moment I thought it was exactly 2yrs ago today when I first uploaded this story, but then I noticed it was 5/9/2016 and not 9/5/2016. Silly day and month switching-ness.
Anyway... please tell me what you think! I'm especially curious who you think Magnus's mysterious stalker is? ^_^ I've been planning this for ages!
Sneak Peek Chapter 134
"How do people do it? How do they work so hard for so little, without knowing there is an end in sight?"
"You'd be amazed what you can learn to live with," Magnus smiled, gently stroking Alec's hair. "You don't know what you can capable of until the moment life requires more of you."
"Stop being so wise," Alec grumbled. "It makes me feel dumb."
"You shouldn't feel that way," Magnus smiled. "You have a very unique perspective on money and I'm sure many wise things to say on the topic."
"I never used to think about money," Alec shrugged, leaning his head slightly to rest it on Magnus's shoulder. "It was always there, neither brilliant nor evil. It was after all only money."
"And what do you think now?" Magnus asked.
"Now I know that once it's gone, once every dollar is earned slowly by the hour, money comes to mean something entirely different."