“Matt. Wallace. Is. Here,” she whispered into the phone. She was at work, which meant she was using her cell at the register, something she could get fired for.
I felt my stomach clench up.
“He just walked in the door. If you want to run into him casual-like instead of being hooked up by your mother, then you better haul ass down here.” She hung up, leaving me standing there dumbfounded, staring blankly at my phone.
I dropped the uniforms balanced on my other forearm and rushed through the front of the shop. “He’s here,” I yelled at Brad as I passed him. “Lock up for me!” I’m not sure if he understood what I said, but I trusted him to handle the shop in my absence.
The Better Buy was just on the edge of town, part of the new shopping complex they opened up a few years ago. It seems a development company came into town wanting to build one of those gigantic mega mall complexes with the Better Buy as the corner store. The city council had turned down their request to build it off Second Street, saying it would have disrupted the flow of the city proper. I didn’t know what they meant by that, but I assumed it was something along the lines of “We don’t like change!” so the idea went away, but the mall didn’t. The parking lot was crowded as usual this time of the year, but “crowded” for Foster is probably like a Tuesday anywhere else. I rushed past the Toys for Tots Marine just inside the front door, doing my level best to ignore the hot, uniformed man who was way too young for me to be looking at.
I glanced over at her usual register and saw Linda pointing to the back of store by the games. Nodding, I moved as fast as possible without breaking into a run, slowing down slightly to grab a few DVDs on the way. The electronics section was at the back of Better Buy in a quiet corner—well, relatively quiet corner. A dead-end department, it was designed to give buyers nowhere else to go once they’d stepped in its trap. From the looks of things, a bunch of people had stepped in at the same time. I scanned up and down the aisles for him, even standing on tiptoe once in an effort to see someone familiar. At the same time, I racked my brain to remember what he looked like. I had seen a recent pic on the website he worked for, but a picture and the real thing can be vastly different. I must have looked like a lost kid searching for my parents standing in the middle of the video games aisle.
And then I saw him walking away from me.
I held my breath, not sure what to do next. Should I just let him walk away? Would I not say a word and let the opportunity slip away? From what I could see, he was still in great shape. He turned his head to look at something and I saw his profile. He was as handsome as ever. I was so anxious I felt myself start to sweat….
“Matt!” my mouth called out against my will.
“ What the fuck mouth ?” I asked myself.
“Not like you were going to make a move, chicken ,” my mind answered back as Matt turned to look at me.
“Now we’re in it,” I mumbled under my breath.
My Judas mind said nothing, but I could hear it chuckle as I walked toward him.
Matt
“I T ’ S ME ,” he said as if someone could have forgotten him even for a second. “Tyler? Tyler Parker?”
“Tyler,” I echoed. Like a robot president at Disneyland, I suddenly came to life and shook his hand. “I’m Matt,” I added.
Our hands paused in midshake and he replied, “I know. I just said it like three times.”
I kicked myself mentally as I nodded. “Right, just seeing if you were paying attention.” And then kicked myself harder. My brain laughed uproariously.
He half laughed and half made a sound that might have been “Uh-huh” before he released my hand, which I’d forgotten about. Handshake… oh yeah. Handshake. “How weird seeing you here, huh?” he asked as dazed, Christmas-numb people milled around us.
“Right?” I said. I wasn’t sure what language was
I felt my stomach clench up.
“He just walked in the door. If you want to run into him casual-like instead of being hooked up by your mother, then you better haul ass down here.” She hung up, leaving me standing there dumbfounded, staring blankly at my phone.
I dropped the uniforms balanced on my other forearm and rushed through the front of the shop. “He’s here,” I yelled at Brad as I passed him. “Lock up for me!” I’m not sure if he understood what I said, but I trusted him to handle the shop in my absence.
The Better Buy was just on the edge of town, part of the new shopping complex they opened up a few years ago. It seems a development company came into town wanting to build one of those gigantic mega mall complexes with the Better Buy as the corner store. The city council had turned down their request to build it off Second Street, saying it would have disrupted the flow of the city proper. I didn’t know what they meant by that, but I assumed it was something along the lines of “We don’t like change!” so the idea went away, but the mall didn’t. The parking lot was crowded as usual this time of the year, but “crowded” for Foster is probably like a Tuesday anywhere else. I rushed past the Toys for Tots Marine just inside the front door, doing my level best to ignore the hot, uniformed man who was way too young for me to be looking at.
I glanced over at her usual register and saw Linda pointing to the back of store by the games. Nodding, I moved as fast as possible without breaking into a run, slowing down slightly to grab a few DVDs on the way. The electronics section was at the back of Better Buy in a quiet corner—well, relatively quiet corner. A dead-end department, it was designed to give buyers nowhere else to go once they’d stepped in its trap. From the looks of things, a bunch of people had stepped in at the same time. I scanned up and down the aisles for him, even standing on tiptoe once in an effort to see someone familiar. At the same time, I racked my brain to remember what he looked like. I had seen a recent pic on the website he worked for, but a picture and the real thing can be vastly different. I must have looked like a lost kid searching for my parents standing in the middle of the video games aisle.
And then I saw him walking away from me.
I held my breath, not sure what to do next. Should I just let him walk away? Would I not say a word and let the opportunity slip away? From what I could see, he was still in great shape. He turned his head to look at something and I saw his profile. He was as handsome as ever. I was so anxious I felt myself start to sweat….
“Matt!” my mouth called out against my will.
“ What the fuck mouth ?” I asked myself.
“Not like you were going to make a move, chicken ,” my mind answered back as Matt turned to look at me.
“Now we’re in it,” I mumbled under my breath.
My Judas mind said nothing, but I could hear it chuckle as I walked toward him.
Matt
“I T ’ S ME ,” he said as if someone could have forgotten him even for a second. “Tyler? Tyler Parker?”
“Tyler,” I echoed. Like a robot president at Disneyland, I suddenly came to life and shook his hand. “I’m Matt,” I added.
Our hands paused in midshake and he replied, “I know. I just said it like three times.”
I kicked myself mentally as I nodded. “Right, just seeing if you were paying attention.” And then kicked myself harder. My brain laughed uproariously.
He half laughed and half made a sound that might have been “Uh-huh” before he released my hand, which I’d forgotten about. Handshake… oh yeah. Handshake. “How weird seeing you here, huh?” he asked as dazed, Christmas-numb people milled around us.
“Right?” I said. I wasn’t sure what language was
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