musicankane
I blew a monkey once.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2004
- Posts
- 15,638
With a sigh Trevor Scott dropped the box onto his desk. The box was filled with miscellaneous odds and ends, and signaled that Trevor and his Mom Diane were officially moved in. He ran his hand through his uncombed dark brown hair and turned to get a feel for his new room. It was smaller than his old room but there was no avoiding that. He grabbed a set of folded sheets off the end of his bed and began to make the bed.
As he tucked in the bottom sheet he thought about the changes in his life. Trevor was a good enough student living a steady but unremarkable life in Malibu with his parents. He was a good enough student to get into Pepperdine University, which was a good school, but not Ivy League. He had been set to start college in the fall, but two weeks before graduation his father passed away. His father had been a lawyer, a well paid lawyer at that, able to pay for their home in Malibu and send him to the expensive school. When he died it left his mother to try and support them both in a costly home on the beach.
Diane worked as a legal secretary and made decent money but not enough to keep a home in Malibu nor send Trevor to college. The family had a savings sure, but with the medical bills and funeral cost Trevor and his Mom had no choice but to move. Why Diane chose Northridge California was beyond him. Diane grew up in the area and thought it would make a good place to return too, rent was cheaper and it was close to Pierce Community College for Trevor.
Trevor thought going to a community college would be a waste of all the effort he put forth in High School but his mother couldn’t afford to send him to school even with the reduced cost of the suburban home. He would need a summer job to pay for school and he wouldn’t be able to pay for anything over the cost of a community school.
Diane had made some calls for Trevor and arranged a job at a Kiosk selling sunglasses. Not exactly the greatest job on Earth but it beat flipping burgers at McDonald’s or someplace. At least he could work at the local mall, officially named The Place in order to make the mall seem more trendy or upper class. The name was a failure but still it stuck.
Trevor let tried not to think about anything as he finished unpacking his final few boxes and got ready for bed. He was holding a picture of the last family trip they had taken to the Grand Canyon. It had been two years ago before his Dad starting getting sent away a lot on business. His name was Michael Scott the third, a name he hadn’t passed down to Trevor thankfully believing that the generation of namesakes didn’t need a fourth go around.
There was a knock on his bedroom door and he glanced up to see his mother leaning against the doorway. He gave her a small smile and set the picture back on his desk. Diane came over to him and put her arm around his shoulders her gaze on the picture he had set on the desk.
“Grand Canyon?” She asked softly.
Trevor nodded, “Yeah, good trip.” His voice was empty.
Diane rubbed his shoulders gently. “You doing alright Honey?”
Trevor took a deep breath. “Yeah, I think I’ll be alright. I just need to adjust you know? Once I start work I guess things will be ok.”
She let him go and fished out an envelope from her pocket. “This is from Armand, he’s the guy who owns the Kiosk. His assistant came by and dropped it
off.”
Trevor opened the envelope and pulled out a yellow piece of legal pad paper and a small padlock key. He read over the note quickly, “It’s the key for the Kiosk and instruction for the register.” He explained to his Mom.
Trevor frowned at the envelope after his mom said her goodnights and left him alone. He took his time putting the Kiosk key on his key ring, somehow feeling locked into yet another boring unprogressive chapter in his life. He flopped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. After graduation he always thought things would be better. The degree in business seemed even further away than the Wall Street job he pictured himself holding after school. He groaned and rolled onto his side and sighed, this could be a good thing he thought to himself. He almost laughed at the thought, what could possibly be good, fun, or remotely interesting about a sunglass booth?
The next morning the alarm blared to life with the music of a country music station. Trevor hated country music so it was the best way to get him out of bed in the morning. Never in a million years could he sleep through an alarm of Garth Brookes or even worse Dolly Pardon. His hand lashed out and whacked the switch on the clock to shut the alarm off. The bed felt suddenly more comfortable than it ever had felt before when Trevor thought of the job that awaited him in just a couple of hours.
He groaned and kicked the covers off. His morning routine was simple and quick, but this morning he took his time in the shower, letting the hot water burn out all the weariness of the morning from his bones. Maybe selling glasses wouldn’t be so bad, if nothing else it would allow Trevor to catch up on his reading and music studies in the free time.
After brushing his teeth and slicking his hair back with a small amount of styling paste, Trevor got dressed in a pair of black jeans and put on a blue-grey button up shirt. He trotted down stairs where Diane was having a cup of coffee at the kitchen stairs.
She smiled when Trevor walked into the kitchen and grabbed the box of Poptarts from the cabinet. “Did you sleep alright?”
Trevor tore open a package and took a bite of the strawberry pastry. “I slept alright I guess, new place and everything,” he told her through a mouthful of poptart.
Diane groaned and waved at him. “Close your mouth Trevor.”
He shrugged and stuffed the rest of the poptart into his mouth. After a few minutes of chewing he grabbed a glass of milk and chugged it down. “I need to go to the bank before work, I don’t have any lunch money.”
“Alright, just make sure you watch what you spend. You need the money for school.” She warned, her tone motherly.
Trevor nodded, “Believe me the last thing I want to do is spend more time than absolutely necessary working at a sunglass booth in ‘The Place’” He said making finger quotes at the name of the mall.
Diane rolled her eyes and began to rinse out her empty mug in the sink. “Look I know you think it’s a bad job, but you never know what can happen. You might find yourself making friends which is what you need now I think.” She gestured toward him with the empty mug before turning to put it away. “Listen, just give a chance if it is so horrible you can’t stand it, then it’s not a big deal to find something else. I figured you might like it best working at the mall.”
Trevor shrugged, “Yeah typical teenager right? Love the mall.”
Diane gave him a look, “Don’t be an ass, get going.”
Trevor said goodbye and walked out the door. Unlike most soon to be college bound young people, Trevor didn’t have a car nor a bike which meant he had to walk to the mall. While it was only a two mile walk, as the summer went on it would become a miserable experience when the temperatures got into triple digits. For this first Monday the walk wouldn’t be so though, but it was warm enough to hint at the summer heats to come.
There was a bank in the parking lot of The Place, and Trevor hit up the ATM to grab forty bucks before heading into the mall. He pulled out the yellow note he had gotten from last night and read directions to his cart. The sunglass booth was set on the outskirts of the food court just opposite the Cinnabon, a sweet shop that specialized in cinnamon rolls and coffee. Trevor double checked the paper before setting to remove the giant tarp that covered the cart. Already he could smell the hot cinnamon rolls coming from the store nearby and he shrugged, there were worst smells to be stuck with. Trevor would have to be careful not to eat too many rolls.
He found the padlock the locked the tarp tightly around the base of the cart and opened the lock with the key on his ring. Trevor was unaware of the person at the cart next to his watching him as he pulled the tarp carefully off the cart inevitably knocking a couple of the sunglass displays over. He balled up the tarp and tucked it away underneath the kiosk.
“So you’re the new guy eh?” A voice said behind him.
Trevor turned from fixing a display and saw a tall young guy standing behind him with his arms crossed. The guy had short jet black hair combed over two one side. He had a large nose and a permanent five o’clock shadow. Not a horrible looking guy, but definitely not a ladies man either. He wore a T-shirt that had a modern rock band logo on the front and a pair of brown khakis. One his left breast was a nametag that identified him as Zack.
Trevor nodded and glanced back at the sunglass kiosk. “Yeah, I guess.”
Zack nodded and then shook his head. “You poor lost soul.” He shrugged and stuck out his hand. “Welcome forsaken one to the poorly named Place.”
Trevor gave him a friendly but unconvincing smile and shook his hand. “I’m Trevor, Trevor Scott.”
“Zack Green.” He told him, then gestured to the mall around them. “Well, let me show you around before Place opens up. You’ll want to know what to avoid around here.”
Trevor glanced back at the kiosk then followed Zack who was stopped at the kiosk next to his. It was still covered with a tarp and the clerk who would be manning the kiosk was nowhere to be found yet.
“This is the Proactive booth, you know that stupid acne medicine. The guy who works here is Steve Miller, he’s an alright guy but he’ll talk your ear off if you let him. When he’s not working it’s his sister Lacy who, while hot, is one of those chicks that knows how gorgeous she is and probably wont give you the time of day.” The way Zack spoke about the places and people of The Place made it obvious how much he despised his job.
Trevor listened carefully trying to be open about information he’d probably learn one way or another. It was nice to get the inside sort from a guy who was clearly too smart for a mall job and, like Trevor, was working here because of an unfortunate situation.
“So you going to school around here?” Zack asked as he moved on form the Proactive kiosk toward the next kiosk in the short line of kiosk’s near the food court.
Trevor nodded, “Uh, yeah. Or well, I will be. I was supposed to go to Pepperdine actually, but uh my father passed away and my mom can’t really afford it.”
“So where are you going for a back-up.”
Trevor sighed. “Pierce.”
“The Community College?”
“Yeah, it’s the only place I can afford with a job like this.”
Zack stopped in front of the next booth and shook his head. “That blows. Anyway this abomination of a booth is the cheesy and crappy world of remote controlled toy helicopters. If you get bored feel free to come by and fly a helicopter around. I find it therapeutic to try and hit little kids or chicks in skimpy clothing, sounds cruel I know but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
Trevor chuckled and pictured little kids running by screaming as a flying toy helicopter chased them around. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Zack turned away from the cart. “Alright next we have the food court. Let me explain the rules of the food court as it pertains to mall employees.” They walked to the center of the food court near the set of escalators and Zack gestured around to each of the dozen or so food spots. The food court was split into two sides, east and west with the kiosk row starting on the south side and the mall’s exit to the north. On both east and west sides of the court where six individual shops. The west side started with the Cinnabon, that sat closest to Trevor’s kiosk, then followed up with a Quiznos, Hotdog on a Stick, Koo-Koo-Roo, Chin-Chang and a Red Robin which was the only real sit down restaurant in the mall. The east side of the food court had a generic set of stores starting with a Mongolian BBQ, Tommy burgers, Donatelo’s pizzeria, Taco Ding, Surf’s Up smoothies, and finally a Hawaiian BBQ place called Aloha Aloha.
Zack pointed to the Cinnabon and said. “With the exception of Cinnabon you never ever, ever, eat at any of the places in the food court. Every one of these bastards will fuck with your food, at least until you make some friends. Usually you’ll be able to eat for free once people get to know you.”
Trevor glanced at the Cinnabon and could see a girl working in the back, but couldn’t make out any features. “What makes the Cinnabon safe?”
Zack pointed to the girl working in the back. “Krista Meyer, sometimes I think she’s the only sane one in this place. Anyway she won’t spit in you cinnamon rolls or your coffee.”
“That’s good to know I guess.” Trevor admitted.
Zack walked toward the Cinnabon, “Let’s go say hi.”
“Uh,” Trevor started to protest but Zack was a head of him and Trevor had to trot to catch up.
Krista Meyer was at the prep station, was blocked off from the public by a glass shield so that people could watch the employee’s making the rolls. The glass went up only five feet so Zack leaned over the glass and smiled.
“Hey Krista.”
Krista looked up as Trevor walked up to the window. Trevor faltered a step as he caught sight of Krista Meyer for the first time. She wore almost no make-up that he could tell but despite that she was incredibly beautiful. Her skin was as soft as her features, her gentle brown eyes seemed down-to-earth and smart. She was slim, but her figure was hard to make out in the baggy Cinnabon uniform though Trevor had no doubt that she was built wonderfully. Her light brown hair was stuffed carelessly into the blue and purple hat that matched the uniform she had to wear, but even that seemed perfect.
Trevor noticed at this about her in about a second. He shook off his initial shock and put on the most casual smile he could.
Krista gave Zack a gentle smile, “Hey Zack, what’s up?” Her gaze went from Zack to Trevor.
Zack turned toward Trevor and said. “Krista, Trevor; Trevor, Krista. Trevor is the new sunglass booth guy.”
Trevor smiled and raised his hand in a casual wave. “Nice to meet you.”
Krista nodded and said, “Hey.”
Behind her the oven buzzed with a loud annoying sound and Krista rolled her eyes excusing herself with a weak smile to turn and yank the tray of rolls out of the oven. She quickly spread a layer of frosting over the batch and put them onto the display tray.
She cut one of the rolls in half and handed a half in each hand over the window. “You guys want a sample?” She offered with a wink.
Zack and Trevor took the offered halves of roll and a napkin from the counter. “Thanks Krista.” Zack said, stuffing the roll into his mouth.
Trevor held up the roll in thanks. “Nice meeting you.”
Krista gave him a half smile. “Yeah you too.”
As they walked out of the store Zack wiped his hand off on the napkin. “I gotta count my register.” He glanced at his watch. “In ten minutes this place will start to flood with sheep and I wouldn’t want to miss a chance to blow someone’s wig off.”
Trevor laughed. “Alright, nice meeting you.”
He set what remained of his cinnamon roll next to the register and pulled out the yellow paper and began to count the register. Once he was sure the register was set he finished off his roll and sat on a stool left by the kiosk. He glanced around and started to see people filter into the mall. With a sigh he sat back and mentally tried to prepare himself for the day.
He saw a young guy walk up to the kiosk next to his and begin to take off the tarp. The guy noticed Trevor sitting there and gave him a nod. After yanking off the tarp the guy balled it up and stuffed it under the kiosk like Trevor had.
“So you’re the new guy huh? I’m Steve.” He said holding out his hand.
Trevor nodded and shook his hand. “Trevor.”
Steve hit a button on a TV that sat on the end of the kiosk display, the monitor flared to life with a never-ending Proactive infomercial. Trevor must have had a look on his face cause Steve grinned.
“I fucking know right?” Steve said. “Hey don’t worry man, I keep this shit on mute. I would kill myself if I had to listen to it all day.” He laughed and leaned against the railing behind the cart. “So you get a feel for the place yet?” He asked.
Trevor nodded and pointed toward Zack’s booth. Zack was putting batteries in a remote control and banging his hand on the bottom of the controller as if trying to get weak batteries to work. “Zack gave me the quick tour earlier.” He told Steve, not sharing any of the extra information he had been given.
“Yeah? Cool, he told you about not eating at the food court right?”
Trevor nodded, “Make friends first right?”
“You got it. Don’t worry though, most of the people are cool. Jeff at Taco Ding is pretty cool so you can probably get something from him without having to worry about some weird shit in your food.” Steve explained.
“Thanks for clarifying.”
Steve was silent for a moment but rocked back and forth against the railing as if trying to think of the next conversation. Now there were quite a few people walking through the mall, and though none stopped by their carts yet Trevor knew it was only a matter of time.
“So you’re new in town too? Or just to the Place?” Steve asked.
Trevor turned to him, and took note of Steve. He didn’t look like the kind of person Trevor would normally make friends with. He had bleached blonde hair that was spiked up with styling gel. While Steve now wore a white shirt with the proactive logo and black slacks, Trevor knew his normal attire probably was closer to torn jeans and skater shirts.
“I’m new sort of. I mean I lived in Malibu before so not too far away.” Trevor explained.
“Malibu, why’d you move to the shitburbs?”
Trevor sighed and shook his head. “It wasn’t my idea, but my Dad died. So my mom and I had to move out to a place easier to afford.”
Steve nodded, “That sucks man.” He smacked Trevor’s shoulder and grinned. “Hey don’t let it bother you man, stick with me and you’ll be making friends in no time. This may be a boring town, but there are plenty fine looking girls around here.” He paused, “You may have trouble dealing with Eddie Manheim though that stupid son of a bitch.”
Trevor shook his head. “Who’s that?”
Steve groaned and looked around, he stepped out in front of his cart and looked down toward the East end of the mall. Not finding what he was looking for he looked toward the other side and nodded. “That’s Eddie.” He told Trevor pointing.
Trevor hopped off the stool and looked down toward where Steve was pointing. Down the way Trevor saw a pair of security guards walking down toward the food court slowly. One guard, which Trevor assumed was Eddie, had a smug look of satisfaction on his face, his thumb flicking the baton at his belt. The guy had perfectly slicked back jet black hair and looked like he spent more time in front of the mirror looking at himself than actually getting ready.
“Isn’t that the biggest sack of walking shit you’ve ever seen?” Steve said with a groan. “Look take my advice and do anything you can to stay off that jackasses radar.’
Trevor watched Eddie walk closer, noting the way the guy watched every girl that walked by like a rapist in hiding. “Right.” He nodded and went back to sit on his stool.
Steve turned and noticed a couple of ladies browsing his cart and groaned out a low “fuck me” under his breath. Trevor watched Steve put on a fake smile and begin to help the woman at the cart. Steve may hate his job, but he was a master of his craft, if one could have a craft in bullshit. The woman asked questions and Steve went through a routine about the miracles of Proactive and gave the woman a small sample. He smiled and cracked gentle jokes to gain her trust. Trevor was amazing just how much stuff the woman bought from him. Steve gave her a smile and wave as she walked away.
When the woman was gone he rolled his eyes flipped the woman off and slumped onto his stool. He glanced over at Trevor and gave him a nod.
Trevor sighed and turned back toward his cart. No shoppers faltered walking by and no one appeared to be interested in sunglasses. He took a deep breath and resolved himself to face a long boring summer.
As he tucked in the bottom sheet he thought about the changes in his life. Trevor was a good enough student living a steady but unremarkable life in Malibu with his parents. He was a good enough student to get into Pepperdine University, which was a good school, but not Ivy League. He had been set to start college in the fall, but two weeks before graduation his father passed away. His father had been a lawyer, a well paid lawyer at that, able to pay for their home in Malibu and send him to the expensive school. When he died it left his mother to try and support them both in a costly home on the beach.
Diane worked as a legal secretary and made decent money but not enough to keep a home in Malibu nor send Trevor to college. The family had a savings sure, but with the medical bills and funeral cost Trevor and his Mom had no choice but to move. Why Diane chose Northridge California was beyond him. Diane grew up in the area and thought it would make a good place to return too, rent was cheaper and it was close to Pierce Community College for Trevor.
Trevor thought going to a community college would be a waste of all the effort he put forth in High School but his mother couldn’t afford to send him to school even with the reduced cost of the suburban home. He would need a summer job to pay for school and he wouldn’t be able to pay for anything over the cost of a community school.
Diane had made some calls for Trevor and arranged a job at a Kiosk selling sunglasses. Not exactly the greatest job on Earth but it beat flipping burgers at McDonald’s or someplace. At least he could work at the local mall, officially named The Place in order to make the mall seem more trendy or upper class. The name was a failure but still it stuck.
Trevor let tried not to think about anything as he finished unpacking his final few boxes and got ready for bed. He was holding a picture of the last family trip they had taken to the Grand Canyon. It had been two years ago before his Dad starting getting sent away a lot on business. His name was Michael Scott the third, a name he hadn’t passed down to Trevor thankfully believing that the generation of namesakes didn’t need a fourth go around.
There was a knock on his bedroom door and he glanced up to see his mother leaning against the doorway. He gave her a small smile and set the picture back on his desk. Diane came over to him and put her arm around his shoulders her gaze on the picture he had set on the desk.
“Grand Canyon?” She asked softly.
Trevor nodded, “Yeah, good trip.” His voice was empty.
Diane rubbed his shoulders gently. “You doing alright Honey?”
Trevor took a deep breath. “Yeah, I think I’ll be alright. I just need to adjust you know? Once I start work I guess things will be ok.”
She let him go and fished out an envelope from her pocket. “This is from Armand, he’s the guy who owns the Kiosk. His assistant came by and dropped it
off.”
Trevor opened the envelope and pulled out a yellow piece of legal pad paper and a small padlock key. He read over the note quickly, “It’s the key for the Kiosk and instruction for the register.” He explained to his Mom.
Trevor frowned at the envelope after his mom said her goodnights and left him alone. He took his time putting the Kiosk key on his key ring, somehow feeling locked into yet another boring unprogressive chapter in his life. He flopped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. After graduation he always thought things would be better. The degree in business seemed even further away than the Wall Street job he pictured himself holding after school. He groaned and rolled onto his side and sighed, this could be a good thing he thought to himself. He almost laughed at the thought, what could possibly be good, fun, or remotely interesting about a sunglass booth?
The next morning the alarm blared to life with the music of a country music station. Trevor hated country music so it was the best way to get him out of bed in the morning. Never in a million years could he sleep through an alarm of Garth Brookes or even worse Dolly Pardon. His hand lashed out and whacked the switch on the clock to shut the alarm off. The bed felt suddenly more comfortable than it ever had felt before when Trevor thought of the job that awaited him in just a couple of hours.
He groaned and kicked the covers off. His morning routine was simple and quick, but this morning he took his time in the shower, letting the hot water burn out all the weariness of the morning from his bones. Maybe selling glasses wouldn’t be so bad, if nothing else it would allow Trevor to catch up on his reading and music studies in the free time.
After brushing his teeth and slicking his hair back with a small amount of styling paste, Trevor got dressed in a pair of black jeans and put on a blue-grey button up shirt. He trotted down stairs where Diane was having a cup of coffee at the kitchen stairs.
She smiled when Trevor walked into the kitchen and grabbed the box of Poptarts from the cabinet. “Did you sleep alright?”
Trevor tore open a package and took a bite of the strawberry pastry. “I slept alright I guess, new place and everything,” he told her through a mouthful of poptart.
Diane groaned and waved at him. “Close your mouth Trevor.”
He shrugged and stuffed the rest of the poptart into his mouth. After a few minutes of chewing he grabbed a glass of milk and chugged it down. “I need to go to the bank before work, I don’t have any lunch money.”
“Alright, just make sure you watch what you spend. You need the money for school.” She warned, her tone motherly.
Trevor nodded, “Believe me the last thing I want to do is spend more time than absolutely necessary working at a sunglass booth in ‘The Place’” He said making finger quotes at the name of the mall.
Diane rolled her eyes and began to rinse out her empty mug in the sink. “Look I know you think it’s a bad job, but you never know what can happen. You might find yourself making friends which is what you need now I think.” She gestured toward him with the empty mug before turning to put it away. “Listen, just give a chance if it is so horrible you can’t stand it, then it’s not a big deal to find something else. I figured you might like it best working at the mall.”
Trevor shrugged, “Yeah typical teenager right? Love the mall.”
Diane gave him a look, “Don’t be an ass, get going.”
Trevor said goodbye and walked out the door. Unlike most soon to be college bound young people, Trevor didn’t have a car nor a bike which meant he had to walk to the mall. While it was only a two mile walk, as the summer went on it would become a miserable experience when the temperatures got into triple digits. For this first Monday the walk wouldn’t be so though, but it was warm enough to hint at the summer heats to come.
There was a bank in the parking lot of The Place, and Trevor hit up the ATM to grab forty bucks before heading into the mall. He pulled out the yellow note he had gotten from last night and read directions to his cart. The sunglass booth was set on the outskirts of the food court just opposite the Cinnabon, a sweet shop that specialized in cinnamon rolls and coffee. Trevor double checked the paper before setting to remove the giant tarp that covered the cart. Already he could smell the hot cinnamon rolls coming from the store nearby and he shrugged, there were worst smells to be stuck with. Trevor would have to be careful not to eat too many rolls.
He found the padlock the locked the tarp tightly around the base of the cart and opened the lock with the key on his ring. Trevor was unaware of the person at the cart next to his watching him as he pulled the tarp carefully off the cart inevitably knocking a couple of the sunglass displays over. He balled up the tarp and tucked it away underneath the kiosk.
“So you’re the new guy eh?” A voice said behind him.
Trevor turned from fixing a display and saw a tall young guy standing behind him with his arms crossed. The guy had short jet black hair combed over two one side. He had a large nose and a permanent five o’clock shadow. Not a horrible looking guy, but definitely not a ladies man either. He wore a T-shirt that had a modern rock band logo on the front and a pair of brown khakis. One his left breast was a nametag that identified him as Zack.
Trevor nodded and glanced back at the sunglass kiosk. “Yeah, I guess.”
Zack nodded and then shook his head. “You poor lost soul.” He shrugged and stuck out his hand. “Welcome forsaken one to the poorly named Place.”
Trevor gave him a friendly but unconvincing smile and shook his hand. “I’m Trevor, Trevor Scott.”
“Zack Green.” He told him, then gestured to the mall around them. “Well, let me show you around before Place opens up. You’ll want to know what to avoid around here.”
Trevor glanced back at the kiosk then followed Zack who was stopped at the kiosk next to his. It was still covered with a tarp and the clerk who would be manning the kiosk was nowhere to be found yet.
“This is the Proactive booth, you know that stupid acne medicine. The guy who works here is Steve Miller, he’s an alright guy but he’ll talk your ear off if you let him. When he’s not working it’s his sister Lacy who, while hot, is one of those chicks that knows how gorgeous she is and probably wont give you the time of day.” The way Zack spoke about the places and people of The Place made it obvious how much he despised his job.
Trevor listened carefully trying to be open about information he’d probably learn one way or another. It was nice to get the inside sort from a guy who was clearly too smart for a mall job and, like Trevor, was working here because of an unfortunate situation.
“So you going to school around here?” Zack asked as he moved on form the Proactive kiosk toward the next kiosk in the short line of kiosk’s near the food court.
Trevor nodded, “Uh, yeah. Or well, I will be. I was supposed to go to Pepperdine actually, but uh my father passed away and my mom can’t really afford it.”
“So where are you going for a back-up.”
Trevor sighed. “Pierce.”
“The Community College?”
“Yeah, it’s the only place I can afford with a job like this.”
Zack stopped in front of the next booth and shook his head. “That blows. Anyway this abomination of a booth is the cheesy and crappy world of remote controlled toy helicopters. If you get bored feel free to come by and fly a helicopter around. I find it therapeutic to try and hit little kids or chicks in skimpy clothing, sounds cruel I know but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
Trevor chuckled and pictured little kids running by screaming as a flying toy helicopter chased them around. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Zack turned away from the cart. “Alright next we have the food court. Let me explain the rules of the food court as it pertains to mall employees.” They walked to the center of the food court near the set of escalators and Zack gestured around to each of the dozen or so food spots. The food court was split into two sides, east and west with the kiosk row starting on the south side and the mall’s exit to the north. On both east and west sides of the court where six individual shops. The west side started with the Cinnabon, that sat closest to Trevor’s kiosk, then followed up with a Quiznos, Hotdog on a Stick, Koo-Koo-Roo, Chin-Chang and a Red Robin which was the only real sit down restaurant in the mall. The east side of the food court had a generic set of stores starting with a Mongolian BBQ, Tommy burgers, Donatelo’s pizzeria, Taco Ding, Surf’s Up smoothies, and finally a Hawaiian BBQ place called Aloha Aloha.
Zack pointed to the Cinnabon and said. “With the exception of Cinnabon you never ever, ever, eat at any of the places in the food court. Every one of these bastards will fuck with your food, at least until you make some friends. Usually you’ll be able to eat for free once people get to know you.”
Trevor glanced at the Cinnabon and could see a girl working in the back, but couldn’t make out any features. “What makes the Cinnabon safe?”
Zack pointed to the girl working in the back. “Krista Meyer, sometimes I think she’s the only sane one in this place. Anyway she won’t spit in you cinnamon rolls or your coffee.”
“That’s good to know I guess.” Trevor admitted.
Zack walked toward the Cinnabon, “Let’s go say hi.”
“Uh,” Trevor started to protest but Zack was a head of him and Trevor had to trot to catch up.
Krista Meyer was at the prep station, was blocked off from the public by a glass shield so that people could watch the employee’s making the rolls. The glass went up only five feet so Zack leaned over the glass and smiled.
“Hey Krista.”
Krista looked up as Trevor walked up to the window. Trevor faltered a step as he caught sight of Krista Meyer for the first time. She wore almost no make-up that he could tell but despite that she was incredibly beautiful. Her skin was as soft as her features, her gentle brown eyes seemed down-to-earth and smart. She was slim, but her figure was hard to make out in the baggy Cinnabon uniform though Trevor had no doubt that she was built wonderfully. Her light brown hair was stuffed carelessly into the blue and purple hat that matched the uniform she had to wear, but even that seemed perfect.
Trevor noticed at this about her in about a second. He shook off his initial shock and put on the most casual smile he could.
Krista gave Zack a gentle smile, “Hey Zack, what’s up?” Her gaze went from Zack to Trevor.
Zack turned toward Trevor and said. “Krista, Trevor; Trevor, Krista. Trevor is the new sunglass booth guy.”
Trevor smiled and raised his hand in a casual wave. “Nice to meet you.”
Krista nodded and said, “Hey.”
Behind her the oven buzzed with a loud annoying sound and Krista rolled her eyes excusing herself with a weak smile to turn and yank the tray of rolls out of the oven. She quickly spread a layer of frosting over the batch and put them onto the display tray.
She cut one of the rolls in half and handed a half in each hand over the window. “You guys want a sample?” She offered with a wink.
Zack and Trevor took the offered halves of roll and a napkin from the counter. “Thanks Krista.” Zack said, stuffing the roll into his mouth.
Trevor held up the roll in thanks. “Nice meeting you.”
Krista gave him a half smile. “Yeah you too.”
As they walked out of the store Zack wiped his hand off on the napkin. “I gotta count my register.” He glanced at his watch. “In ten minutes this place will start to flood with sheep and I wouldn’t want to miss a chance to blow someone’s wig off.”
Trevor laughed. “Alright, nice meeting you.”
He set what remained of his cinnamon roll next to the register and pulled out the yellow paper and began to count the register. Once he was sure the register was set he finished off his roll and sat on a stool left by the kiosk. He glanced around and started to see people filter into the mall. With a sigh he sat back and mentally tried to prepare himself for the day.
He saw a young guy walk up to the kiosk next to his and begin to take off the tarp. The guy noticed Trevor sitting there and gave him a nod. After yanking off the tarp the guy balled it up and stuffed it under the kiosk like Trevor had.
“So you’re the new guy huh? I’m Steve.” He said holding out his hand.
Trevor nodded and shook his hand. “Trevor.”
Steve hit a button on a TV that sat on the end of the kiosk display, the monitor flared to life with a never-ending Proactive infomercial. Trevor must have had a look on his face cause Steve grinned.
“I fucking know right?” Steve said. “Hey don’t worry man, I keep this shit on mute. I would kill myself if I had to listen to it all day.” He laughed and leaned against the railing behind the cart. “So you get a feel for the place yet?” He asked.
Trevor nodded and pointed toward Zack’s booth. Zack was putting batteries in a remote control and banging his hand on the bottom of the controller as if trying to get weak batteries to work. “Zack gave me the quick tour earlier.” He told Steve, not sharing any of the extra information he had been given.
“Yeah? Cool, he told you about not eating at the food court right?”
Trevor nodded, “Make friends first right?”
“You got it. Don’t worry though, most of the people are cool. Jeff at Taco Ding is pretty cool so you can probably get something from him without having to worry about some weird shit in your food.” Steve explained.
“Thanks for clarifying.”
Steve was silent for a moment but rocked back and forth against the railing as if trying to think of the next conversation. Now there were quite a few people walking through the mall, and though none stopped by their carts yet Trevor knew it was only a matter of time.
“So you’re new in town too? Or just to the Place?” Steve asked.
Trevor turned to him, and took note of Steve. He didn’t look like the kind of person Trevor would normally make friends with. He had bleached blonde hair that was spiked up with styling gel. While Steve now wore a white shirt with the proactive logo and black slacks, Trevor knew his normal attire probably was closer to torn jeans and skater shirts.
“I’m new sort of. I mean I lived in Malibu before so not too far away.” Trevor explained.
“Malibu, why’d you move to the shitburbs?”
Trevor sighed and shook his head. “It wasn’t my idea, but my Dad died. So my mom and I had to move out to a place easier to afford.”
Steve nodded, “That sucks man.” He smacked Trevor’s shoulder and grinned. “Hey don’t let it bother you man, stick with me and you’ll be making friends in no time. This may be a boring town, but there are plenty fine looking girls around here.” He paused, “You may have trouble dealing with Eddie Manheim though that stupid son of a bitch.”
Trevor shook his head. “Who’s that?”
Steve groaned and looked around, he stepped out in front of his cart and looked down toward the East end of the mall. Not finding what he was looking for he looked toward the other side and nodded. “That’s Eddie.” He told Trevor pointing.
Trevor hopped off the stool and looked down toward where Steve was pointing. Down the way Trevor saw a pair of security guards walking down toward the food court slowly. One guard, which Trevor assumed was Eddie, had a smug look of satisfaction on his face, his thumb flicking the baton at his belt. The guy had perfectly slicked back jet black hair and looked like he spent more time in front of the mirror looking at himself than actually getting ready.
“Isn’t that the biggest sack of walking shit you’ve ever seen?” Steve said with a groan. “Look take my advice and do anything you can to stay off that jackasses radar.’
Trevor watched Eddie walk closer, noting the way the guy watched every girl that walked by like a rapist in hiding. “Right.” He nodded and went back to sit on his stool.
Steve turned and noticed a couple of ladies browsing his cart and groaned out a low “fuck me” under his breath. Trevor watched Steve put on a fake smile and begin to help the woman at the cart. Steve may hate his job, but he was a master of his craft, if one could have a craft in bullshit. The woman asked questions and Steve went through a routine about the miracles of Proactive and gave the woman a small sample. He smiled and cracked gentle jokes to gain her trust. Trevor was amazing just how much stuff the woman bought from him. Steve gave her a smile and wave as she walked away.
When the woman was gone he rolled his eyes flipped the woman off and slumped onto his stool. He glanced over at Trevor and gave him a nod.
Trevor sighed and turned back toward his cart. No shoppers faltered walking by and no one appeared to be interested in sunglasses. He took a deep breath and resolved himself to face a long boring summer.
Now I am free of him as I walk home. Yay! He hit send and tucked his phone back into his pocket.
