Chapter Text
You didn’t know how anyone expected you to be an adult after high school.
It wasn’t like the idea of taking on new responsibilities was so far out there to you that it was impossible— you just lacked direction. Every “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” question was met with a shrug and the flimsiest answer you could conjure up. Maybe an artist, some kind of creative. It was the easiest answer to throw out there, even if it wasn’t realistic in the slightest for you. After all, who actually makes money out of an art degree? Even then, you couldn’t picture yourself as a college student. You didn’t know what you were supposed to do.
The biggest leap you could say you had taken in your four years of high school towards your future, was getting your drivers license. The whole Drivers Ed course was a blur, and you most definitely blacked out from nerves during the actual test, but you were thankfully so particular about the rules of the road that you managed to pass with flying colors. Or at least do well enough to be under the limit of mistakes that you were allowed to make to pass.
But you could never picture yourself with a job. The concept was foreign to you, even as you grew old enough to have one. You struggled to visualize yourself doing anything new, really, so your outlook towards the near future was very blurry and uncertain for the majority of your senior year.
With all that said— you knew you needed to get one.
Your parents wouldn’t pay for your car insurance and gas forever. All the frivolous things you liked to collect would have to come out of your own pocket. And honestly, you did want to feel like a functioning member of society; it was difficult to have conversations with people around your age and hear all the things they were doing and planning for, when you lacked any kind of meaningful aspiration.
So, learning that the Barnes & Noble at your local outdoor mall was hiring for the summer was a push in the right direction for you. You already spent a decent amount of time loitering in there anyway; maybe you weren’t the most avid book reader, but you loved to browse the music, and you were always drawn in by the puzzles and random assortment of toys.
The more you learned about the place, the more working there seemed appealing. The location being planted amongst an assortment of other mall stores was convenient. Employees got a discount on basically everything. The atmosphere inside was among the better of every department store you’ve ever been to; the music wasn’t too loud, the lights weren’t too grating, and the patrons were relatively laidback.
So, two weeks before you were slated to graduate, you applied. You didn’t expect much, truly— most of your resume was made up of multiple variations of the phrase “willing to learn”, given your lack of experience in most areas— but you hoped for the best. After all, the only extracurricular thing you did in high school was spend your two underclassmen years in the art club. You included that, of course, but figured it didn’t count for much.
Which made actually getting an interview feel monumental.
Of course, the interviewing process was where you were positive you bombed. Yeah, you did as much research as you could to learn all the technically “correct” ways to answer their questions, but you had no clue if they were sold on the charisma you barely scraped together to sound like a living, breathing person that day. And being informed that they were only looking for two new hires for the time being… your hopes weren’t too high. You were sure that the pool of applicants was decent enough to put you at the bottom of that curve.
But then you received a callback letting you know that orientation was on the 9th of June, and it took you far too long to process that meant that you got hired. They wanted you.
The thought made your chest hurt quite a bit— you were kind of banking on the idea that you’d get overlooked, so you could at least say you tried and be done with it for a while.
Yet, you found yourself sitting in the parking lot anyway, 30 minutes before you were slated to go inside on the morning of June 9th.
The most you could do to mentally prepare yourself was blast your CD mixtape and bounce up and down in your car seat, hoping and praying that would force your nerves out of your body so you didn’t puke, or something. Not that you ever have puked in a fit of anxiety, but the chances of that happening were never zero. Thankfully your windows were tinted.
The slightest bit of solace was found in knowing that you were sharing this orientation with another new hire. It was always comforting to have someone else around who mutually has no idea what they were doing. Something to bond over, anyway— it would make your inevitable mistakes easier to cope with.
You waited up until the last possible time window to leave your car, watching the digital clock tick up until it was 5 minutes before 11:30.
And then you held your breath all the way into the building while attempting to put yourself in the mind of someone who totally knows what they’re doing.
“Hi! Um… I’m here for the orientation?”
The girl at the front counter seemed to look you over for a second, while you gave your best, ready-and-prepared-and-polite smile.
“Oh, hello,” she nodded at you, and looked around like she was missing something. “I’ll go get my manager, one second.”
…She took off, and your palms were starting to sweat. This was fine. You sounded so normal just then.
You looked around yourself, trying to spot the other potential newbie. There was only two minutes left until it was technically supposed to start, and you assumed you’d be the second one in with how much you procrastinated leaving your car.
Maybe you came on the wrong day, actually— maybe this was all an elaborate prank, they didn’t actually want to hire you, and the manager was going to come out and permanently ban you from the establishment for being stupid enough to fall for it. The odds were not high, but they were never zero. Maybe you were in over your head—
The storefront door opening snagged your attention, so naturally your eyes roved that way.
A young guy. Glasses, light brown hair, tall…
You took in the person’s features in fragments— partially because you couldn’t believe who you were seeing, and you were already so out of sorts.
But then he met your eyes.
And he scowled.
Your brain kicked back into gear right then, and you mirrored his expression.
“Gross,” you whinged. “Why are you here?”
“I work here now.” Mikey crossed his arms and looked around the same way you had been. Your glower only deepened.
“You’re kidding,” you muttered, and swiveled your head for any sight of the manager or the girl you just spoke to. Still nowhere in plain view. “I swear, s’like you follow me around.”
“You follow me,” he griped. “Why are you impossible to shake? You’re like a barnacle.”
The pit in your gut lightened in the slightest— probably because some of that anxious energy got redirected, though you could still practically taste your heartbeat.
“You’re the barnacle,” you mumbled back, and he rolled his eyes.
“What are you even waiting here for? You look lost.”
“For your information— I got here first, before you, and the girl at the register said she was going to go get Adeline. If you were here five minutes ago, you’d be just as prepared as I am,” you huffed, careful to keep your voice down in the fairly empty store.
“Adeline?” Mikey echoed.
“The manager? That’s the manager’s name.”
“Forgive me for not remembering her name after only meeting her one time—“
“I only met her one time too and I could remember her name—“
The figure of a slightly taller woman with long, cherry red hair approaching in the far distance appeared in both of your peripherals, and you promptly shut up and put your polite, happy-to-be-there smile.
As she stopped in front of the both of you, she greeted you both by name.
“Sorry it took me a minute,” she sighed, and briefly rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “There was an issue at customer service with a return and we’re a little understaffed today— anyway. Anyway.”
She waved it off and smiled at you both, tired, but it felt warm.
“Welcome aboard! I… assume you guys were introduced to each other while you were waiting?”
Mikey was quick to jump in, “We’ve met.”
…You let out a bit of an awkward chuckle.
Adeline’s eyebrow lifted, and she nodded a single time. “Alrighty then. Well— orientation isn’t too heavy. Just some paperwork, I give you a tour, might have you shelve some stuff depending on if we get to it or not, and I’ll answer any questions ya got. Sound good?”
You both nodded, and Adeline waved for you both to follow her deeper into the building.
Despite the initial doom-and-gloom you were feeling, most of that concern was washed away throughout the duration of your orientation. Adeline was very laidback; you already got that impression from her during the interview, but now you were really able to let yourself believe it. You imagined she was only around 10 years older than you and Mikey, which was a massive relief. Not that younger managers were always more pleasant than older ones, but you’d feel more intimidated working for someone around your parents’ age.
The paperwork you had to look over was a lot of reading, stuff you could not cram into your memory no matter how much you tried— but you still gave it your best and signed off on whatever needed to be signed off on.
The tour was also quite interesting. You knew the store was big with the open concept layout, so the idea that it stretched beyond that into staff-only sections was blowing your mind a bit.
“…I know you mentioned in the interview that you’re more of a music person than a book person?” Adeline addressed you, as you circled around to the customer service counter.
You pressed your lips together sheepishly. “Ah. A little, I mean— I do read. I just… don’t get into new stuff that easily.”
Adeline nodded at you. “That’s alright. I was only saying because I don’t want you guys to look at all this and think you need to know everything there is to know about everything we stock. Just general familiarity with the locations of genres will help you out lots when dealing with customers, so we will train you on that. We do also use a software that is more precise in finding book info, but it can be a little finicky. All that stuff will get shown to you over the next few weeks, don’t worry.”
You were listening with as much enthusiasm as you could make yourself front physically, while trying not to let your eyes flick too much towards Mikey as he, very distractingly, rocked his weight between his feet next to you.
“So…” you spoke up again, mentally reviewing the questions you had stockpiled. “We’ll be getting our schedules today, then?”
Adeline nodded. “Yep. You two will be seeing a lot of each other for the shifts to come, we typically train new hires together just to streamline the process.”
You fought the way your eyelid wanted to twitch.
“Sounds good.”
“Great! So, you both are good to come in tomorrow at 11:30 as well?” She looked between the both of you.
…
“Yeah.”
“Of course.”
“Awesome. Okay— just wait here, yeah? I’ve got lanyards for you guys, and this packet thing that has more basic training information and stuff, and you’ll be good to go.”
Adeline took off, and you were left with Mikey in pensive silence.
Well, for a few seconds.
“You couldn’t’ve applied for literally anywhere else?” You sighed, leaning yourself up against the customer service counter. He just deadpanned at you, narrowing his downturned eyes.
“Didn’t know you owned Barnes & Noble,” he snarked; you fought the urge to push him in the side the way you usually would.
“I’m just saying— like— I’m gonna be stuck with you for as long as we’re both living here, huh?”
You rubbed at your eyes. It’s not like you were angry, per se, it was just… weird. You finally graduated and applied for a job at a place you hardly ever see anyone from school at, under the assumption that you’ll be mostly under the radar from your peer group— but now Mikey’s your co-worker. Your co-worker. Mikey. Because seeing him as a classmate every day for four years wasn’t enough.
The anxious pounding in your chest started to spike again, and you squeezed your fists together tightly in hopes that it would settle you down.
“The feeling is mutual,” he replied, and lamely leaned against the counter right next to you.
So much for the shared newbie experience being comforting.
…
Well, at least if he sucks at something, you’d feel better about yourself.
Adeline came back very shortly with your schedules, lanyards, and other welcome information.
“Alright! Thank you guys, seriously,” she clapped her hands together. “I look forward to working with you both, sorry we didn’t get to much more today.”
“Thanks.”
“Thank you, Adeline.”
Walking out into the parking lot, you were displeased to feel Mikey’s presence trailing you.
“Why are you following me?” He spoke up before you could. You rolled your eyes.
“You’re following me. I parked my car over this way,” you huffed, gesturing vaguely at your vehicle in the distance.
He squinted, then groaned. “I parked next to you, apparently.”
“Seriously?”
…
You started to walk a little faster.
When Mikey caught on, his strides got longer too.
Your brisk walk grew into a jog, and when his did too, it became a sprint.
The both of you broke off in a mad dash across the parking lot, and you cursed under your breath as he passed you up and slammed his hand on the trunk of his car.
“I would’ve won that if I was as tall as you are!” You yelled out, slowing back into a jog as you approached your drivers side.
“Excuses,” he puffed, visibly just as winded as you were.
Neither of you climbed into your cars yet as you caught your breath. Your eyes roved over your car and his, scrutinizing.
“I parked straighter than you,” you muttered, and then tugged your keys out to unlock the door. “Bye.”
You caught the way he flippantly waved you off in the corner of your eye as you climbed into the car, and you smirked.
Your music was back to blaring as you pulled out of the parking lot and took off on the trek home.
…
The day wasn’t as bad as you scared yourself into thinking it would be. As far as the job outlook went, anyway. If your manager was so chill, that at the least made you more hopeful that your other colleagues would be.
Sure, it was difficult to go into anything where you don’t know anybody— but blank slates could be fun! That’s what you kept telling yourself, anyway, at every red light, as your mind looped through the last few hours over and over.
And Mikey being there was… whatever. You could deal with him. Not like you hadn’t been dealing with him ever since you both were 14.
It was a decent day. You were going to let yourself be excited about it, and the week to come.