"What? You want me to drive all the way to Tampa? Julie, do you realize that means I'll have to get up at like 4 in the morning to get there? Besides the fact that I have no clue where the store is there?" Alesha asked, almost screeching at her supervisor.
"Now Lesh, you know that you get paid the mileage. Besides, I'm sure that the company will set you up with a hotel. You can go down the night before. Fight traffic, find the store, etc.," Julie said patiently.
"Why can't you do it? You're the supervisor," Alesha pouted.
"Because, I'm gonna be in Merritt Island. Besides, you're next in line for my job." Alesha knew that Julie was grinning on the other end of the phone.
"Fine. Whatever. When is it again?" Alesha asked sighing.
"Next Tuesday," Julie answered. "I'll have Sharon call you with the details of how to get the hotel and stuff. Thank you so much for doing this for me Pumpkin."
"Yeah. Yeah. That's what you always say. Anywho...gotta run. I have people. Talk to you later," Alesha said.
"Okay. I'll be here today until 4. Tomorrow until 5 and I'm off Wednesday."
"Okie. Bye," Alesha said as she hung up.
After she helped the couple at the counter pick out a watch band, Alesha cleaned up the mess and thought to herself, "What the hell am I gonna do in Tampa. Bleah. I don't know anyone there. For 3 days even." Alesha sighed and shook her head.
As she finished putting the tools away, she heard a voice behind her say, "Ummm, scuse me. Miss."
"Yeah," she said turning around.
"Umm, I just came from the electronics store over there, and the dude said that I needed to get a umm...shit what was the battery size. Dammit can't remember. Hold on," he said almost walking away.
"What are you buying it for?" Alesha asked, watching the guy fiddle with his hat.
"Oh, my Playstation memory. I guess it takes a watch battery or something. And being this is a watch place, he said to come here to get it. They're all out."
"Hmmm...2032," Alesha said getting into the battery drawer. "Here you go."
"Cool. How much?"
"Uh...$4.19 after tax."
The guy dug in his wallet, "Damn. No cash. Take cards?"
Alesha rolled her eyes. "Yeah."
"Cool. Here ya go," he said handing her his credit card.
Alesha rang the battery up, ran the card through and looked at the name on the card. As she went to tear the slips from the printers she looked at the card again. "No way," she mumbled to herself. Alesha stapled the slips together and grabbed a pen. Turning around she handed the guy the receipts to sign, "Here you go Mr. Carter."
"Thanks." He looked at her nametag and said, "Alesha? Cool name." Then he signed his name on the line.
"Ummm...I'm gonna have to see some ID. No signature on the back here," Alesha said tapping the card.
"Oh. Heh," he said looking at her funny. "I always forget that. Here ya go."
"Oh my GAWD!" Alesha thought, "Here it is...plain as day. Nick Carter. Buying a battery from ME." She took the credit receipt from him and said, "Thanks. Have a good day." Then she turned around to put the slip in the drawer.
"You really didn't recognize me?" he asked.
"Ummm, no. Sorry. Work back here long enough and everyone starts looking the same. No offense," Alesha said smiling.
He laughed. "Cool. Okay. Guess I'll see you later." And with a wave and a smile, he walked...well, more like bounced off.
"Somehow I doubt that," Alesha mumbled to herself. "Did that just happen?" she thought as she picked up the phone.
"Yeah, John. Is Michael busy?" she asked.
John was quiet for a second. "No."
"Can I talk to him, please?"
"Yeah. Hold on a second."
"Hello," Michael said.
"Why the HELL didn't you warn me that Nick Carter was coming over here?" Alesha asked.
"Who?" he asked.
"Nick Carter...you know Backstreet Boys? Hello?
"Didn't know he was here," Michael said.
"The dude looking for the battery for his Playstation?" she said getting annoyed with Michael's game.
"Oh him..." he said. "Forgot about him."
"Yeah, sure you did. A little preparation. That is all I ask for."
Michael laughed. "You're a goof."
"Anyway, I have to go. People."
"Okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye," Michael said hanging up.
Alesha smiled at the guy standing at the counter, "How are you doing today?"
He shrugged. "Oh, I'm okay. Bored. Do you have a dive watch that is all black? Band and everything? Just curious. My friend told me about one, said it was at a kiosk in the mall."
"Sure do. Come on over here and I'll show it to you," she said walking to the other side of the store.
As she was pulling out the lift to get the watch, Nick walked back up to the counter. "Hey, Alesha?"
Looking up at the sound of her name, she jumped almost dropping the lift and spilling the contents on the floor. "Ummm...yeah. What?"
"I was just wondering if you fix watches here, too," he said.
"Ummm...yeah. Hold on a sec."
"Sure," he nodded and walked around the store looking at the watches.
Alesha showed the guy the watch he was looking for. He ended up buying it, so she sized it for him and rang it up. He paid for it and she explained the warranty and everything to him and he left.
"Okay. What exactly is wrong with the watch?" she asked turning towards Nick.
"I don't know really. It's my mom's watch. I forgot to bring it with me. I was just wondering. She dropped it and is really upset that it's not working. It was a present from Aaron to her."
"Hmmm...well, I'd say bring it by, but being that you live in Tampa, that isn't prudent. We do have a store in Tampa that you could take it to if you wanted. DWC. It's in the University Square there."
"Cool. Thanks," he said smiling.
"No problem, hon." Alesha waved as he walked off. "Okay, twice in one day...this is too much for me to handle," she thought to herself. Shaking her head she went about straightening up the store. It was 1:30 which meant that Jim, her assistant manager and relief would be there soon.
"Hey Lesh. How's it going?" Jim asked as he walked through the gate. He clocked in and grabbed a black pen and marked the cap of his ever present Mountain Dew.
"I'm okay. Do you know who was just here?" she asked.
"No clue, who?" he asked putting away a band book that she had missed.
"Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. He bought a battery."
He looked at her like she was crazy. "So. Thought you liked Howie."
"It is not the point of who I like, but who was here. Anyway, I need you to open the store next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I have to go to Tampa."
"Okay, why?" he asked.
"I don't know. Julie is sending me there. She had to go take care of Merritt Island."
"Oh, okay."
"I'm gonna leave early today. It's kinda slow here and I have some stuff to do."
"Okie dokie. Guess I'll see you later."
"Okay, hon. Have a good night," Alesha said as she clocked out and left.
When she got home, she turned on the computer and logged onto the Internet; her usual pastime as of late. When it finished dialing up, Alesha checked her email. Nothing of importance, a couple of newsgroup and list emails, a couple of advertising emails. Delete, delete, delete...she rarely read the stuff those lists sent...she never could figure out why she subscribed to them. She came across an email from her friend Lori. Opening it up, Alesha couldn't help but feel a pang of loneliness as she thought about
how far away she was from her friends.
Hey Lesh, How ya doin? Been a while, I know...I'm completely bored out of my skull at the moment. Sitting here listening to AJ sing "Lay Down Beside Me" and wondering what it is about him that makes him so completely and incredibly sexy. *sigh* Hehe...Anyway...how is work? Oh! Did I mention that I might get to come down to see you next month? Yup. Dad says that I can go. I know, I know...25 and still getting permission to go places *grins* But 4 states is a long ways to go. And you never know what kind of trouble we'll get into. What is the punishment for stalking? hehe. Anyway, I have to go. Work calls. Talk to you later, hon. Lori
Alesha grinned as she read the letter. Trust Lori to put her in a good mood. Shaking her head, she hit the reply button.
Hey Lor, I'm okay. What makes AJ sexy? I don't know...haven't taken the time out from drooling over Howie to really pay attention *grins* And work sucks as usual. Oh, except for my latest experience. Guess who was at my mall today and was at my store? You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you. Spare you the suspense...although suspense could be fun...perhaps I'll just email you later with it....okay okay...I'll stop. Nick Carter. Yup. In the flesh. He's actually cuter in person than he is in the magazines and on video. Coolies about you coming down. Can't wait to see you *hugz and stuff* As far as us getting into trouble...when has that EVER happened. As long as we don't count the elevator incident at school. Hehe...that was fun. Don't think they've ever forgiven us. Oh well. I have to go. Just got offa work so I still have to change and stuff. I'll talk to you later. ~*~Hugs, Kisses, Cookies...and stuff~*~Lesh
After sending the email, she went to her bookmarks file and went to her web site that she was in the middle of constructing. As it was loading, she turned on the CD player. Of course, Backstreet Boys were in there. "Larger Than Life", being the first song on the CD, was playing. She made sure that the CD player was on repeat, then Alesha sat down to work on her site dedicated to Howie.
She was interrupted a couple of hours later by the "knocking" of one of her friends on Yahoo!Messanger. Alesha clicked on the Y! icon to see who it was. "Oh look. It's JB."
celtieon: hey lil bro
jb: hi sis
celtieon: what'cha doing?
jb: checking email...gotta go to work soon
celtieon: hmmm...guess who i met today?
jb: if you say a Backstreet Boy I'm gonna scream and log off here
celtieon: *laffs* how did you guess, but i won't tell you about it cuz you aren't interested
jb: grr...is that all you ever talk about?
celtieon: no, i talk about other stuff...
jb: right...like what?
celtieon: oh stuff...
jb: whatever...i have to go. love ya sis...
celtieon: *smiles* love you too brat..talk to you later...
And he was gone with the creak of the door. Sighing, Alesha went back to working on her page. At about 11:00 she saved everything for the final time that night and went to bed.
