Castle in the Air
By Steampunk . Chuckster
Summary: Sarah has opened her dream bookstore just before the holiday season, but when a corporate monopoly announces their reduced-price brick-and-mortar is going in a block away, she must band together with her fellow small businesses to fight for their lives, even if it means getting past a slew of bad first impressions to work with Chuck, the owner of the comic book shop next door. AU Charah.
A/N: It's been a bit since I've done a full-length Christmas fic and I've been sitting on this idea for a while. Writing this story has already been a form of catharsis for me. I hope that it is for you, especially those of you in retail. Solidarity, y'all. Hope you enjoy the first chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or its characters, and any similarities in this fic to any corporate entities are just coincidence... shh.
She looked up from her attempted website renovations when the bell on the front door jingled. She pasted a smile on her face immediately as the brunette young woman stepped inside. "Hi there," she chirped with her best customer service tone.
"Hi." The brunette bent her knees a little, green eyes cast around the place, and she made a quiet sound of excitement. "Oh, a bookstore. A real, actual bookstore full of real, actual books. Let me just take it in."
Sarah Walker couldn't help giggling. "You sound like me a month ago when I was finally able to turn that sign on the door from 'closed' to 'open', books finally on my shelves…"
The other woman beamed at her. "Congratulations. I'm sure it wasn't easy. But it looks beautiful." She inched in a little further and gestured to the stacks. "Mind if I play?"
Sarah loved the way she'd phrased that and she beamed back. "Oh, have a blast. If you need recommendations or just want to hear me ramble for a year about books, let me know. I'll be over here."
As the woman laughed and began her perusal, Sarah Walker went back to her website.
The truth was it didn't look as professional as she wanted it to, but it existed and people could use it to order books from her. That was really all she could hope for at this point. Sitting in multiple virtual lessons for this website host for hours on end, taking notes so that she could build her site from nothing, watching the money drain from her already empty pockets as she paid for the platform and more money than that even for the amenities… It would all be worth it if people bought her books.
That was really the last hurdle. She needed people to buy her books. She'd had a good day that first day, thanks to talking to LA Times and other local bloggers to get the word out. People had packed in and she didn't have anyone hired yet, so taking care of everyone was all on her for eight hours straight while the store had been open. She'd been like a chicken with its head cut off but they had been patient, excited, kind…and then a lot of them still hadn't been back.
Since then the days weren't quite as packed, and now, a month in on this insane venture, people were more like…trickling in. Damn it.
With how high her rent was here, she needed more than trickling customers. She'd take a steady flow, even if it was a weak steady flow.
Every time she subtly brought it up to customers that she was hoping for a little more foot traffic here, she heard a similar refrain: "Oh, it's November. It'll pick up now that the holidays are around the corner."
Sure, it would.
All she could do was chirp, "I sure hope so!" back at them before handing them their bag of books and thanking them for their purchase.
Jens, the contractor who'd helped her immensely when the build-out was happening (and honestly had been very close to probably asking her out on a date, and would've if she hadn't politely sent him signals not to), had been adamant that getting on neighborhood boards, posting more on social media, would make people flock to the store.
But she hated social media, and it wasn't her personality to post cutesy shit on instagram with flowers and balloons and whatever. She'd seen that all over other bookstores' social media accounts and she refused.
She also found that when she posted pictures of books, of the store, of the sign that she'd commissioned a local painter to create with its wooden outline of an old castle nestled amidst clouds and CASTLE IN THE AIR BOOKS in block letters, people interacted with it, liked it, hearted it, whatever the hell…but then they didn't come to the store. That was exactly zero dollars in sales, but at least folks said her store was "cute"…
It was so easy to sit on your phone and type "OMG a bookstore here? YES!" and a lot harder to actually get into your car, drive to it, and buy some books to help keep that business alive.
She'd been open for a month and her own mom hadn't made it out. Granted, she didn't know if Emma Walker read books anymore.
If you looked her up on Facebook, you'd find a a chainsmoker who played canasta with the girls on Friday nights and otherwise had worked long hours at the original Hollywood Park Casino off the racetrack. She'd hopped to the new one when it opened up near the football stadium a few years ago and still worked that job.
If you dug even deeper than that, you'd find some gambling debt.
Even deeper, you'd get a guy she was once married to who went by Harry Lichtenstein, and then Willy Bright, Fred Pallan, Rich Bloom, and the one he stuck with the longest, probably because it was the actual one in his birth records, and in Sarah's: Jack Burton.
You wouldn't find Sarah on Facebook. She preferred to stay away from all of that.
And thankfully this new landlord of hers didn't care about the details except that she didn't have debt and seemed like a sure bet to pay her rent every month.
If John Casey tried to look deeper into her background, she didn't know if he'd find everything. She knew there was a chance he'd find a child who had come from the union of a poker dealer and a conman. A child who didn't do anything right, ever, and couldn't manage to survive on her own save for whatever she'd taken out of the books she read. A child who was bad at school until a high school English teacher had realized she was a prodigy-level reader and a retainer of information when she found that information interesting.
He'd find a young woman who'd done what she could to come out of her situation without a criminal record of her own, including going to community college for English and writing. He'd find a young woman running from her family, from her parents, and towards the one thing that had always made her happy when everything else felt like it had failed her: books.
Her Castle in the Air.
But things had winded down so quickly after her October grand opening that it started feeling like her Castle in the Air was more of a pipe dream, just like everyone had said it would be. Including her ex. That was…just one reason why he was her ex.
You're gonna open a BOOKSTORE when Cadabra exists? You gonna match Cadabra's prices? Otherwise nobody's gonna buy from you.
She hoped he saw the big spread in the LA Times on Page 3 the day after her grand opening, people flooding the store, Sarah behind the counter helping a customer. The line of people waiting to purchase.
Asshole.
She looked up when she heard a delicate clear of a throat. Oh shit. She was drowning in self-pity and bitterness over here sitting at her computer, totally zoning out, and not paying attention to the one fucking customer who'd come into the store in the last hour and a half.
"I'm so sorry!" she groused, climbing up from her stool and gesturing to the computer. "I'm kind of struggling with this code junk on my website and I got a little lost. I apologize. Did you ask me something?"
"Please don't worry about it. That kind of stuff can make you nuts, I totally get it," the woman kindly said, holding a collector's copy of Emma in her hands. Interesting. She might be able to have really good book conversations with this new customer of hers. "I was wondering, if someone likes a good Austen, is there anything more…contemporary you could suggest?" She winced. "I've gone through her whole arsenal at least thirty times each."
"Me, too!" Sarah exclaimed, giggling as she came around. "You looking for modern retellings of Austen, or do you just want something you can get into that has the same sort of tone, a bit of society romance and good characters."
"Ugh, anything with great characters that have some growth, a little satire, really good romance. I don't need a retelling, though I'm not opposed."
Sarah felt like she was completely in her element as she guided the brunette around the store, giving her book after book after book, talking about each of them as she went. Fifteen minutes went by as they talked books, the woman's arms full to the point where she seemed to almost be straining.
"…so if you'd like something with a little murder mystery thrown into the mix, this one is great," Sarah finished, but when she turned to add the book to the other woman's pile, she felt a blush rise. "Oh. God, I went crazy, didn't I? This is way too much. I'm so sorry."
Her customer laughed. "It's almost like owning a bookstore means you like books!" she teased good-humoredly.
"I have a little table right over here. Feel free to sit down and look at all of this and decide. The ones you don't want, you can just leave them on the table and I'll put them back."
Not that she didn't trust the woman to know her alphabet, but she'd learned the hard way that they thought they were being helpful putting books back…only they put them back in the wrong place, making it impossible to find ever again. With her over two-thousand square foot store and no other employees except for her herself right now, it wasn't easy to find a book put back in the wrong spot.
"Okay, thanks…"
Sarah helped her unload the books onto the table, still a little embarrassed she'd gone overboard, and she went back to the counter, wincing. She needed to know when to stop.
That was a balance she had yet to figure out.
Her phone buzzed where she left it on the counter next to the computer mouse. She glanced at it and sighed.
"New phone working great. Thx again hon."
With a sigh, she turned her phone over. But she kept her gaze on it, sighed yet again, and picked it up, typing back a response. "I'm glad, Mom. Thanks for the update." She sent a smiley face too, for good measure.
She hadn't been in a good place to help her mom and she'd done it anyway because she couldn't not do it. No matter how hard she tried to put some distance there. With this "new job" of hers in which she could work from home allegedly, her mom had needed a new phone, a smartphone. Something cheap that was compatible with the apps her job needed her to download.
Sarah'd been clueless about all of that, and in the midst of overseeing the build-out of her store, the moving in of furniture and shelving, trying to order the first books to stock said shelves, she'd had to sit out on the railing of the area behind her store where the dumpsters and back alley were, making phone calls, trying to figure out what kind of phone she could get for her mom, the cheapest smartphone with the cheapest phone plan, that still had capabilities her mom needed for this job.
She still had no idea how it happened, or who had done it.
But a print-out of a smartphone with potential plans had been slipped under the door of her store.
It had been perfect, exactly what she needed. More importantly, it had been cheap, even affordable. And she'd acted on it immediately.
That was weeks before she was able to open her store, and still, now over a month later, the identity of the good Samaritan was a mystery.
It seemed they wanted it to stay that way.
So she would let them have it.
Her customer walked up then, nothing in her hands, and Sarah inwardly sighed. Yet another situation in which she spent a huge chunk of time and effort to help somebody, only for them to take pictures of the books, express their excitement for an in-person indie bookstore, and go home to buy it on Cadabra for cheaper and have it delivered to their door free with their Cadabra Pristine account.
Sarah forced a smile on her face, prepared for the "thanks so much, this store is so cute, I'll be back!" nonsense.
"Sorry. I have another question."
"Shoot."
"My brother is terrible at reading books. Like, actual books full of words and not TV shows with people flying around and landing on Mars or movies about stars warring or whatever." Sarah snorted at that, and the woman's green eyes glinted in shared amusement. "Do you have anything I can add to the pile for him? I mean, sitting down and reading something without pictures isn't his thing so maybe I'm wasting my time, but I wanna try."
Sarah grinned. "He likes sci-fi?"
"Yes. The stuff I've seen him read is, like…classic stuff about Martians coming to Earth and eating us, or us going to Mars to save good Martians from bad Martians."
"Oh, he likes those deep cuts. Okay. It isn't necessarily my thing usually, so maybe he can recommend something to me sometime. I need a little help getting the good stuff depending on the section." She came around the counter again, taking the pretty young woman to her science fiction section. She'd scoured Internet lists and spied on other stores to see what sorts of things they'd had on their shelves, this particular genre not being her strong suit. "This one is big right now." She handed it to the customer. "Alien wars, a whole race of sentient spiders…" The woman made a face and she immediately took the book back. "That's a clear no. Okay, we'll move on," she giggled.
"No, no. I think it would be perfect if he wasn't such a friggin' wimp about spiders."
Sarah cracked up. Okay, even if this woman made her do all this work and walked out with one paperback, or nothing at all for that matter, she liked her. "Nothing with spiders. I can work with that." She spotted another one. "I haven't read this because, again, sci-fi isn't something I read a lot of, I really need to, but she won the Hugo for this. It's got adventure, mythology, it's in space, I think there's a war going on so lots of battles."
"A woman author, huh?" Sarah braced herself. "Good. He reads too many dead white men." She wiggled the book, widening her eyes. "This is perfect."
Sarah laughed again. She really, really liked her.
"Thank you, I'm gonna look around in here, see if anything looks warring stars-y I can add to my pile."
"Sure, take your time."
She went back to her computer. And she cursed under her breath. Because the changes she made to the website header didn't show up. Did she neglect to click something when she was editing to make it publish?
"Trouble with that site?"
Sarah leaned to the side a little and sent the other woman a wan look. "I'm a book person, not a website design person. And hours of classes on using this dumb platform seems to have…uh, not helped much."
"Ah. That sounds like a beast." She paused, pursing her lips, slipping a book back into place and turning to face the bookstore owner. "You don't have any staff who know how to do website stuff?"
Snorting, she shook her head. "I don't have any staff. I can't even afford to pay yours truly at the moment. And I'm not gonna hire anybody until the store makes enough that I can pay them what they deserve. It'll be just me for the foreseeable future."
"No staff? Oh my God, you poor thing. You're probably being worked to the bone."
Sarah shrugged a little. "It hasn't been easy, but I guess I didn't open this bookstore because I wanted easy. I opened it because I love books and I want to put them in people's hands. I also didn't expect to become a millionaire off of it. Heh."
"No, not in today's world when the online corporate giants have a stranglehold on everything," her customer groused. "Well, you need volunteers?" Sarah must've accidentally put a dubious look on her face. "Oh, I know, I know. The idea of volunteers is…fraught with complications. Thing is, I love books, and I know the alphabet. I'm also not terrible with website stuff." She shrugged, wandering over to the counter and setting down the adventure sci-fi book for her brother, as well as another Star Wars book that had just come out in paperback last week.
"That's very kind of you. Seriously. I appreciate it." And she did. "But I don't feel right not paying you if you're doing work here, and I literally can't pay you."
The brunette tilted her head and tapped her fingers on the counter thoughtfully. "This is the part where I tell you I have a really good job and I don't need extra money." She must've seen another look cross Sarah's face because she winced and reached over to put a kind hand on top of hers. "Sorry. That wasn't supposed to sound so…I don't know. Is condescending the right word? I just mean that I don't want or need to get paid. I'd like to help. And this isn't pity, either. Oh boy, I'm just talking myself into a deeper hole here. This is usually my brother's thing. I don't know if he's rubbing off on me or I'm just better at filtering this familial trait than he is."
Sarah laughed. "You aren't digging any holes with me, deep or otherwise. You're very sweet. Thank you…" She paused, raising an eyebrow in question.
The other woman understood and replied warmly: "Ellie."
"Ellie," she repeated, sticking her hand out. "I'm Sarah."
"Nice to meet you, Sarah. Offer stands. I can help with that website at the very least."
"Come back sometime and maybe I'll take you up on that," she finally relented. "Thank you for offering, Ellie."
"Sure." And then she flitted away from the counter, disappearing behind the stacks. Sarah heard books shuffling and went back to the website, pulling up the edit of the page again, fiddling with the block, trying to figure out how to get it to save where the header was supposed to be. She realized it had gotten jammed all the way at the bottom of the website where the store's contact info was. How, she didn't freaking know.
She heard what sounded suspiciously like a grunt then.
Suddenly, Ellie came back around to the counter with three huge piles of books balanced in her arms. Sarah rushed to reach over the counter and help her put them down, using quick hands to keep the piles from tilting and spilling all over the floor. God, she told her to leave them on the table. Not bring them here!
"Okay, ready to checkout."
Sarah blinked, leaning around the piles. "Just the…two books, right? For your brother?"
"What? No! You think I came here just to get him stuff? Uh, I gotta take care of me." Ellie giggled. "All of this. You have totes, right? Do you sell anything with your logo?"
The bookstore owner gaped. "Hold on. You want to buy…all of this?"
"Yep. I've been neglecting reading for too long, blaming it on not having enough time, being too tired to concentrate, blah blah, all excuses. It's easier to fry my brain with reality TV after a long shift at the hospital but I really need to do this again." She put her hand on one of the piles and it waggled precariously. She made a cute oops face and kept it steady. "I feel healthier when I'm reading. My mood is better."
"Oh. E-Ellie, I didn't mean to….I mean, I spewed a whole lot of crap about not being able to hire someone right now, but the store is…" What, surviving? Just barely it was surviving. Only because she wasn't paying herself.
"This isn't some pity shit," the brunette said bluntly. "I need books."
Sarah cackled. "Okay, okay. You want 'em, you got 'em. Single-handedly buying out the store, though."
"Good." She smirked.
As Sarah rang her up, a thrill going through her as she watched the price tag ticking higher and higher, she felt a strange bloom of warmth in her chest. Ellie was claiming it wasn't pity, and maybe it wasn't, but this was definitely kindness. Maybe she did need books, maybe it'd been a while since she'd bought herself new books. It sounded like she worked long hours at a hospital. But this was also pure kindness. Nobody needed to buy twenty-seven books in one go. Over five hundred dollars' worth of books was more than yesterday's sales the whole day. It had only been four hundred and fifty bucks, which was less than great even for a Monday.
"It's so good to have a bookstore around," Ellie was saying.
"You live nearby?"
"No, I'm in the Echo Park area. But it's a pleasant drive when traffic isn't horrid. It took me only like fifteen minutes."
"Wow. Nice!" She paused then, tilting her head in thought. What was someone from Echo Park doing driving all the way to the Del Rey area for a new bookstore? She had really close bookstores right nearby if she lived in Echo Park.
"I guess this is the first time in a while I've made this drive, though, because I'm a terrible sister. But in my defense, having a bookstore right here now? This is the first time I've felt like I have a destination that isn't just seeing my brother at his shop. Not like I'm ever gonna buy a comic book. Pfft over my dead body."
Sarah froze, things starting to fall into place all of a sudden.
Ellie seemed to notice the way Sarah stilled while putting her books in the Castle in the Air Books tote.
"Oh God. Right. I never actually told you that my brother owns the comic book shop next door, did I?" She wrinkled her nose and smiled in a thin-lipped sort of way.
"The-The guy with the—I mean, Ashcan Comics guy? That's your brother?" Sarah stumbled out.
"Yeeeeah, good ol' Chuck."
Sarah wasn't sure what to think or what to say. But all she could think was the thriving, booming business that was the comics shop next door made her little bookstore look like a fucking failure, and the guy who owned it basically came right out and said he'd wanted to rent this space so that he could expand his shop and the landlord basically ghosted him about it and rented to her instead. He'd blurted it in an admittedly awkward sort of way and maybe he hadn't even meant to mention it because he'd had regret in his face. Both of them standing there awkwardly at their shared dumpster space behind their shops, bags of garbage dangling from both of their grips.
But she knew he had to dislike her just on principle, as he probably felt like she'd stolen his space. Sarah'd had no idea about any of it. She'd just loved this spot and wanted to open a store in it once she saw the surrounding area and got a look at the surprisingly not out-of-control price tag.
So she'd sort of…steered clear of the comic place. And him.
Especially after that little revelation.
It was clear John Casey barely tolerated the guy, which wasn't exactly…professional. The Ashcan Comics owner seemed harmless enough, even if he likely had hard feelings towards her about seemingly taking this space out from under his nose.
That said, she still felt a sting of bitterness when she saw folks park and walk into his shop instead of hers. Over…and over…and over…and over again.
And then she'd also sort of…inadvertently…spotted him sitting on the benches in the nice grassy park-like area off to the side from their storefronts. And she'd maybe watched him eat sandwiches a very pretty, short brunette brought him. Clearly his girlfriend with the way they'd peck one another on the lips when parting again.
"He gets on my ass because I haven't bought anything in his shop yet and it's been open a few years now," Ellie was saying, letting out a snort. "But I told him, while I support him in everything he does, the only support he won't be getting is me buying one of those ashcan liners he sells. I will not. Bunch of friggin' nerds," she joked, winking.
Sarah let out a weak chuckle. "Yeah, I can't say I've ever picked up a comic book. His business seems to be doing…really well." And now had he sent his sister over here, some sort of pity ploy, a condescending little message of "support" or something?
"Oh, he worked his ass off to make it what it is. I have to hand it to him. I'm pretty proud of my li'l bro." She smiled sincerely, her eyes shining in a way that made the iciness in Sarah melt. She wasn't being fair. She knew.
"Maybe he can share some of that magic juice over here?" she muttered wanly. "I'm kidding. I mean, he sent his sister over to buy out my store, so…"
"Oh, he didn't send me," Ellie said adamantly. "He has no idea I'm here. I'm gonna go stick these in my trunk and surprise him with lunch. Even though he's a stinker and hasn't called me back. I asked him to help me pick out a replacement for a frayed cable on my stupid smart TV and nada. The little butthead."
Sarah giggled more sincerely. "That's probably just a sibling thing, huh? Not responding to calls and texts."
"Better not be a thing with these siblings, or he'll get a thumping," she joked, making Sarah laugh. "Doesn't matter how tall he is or if he's working out with my boyfriend twice a week or not, I can still kick his ass."
Sarah laughed harder, finishing loading up Ellie's books as the woman tapped her credit card. Jesus, it was well over five hundred dollars. She didn't even know what to say. "Ellie, this…thank you. I guess. That's all I can really fix my mouth to say." She giggled, giving the other woman a self-deprecating look. "Thank you. Really. I hope I steered you right with these."
"They all sound amazing and I can't wait to dive into one of them right when I get home." She held out her hand to Sarah as the blonde stuffed the extremely long receipt into one of the three heavy totes. Sarah took it and they shook hands warmly. "I mean it, if you need website help, I'd love to come down a lot more often."
"Well, I'd love to see you again. So please do visit. But, um, I might put you on book restrictions now for the next year or two. I think you've bought enough from Castle in the Air to last quite some time." She thumped the side of one of her burlap totes.
"No such thing as enough when it comes to books." Ellie winked, pulling her hand away.
She seemed to eye the three totes a bit warily then, reaching up to try to grab two of them in one hand. Sarah acted fast, grabbing one of them and pulling it down. "I'll help you out to your car. It's the least I can do."
Sarah paused slightly when she saw the other woman—the sister of someone Sarah had sort of been seeing as something of a nemesis maybe over the last month or two—pause for just a split second. "Unless you don't want your brother to see me helping you load these Castle in the Air totes into your trunk."
Ellie snorted, rolling her eyes. "Let him see! He knows I love books and he knows I won't read a comic." Sarah opened the door and held it as the brunette strolled out to the sidewalk in front of it. "I've supported him in every other way for his whole friggin' life. He'll be fine."
Sarah laughed. "Well, okay. I trust you're right."
And she followed the woman around to her gray hybrid's trunk.
}o{
"Um, dude…? I think you better see this."
Chuck Bartowski didn't look away from the computer screen as he scrolled the order catalog for spring releases. He paused in his scrolling, his chest seizing. "Oh! Bro! They're doing a crossover! Showa-Era kaiju meets Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but pirates! They time travel to the seventeen-hund—What are you staring at out there?" He'd finally looked up to see his best friend and assistant manager of Ashcan Comics standing at the window of their shop and looking out towards the parking lot.
"First of all, the fact that nobody made my turtle sons pirates before is just…heinous," Morgan said, still staring.
"Right?!"
"But also, is your glorious, wonderful, beautiful and gorgeous genius surgeon of a sister chummy with bookstore girl?"
"What?!"
Chuck scrambled up from his stool and probably dangerously braced his hands on the glass counter, leaping over it, landing in a jog. He skidded to a halt next to Morgan Grimes, his sneakers squeaking against the newly polished floors.
There was the owner of the bookstore next door standing at the back of his sister's car lifting a tote that looked suspiciously like it had said bookstore's logo on it into the trunk.
And there was Ellie Bartowski, all warmth and honey, grinning, laughing, talking to the blonde animatedly as she shut the trunk. Chuck watched then as his sister moved in for a tight hug.
"Ohhhhh!" Morgan belted, bringing his fist to his mouth. He whistled and shook his hand out. "Went in for the hug and everythinnnnng!"
Chuck just glowered a little.
And he kept glowering as the bookstore owner gave a cute little wave and walked back to her shop, his sister locking up her car and heading for his comic book shop. As she approached, she spotted him frowning at her through the window and she rolled her eyes, shrugging as if to say what did I do?
He opened the door for her and held it, giving her a storm cloud look. "What was that?"
"Hello to you too, dear brother. Oh, it's been days since last we spoke and I missed you sooo." She put the back of her hand against her forehead and sighed dramatically.
"Heh. Good one. You're so funny, Ellie," Morgan input from behind her.
"Ass kisser," Chuck grumbled at his best friend. The short, bearded fellow gave him an affronted look for that. He turned on his sister then. "Did you buy books from next door?"
"Uh, yeah. I did. And? I like books. I need to get back into reading. This world is poopoo full of poopoo people and I need an escape."
He gestured grandly at his large comic shop behind him. People were browsing towards the back where the smaller independents were. "You haven't spent a single cent here. And I'm your brother."
Eleanor Faye Bartowski, brat that she was, pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, dropping acidic sarcasm on him: "I don't recall having a brother."
"Stopppp," he groused.
"Chuck, I love you. More than anything, I love you. I will support you and protect you and be here for you 'til my dying day and beyond. You know that. But until that bookstore opened next door, besides seeing you, I had nothing to draw me here." She picked up a comic book, held it up, rolled her eyes, and slapped it back on the counter. Morgan quietly snuck in and straightened the comic on its pile, ever meticulous.
And then he must've realized what she said, because he maneuvered himself around into her view and pointed to himself, affronted again. "Uh…"
"What about the beautiful seaside view at the docks?"
Morgan gave Chuck a look of betrayal, then pointed to himself with both hands this time. "…Hello?"
Ellie ignored him, shrugging one shoulder. "I guess the seaside shopping down there is kind of pleasant, but it's all designer expensive stuff."
Morgan's shoulders slumped in dejection. "I give up."
Chuck and Ellie shared amused looks, brownish gold sparkling eyes meeting green.
"You do realize that shop would have been mine if she hadn't swooped in to grab it from me, right?" he asked. "I had such plans for expansion. I was gonna have collectibles…"
"Oh great, more toys."
"T-Toys?"
"Uh oh," Morgan mumbled. "Um, El. Ellie. Eleanor. We've been through this. They aren't toys. These are collector's items."
"They're toys that are expensive for some reason."
"Because they are rare."
She merely shrugged, not getting it. Not wanting to get it. "Anyway, I get it, Chuck. I understand. You were going to expand Ashcan Comics and make it Comics and Collectibles, but your landlord was an asshole to you. The landlord's the asshole! She isn't at fault." She gestured with a hand towards his bookstore neighbor. "In fact, she seems very sweet." Her green eyes bugged. "And ohmigod, I've never seen anyone more fucking gorgeous."
Two youngish teens nearby looked up in supreme amusement as she gasped lightly and apologized to them. They seemed to enjoy that even more. They looked about thirteen or so and he was absolutely certain they said worse all the time.
Chuck cleared his throat. "That-That has nothing to do with…what I'm talking about," he tried. But he hadn't exactly…not noticed that the woman who was very present at the impending bookstore space for the last three months since he got the news someone was moving their store into the space he'd been in talks to expand into with John Casey the building's landlord…well, she was a bit more than just fucking gorgeous. It was very noticeable. Distractingly noticeable. Unfairly noticeable.
"You're right. Sorry. She knows a crapton about books. She clearly loves them the way you love comics." He wrinkled up his nose. "Yeah, yeah, too many words and not enough pictures." She sighed. "Nerd."
"You say that like it's an insult," Morgan said with a proud smile.
Ellie sent him a dark look. "You wanna hear some insults?"
"Oh." He shrunk back, the smile dying. "No. Not particularly."
"C'mon, Charles Irving. I bought myself some books and now I'm buying you lunch. Oh!" She snapped her fingers, pulling up what she'd been holding in her hand. "I bought you a few things, too. Almost forgot. She said this one got a Hugo, I have no idea what that means but it sounds important. Adventure, space, warring clans or something, yadda yadda. And here's a Star War." She smacked the books into his hands. "Try those."
He sighed. And then he chuckled. "Thanks, sis."
"Seems like she's only getting trickles of customers over there. I really wanted to support a brand new indie bookstore and she's so nice and was so excited about the things she was talking about, it made me want, like, all of it." She shrugged. "Maybe you can steer some of your folks over there."
Chuck straightened his spine a little, surprised. "I guess I hadn't really…noticed."
"Yeah, you've already got your loyal clientele, that's why. She's still trying to build that, and until she does, she might have a tough holiday season. Least you could do is maybe put the twist in your boxer shorts to the side and help a fellow small business owner out." She smirked just slightly, leaning in. "And she is quite the stunner."
"I have a girlfriend, sis… Or did you forget?"
"I didn't forget." She bat her eyelashes.
Chuck knew his sister liked Lou, enough at least, and was happy that he had someone. But he was also more than aware of Ellie's feelings about Lou not appreciating him enough. She thought he bent over backwards and got little to nothing in return, but Lou had her own small business she was running. One of the hottest sandwich shops in the LA area, to boot.
What was really interesting was that Lou was under the impression it was the other way around and he wasn't paying enough attention to her. But she'd been clear that her sandwiches came first, and so he'd made clear in turn once they became an actual couple a few months ago…his comic books came first for him.
And that had worked, until it began to feel like… Well, maybe she wasn't as happy about it now that it was being put into practice.
He'd been getting the silent treatment for the last two days now because he cancelled a date to receive a huge shipment of new releases that was delivered extremely late. He and Morgan had worked practically through the night on it.
And she was…not happy…to say the least.
Chuck had thought Lou would understand a bit better considering she always complained about the delivery of her Italian meats from overseas, but that somehow had only made her less understanding. She'd done the whole Yeah, I also have a business and I somehow manage not to cancel dates all the freaking time and ignore my freaking boyfriend.
"I think Chuck kinda wrecked his chances there by telling her, like, immediately that he wanted her space but Good Ol' John gave it to her instead. Probably not a great first impression."
Chuck gave him a dirty look, even as he thought to himself that wasn't her first impression, it was her second impression…because the first impression had been even worse.
"Erm… Ahem, Mr. Casey, I've been meaning to talk to you," he said, hurrying after the slightly taller man.
"You've got less than a minute. Until I reach that door, basically," Casey tossed over his shoulder.
"It's about the space next to Ashcan. It's pretty big, but I think I can make a good offer on it. We won't have to knock down any walls or anything like that. But just putting a door in, maybe? A threshold, if you will? I want to expand the shop, maybe start carrying a lot more entertainment-type stuff. Anime, comic book movies and TV shows. Blu-ray, 4K… you know. Super cool stuff. And then I can bring in more collectibles, too—"
"The empty space next to Ashcan?" Casey grunted, halting, turning to face him.
They were mere feet away from said empty space.
So Chuck pointed at it. "Yes. This. I've been talking to you about maybe negotiating on some rent prices so that I can expand into it…? For, like, over a month. You said, and I quote, 'Sure kid. We'll talk about it.' Those exact words. And you said them, like…at this point seventeen times. This place has been empty for months now and I really think—"
"Well, it won't be anymore."
Chuck blinked. "So you're accepting my offer? I'll pay eight-thousand a month for both spots, no problem. This is gr—"
"Nah. Bartowski, you aren't listening. I'm not leasing it to you. I've found another renter."
Chuck blinked again. "For this?"
"Yup." He shrugged and made to head for the door.
"Wait, wait. You're renting it to someone else? But-But Mr. Casey, I thought we had a deal."
Casey turned on him. "Did you sign a lease?"
"Well…no, but I thought—"
"She has."
Chuck felt desperation rising in him. "Mr. Casey. Mr. Casey, sir, what about ten? Ten-thousand a month? For both spots. I'll even cover construction for putting a doorway in between the—"
"Nope."
"But we were talking about this, Mr. Casey. Man to man. Businessman to businessman."
"That's right, kid. I am a businessman. And I can't afford to keep a space like this for as long as it's been empty, just 'cause I'm waiting on you to seal the deal." He shrugged again. "As they say, you snooze, you lose."
"I didn't even know someone else was gunning for it, though. If I'd known that, if you'd told me—"
"What d'you think, I'm gonna tell you tenants all my business? That's it. There's nothin' else to say, kid."
"But I have stuff to say." The older man raised an eyebrow. Chuck took a step back and gulped. "Just tell this person that you've changed your mind, I'll give you twelve thousand a month for the two spots. That's six thousand for each space. And construction costs, too."
Casey pursed his lips. "That's really tempting, Bartowski, but no can do. I've already drawn up a lease and we've both signed. Now I've gotta prep because she's coming any minute to meet me here and we're gonna chat about what her contractor is gonna have to do. Lotta work needs to be done, kid, I don't got time. Go back inside and sell your little comic books, hnng?" He waved him away dismissively.
"Cas—Mr. Casey, we were talking about Ashcan's expansion. You went behind my back and signed a lease with someone. That's really awful business, sir."
"What d'ya want me to do? Hold your hand while I wait for you to figure your shit out, Bartowski? I don't hold hands. You're a grown-up. You should'a figured your shit out quicker. She did. And now she's got a lease. Ain't no way I'm going back on that lease, either, because she seems like the type who'd find a lawyer to chew me up and spit me out." He let out a snicker and a smirk. "I kind'a like her."
"Great. That's just great. So what am I supposed to do then?" Chuck asked. "I was prepared for this expansion. I was getting prepped, looking at hiring a contractor for the space…" He felt anger and injustice roiling in his chest.
"You gotta move fast in today's world. Capitalism." Casey shrugged. "My advice, kid? Be nice to your new neighbor. Heh."
And he ducked inside, shutting…and locking…the door behind him. Still smirking, the fucking asshole.
"Be nice," Chuck muttered. "Fat fuckin' chance. M'not gonna be nice to the new neighbor," he grumbled under his breath. He turned to walk back to his shop, paused, and growled, "Fuck! Fucking fuck!" He stared straight ahead, his vision going red, and then he spun back towards the door the landlord went through and snapped, "Fuck you, John Ca—"
The words died in his throat as a young woman with blond hair and bright blue eyes stuttered her step as she made her way to the door through the picnic tables. Her eyes wide, she tugged at the black blazer that matched her pencil skirt, cleared her throat, and quickly made her way to the door Casey had just locked in Chuck's face.
She rapped on the door with her knuckles.
And studiously ignored him.
Chuck stood gaping, blushing hard, mortification assailing him. She turned to glance at him as she waited for Casey to unlock and open the door. All he could do was make a mad dash for the front door of Ashcan, tearing it open and diving inside.
"Listen, brother. You better be nice to that girl over there. She's very sweet and that business seems to mean a lot to her." Ellie pointed in his face. "You two be nice."
"I am!" he rushed out. "I'm very nice!"
"By nice he means when he sees her coming he ducks behind things so that she can't see him and potentially talk to him."
He sent Morgan a glare. "Betraitor."
What neither Ellie nor Morgan knew was that he had been nice to her. Even if he did sort of…go out of his way to keep from talking to her sometimes. It was just that every face to face interaction so far had been deeply awkward, sometimes on her part and sometimes on his—okay, mostly on his.
"You're hiding from her? Oh God. Chuck."
"I'm—I'm not—Ugh, let's just go to lunch. Thanks for the books."
"Mmmhmmm," his sister hummed dubiously, ruffling his hair. But as they walked to the door again, Ellie turned and glared at Morgan who was dutifully following. "Not you."
"What? Aw, come onnnn."
Chuck winced. "Morgs, we just hired Flint," he said under his breath. "They're great and really know their comics, but they don't have our POS down yet. You gotta be here. I'll bring you somethin' back, okay?"
"Fiiiiiine."
He patted Morgan on the shoulder and headed out with Ellie. But they were only halfway to his car when Ellie turned, caught sight of something, and raised her hand in a wave, a big grin on her face.
He turned to look.
Oh God.
"Hi, Sarah!"
The bookstore owner turned from where she was cleaning the windows, a bottle of Windex in one hand and a rag in the other. She grinned, switching the rag into the other hand with the cleaner and lifting her now free hand to wave back. "Hi!"
To make everything worse, Ellie pointed to Chuck with both fingers. "This is him! My brother! This is Chuck!"
"I'm gonna strangle you," he muttered through gritted teeth to his sister as he grinned and lifted a hand in a wave. "Hey there, Sarah…" he called out.
"Hi, Chuck." She looked amused and he thought maybe these two women might be plotting against him at this point.
His sister gave him a subtle nudge and he just barely resisted glaring at her outright. "Uh, h-how's business?" he asked.
She wrinkled up her face and gave a full-body shrug. "Not great! Thanks for asking!"
The self-deprecating blunt candidness caught him off-guard and he nearly laughed. That amusement was still there in her face, so he smiled in shared amusement instead.
"It'll pick up when people know you're here."
"Yeah. I'm sure it will. Thanks."
Chuck was on the verge of saying goodbye, or maybe good luck, or something else polite but Ellie cut him off, "We're grabbing lunch, wanna come?"
Was she fucking serious?
He made sure the grin on his face was extra big as he sent his sister a wide-eyed look. "Yeah! Wanna, uh…we're gonna…eat."
And he didn't know if Ellie wanted him to have the most awkward and uncomfortable lunch ever in his life or what, but he was going to drive extra jerky just because he knew she hated when he did that.
"No, thanks. I've got somethin' in the fridge. I appreciate it." Sarah smiled politely. "You two enjoy. Maybe raincheck for some other time?"
"Absolutely," Chuck said, doing his best to keep his relief from showing. There was a weird masochistic little part of him that sort of wanted her to come, however. And he needed that little part of him to shut the hell up. Stat.
"Mmm, I can't wait for a big ol' burger with bacon on it," Ellie said, giving him a teasing push towards his car.
He spun on her. "What? I thought we were getting Italian subs at Lou's!"
"We would've except that you got yourself in deep shit with her and I don't really feel like witnessing whatever passive aggressive bullshit goes on between you two when I'm trying to digest my food."
Chuck didn't know if the bookstore owner had heard that or not, but Ellie'd said it…pretty loud. He turned to glance back over his shoulder at Sarah. She was still watching with a bit of a smirk. She waved at him one more time.
He waved back, the corner of his mouth pulled up in a bit of a crooked smile.
When they climbed into the car, Ellie belted one last, "See ya, Sarah!"
Chuck carefully guided his car to the exit of the lot, waiting for a truck to drive by before he eased out into the street. And then he smacked his foot on the gas pedal, making Ellie jolt hard in the passenger seat.
"Ow! What the f—"
"Oops. Sorry."
He only did an okay job at keeping the smirk off of his face, which was why he felt her palm swat his shoulder hard.
A/N: What do you folks think so far? Let me know in a review if you can. And if not, fear not, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.
-SC