“Oh, please.” She turned and rested her elbows on the glass. “The things I’d let that man do to me. I bet he fucks for hours.”
I opened and shut my mouth. I didn’t know how to respond. Finally, I answered truthfully. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Well, I’m going to find out if you aren’t.” She turned her head and raised an eyebrow at me. I didn’t say anything.
He returned finally, much to my relief. His skin was slick with sweat, and his hair drooped over his glasses. He looked miserable. As he came closer, I grimaced. He stunk. I started to gag and covered my mouth.
“I hate you so much right now,” he said to me. I nodded but kept my hand over my face.
“You’re my hero,” Aleida sighed. “What are you doing after your shift?”
He looked at her with disgust, as if she was the one covered in…the unthinkable.
“I’m literally covered in shit, and you’re trying to ask me out? Get the fuck out of here.” He turned back to me. “I’m leaving. I gotta go shower.”
“Do you want a trash bag for your car?” I perked up, removing my hand from my nose only to hurry to get him some protection for his seat.
I handed it to him gingerly, and he stormed out.
We watched his car speed out, and I turned back to Aleida. She was frowning. I suddenly felt bad for her. She steeled herself and crossed her arms. Turning to me, eyes hardened, she spoke.
“What do you guys talk about back there? Every time I try to talk to him, he shuts me down.”
Maybe he’s just not attracted to you.
“Mostly bullshit. We like a lot of the same movies.” I shrugged. I wasn’t lying. It was nice just having company. We didn’t need to have important discussions.
“He likes music, doesn’t he? He’s always wearing band shirts.” She nodded, more to herself than to me.
“He does. You could always talk to him about that.” I suggested. She dismissed me then, pulling out her phone to presumably start searching for stuff she thought he liked.
I returned to the office and ran out the rest of the clock, drawing Desi as he was before we went out to the lobby—smiling and resting on my desk.
The next day Desi returned, smelling extra clean.
“I threw out that set of clothes entirely. Next time call Arsenio. I’m not doing that again,” he snarled as he prowled toward his office and slammed the door in Aleida’s face. I was starting to feel really bad for her. She wasn’t terrible. A little forward, sure, but not a horrible person.
I spent my first few hours without hearing a peep from him. No phone call or text. He didn’t even come out for a drink. He was brooding.
I thought about how to get him out from under his grumpy cloud. I sat up straight, finally coming up with an idea. I stood up and took a deep breath. I lifted up my skirt and reached for my fishnets. I realized then that I’d have to take my boots, socks, and stockings off to achieve what I wanted.
It was a chore and a half, but I finally had my black lace thong in my hands. It was such a thin piece of material I knew I’d be able to squish it under his door. I pulled back on my clothes and went to his office. I knew it was locked, so I didn’t even bother opening it. I looked to make sure no one was around as I bent down and smushed them under his door.
I tried to be quiet as I went back down the hall and exited the offices. I smoothed my skirt and went to the counter. Aleida was holding down the fort, cleaning the counters.
“You need any help?” I asked cheerfully. She thought for a moment.
“The next movie is gonna start soon if you want to go get it ready.”
I smiled. “Sure. Theater three?”
She nodded. “Yep. The sexy movie.”
Perfect.
I hurried into the dark theater and up the stairs into the film booth. I looked through the tiny window. About a dozen patrons were already here, and more were coming in. I bit down on my lower lip. I hadn’t realized this was a popular movie. It came out almost two weeks ago.
I watched the clock and made sure the movie started as it should. I then returned to the window and watched it with them as I waited. As the movie really got going, I began to worry that maybe he had taken a nap and hadn’t seen my gift.
