6-The coincidental encounter

Emerick's pov

I've misjudged my coworker, she's not as bad as I originally thought.

Her name's Ritvy and her last name, well I find it hard to pronounce it but it's Nagarajan.

I was right, she's Hindu but she definitely doesn't dress like she's one, that's for sure.

Turns out she's way closer to my age than I originally thought, she's turning 18, she just graduated high school she said.

She's not as scary as I thought but I still have some reservations about her, she's something I'll say.

I don't usually get along with people this laid back like she is but she's my coworker, so I've got no choice.

About that, so far it's been going better than I expected.

As much as I don't like socializing, being at the counter and having people of different ages come ag the counter and pay for things, it's ok for the most part.

It's a relief how nerve-wracking this all was to me just two days ago.

But it's been going relatively smoothly thanks to yes, Ritvy. She's been helping me get used to working at the convenience store but between me and her, she's way better with people.

Regardless, today it's my third day working and Ritvy is still there with me.

I've just arrived at the convenience store and honestly, I'm finally glad I'm here, it's been raining for the past few morning hours, including when I walked here, so I'm all wet, how annoying.

It's annoying but I decided to not mind too much with my somewhat wet clothes.

I go to the counter and I am met by Ritvy who's busy dealing with a woman.

But as soon as she's done, she notices me and her eyes widen but it quickly turns into a smirk.

"Woah, there what happened to you?" She says smirking and I glare at her.

"Just the rain," I say annoyed but she only smirks more.

"You know you could've saved your clothes by taking the bus or the taxi." She says snuggly and I glare at her unimpressed.

"Not everyone can afford it you know?" I say coldly and that seems to surprise her a bit.

"True. You sure you wanna work with those clothes?" She points at me a bit disgusted.

"Does it look like I can do anything about it?" I say stating the obvious and she just smiles.

"Yeah can't do. I'll dry off anyway. Now come here, tiger." She says energetically.

Oh yeah, she gave me a nickname, tiger. Not a fan of it but after a few times, I let it slide.

I get on the other side of the counter and she hands me my name tag.

I put it on.

"Today's Friday, so it's busier than usual, especially in the evenings but luckily you won't work tonight, you're too young for that." She says and I nod.

"Ok," I simply say.

Then someone enters the convenience store.

"Oh, someone just got in, quick go at the counter, it's your turn." She winks smiling and I internally roll my eyes.

Yeah, she's also overconfident, she loves showing she's the boss.

I do as told and I wait for a bit as the person looks around for whatever they want to buy, eventually, they're done and they come to the counter.

They put their two things on the counter without saying anything, rude much.

I scan both things and then I check the total on the screen.

"It'll be 10.80$ sir," I say plainly and the man in the middle of his thirties I presume and a company worker seems to dislike that number for a reason.

"10.80$? I bought just two things. It's supposed to be cheaper at the convenience store. Ugh, what a scam." He complains but whispers the last part.

I look at Ritvy who's not too far behind the counter and she gives me a thumbs up. Great, she's not kidding when she says I would be on my own this time. Guess, I have to deal with that guy and do as Ritvy told me yesterday.

Yeah, it already happened yesterday on my second day but it was Ritvy who helped me. She says it happens that sometimes there are those types of people that complain but it's normal, especially those days she says.

"Sir, you need to pay." I simply say even if I am a bit annoyed and he looks at me annoyed.

But luckily he takes out his wallet and takes out his card.

"Do you do credit cards?" He asks annoyed.

"Yes, we do," I say.

I take out the machine for the card, push it towards him and he swipes his card.

Thank goodness this convenience store accepts
credits, because I know some for some reason still don't. That guy already seems to be in a bad mood, no need to anger him more.

After there's a beep sound, I hand him the two things and he almost snaps them away, which surprises me a bit but I restrain from doing anything about it.

"Have a nice day," I say as I am forced to say that at my job.

But he doesn't look at me and simply leaves still in a bad mood, he even whispers something under his breath but I don't hear him.

After he finally leaves, I release a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Gosh, that guy was impatient." She comes next to me annoyed herself about that guy.

"Yeah, he was," I say a bit annoyed at the thought of that man.

"I bet he was just impatient to get to his job." She says now smiling.

"Probably," I say.

"Anyway, you did a good job." She smiles and relieves some of my doubts.

"Is it really gonna be like this every day?" I say fearful.

"Nah, you just so happened to get a bad first client, but look here's another one." She points at the door alert.

I look at the door and notice it's a woman this time.

Hopefully, the rest of my day will be better.

——————

Carson's pov

It's been a few days into the summer break and so far it's been quite smooth.

As usual, my brother Cayden keeps going to his friend's house or his girlfriends but I've gone a few times to Ella's and that's nice.

Especially as I have a bike, I get to bike to her house even if it is a bit further away.

But tonight it's Friday and right now we're about to eat dinner as a family on the balcony, it's always fun when we do this during the summer.

Knowing it'll soon be dinner, I get in the kitchen and instantly I get hit by the smell of potatoes and I smell a bit of barbecue coming from the backyard.

"Hey, papa, smells good," I say smiling and he turns to look at me and smiles.

"It's almost done so you can go wait outside with Nora and your dad.

"Ok," I smile.

I push the back door and go on the balcony, there, there's my dad cooking something on the barbecue, I think it's meat.

"Hey," I say smiling and he looks at me.

"Smells good right?" He smirks and I nod.

"Yeah, it does. Papa's says the potatoes are almost ready." My sister's eyes light up a bit and my dad smiles.

"Good, same for me too." He smiles.

I go sit down next to Nora.

We talk for a bit and eventually, dinner is ready. My dad brings everything outside and once it's all there we get ready to eat.

"Wait, where's Cayden?" My sister asks.

"He's probably gonna go to his friends, he was on the phone earlier with someone." My dad says.

"But wait, he hasn't eaten dinner yet." My papa says concerned.

"Leave him be, he's old enough to figure it out on his own." My dad says and my papa disagrees but lets it go.

Then as if on cue we hear the front door in the house make some noise and close.

"Seems like I was right." My dad says proud of himself.

"Oh, don't be so full of yourself." My papa says annoyed but he has a half smile.

Then we all start eating and we all enjoy the food

"I was hoping Cayden would be here with us but since you're with us Carson, I'll ask you. Your birthdays are coming up, what do you want to do?" My papa asks out of the blue and my eyes light up, interested in the topic.

This is it, the talk about what we'll do for our birthdays.