Selby:

















Sometimes, I feel like I'm going through life with my eyes closed. Every day is the same thing: go to work; come home and make dinner; watch netflix; go to sleep at an ungodly hour of the morning; and wake up to repeat it all again. Even my days off are spent with anti-climactic hours of laying in bed and hoping to god that I don't get a call from work asking to come in.

Don't get me wrong, I like where I work. My co-workers and managers haven't said much about my not-so-mainstream style, however our customers are not shy to point it out. And that's usually the part that makes me dread work; except for one day, or should I say week, that was particularly unusual.

I walked through the double glass doors with my head down as per usual. Walking into work was always slightly awkward for me, plus I was already 5 minutes late and neglected to tell them I would be.

"You're here, thank god." Jess, one of my many managers, exhaled as I stepped through the heavy door to the break room. "I was starting to worry you would be a no call-no show."

I gave Jess an incredulous look. "You know me, Jess. I wouldn't just not show up for work."

She shrugged. "I know, but I always worry about those things, you know that. Especially today since it's been rather busy."

She always says that every day: it's been rather busy; my favorite four worded sentence. Not. I slowly made my way to the time clock to punch in. I was really dreading the sales floor today for reasons unknown. I just had a feeling something unexpected was going to happen to me.

"So, I have you recovering in men's," Jess began and I groaned silently in my head. Men's was the worst department to be put in. "I know you like being in Kid's..." Jess trailed off as she saw the look of utter defeat on my face when she so graciously announced that I would be slaving away in Men's. "But... Jen's here and you know Jen..."

Oh, did I know Jen alright... She was a bit of a basket case. My friend Ella and I were convinced she did drugs on her break in the bathroom.

I clicked on my walkie and shoved the clip onto my pocket. "Alright," My shoulders slumped over as exhaustion was already creeping in at just the thought of working in Men's. "I'm going to Men's..."

Not even five minutes of being in the Men's department and I hear someone behind me ask: "Excuse me, do you work here?"

I turn around to see a tall guy about my age with dark black hair and a light rim of liner around his eyes. The first thought I had was what was he doing in a store like this? But I pushed the thought aside and replied, "Yeah, I do. What can I help you with?"

"Do you guys sell Batman t-shirts?" He asked and his friend giggled beside him.

Is this some kind of fucking joke? I thought to myself. "Yeah, actually, we do." I said aloud and led him and his friend to the back table where we had all the graphic tees.

I could feel my soul slowly being crushed as I saw what a mess the graphic tee table was. "Um, they're somewhere in this massive shit show." I motioned to the fucking Mount Washington sitting on the table in all it's glory.

I started to sift through the unending amount of shirts to try and help him find one but before I could even get through two shirts I heard him gasp.

"Yo, no, you've got to be kidding me."

I looked over to see him holding up a Batman t-shirt with his eyes wide. "Oh good, you found one." I said. "Anything else I can help you with?"

Apparently he was so excited over his t-shirt, he didn't hear me. His friend nudged him in the side to break his eternal gaze and back into reality.

"Sorry, what was that?" He looked over at me.

His eyes were a hypnotizing blue color and almost made me forget what I had said. But I wasn't about to let a boy get to me like that. "I asked if I could help you with anything else."

"Well," He took a step towards me. "I am looking for a date on Saturday."

I almost laughed in his face. "Thanks, but I'll pass."

"You know," He said. "I like you. You're different."

"Thanks...?" I said with slight confusion in my voice. He was being really weird and I wasn't sure if I should call Jess to get me out of this or not.

"Well, thanks for your help and I'll see you around maybe." He said and started towards the register with his friend.

"Probably not." I said to myself under my breath at his comment. The likelihood of us ever seeing each other again was not even comprehensible. The more I thought about the brief encounter, the more I realized that the whole thing was probably just a joke between him and his friend. I bet his friend dared him to come into the store and say exactly everything he said, minus the part where he actually found what he was asking for.

But much to my surprise, he came in the next day without his friend this time. And continued to come in every single day at the same time and ask me the same question: "How does that date sound now?"

I was beginning to grow tired of the constant persisting so one day I finally agreed to get him to stop pestering me.

"Wait, really?" He said.

"Yeah," I nodded, "As long as you promise to stop asking me out after this."

He laughed slightly. "Oh, don't worry." He said. "I won't need to. After a date with me, you'll be begging for another."

I couldn't believe the amount of dick he had shoved into his personality. I swear, never in my life had I ever met someone so cocky. Needless to say, I was in fact the exact opposite. But still, of all the nerve.

Saturday had finally rolled around and this guy, who's name I still didn't know, told me to meet him at a Dunkins down the street from where I worked. So I walk in and there he is sitting there with a smug look on his face.

I sat down in front of him and he holds his hand out for me. "Andy." He introduced himself.

I took his hand skeptically and introduced myself. "Selby. Like Shelby without the 'h'."

"You always introduce yourself to people like that?" He chuckled.

"Shut up..." I said slightly playfully and pulled my hand away. I suppose I had to stop lying to myself at this point. I liked Andy from what I could see so far. He was my type, if I even had a type. I figured if I had a type, he would be it.

"Let's get out of here." He said, standing up from his chair and heading towards the door. I got up and quickly followed but he stopped short just outside the door and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, dropping one into his hand and letting it sit in between his lips.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked as he slipped the pack back into his pocket and pulled out a lighter.

He cupped his hand around the end of the cigarette and let the flame just kiss the tip. "To go do some stupid shit." He said as smoke billowed out of his nostrils and swirled around every word he spoke.

"Like what...?" I asked cautiously. Instead of responding, he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I didn't know it yet, but I was about to live life with my eyes opened for the very first time.

Notes

I usually never write in 1st person so let me know what you think. I was just feeling it for this story. I'm not sure why but yeah. Also, this is another sample story to sort of re-activate this story and get it circulating again. I know many people don't read the forums and because this hasn't been active in 7 months, most of my active readers have probably drifted off to other things and forgotten about this. But I am now re-accepting submissions. I cleared out my folder for various reasons that you can read about in my forum post if you're curious. If you had submitted something within or before those 7 months of inactivity and still want your one-shot published, please re-submit. I know, I'm a pain in the ass I'm sorry but it's for valid reasons.