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“Good point,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist. “But my mom does call occasionally. It might get a little obvious if I’m never there.”
“Just get a pager like Dutch.”
“Yeah, no,” I said with a laugh. “Been there, done that.”
“You do have a very active social life…not to mention your obligations here at the store. It makes sense that you wouldn’t be at home very often.” Her voice was smooth but insistent.
“You make a strong case, Ms. Hamilton.”
“Just think about it,” she said, kissing me on the nose. “You’re always welcome. After this summer, I still consider it your place, too.”
“I love that,” I said, kissing her gently on the lips. The weeks I’d stayed at Tilly’s apartment over the summer were even better than I could have ever imagined. After my UCLA program ended, I started working at Spotlight. Tilly and I traded shifts with whoever would cooperate so that our time at the store overlapped as much as possible. We worked together, watched movies, went for walks around campus, drank way too many Slurpees, and hung out with the people in her apartment complex.
It was, in a word, awesome.
“All right, you two. Break it up,” Naomi teased, patting Tilly on the arm. “It’s time to pick the first movie, and since Wyatt is the last person to join the staff, he gets to pick first.”
“So, do I get to select a movie or just pull one at random?” I asked.
“At random. In fact, you’re not even allowed to look inside the bag. Hence the name VHS Roulette, not VHS Choose-a-Flick,” Sully scoffed.
“Yikes, okay,” I said, raising both of my eyebrows and reaching into the bag, making direct eye contact with Sully so that I wouldn’t be accused of peeking.
“Se7en,” I said, reading the title aloud.
“Ooh, Brad Pitt,” Naomi said with a throaty voice. “Very nice. Did I ever tell you how much I love him?”
“No,” Emmett deadpanned. “Never.”
Naomi pushed him gently on the shoulder. “Oh, my God. Emmett’s got an attitude tonight, and I kind of love it.”
Hannah said, “Let’s dive right in, guys. This is my first inventory as manager, and I really, really don’t want to screw it up.”
“It’s all good. We’ve got your back,” Sully said. “Between Emmett and I, we’ve done this many, many, many times.”
“Exactly. No worries, Hannah.”
Dutch emerged from the back room. “Did someone say we’re watching Se7en?”
“Yep.”
“What’s in the boooooooxxxxxxx?” Dutch wailed as he approached the desk, placing his hands on the top of his head. “Classic, man.”
“What does that mean?” Marley asked, raising an eyebrow, and turning to Emmett.
“You haven’t seen it, have you?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Well then,” I said through clenched teeth, “I guess you’ll see.”
“Great,” Marley said, faking a smile. “Am I gonna be grossed out?”
“Probably not,” Naomi said, putting her arm around Marley. “At least, not as much as with the porn that Dutch put in the pillowcase.”
“Hey, I kept it classy,” Dutch protested, looking a little smug.
“Wow,” Naomi said with wide eyes. “Then I would really hate to know what you consider trashy porn.”
Looking all-too-proud of himself, Dutch nodded, licking his lips. “Awww, yeah, dude!”
“Gross.”
“All right, everyone, let’s get to work. Wyatt, you can do the honors,” she said, looking at the tape.
Popping Se7en into the VCR, I took Tilly by the hand and joined the rest of our co-workers on the floor of Spotlight Video.
It was going to be a long night.
And we were going to enjoy the hell out of it.
