It was another long and dreadful day, and here I was plastered with a fake smile for those who strolled by the little cosmetic boutique. I waved a 'hello' to people here and there catching a genuine smile back or an annoyed sneer. The atmosphere around here was stiff and stale.

"How's your day going?" I asked the typical question to a costumer as I scanned their items with a red laser. I tried to converse, making sure the costumers felt like they were in a friendly environment.

"Great. How was yours?" She asked. She watched me scan her lip stick products, with materialistic eyes. Her lips protruded an emptiness, her stare was nonchalant and her act looked unamused.

"It's been okay, not the best day ever," I spoke the truth. And as usual, they paid no attention. They were lost in their own world.

"We all have those days," she laughed in response and thanked me after the payment.

I mentally sighed. Robots, we're all robots living on a dying rock.

I tapped my pen against the counter as I looked though the aisles of people. I then noticed a guy in a pink shirt trying to squeeze through the piles of roaming zombies. He waved at me and I waved back, laughing as he got pushed around.

"Hey John," I greeted. My smile actually glowed at the sight of him.

He lightly slapped me on the shoulder. "Bitch, you know I hate going by that name," Jules said giving me a stink look, his faux lashes feathering his eyelids. I pretended to look hurt and I earned a snicker that left his mouth, my fake pain was hilarious to him.

"Sorry, Jules. I knew you'd get pissed off by it," I smiled at him.

"Try me, bitch." He joked. The topic quickly switched and soon he was going on and on about the costumer chaos we've had lately. "It's been so busy today and we didn't even have a sale! Oh my gosh we are just blowing up!" He clapped his hands together. He walked over to the microphone and announced that we would be closing in 20 minutes. "It's been a long day hasn't it?" He pouted. "I can see it in your face! What happened?" He put his elbow on the counter and waited for me to give him the deets.

Did I really look that tired? I thought to myself, trying to come up with something to tell Jules. My day was filled with heavy weights slammed onto my shoulders, but I didn't feel like explaining a whole lot, so I didn't move a muscle. I just stood there staring blankly at him.

He gasped, "it's about a boy!"

My expression completely flipped. How in the world did this blasphemous idea come from. I rolled my eyes and laughed, "Jules! I didn't even say anything!"

"I can see it. Who's the lucky guy?" My initial thought was that he was playing around, he was a jokester after all. His pupils were held wide open, he read seriousness.

My head moved left and right repeatedly. "It's no one and there is no guy, and that's a fact," I reassured him.

"That's not what it looks like to me, honey," he said pointing at one isle in the nail polish section where a guy stood occasionally eyeing us. "He's been there for about thirty minutes now and hasn't moved. Either he's really indecisive about what nail polish he wants to get or he's crushing."

I looked over and saw a tall tattooed man, black hair swooped to one side, with an all black outfit. It was none other than Andy, acting as innocent as he could. He was bent over looking at all the black nail polishes, a finger on his lip as he glanced at each brand. He looked over at me and quickly looked away when he noticed us staring at him. He shrugged it off as nothing and started walking down to the back of the isle.

"You know what? Let me do a favor for you!" Jules said without warning. His silhouette disappeared in a flash.

"Jules! No!" I warned, but was too late.

He was already off and by Andy's side. "Excuse me sir, but we're closing in about..." he looked at his watch. "5 minutes."

"You just said 20 in the announce-"

"I know what I said, sorry for the misunderstanding," Jules laughed checking him out in the process. He turned around and winked at me and I couldn't help but die inside from the laugher I was holding in. I could always count of Jules for a good laugh from his silliness.

"I was, uh, actually waiting for-" Andy's orbs switched to me and back at Jules, but was cut off once again.

"Bella!" He exclaimed. "I mean, I see. I'll talk to her," he tried to sound calm as he strutted off. Andy stood in the same place awkwardly as Jules left him behind.

"Baby Bella! I was right! He's a hottie too," he whispered the end to me. He batted his faux eye lashes. I felt so bad for Andy. "How about I let you out early, yeah? You have been working non-stop this whole week, you deserve it."

I tried to protest, but he pushed me out of the counter and signed me out. He mouthed 'have fun' at me and I just gave him a smile, but as soon as I looked away, my anxiety started to build up.

I didn't even look back at Andy. I just walked straight out of the shop and down the bustling night. I kept my gaze down as I shivered through the cold breeze.

"Belle! Wait up!" I heard Andy yell and run after me. I kept my stare at the ground as I slowed down. I wasn't going to lie, he did make me feel nervous, then again, the feeling of nervousness is all I've ever been use too. Except this was a different kind of nervousness and I can't define this separable feeling.

"Where are you going?" He asked me, putting his hands in his pockets. His body gravitated towards me as we walked down the grey pathway.

I looked at him confused. "Um, home?" I said.

"Oh, I just thought I was gonna give you a ride back home," he admitted. He scratched the back of his neck, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"You know what, that'd be great," I responded. I felt bad, it's the  least I could do, considering he has waiting for about thirty minutes in the store. "Just fyi, it's Bella, not Belle."

He looked at me for a second before responding "Nah, I'm still calling you Belle." His white teeth presented itself, his smile literally sparkled.

"Too lazy to sound out the 'a'?"

"Belle has a good ring to it, and yes I am too lazy to sound out 'ah' in Bellah" he said sarcastically.

The chains on his jeans rattled as we walked to his parked RV. He walked near me, I tried walking a bit further away from him, since he was still a stranger to me, but he kept squeezing the space between us.

"I'm sorry for calling you a slut earlier," he said while in the midst of me getting into his RV. The memories of the night flooded back, I blushed, but it soon sent a wretched hole in my heart. Mistake number 999.

I sat in the passengers seat again. "It's okay, it's not like I get called slut everyday," I fake laughed. I don't anymore. Back at high school, name calling was really bad, but I learned to just live with it. It was all in the past and I'd like to keep it there.

"What do you mean?" Regret filled his pale complexion, but I didn't want pity from him. He barely even knew me.

"It's nothing," I said, begging he would drop the subject. His blue eyes glazed over mine then back to the road.

"I know you don't really like me," he said out of the blue. I wouldn't say I didn't like him. Although our first interaction was... different... I did like his company. It's not everyday you meet someone new who is willing to know you. That's probably why I haven't shooed him off yet—he showed an actual interest, well I hoped it was real.

"Where would you get that from?" I said. The idea of someone getting the wrong picture always irked me. He wasn't unwanted, definitely not from me.

Yet there was this small sickness lurking deep in my gut that I couldn't read. It was the uneasiness, like something was telling me to leave. But why should I leave? It was like someone else was telling me to go.

"I can feel it," he said putting his seat belt on. "I know it's strange talking to the person you had a one-night stand with, and surprise, surprise, he actually wants to get to know you." There was short silence before it became a broken twig, "How about I take you out today?" I looked at him with shock. "Not like a date, date!" He reassured. "Just a let's get to know each other kind of thing. Nothing fancy, nothing romantic."

The warnings in my gut all left, like my subconscious took a sleeping pill. I nodded my head. "Okay, if you promise not to drug my food," I joked.

"I won't," he held his hands up showing surrender.