New Beginning

December twenty-second was always a busy day in the retail world. Most customers were pleasant, but there are more that are Grinch’s in disguise. Christmas was just around the corner and Best Buy’s store hours were crazy long. The navy blue and tan carpet had tons of dirt and foot prints all over it and the shelves were picked clean. The drinks and candy was scarce, and there were price labels strewn everywhere. Employees were tired, and more times than not, it seemed impossible to satisfy customers. Lauren and Maci were working the four to midnight shift at checkout. The store was empty after ten except for the occasional customer. The girls had to find a way to entertain themselves. The two were throwing a bouncy ball at each other, but could never seem to catch it. It bounced all over the store, knocking remaining products off of shelves. One of the girls would always go and find it, and then tidy up the mess it had made. “I can’t believe your ex-boyfriend came in here tonight and got thrown out! That was some crazy shit girl,” Maci said in the midst of their little game. “Thank God,” Lauren replied, rolling her eyes. She couldn’t understand how he just didn’t get it. Four years later, and she still didn’t want to be with him. Her manager had done her a due diligence by asking her if she was okay if he threw the guy out. “Are you and Jeremy still a thing?” Maci asked hesitantly, almost as if she was afraid to ask. “Yeah. He’s been pissing me off though. I just wish he would take me to Garvan Gardens, or anywhere for that matter, instead of blowing me off all the time. We’ve seriously made plans a million times and he keeps making up excuses.” Lauren bit her lip, hoping she wouldn’t push the subject. Maci looked at her with sympathetic eyes, not going further into the topic. Lauren and Jeremy have had a thing since September. He never seemed to pay any attention to her, but she was too invested to just give up. Lauren had kept Maci in the loop on their relationship-thing. After a while, it was hopeless to complain to anyone about his absence in their relationship. Nothing would change. Lauren’s phone vibrated, indicating a text. She hoped it was from Jeremy, but she was thoroughly disappointed when she read the name on the screen. It was from this guy she had met on Instagram. Lauren rolled her eyes. He texted her all the time asking her to hang out, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do that to Jeremy. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but she couldn’t hurt Jeremy. Trey: are you at work? She sighed and waited a moment to respond. Lauren: Yes. Trey: i’m on my way to see you. This guy barely knew her. Why was he coming to see her? Lauren had been sort of shady with him, since she didn’t really know where she and Jeremy stood. She continued to throw the bouncy ball with Maci, until their manager busted up their ball throwing and made them actually do work. Ten minutes after she and Maci were put to work, Trey walked through the sliding doors of Best Buy. His eyes were automatically fixated on Lauren. He just couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Lauren seemed to glow. She was absolutely the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen. Trey walked by towards, not trying to make it seem like he was a creep. She was scanning products by checkout and making price labels for them. Trey walked right past Lauren, but she could feel his eyes staring her down. He couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she was. She was more beautiful in person than she was in her pictures. A few moments later, he walked up to Lauren. “Hey,” Trey said shyly. “Hey,” Lauren replied with a soft smile on her face. She hoped he wouldn’t make their meeting feel awkward, and she especially hoped he wouldn’t ask her why they hadn’t hung out yet. “What exactly are you doing?” “I am scanning products and making price labels for them.” “Wow. That sounds so boring,” Trey said with a large smile on his face. Lauren laughed, but didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t help but think he was really cute and he had such a warm laugh. She finished scanning the last of the products. “I have to go to the back of the store for a few minutes,” She said. Trey didn’t say anything, he just walked away. Lauren punched a few buttons on her Telxon and then she walked from the front of the store to their warehouse so she could print her labels. Lauren walked past the video game department and her eyes met his. She quickly looked at the ground and didn’t look back up until she made it into the warehouse. After she printed her labels, she walked back to the front of the store. Trey came out of the video game department and followed her back over to the area that Lauren had been scanning. She then began to put the labels out in front of the boxes of flying drones. “Dang it,” Lauren said. “What?” Trey asked. “I don’t remember which one is which,” she answered, laughing from embarrassment. Trey laughed and shot her a gorgeous smile. That smile was something she could get used to. Lauren’s manager, Matt, walked over to her, pulling her out of her googly eyes. “Hey, how’s it goin’ over here?” Matt asked. “Well, I have an issue,” she replied. “What’s that?” “I have no earthly idea which one is which.” Matt busted out laughing. “Didn’t you go in a specific order?” He asked. “Well…sorta,” she replied. Matt took his black iPhone 5 out of his pocket and opened up the Best Buy app. “Gimme that,” he stated as he yanked the sheet of labels out of Lauren’s hands. Matt then typed in the SKU numbers off of the labels into the app on his phone and began to put the labels in front of the products. Trey took the time to study Lauren. Everything about her was small: her size, her waist, her hands, her feet. Her brown hair ended at the middle of her back, and her walkie talkie was clipped to her belt. That smile of hers could light up a midnight sky. Lauren could feel his eyes on her, but she didn’t look at him. She ignored the eyes on her and kept her attention focused on her manager. “Now that’s how it’s done!” Matt said jokingly before he walked away. Trey was knocked back into reality. He smiled at Lauren, and she studied him. Trey was a few inches taller than her, with shaggy brown hair, and hazel green eyes. He was wearing black Vans, khaki’s, and a baby blue sweater. He cleans up good she thought to herself. “Is this really all you do? You get paid to do nothin’,” Trey said jokingly. “Hey now, it gets busy sometimes!” Lauren said smiling. Trey threw his head back laughing, and fixed his calm eyes on her. Matt walked towards them, with a mision. “Lauren, I need you to lazer-line computers. Go,” he said without even stopping. Lauren sighed, but made her way over to the computers department. Trey followed, and they made small talk while she worked. She had never been good at meeting people. What made it worse was that she never knew what to say, and when she did say something it always made her sound like she was a know-it-all. Guys were attracted to her beauty, but nothing else. She hoped Trey wasn’t like that, because she had a feeling Jeremy was. At eleven-thirty, she had finished organizing the department designated to her. “You work tomorrow?” Trey asked. “Yeah, four to midnight,” Lauren replied hesitantly. They walked back to the front of the store. “I’ll come see you tomorrow night,” Trey said making it almost sound like a question. He gave her a soft smile. “Well, okay,” she replied. Lauren walked outside with him and he pulled her into a hug. The streetlamps shined over them. Trey held her so close and hugged her deeply. No one had ever hugged her like that before. She couldn’t help but think about how comforting it was. Trey, on the other hand, never wanted to let go. He pulled away. Lauren hoped he wouldn’t try and kiss her. That would just be weird. After all, she barely knew him. Kissing her had crossed Trey’s mind. He hesitated, but didn’t go through with it. “I’ll text you,” he said. Lauren smiled at him, just before he turned and walked away with his hands in his pockets. * * * It was the eve of Christmas Eve, and Best Buy was slammed. There was barely any room to walk around on the tan and blue carpet. Tonight, Lauren was working customer service with Carly. Working customer service this close to Christmas was a death sentence. It was worse than checkout. There were returns on top of returns, angry customers galore, and too many crying babies. Lauren was relieved when the last customer walked out of the door. The store was dead silent, and all you could hear were the faint conversations coming from the associates. They should have been taking this time to tidy up in case another whirlwind of customers came through. It looked like a tornado had busted through the store. Everything was out of place and boxes were thrown all around. Ten forty-five hit and the doors slid open, letting in a gust of cold December air. In walked Trey, and Lauren was the first thing he laid eyes on. His face instantly lit up. She hadn’t seen him yet, but he had seen her. Her beauty mesmerized him, and he couldn’t help but think it had been love at first sight. Trey walked over to the counter to spark a conversation. “Hey!” he said, smiling like a kid. “Hi,” Lauren replied. She wasn’t really sure why he was here. He told her he would come, but she didn’t actually think he would. Jeremy never came and saw her. It was actually nice having someone who actually wanted to see her. This made her question her and Jeremy’s relationship. Could she even call it a relationship? Lauren had no idea what their title was, but she was getting sick of it. “How’s work?” Trey asked. “It was hectic. I’m glad it’s slowed down now though,” Lauren replied. Trey smiled at her. His eyes were comforting, and his smile gave her butterflies. He stood there talking to her for about twenty minutes. There wasn’t a topic they didn’t cover. Lauren was surprised that she was this comfortable with him when she didn’t know him from Adam. Trey didn’t want to leave, but he had to take his cousin home. I have to have her he thought to himself. “Well, I have to take Andrew home. Can I get a hug?” He asked with the biggest grin on his face. Lauren smiled. “Sure,” she replied. Trey drew her into a hug. Lauren couldn’t help but think he smelled so good. She almost didn’t want him to let go. Lauren pulled away. What would Jeremy say if he found out? For a moment, she didn’t care. Trey smiled at her and looked deep into her eyes. “I’ll text you,” he whispered. Lauren smiled and watched him walk out the door. * * * Lauren was swamped the next couple of days. In between family get togethers’ and wrapping Christmas presents, she really didn’t have time for anything. Trey was persistent with seeing her. If she didn’t reply, he would text her again, and again, and again. She supposed she could have made time for him somewhere in her busy schedule, but she was so torn between him and Jeremy. It was December twenty-seventh. If you thought retail stores slowed down after Christmas, you were wrong. People were returning things left and right because they had received multiples of the same gifts. Gift cards were the popular form of payment, and they were a real hassle. Lauren lucked out in getting the opening shift, and five o’clock wouldn’t hurry up. She had made plans with Jeremy, and she had decided that this would be the determining factor in their, well, whatever it was. Five o’clock made its’ way around. Lauren clocked out and dialed a number on her phone. “Hi!” she said. “Yeah?” Jeremy asked. “I’m off work. What time did you want to meet?” “Hell if I know. I’ll text you,” Jeremy said just before he hung up the phone. Lauren knew not to get too excited. She got her purse and pockets checked by security and proceeded to her car. She then checked her phone before making the trip to her house. Lauren had barely heard from Trey today. Had she missed her opportunity? Oh well. She drove home, ready to get her night started. When she arrived at home, she couldn’t find a thing to wear. I have to look super hot she thought. She settled for skinny jeans, a tank top with a long cardigan, and boots. Lauren made sure she had a little cleavage showing, and she paired the outfit with dangly earrings. Now, all she had to do was wait for her text from Jeremy. Five-thirty rolled around, and she hadn’t heard from him. Then it was six. Six-thirty approached. Lauren was sitting on her living room couch, watching television with her mom where she hadn’t moved since she finished getting ready. “What are ya’ll doing tonight?” her mom asked. “I think he wants to see a movie,” she replied “What time?” “Oh…well…I’m not sure.” “Then he still has time to blow you off.” Lauren picked at the stitching in the couch, avoiding eye contact with her mother. “Tell you what. If he hasn’t texted me by seven then I’ll go do something with someone else,” Lauren said. It hurt Lauren knowing that her mom knew Jeremy was shitty. She really wasn’t going to get an approval now. Seven o’clock rolled around, and Lauren still hadn’t heard from Jeremy. She was officially done. “Alright, I’m going to go do something. I’ll be home by curfew,” Lauren said as she walked out of the door. Haskell, where Lauren lived, was a long drive to Benton. Lauren wondered if Trey was already out here, since this was where he was from also. Lauren pulled out of her driveway and opened her phone. She sent Trey a text: Hey. Trey: hey. Lauren: Wanna meet up? Trey: yes. Lauren: Where? Trey: Haskell Big Red. Lauren lived five minutes away from there. She pulled up to the gas station and waited. This was the perfect time for her to fix her lip gloss and check her makeup. She pulled the tube out of her purse and applied it. “Dang I look hot,” Lauren said to her face in the mirror. She then checked her phone again. Still nothing from Jeremy. She was not about to let him ruin this night. Lauren put her phone on do not disturb and threw it down into her tan Michael Kors purse. Trey pulled up beside her in his red 2001 Ford Ranger. He was nervous. He hadn’t really heard from her the past couple of days, but he was glad he got to see her. Lauren got out of her red 2013 Ford escape and locked it. Trey was in shock. She looked absolutely stunning. Her body was to die for, but that was beside the point. There were no words to describe her beauty. Lauren got in the passenger seat of his truck and looked at him. “Hello!” she said “Hey,” Trey said, hoping she couldn’t see his heart jumping out of his chest. “So…what do you wanna do?” he asked her. “I don’t care at all. Just drive,” Lauren said. So, Trey drove, and Lauren made herself comfortable. He drove to Tyndall Park and parked underneath the tree next to the Gene Moss Building. They sat there in the single cab truck, listening to music and talking about everything under the moon. Trey could not take his eyes off of her. Lauren sat there. Her skin glowed under the street light, and her smile put all of the stars to shame. She was everything he wanted in a woman, from what he could tell. Lauren could feel his eyes on her, so she turned to look at him. “What?” she said laughingly. Trey sat up the middle seat in his truck. “Come here,” he said softly. Lauren hesitated, but scooted over into the middle seat and fell into him. Trey wrapped his arm around her stomach and pulled her in close. She slouched in the seat and rested her head on his chest. This is nice she thought to herself. She took the time to her surroundings. His truck was very tidy, which surprised her. Normally guy’s vehicles were dirty and trashed. He had many things hanging from his rearview mirror, including the tassel from his graduation cap. It was red and white with a studded “14” hanging through it. She began messing with his hanging dog tag shaped air fresheners, momentarily entertaining herself. Every time she would move them one way, he would move them the other way. “Umm, excuse me. Did I give you permission to touch those?” Lauren asked jokingly. “No, but I’m about to do something else without your permission,” he replied. Lauren wasn’t exactly sure where he was going with that. “Oh yeah? What’s that?” she asked nervously. Trey rubbed the side of her face and turned it towards him. He leaned down and kissed her. Lauren had never been kissed so deeply and so passionately before. His lips were soft, and she could feel the compassion. It was almost like an electric shock. Her body tingled all over. Lauren’s stomach was instantly taken over by butterflies. Trey broke away and touched his nose to hers. He couldn’t believe he had just done that. If his heart hadn’t been racing before, it sure was now. She was the one he wanted. Lauren smiled at him. She didn’t have to say anything, he just knew. It had made her night just like it had made his. Lauren was shocked. She definitely hadn’t been expecting that. She was impressed at the fact he didn’t try to feel her up or go any farther than just kissing her. This was the kind of man she needed in her life. One that would make her feel special. “Alright, let’s go do something before I have to take you back,” Trey said Lauren sat up and moved back over to the passenger seat, when all of a sudden her phone rang. She recognized the ring tone. It had slipped her mind that Jeremy was in her favorites so his calls always came through. She took her phone out of her purse, rolled her eyes, and silenced it. “Do you need to get that?” Trey asked. “No, I’m doing something more important right now,” Lauren replied, smiling. Trey shot her a big grin and started his truck. They peeled out, music blaring. He drove down towards the Saline River and parked by the dock overlooking the pond. The two got out and walked out to the dock. It was cold outside, but the stars shown through the dark sky. Lauren pressed up against the railing and looked out at the water. Trey came up behind her and put his arms around her waist. Not once had Lauren wanted to check her phone for texts or a voicemail from Jeremy. He was no longer important to her. Trey didn’t know what the future held for them, but he hoped Lauren would stick around. She was thinking the exact same thing. She realized she had wasted too much time on Jeremy. Enough was enough. The one thing she needed was a new beginning, and Trey was just that.