Stephen looked at the clock, realizing he'd have to leave for work soon. "Yeah, that's fine. I'm leaving so-"

Before he even finished speaking, Chris was already pus.h.i.+ng into the room, with Chase following right behind him. Having received their tentative permission, they paid their older brother no more mind, and fired up the console to play a shooting game.

Stephen took that as a cue to start getting ready to leave. After a quick change of his clothes, he was out the door about ten minutes later, arriving for his 2 pm s.h.i.+ft just a little early. Miguel wasn't in yet, but there was someone else who was already working when he walked in.

"Hey Abby!" Stephen called, smiling as he rolled up to the customer service counter.

"Hey Stephen," she smiled in return, giving him a little wave.

"How's your day so far?"

"Much better than yesterday already! It was nuts yesterday. Even for a weekend, it was crazy," replied Abby, carefully categorizing loyalty card applications.

"Yeah, it definitely was," he replied. "I feel like I was chasing carts around the parking lot the entire s.h.i.+ft yesterday!"

"Just crazy," she agreed. "Hey, did you hear about tonight? There's a party at Ram's house. Are you going?"

Stephen's smile dropped, "Party? Tonight? At Ram Doyle's?"

"Yeah, I heard about it on Friday from like five other people. You didn't hear at all?"

"No," Stephen shook his head. No surprise there though, he thought to himself.

"Oh, well, you should think about going," offered Abby, not looking up from her work.

Stephen flinched, "Nah, probably not. Ram and I don't really see eye to eye." Although, the truth of that matter is that he'd probably be ridiculed if he even bothered to show up by Ram and his friends.

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"Well, at least I offered," Abby smiled, looking up from her work.

G.o.d, you're so pretty, Stephen thought, losing track of every coherent thought as she rewarded him with that smile.

"Stephen?"

"Oh, sorry!" Stephen snapped back to reality. "Just thinking is all."

Abby grinned, "You're such a goof ball."

She likes me, he thought to himself. We laugh together, we talk all the time, she invited me out to a party. She has to like me. Now, just ask her out.

"Umm, so, well.. here's the-," Stephen stammered, trying to find the right words. He didn't have much experience with asking girls out.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked. "Cat got your tongue?"

He gave an awkward laugh, trying to defuse the tension. Except, it only made it feel worse. He looked for a way to retreat from the subject.

"Eh, I should get started. Got a lot to do today," he said, feeling the internal regret as each successive word flowed out of his mouth. You giant p.u.s.s.y.

"Okay, well see you in a little bit then," she chirped, going back to her work.

Finding his feet rather heavy as he started to walk away, he resisted the urge to hang his head low. She just had to like him, by the way she treated him. Why was this so hard? Why couldn't he just saunter up to her, say something witty or funny, and then ask her out to the movies or something? Was it always this hard?