The humid summer air hits her like a heavy blanket to the face. Mallory practically runs, at least as fast as her short legs allow, to her car, not wanting to give her boss the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Her vision blurs with the threatening tears.
Someone calls her name, but she's not sure whether they're trying to get her attention or just telling her goodnight. She doesn't dare pause, ready to get the hell out of there as soon as she can, and raises a hand in acknowledgment without looking back.
In the safety of her car, Mallory lights a cigarette and loses the fight to her tears. She already has the little Nissan Sentra in reverse when she hears a tap on her window. Afraid to look, thinking it may be her boss, Jeff, she cracks the window without looking.
"You ok?" she's surprised to hear her co-worker's voice, Brandon, the delivery guy.
Mallory's full-on crying already and turns to him so he can see she's upset. She isn't sure why she does it. Why should he care?
"Not really," she replies, looking forward again.
"I heard what Jeff said. That was really shitty," he says simply.
Mallory nods in agreement, not sure what else to say.
"You wanna talk about it?" Brandon offers after a pause.
"I don't know, Brandon," she sighs.
The truth was, any other time, she loved having any opportunity to talk to him. But she was upset. And she really didn't like the idea of blubbering in front of him. Mallory just wants to go home and have a drink and a hot shower, not necessarily in that order.
"Come on," he persists. "Come sit in my car. The coast is clear."
For whatever reason, she puts her car back in park and turns the engine off. She takes one final puff of her cigarette and puts it out in the butt can in her car. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she opens her door and gets out.
Mallory finds herself dangerously close to Brandon when she turns away from locking her door. They're the only ones left in the parking lot. Still. Locking your doors was never a bad habit, was it? She catches herself staring into those beautiful blue eyes of his, which are still oddly illuminated in the dim light.
Brandon opens the door for her, catching her off guard, before climbing in on the driver's side.
Maybe it's just because she doesn't want to cry in front of him, of all people, but Mallory notices her tears are already slowing.
"I'm really sorry about what Jeff said. He's a real asshole sometimes," Brandon angles his body slightly towards hers.
"Sometimes? I think he's been an asshole to me ever since I started working here. I don't understand what he has against me. And why are you apologizing? You're not the one who said it."
"I know, but still. That was harsh even for him...It does seem like he has it out for you," he agreed.
One of her bosses, Jeff, always seemed to find something to bitch about when it came to Mallory. He perpetually seemed irritated with her. It had been like that the 6 months she'd been working at The Pizza Parlour. And she had no idea why. Mallory kept her nose down, worked hard, always kept busy. She was never one to stand around and chit-chat at work. She was there to make money, not socialize.
That night, she could understand why Jeff would be irritated. But it was still no excuse for some of the nasty things he said about her. The fact that they weren't even to her face was worse, somehow.
He'd been ranting to Michelle, his wife and the other owner, about Mallory in the kitchen. The cash register was off by $30. It happened sometimes, especially if they were busy. Obviously, someone had punched something in wrong at some point in the night. It was a Saturday night in the summer. They were busy. Mallory wasn't even the only one who had rung people up that night. But, she had run the cash register the most, therefore, Jeff assumed it was her who had fucked something up.
"She's too stupid to even run a cash register! Why did you even hire her?" Mallory heard Jeff raving, none too quietly, to Michelle as she passed by the kitchen door to grab her purse from the employees' area. She paused and listened, against her better judgment.
"Literally anyone else could do a better job. Hell, you could probably train a monkey to do her job!"
"Don't let him get to you," Brandon's smooth baritone voice brings Mallory back to the present moment.
"He's not worth your time. And you're not stupid...Otherwise, I wouldn't talk to you," he tries to joke with a small smile, one of his dimples showing.
"Thanks, I think?" Mallory finally laughs, feeling herself start to calm down. A nervousness starts eating at her, though. There's a long pause before either of them speaks, both looking out the windshield in separate directions.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" she turns to Brandon, coming right out with it.
Brandon had always seemed a bit standoffish at work, though they'd been working together since Mallory had started, him starting a few months before her. She could occasionally get him involved in small conversations, more than his norm of one or two sentences. And, admittedly, she sometimes subtly flirted with him too.
Mallory couldn't resist. Brandon's brilliant blue eyes that twinkled whenever he smiled and shaggy, light brown hair that was a little too long to be "stylish" did it for her. She'd had a crush on him since the day she started. He hardly ever rose to her flirty comments, though. And the few times he did, he always looked embarrassed or remorseful after the fact. She didn't know what that was all about, but she always ended up feeling silly for even trying to flirt with him afterward and would barely talk to him for days.
"What do you mean? We talk at work," Brandon asks innocently.
"Yah, but," Mallory shrugs. "It's more of a 'just being polite' on your part most of the time."
There was a pause.
"Is that what you think?" he asks quietly.
She nods slowly.
"I don't mean to come off that way." Mallory wonders why he looks nervous all of a sudden, but carries on.
"It's alright. As long as you don't say nasty things about me behind my back like some people," she rolls her eyes.
"I would never say bad things about you," Brandon says a little indignantly.
"I think you're awesome."
Mallory wonders if she looks as shocked as she feels by his revelation.
"Really?" If her face didn't show it, her voice certainly did.
"Yah," he looks away. His voice has gone quiet again.
"Anyway, seems like you're feeling better," his change of subject is obvious.
"I didn't want you driving upset like that. Seemed like a bad idea. I won't keep you anymore, though. Don't want your husband worrying about you."
Wait. Does he really not know?
Mallory wonders.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," she replies flippantly.
"Tim and I split up over 3 months ago...I thought you knew?"
