4. Assessment
4
Assessment
In theory, Ash was a decent choice for companion.
Over the course of my next few shifts, I studied her behavior, which proved to be level-headed in most situations. She’d perfected the blank stare and nod whenever a customer babbled beyond logical comprehension.
The latest culprit was some heavy-set businessman who shoved his phone in her face. “Best Tech has this exact laptop for two hundred dollars cheaper,”
She glanced at the screen. “They look the same, but the hardware is different. This one has four gigs of memory and that one–”
“No, they’re the same,” the customer insisted.
She tapped her tablet. “Here, we have that model for the same price on our website. Let me pull up the comparison chart for you, and you can decide which one you want.”
“Well, I want you to price match because they’re the same,” he said.
She raised her brows, then chuckled politely. “Let’s try this again. I’ll show you the two models and we can go over which one suits your needs and price point.” She glanced over, so I tugged my cap, then haphazardly tidied the desk.
Did I smile? I should’ve smiled. Smiling was friendly.
Ash walked by my desk on the way to the stockroom. “Hey, Zero, do you want to get started on fixing the scratch? Then, you can go home.”
“I’m on it.” I grabbed a keyboard brush, an old rag, and a tube of toothpaste from my bag. The internet swore this would be a successful combination. Too bad it looked ridiculous in public.
I smeared the white gel across a small scratch, then buffed it with the brush. A test subject. The aroma of baking powder and mint grew with the cleansing foam. This was going to work. It had to work, right? I licked my lips and prepared to paint another dollop onto the glass wall.
“Can I borrow some of that? I’ve got a date after this,” Sal said.
I flinched, gripping the toothpaste hard enough to squirt some onto the floor. “Shit,” I muttered, wiping the glob with my Converse. It only smeared it in streaks. Another thing to clean up.
“Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” He leaned his shoulder against the glass wall. At least his bare forearms didn’t touch it. No smudges, then. “How’s it going?” he asked.
“Fine.” I sighed, just messing up more than I should. I swiped the bigger streak up with the paper towel. Would it be weird to use this cloth on the scratches? The sediment in the formula shouldn’t be too affected.
“Okay, see ya.” He waltzed inside and waved at Ash. “Hey, baby girl.”
Baby girl? She was a grown woman. I scowled, but she laughed.
“Hey, hot stuff. I’ll just be a minute,” she said, returning to the customer with two laptop boxes.
Weird. Too weird to process. Was she dating him ? That goofball?
I got the appeal on his end. She commanded a certain confidence. Button-down shirts hugged her slender waist. She often rolled up her sleeves and unbuttoned her top enough to show off a sports bra or cami underneath, but it was never overly sexual. She let herself breathe. There was an androgynous edge to her beauty. Plus, she was rational. That in itself was a rarity.
He fiddled with Craft Cove on the laptops while he waited for her to wrap up with the customer.
He didn’t strike me as the type of guy who enjoyed casual gaming. Craft Cove was about resource farming, building up an island, and customizing cute avatars. Most guys his age from my robotics group were more about fighting games.
Once the businessman left with the nicer laptop and a frown, Ash sauntered up to Sal and struck up a conversation. It wasn’t particularly flirty. He gestured a lot when he talked, but she crossed her arms, more subdued. She rested her ass against the counter, and he eventually sat up on the one opposite her.
Couldn’t he tell she wasn’t interested in his current topic? I scrubbed harder. Maybe I should say something. But she was capable of handling him.
Her lip ticked up. She leaned closer and said something, her gaze slipping to me.
Sal turned, his eyes wide.
Ash smirked and shook her head.
Shit. I was probably staring again. Or glaring. I renewed my vigor with the foaming toothpaste, spreading it like a shield between us.
Those two were not my problem. This was. At least for the moment.
I wiped the toothpaste away from the edge. The scratches were fainter. Maybe one more round would fix it.
Ash walked out with Sal. “How’s it coming?” she asked me.
“Good. Better.” I nodded, willing my jaw to unclench.
“Okay, well, I’ll leave you to it.” She patted Sal’s shoulder. “Have fun with Janice.”
“Who’s Janice?” I asked .
Damn. Why did I ask?
Sal furrowed his brow. “My girlfriend.”
“Oh.” I frowned. His date tonight was with a girlfriend. That made their banter even more confusing.
Ash rolled her eyes at us as she made her way into True Tech.
“I thought you two were dating,” I said.
“Me and Ash?” He laughed. “No, she’s, uh…” He stroked his chin-scruff.
“What? Just someone you flirt with?”
He shook his head, still smiling. “No, we’re friends. She’s not really my type. And I’m definitely not hers.” His eyes lit up when he talked about her, though.
People were so weird. I huffed and pushed up my glasses. “Well, not that it’s any of my business, but it’s kind of inappropriate for you to talk to her like that if you’re in a monogamous relationship.”
“Like what?”
“You called each other hot stuff and…” I scrunched my nose. I’d rather eat this toothpaste than say ‘baby girl.’
“It’s a joke. No one would ever call her ‘baby girl’ in real life.” He gestured to her as she wrapped up some cables around her elbow, then to his faint reflection in the glass wall. “And I’m certainly not ‘hot stuff.’”
“Why not?” I asked.
He gave me an incredulous look.
I rolled my eyes, my heart whirring into overdrive. “I don’t mean you are hot stuff, I just mean wouldn’t your girlfriend hypothetically find you attractive enough to say you are?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, powering down in a slump. “I think I’m more adorable.”
I snorted and wiped off some toothpaste. “Okay.”
“You don’t think I’m adorable?” He stuck his hands in his pockets and sidled closer. “Am I hideous? Is that why you were staring? ”
“I wasn’t staring.” I turned so fast I almost smacked him with the brush.
“Easy.” He laughed, leaning back.
Heat flared through my veins. This was silly. He shouldn’t be able to rattle me. I wiped my palms on the dirty rag. “If I was staring, it wasn’t at you.” I was thinking. Analyzing.
“Oh.” His mouth stayed open a second, then he closed it, nodding and looking at the floor.
“Although your shirt’s certainly eye-catching,” I added.
He chuckled and rubbed out the leftover toothpaste streaks on the floor with his bright gym shoe. “Thank you. I can put in a good word with Ash, if you want me to.”
“Why would you do that?” He had no reason to like me. I destroyed his drone. I glared through the windows. Why would he care if True Tech continued to employ me?
“I just want to see people happy,” he said, his gaze sliding along the emptying mall.
That was nice. Almost too nice.
“I don’t get it,” I said.
“I know you don’t.” He sighed, swinging his upper body back and forth like he was trying to crack his back. “Tell you what, we usually go out on Wednesdays after closing. If you want to get to know us better, you can come.”
“Where?” Someone’s house?
“Ask Ash. It’ll give you something to talk about besides tech stuff.” He winked.
What, he didn’t think I could talk about other stuff?
I wagged the toothpaste at him. “Don’t you have a store to be in? ”
“Don’t forget to fight those cavities, sweetheart.” He swiped some toothpaste off the end of the tube with his finger, then stuck it in his mouth and brushed.
Oh my god. The germs, the disease he just risked…for what? Fresh breath for his girlfriend?
He gave me a toothy, foamy smile, and backed away. “See ya.”
I nodded, not sure I could reboot my brain enough to respond. Whatever was off with him, I couldn’t diagnose it; but even stranger, I wasn’t sure it should be fixed. Sooner or later, that goofy, kind facade had to give way to something deeper. It could be sweet or sinister. Or stupid, I guessed. Part of me hoped it was that one, but I had a horrible feeling he was actually quite intuitive.
And now, we had to spend time together.
No problem, I decided, capping the toothpaste. That just meant I had to be smarter.