"Come on, Matt," Marni whined. "You still have an hour left before you're done. Just go in back and get a stack of each and put 'em on the floor. By the time that's done, your shift will be almost over."
Matt turned and walked away from her without saying a word. He hated this fucking job. He was home from his freshman year in college and his parents made him get a job for the summer. Abercrombie & Fitch was it. It was ridiculous. He barely made any money, and he had to wear the store's clothes to boot. His parents paid for some of his clothes but it was still a wash as far as he was concerned. At the end of the day, he probably spent more on clothes than he actually made.
And Marni, the bubble-headed assistant store manager, was always riding his ass. 'Do this.' 'Don't do that.' How about this, Marni? Shut the fuck up!
Matt shuffled into the storage room to grab a few stacks of what the company's designers called "College Tee Shirts." Yeah, right. Who the fuck would wear this crap, anyway? He piled two stacks of the shirts onto his arms and carried them out to the sales floor, arranging them according to the almighty chart that Marni toted around all day, and returned to the storage room for a few more stacks.
* * *
Northbrook Court was tired and starting to look run down, but Olivia Freeman found it convenient, much more so than Old Orchard. Shoot down Green Bay Road to Lake-Cook, then west a few miles, over the Edens Expressway, and there you were. Ten minutes, at the most.
Last Tuesday, however, Olivia gave herself more than ten minutes; more like two hours. That gave her enough time to pick up a new hand bag from Louis Vuitton, a golf shirt for her husband, and a wrap top at Bebe. She liked the way the Bebe tops accentuated her 36C bust line.
She also poked her head into Victoria Secret and purchased a little baby doll; her anniversary was in two weeks and Bob was taking her to Miami for the weekend. He'd get his reward for a long weekend at the Shore Club.
That gave her just enough time to get to the Palm, the legendary steak house with a branch at the mall, where she met Rebecca Sussman and Wendy Jackson, two of her best childhood friends, for a late lunch. Lobster bisque, a salmon fillet and two-and-a-half bottles of a 2001 Cakebread chardonnay later, she was loading her arms up with bags, wishing her friends well, and walking back through Northbrook Court toward Neiman's, where she had parked her car.
The thought of her car made her frown. It wasn't a car anymore. The thought of driving the monstrosity killed her inside. With three kids in junior high and early high school, Olivia and Bob finally succumbed to the pull of the minivan. She had lobbied hard for an SUV, an X5 or a Mercedes M-Class. In the end, though, those SUVs didn't fit the Freeman's practicalities. Still, she wasn't happy and her intoxicated state caused her to brood.
Music floated into Olivia's ear, pulling her from her self-pity party. She looked towards its source, the Abercrombie & Fitch store her two eldest kids – boys both of them – spent so much money at. Thinking she'd stop in and see if any sales were on, she veered from her intended path and entered the store.
"How are you today?" a little bimbo inquired, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. A tee shirt two sizes too small hugged modest breasts and a pony-tail bobbing behind her.
"I'm fine, thank you," Olivia responded, barely paying attention to the little girl.
"Can I help you find anything, ma'am?"
Olivia almost stopped and informed the girl that women who haven't started to go gray yet do not appreciated being called "ma'am." Instead, she said over her shoulder, "No, thanks. I'll just look around for a while."
* * *
Matt was leaning over a display table folding tee shirts when the cracking of Olivia's Jimmy Choo heels caught his attention. He glanced at her, intending to do so quickly, but his eyes locked on her beauty. She was walking among the various display tables, a long cherry red nail occasionally brushing her lustrous blond hair behind an ear. High, aristocratic cheekbones, slightly flushed from her intake of chardonnay, bookended a thin, elegant nose. With her tanned flesh, she made quite a glamorous sight.
Matt returned to his duties, stacking the remaining tee shirts on the display table. Finished, he looked around and found her standing before a table covered with stacks of chinos in various shades. She held a pair unfolded before her as if judging whether they would fit her curvy frame. They clearly wouldn't.
"Not for you, I'm guessing?"
Olivia lowered the pants from in front of her face. She gave the young man a wry smile accompanied by a shake of the head. "Not exactly."
"Anything I can help you with?"
"Not just yet, thank you."
"Well, just holler if you need me."
Matt sauntered off, slowing making his way toward the storeroom for another stack of tee shirts, Olivia admiring his tight butt as he went.
He was back at the tee shirt table arranging his latest load when, over his shoulder, he heard, "'I Mow Your Mom's Lawn'?"
He turned to see her standing over his shoulder, her perfume wafting through his nostrils. A look of inquiry dominated Olivia's luminous emerald eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I dunno. It's just a tee shirt. They call it a College Tee Shirt."
"Who does?" she asked, moving to his side and lifting another shirt from the table. 'I Support The Performing Arts,' it read.
"The store."
"Hmph. I've never seen any college kids with tee shirts like these."
"Me neither." Matt leaned closer to her and, in a stage whisper, continued. "Personally, I think they're ridiculous. You wouldn't catch me dead in something like that."
Olivia's glossy red lips formed a conspiratorial smirk. She leaned closer to him, her full breasts pressing against his bare arm, the cashmere of her turtleneck so soft against his bare flesh. She reached across his chest and picked another tee shirt from the table, holding it before them. "'Your Mom Never Gets Old.' I'm sensing a theme here."
Below a lightly plucked and knowingly arched eyebrow, her gleaming eyes locked on Matt's before she dropped the shirt unceremoniously to the table, turned on her heel and wandered off. Matt stared after her as she did, his cock stirring at the site of her sweet little bottom encased in camel hair pants.
Shaking the image from his mind, he returned to his duties, re-folding the tee shirts that Olivia had held up for inspection.
"Jesus, Matt," came an exasperated whine. "What are you doing? You're just screwing around."
He turned to see Marni approaching.
"Come on, Matt," she pleaded. "You only have forty-five minutes before you have to clock out." She had had enough. "Just go work the cash register for the rest of your shift."
Fifteen minutes later, Matt was behind the counter straightening the supplies and waiting for the next customer when Olivia approached. She dropped two pairs of pants and one of the College Tee-Shirts on the counter and leaned against it on her elbows, her breasts pushing together and swelling beneath her turtleneck. A flirtatious smile formed across her shiny lips as Matt rung up the first pair of pants.
"You know you have two different size pants, ma'am?" he inquired when ringing the second pair.
Olivia sighed, her breath rustling her glimmering blond locks. "First of all, I'm not a 'ma'am.' Try 'miss,' young man. You'll find it works much better with women who haven't hit menopause yet."
"Sorry," he mumbled, reaching for the tee shirt.
"And second, yes, I know I'm buying pants of different sizes. That's because I'm buying one pair for my oldest son," she intoned, holding up one pair, "and another for my other son," she finished, holding up the other.
"Of course . . . miss. I'm sorry." Matt rang the tee shirt as Olivia rummaged through the Chanel flap bag looking for her credit card. The bag's strap draped across her torso, running between her breasts, emphasizing what needn't be emphasized. When she found her card, she handed it to Matt, dragging her cherry red nails across the innocent flesh of his palm as she withdrew her hand.
With a shiver, Matt read the name on the card before sliding it through the machine. He began folding the tee shirt. His composure somewhat regained, he shook his head when he read the message emblazoned across the front of it: 'I Mow Your Mom's Lawn.'
"What?" Olivia asked.
"I told you," he began in light tone, "your son's gonna to hate this thing. No self-respecting kid would wear it."
"Really?" she said, confident that the young man was wrong. Matt nodded his head. "Well, let me tell you, then. It's not for one of my sons."
He merely rolled his eyes as he slipped the pants into an A&F bag. "Right. Who's it for, then? Your daughter?" he scoffed.
Olivia leaned closer to the young man, her long blond locks sweeping across the counter. Silently, she mouthed, "It's for you."
Matt furrowed his brow, not reading her glossy lips much less understanding the import of her message.
"It's for you," she whispered, smiling brazenly at the young man who, three months hence, would leave his teens behind.
He was taken aback. His mind raced to form some sort of retort but ultimately failed.