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Bethany sighed as the automatic doors opened, the burst of cool air from the shoe store feeling heavenly in the peak of summer heat. The relief only lasted for a minute, until she stood inside the store and the body heat from the collective mob encompassed her. The back-to-school rush was always terrible, and today, the Saturday before public schools opened for the semester, seemed to be no different.
She scanned the store to look for familiar faces. Aveline stood at the register placating a scowling woman, probably doing damage control as the manager on duty. Merrill reached up to a high shelf on her tip-toes in the children’s section as three young boys ran in circles up and down the aisle. Isabela leaned on one of the displays, somehow showing off her impressive cleavage in the company polo, and flirted with an attractive woman.
Bethany couldn’t see Carver, but she could see Felix, which is almost as good. He held an open box out in front of a seated customer, and his face froze in a polite smile that Bethany identified as his what the actual fuck is wrong with you expression. She snickered as she walked towards him, slowing her steps as to not interrupt prematurely.
Right on time, Carver appeared out of nowhere and clapped Felix on the back. Immediately, Felix’s face showed his relief. His shoulders dropped some of their tension and a smile replaced his grimace.
Bethany stopped walking and hid behind a display, kneeling so only her eyes and head peeked out from behind a shelf of shoes. She had tried to encourage Carver to make a move on his coworker for months, listening to him pine over the cute new employee, but she had seen no progress. Now, with an opportunity to watch them both and see if Carver’s crush was one-sided, she wanted to take advantage of it. She couldn’t hear them speaking, but their body language certainly told a story.
Carver’s head swiveled between Felix and the customer, spending only a fraction of a second on the woman before staring at Felix for long moments each time. His hand remained on Felix’s shoulder, his other resting at his hip, and Bethany could see him trying to flex the bicep, probably trying to impress Felix. She rolled her eyes.
Luckily, Felix’s actions were just as telling. He looked up into Carver’s face with a hopeful expression, eyes wide and smile shy, gesturing with the box still held in his hand. He bit his lower lip more than once, and Bethany could see Carver’s cheeks pinken. Felix tiled his head toward the customer, clearly explaining the situation unfolding between them, and Carver nodded intently.
Carver gestured towards the back room and Felix’s face brightened. They said something to the customer and headed into the supply room. To be alone and hopefully make out, Bethany thought.
“Do you think they’re going to go make out?” Isabela’s voice startled Bethany, as she realized she had company.
“It’s like you read my mind,” Bethany said with a smile.
“Let’s go find out, maybe we’ll catch them with their pants around their ankles.” Isabela’s voice sounded far too excited about this possibility, when Bethany definitely did not want to see her brother half-naked at work. Isabela grabbed Bethany’s hand and pulled her through the crowd toward the back room.
As they approached the door, they split up on either side to listen in. Bethany heard their voices talking, but couldn’t make out the words. She locked eyes with Isabela, who nodded, and they peeked through the high window in the door.
Felix leaned his shoulders against one of the shelves, his body pitched outwards and hips held at an angle away from the wall behind him. Carver stood beside him, leaning on one forearm beside Felix’s head on the shelf, his body tilted in towards Felix. They stood close enough to kiss, and Bethany sighed. It wasn’t the most romantic spot, but they could do worse.
They continued talking for a minute, before Carver ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed over something. Felix smiled up at Carver, his eyes shining and flirty.
“Now, kiss,” Isabela whispered. Bethany giggled, agreeing wholeheartedly.
Merrill appeared behind them and tried to peer into the window. “What are we all looking at?”
“Carver and Felix are flirting, but they’re so bad at it,” Bethany said, clawing at her face dramatically.
“Oh yes,” Merrill agreed. “They’re always playing around and chatting, sometimes they throw stuff at each other or disappear into the back like this.”
Isabela and Bethany looked at each other again, and Bethany covered her mouth with a hand to keep the giggles from escaping. Carver, dear brother, dear sweet baby brother, what are you doing?
They watched the clearly-going-nowhere flirting for another minute, before a stern voice interrupted them. “What is going on here?”
All three women froze and slowly turned to see Aveline, General Manager and Generally Terrifying, standing with her hands on her hips, unhappy Manager expression on her face.
“Oh, Aveline,” Merrill said, “We’re watching Felix and Carver in the back room, wondering if one of them will make a move. They’ve been like this for so long, will they, won’t they, it’s quite sweet!”
Aveline’s face did not change. If anything, her eyes got darker. “Back to your stations. Now.” Her voice brooked no refusal, and Merrill and Isabela scurried off with a quick “see you later” for Bethany.
Bethany, as someone who did not work for Aveline, smiled sunnily up at her brother’s boss. “Hello, Aveline. I brought my brother a sandwich.” She held the brown paper bag up for Aveline to see and took a step away from the door.
Aveline raised an eyebrow, and Bethany smiled brighter. Aveline sighed and slammed open the door to the storage room. Bethany peeked in behind her.
Carver jumped a foot in the air and his face immediately colored a bright red. Felix’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead and he took a step away from Carver.
“Why are you both hiding in here?” Aveline’s boss voice even made Bethany nervous. “You’re supposed to be out on the floor, not flirting like teenagers!”
Carver’s hand came up to rub the back of his neck. “We, uh. We were just talking about a customer, she’s being ridiculous, so we came back to… um. Discuss.” Felix nodded rapidly to back up Carver’s story.
Bethany rolled her eyes, drawing Carver’s attention. She waved and he scowled at her, clearly embarrassed about being caught by his boss and his sister at the same time. She’d have to remember to tell him later about Isabela and Merrill’s thoughts on him and Felix.
“She wanted shoes that have never been touched by human hands,” Felix explained, his voice sounding slightly crazed. “I asked if she meant shoes that no one had ever worn before, but no. Entirely machine-produced and completely untouched. She doesn’t believe when I tell her that that doesn’t exist!”
Aveline sighed. “Fine. I’ll go try and explain to her. You,” she pointed at Felix, “go help Merrill in the childrens’ department. You,” she pointed at Carver, “go work the register with Sebastian, the line is getting too long.” With that, Aveline swept out of the room and back onto the floor, ready to handle the rest of the back-to-school rush.
“Hi, Carver,” Bethany said into the silence. “Hey, Felix.” Felix raised a hand to wave back at her, but Carver said nothing.
Carver glared and snatched the sandwich from her hands. “So glad you were here to witness me being eviscerated by my boss. That certainly makes my day so much better.”
Bethany giggles. “Don’t worry, Carver, you only have six more hours.” Carver groaned and pushed his face into his hands, until Felix stepped up and patted him on the shoulder.
“I’ll buy you a drink later,” Felix offered, “to make up for the dressing down from Aveline.”
Bethany rolled her eyes at how much her brother brightened up at Felix’s words. Boys.