"Are you really fucking pulling this shit?"
"Come on, man, just cover for me," Greg begged.
"Cover for you how?" Tyler asked, exasperated. Greg was lucky they were having this conversation over the phone; if Greg had been there in-person, Tyler would've dragged him kicking and screaming into the store to say he was skipping work on reset day himself. "Everyone's supposed to be here."
"Just say I got sick or something, come on."
"Dude, why not just call yourself?"
"I'm on thin ice with James as it is," Tyler said.
"Lucky for you, he's not actually here tonight. Melissa is."
"That's even worse!" Greg exclaimed. "That bitch has had it out for me ever since she got promoted."
"Yeah, so it sounds like you might get fired," Tyler said, not that he was really in favor of that notion. Greg was annoying, but he was also Tyler's roommate; the last thing he wanted was to suddenly have to shoulder the entire rent by himself.
"I know this is a shitty position to put you in, man, I just... Amy dumped me."
"What?" That one threw Tyler for a loop. When Greg had asked to have the place to himself earlier, he'd been happy to ditch out. He'd assumed the two were going to be hooking up before this hell shift, and he didn't want to hear more than he should through their wildly thin walls; he knew from experience Amy was a noisy girl. Turns out, any screaming the two had done had been of a far less pleasant variety.
"Yeah, just... it's over," Greg huffed. "And she's scheduled to work tonight, too, and I..."
"No, it's... I'm sorry, man." Tyler considered for a moment, biting the inside of his lip. He was going to catch shit from Melissa for this, shit that belonged to his roommate, but he figured Greg had maybe dealt with enough already tonight. "Alright, dude, I've got your back. But you fucking owe me."
"You got it, bro! You're the best."
"Just take care of... yourself..." Greg had already hung up. "Shit."
Tyler leaned back in his car seat, looking towards the building. The lights were bright, and he could see his co-workers milling about inside. He was on second shift for the overnight, and he still had about an hour to kill; last thing he planned to do was go inside and get asked to start early. So, he leaned back, ready to relax as best he could until it was time to start. At least, he was until he saw another car pulling into the lot.
Amy's car.
Tyler sat up and watched as Amy drove by. Her speakers were blaring, some loud, peppy song that she was singing along to. What a piece of work, dumping his best friend and rolling into work like nothing happened. He'd always thought better of her, but this? A dozen thoughts ran through his head as she pulled around the side of the building to park behind the store. Maybe he should let everyone inside know what happened, know how heartless she'd been. He briefly contemplated ditching out himself, but the last thing he needed was to be collecting unemployment right alongside Greg.
Instead, after a few more seconds of contemplation, he turned his car on and drove around the back himself.
Amy was parked when he got there, just sitting in her car. She looked towards him as his headlights flashed by, and he could see her visibly tense at his arrival. 'Yeah,' he thought, 'you're caught.' He pulled in two spots over from her and... wasn't really sure what to do next.
Tyler waited for a moment, looking over. It was well past dark, so it was hard to get another look at Amy from this distance. And when he did, then what? The more he thought about it, the more he could see Amy's probable reasoning. As put together as she was, he never understood how she put up with his flake of a roommate. Dumping him right before they were both supposed to be stuck at work together for 12 hours was a shitty move, but maybe Greg had finally pushed her too far. Lord knew Tyler had been pushed to his limit more than once.
Still, flake or not, Greg was his best friend. He had to say something, if only to try and address the elephant in the room before they ended up sorting throw pillows together for hours. Tyler shut his engine off and got out of the car, walking confidently towards Amy's. Whatever nerves he had about this, he pushed them down; he knew he was in the right to give her shit for what she'd done. Or, he thought he was, until Amy opened her car door and came at him.
"Did you know?" she asked, quickly putting him on the backfoot. "Did you know he was going to break up with me tonight, Tyler?"
"I..." Tyler stuttered out; if he hadn't known what to say before, he certainly didn't now.
***********************************
Things had certainly taken a turn quickly.
"I'm so sorry, Amy," Tyler said, passing her the joint again. "I can't believe he'd... well, shit, yeah, I can."
"I thought he was a better guy than that," Amy said, taking a drag. She held it in a moment before letting the smoke out through her nose and into the cold night air. "I mean, I'm not saying I saw myself marrying him, but I figured if it was going to end it, he'd at least be... civil? I don't fuckin' know."
Amy handed the joint back and stared off into the night, considering. Tyler watched, unsure what to say. The two were seated in the rear of her hatchback, the trunk open above them. After Tyler had stammered out a truncated version of what Greg had told him, Amy had let out a string of curses and told Tyler his roommate was a piece of shit. Given that it was all-too-clear Greg had lied to him about who had done the dumping, Tyler didn't put up much of a defense. Really, he was as pissed at Greg as she was, given that he'd lied about the whole thing to get out of working the overnight shift.
Eventually, Amy had calmed down and popped her trunk, saying she needed something to ease her nerves before she faced the night shift. Since Tyler was willing to shit-talk Greg, she'd invited him to join her, and so the two found themselves splitting the joint. Yeah, they were right outside of their workplace, but nobody really came out back unless it was a major trash run, and the majority of people who might would be just as likely to take a hit as either of them.
And besides not minding the chance to chill out a bit himself, Tyler was happy to listen. He'd always liked Amy, even before she and Greg had started dating. She was a good hang, funny, and certainly easy on the eyes. He'd done his best to not look while she was dating his friend, but now that she was single -- and thanks to the calming effect of the weed -- he found himself giving her another long look. Her face was rectangular, but lithe, with wide, flat eyes that always seemed lidded and sultry, even without make-up. Coupled with the natural waviness of her brunette hair, it gave her a seventies vibe, a sensual maturity that seemed beyond her years. The rest of her was as lithe as her face, so while her breasts weren't large, they still filled out her work polo nicely. The same could be said for her ass, which was small, but perky, toned from all the cardio she did. He'd seen it in just her panties once, catching her on the way to the bathroom one morning. Her butt had looked so cute and pert, one side of her panties caught up her crack and giving him a good look at her bare cheek. God, how that image had stuck with him, along with the stiff push of her nipples through her nightshirt. If the work polo she was currently wearing wasn't so thick, maybe he could've seen them now, and--
"Dude," Amy said, snapping him from his revelry. He realized, as his eyes snapped up, that he'd been staring at her chest, trying to will her nipples to stiffen. Fuck, the shit had gone to his head fast. He looked away quickly.
"Sorry, was just... a bit lost in thought."
"Yeah, I can imagine what that thought might've been," she said with a husky chuckle, taking one last drag from the joint before flicking it away. When Tyler looked back, she was still staring at him, and the look on her face wasn't annoyed or angry like he'd been worried. Instead, it seemed curious. He was frozen as she leaned in, close, putting her lips near his before exhaling the smoke she'd been holding inside. He breathed deep, letting her shotgun it to him, and the feel of it in his lungs was more electric than any of the drags he'd taken so far.
"Amy..." Tyler said, voice barely a whisper.
"He was such a fucking asshole," Amy said, matching his volume. "He said I wasn't even any good at sex."
"That is never what he told me," Tyler responded, the mere mention of sex enough to speed up his hardening erection.