It had already been a long December, and it was about to become even longer. Anna had a full time job and worked hard to pay her bills, but with Christmas coming up around the corner, she had decided it was time to take on a part time seasonal position, ideally somewhere where she could get a discount. She was going to have to fly out of state to see her family, plus buy gifts for her best friends, and she figured at 26, she was too old to be the deadbeat who recycled old presents she had been given but didn't want.
Anna absolutely dreaded the idea of going back to the retail world. She had been stuck there for two years, her senior year of college and the year right after, so she knew how rough it could be, especially during the holidays. "Oh well," she thought, "it's not like I have anything else to do anyway." She spent most of her time on the weekends lounged out in her pajamas, either reading and eating ice cream out of the carton, or masturbating to online porn. She chuckled to herself about the brief moment of panic that passed through her mind; taking a weekend job would mean she would miss a whole lot of new videos on her favourite site. There would be a lot to catch up on.
After leaving her regular job that day, Anna drove down to the mall to put in applications. She decided her best and easiest chance would be applying at the same store, Mercury's, where she had worked several years ago. "Maybe I'll still know someone in HR", she told herself. Upon entering Mercury's, she couldn't stop herself from sighing heavily and rolling her eyes; the familiar smell of the store, the familiar sights of grouchy old women hanging up clothes from the dressing rooms, and the all-too-familiar sounds of the younger women leaning on the cash registers chatting. As soon as she turned to walk in to the back offices, she also saw a familiar face.
"Anna!" Christie exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Anna bristled a bit hearing her voice. She hated Christie and for a second, considered walking out of the store. "Hi Christie. Oh, you know, Christmas is coming up and I could really use a part time job, you know, just temporarily."
"That's fantastic!" Christie continued, loudly. "We're hiring right now!" She shoved a clipboard with an application attached to it into Anna's hands.
"Thanks," Anna replied, without enthusiasm in her voice, taking a seat to fill it out.
"It's no problem at all! And..." Christie suddenly lowered her voice to a hushed whisper, "If you finish your app today, I can get you in to training starting on Friday night."
"Great," Anna answered, with a tight-lipped smile on her face. "I'll finish it right now." Christie smiled happily and zipped out of the room to answer a ringing phone.
With Christie out of sight, Anna exhaled loudly again. "What am I getting myself into?" she thought. She knew she didn't really have a choice. With the job market so bad, it was even hard to get a seasonal position, and she was lucky Christie liked her. But, it was already Wednesday and she would have to start Friday night. That was a lot sooner than she had anticipated. "I guess I'll just have to make tomorrow night extra fun," she told herself, already too exhausted from her encounter with Christie to make much of her Wednesday evening. After completing her application, a short mandatory interview, and picking up new hire materials from Christie, Anna headed home to her small apartment, consoled herself with two glasses of wine and crashed out in bed.
She woke up the next day feeling more refreshed and peppy. It wouldn't be so bad, she convinced herself. It's extra money, and Christie had assigned her to work in her old area of the store, handbags. No picking up clothes, and she would get to look at purses all day long. Not to mention, her brain was already working on making it all worth it that night. She jumped in the shower, got dressed, and took off for her day job.
She actually enjoyed this job; it was challenging and made her think, plus there were a lot of young, cute guys to flirt with. Anna had ample curves, an hourglass figure, and always tried to dress in an eye-catching manner. Although she hadn't been on a serious date for months, there were several interested parties. Today she had chosen snug-fitting dark blue jeans, which framed her round backside and hugged her toned things, and a loose-fitting but cleavage-baring light blue cotton blouse, showcasing her large, creamy breasts. She had blow-dried her long brown hair into perfect waves and topped things off with a cute pair of kitten heels.
The day inched by in a terribly slow fashion. It was a boring day so far, but Anna didn't mind, knowing that she was soon going to be spending evenings swamped at Mercury's. When her stomach began to growl, she looked at the time in the corner of her monitor. It was already lunch time and she had spent most of the morning reading news on the internet. "Not bad," she thought, getting up to heat up her small frozen lunch. As always, she secretly hoped that one of the single guys would be eating in the break room, and would be particularly happy if it was Jon. Of all the guys she flirted with in the office, Jon was the only one she could actually see herself dating. He was tall and cute and nice, but painfully shy and she knew he'd never make a move. She thought about asking him out, but that would ruin the fun of seeing the embarrassed look on his face every time she came near.
Sure enough, when she entered the break room, Jon and a couple of other older co-workers were finishing up their lunches and sitting quietly around different tables. Anna breezed in and opened the refrigerator, and Jon straightened up in his chair, glancing up with his eyes while keeping his head down, pretending to be very interested in the Metro section of the newspaper. Anna popped open the box of her lunch, vented the plastic, and stuck it in the microwave. No one said a word. She raised her eyebrows amusedly, and gave a bored sigh and a smile at Jon. That was his cue; he almost never spoke to her unless she looked at him first.
"Hey Anna, how's it going?" he mustered up the confidence to say.