Chapter Text
You sighed heavily as you sat down the last box of items on the carpeted floor of your new apartment, whipping the sweat from your forehead and stretching to ease the pain in your lower back. God this had taken way too much of your time, you knew moving would be exhausting but this? You felt like you had just gone on a 12 hour hike. Your arms hurt like hell, having been worn out by carrying all the boxes up yourself.
Atleast they were all in your apartment now, continuously walking up and down five flights of stairs is not for the weak, that’s for sure. You stood there, admiring your work. Who knew you had it in you? Moving all the way from Missouri to Alabama with a barely working 70s AMC Hornet, sadly the old bat didn’t last the 11 hour car ride and as soon as you pulled into a parking spot by your new apartment it broke down. Now you’d have to take the bus to work, great. As if you didn’t hate peoples enough already now you had to deal with one of the worst things imaginable to introverted people; public transport.
You pinched your nose bridge, already picturing how exhausting it would be to have to use the bus until you had saved up enough to repair your car when all of a sudden you were snapped out of your thoughts by a knock at the door. You turned around wondering who it could possibly be, strangely enough you hadn’t seen anyone except a few people around the area. Yeah it was a small town and a not so great area, but it was curious how barely any people were out, and you hadn’t seen anyone in the apartment either.
As you made your way to the door you cleared your throat, preparing yourself for whoever was behind the door. As you turned the handle you had to look down to see who exactly was infront of you, as you came face to face with the person you were met with a pleasant surprise. It was a short middle aged looking woman with friendly hazel eyes, curly brown hair and big round glasses. She was wearing a pretty floral dress that complimented her wider figure, the white pearl necklace on her back shining under the yellow fluorescent lights of the hallway.
„Hello there dearest, you must be the new tenant. Mister Fuggley mentioned you moving in, I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you sooner I was so busy picking my children up from school. I’m Mrs. Templeton, it’s nice to meet you.“
She said with a warm smile, her voice was unsurprisingly calming, the kind you’d expect a sweet middle aged lady to have, it reminded you of your own mother back when she was still around. You smiled back tentatively, your hands resting behind you before you noticed she had her hand outstretched. You quickly went to shake her hand, appreciating the friendly gesture.
„Nice to meet you Mrs. Templeton, I’m [NAME]. And it’s alright, I just finished moving all the boxes into my apartment so it’s actually perfect timing.“ You said with a grin, folding your hands as you broke the handshake.
„Really? I didn’t hear or see any movers in the apartment..“ she said with a surprised voice. „Oh no, I carried these up myself.“ you laughed, waving your hand dismissively. Mrs. Templeton gasped, a hand over her mouth. „Oh sweetheart why didn’t you say anything? I would’ve gotten Harold to help you move the boxes! You must be so exhausted, you poor thing.“
She said with a worried expression, you didn’t comment on the fact you wouldn’t even have known how to ask for help considering you didn’t know anyone in the apartment, instead opting for a polite smile and a wave of your hand. „It’s fine, it wasn’t much plus it gave me a free workout.“ You joked, she was right though, you were exhausted.
Mrs. Templeton looked at you with a mix of worry and doubt on her face, you must’ve looked tired based on how she clearly didn’t believe you. „Well [NAME], either way I won’t trouble you then. You should get some rest and I’ll talk to you after you’ve fully settled in and recovered, moving is exhausting and straining for the heart.“ she said with an understanding smile, you felt your heart tighten a little, it had been a while since any adult had treated you with so much care and understanding. „If you need anything I’m in floor 3, apartment 14. I work from home so I’m always available, well, not when I have my yoga classes or bring my sons to soccer.“
You simply nodded, saying your goodbyes and watching her walked down the hall and out of your sight. You closed the door, turning around and wincing as you felt the persistent pain in your arms. Now you wish you had asked her for help, even if you couldn’t have known. You sluggishly made your way to the couch, too tired to make it all the way to your room. Collapsing on the soft brown cushions with a thud and a creak from the springs underneath, it didn’t take long for you to pass out. Falling into those same dreams you always had, the ones about your pervious home, your father, your mother and the school you attended. These dreams were never pleasant, you wouldn’t even refer to them as dreams, nightmares were more fitting. You’d rather dream of nothing than dream of your old home.
Before you knew it you were awoken by the sound of an alarm, the one from your clock, one of the few items you bothered to unpack. When you managed to flutter your eyes open and turned around to stretch with a groan you were met with said alarm clock showing it was already 7:46 PM. Your eyes shot open as you nearly fell off your couch, oh shit. It was almost 8 PM and that’s when your first shift at your new job was starting, you couldn’t afford to be late. Not on your first day! You really needed this job, otherwise you could look forward to sleeping in your broken old car and living off whatever food you could find in dumpsters. That was the last thing you wanted, to end up just like your father said you would when you left, fuck that and fuck him.
You quickly scrambled to change into your new uniform, struggling to get the gas station polo over your head and slip on your trousers, you nearly fell when you bent over to slide into your trainers, holding onto the wall for support before snatching your bag and sprinting out the door. You quickly locked it and hurried your way down the stairs, panting as you skipped some of the steps and held onto the railing for every turn. Before you knew it you were already at the bottom floor, turning the corner to make your way out of the apartment before suddenly crashing into something.
Whatever you seemed to have ran straight into had cushioned your fall, you groaned as you opened your eyes, feeling something soft and cushy under you. When you were met with what you were laying onto of you felt your heart stop in mortification, it was a man, one close to your age. Had you not been so startled by the sight of him you’d have found it weird how unbothered he seemed to be by you having basically launched yourself into him and knocking him off the ground, he just looked back at you with an equally surprised face.
His freckled face and big brown eyes staring back at you, you couldn’t help but notice the gauze on the side of his cheek. You didn’t have time to worry about that though as you scrambled to get off of him, babbling out frantic apologies. „I’m so so sorry sir, oh my god- I didn’t see you, I didn’t mean to run into you. You’re not hurt are you??“ you asked with a look of concern, eyes frantically trailing up and down his form for any sign of injury. He was wearing a stained brown hoodie with stripes on the sleeves, a navy hood, black turtleneck and slightly scuffed jeans. He seemed to be fine, showing no signs of physical damage, intact he didn’t seem to be in pain at all. Wich was crazy considering you basically used him as a landing cushion.
„Nuh-no I’m fine..“ The man stuttered, a perplexed look on his face as he stared up at you. His head cracked to the side, his eyes remaining on you as he twitched, not leaving your face. „Are you sure? do you need help getting up??“ You said as you leaned down and extended your hand for him to grab, his eyes trailed down to it, yet he didn’t move for a good few seconds. Instead of taking your hand he got up himself, you felt a slight pang of rejection and guilt, he was probably mad at you for bumping into him like the careless idiot you were.
Your hand lowered down to your body, a look of disappointment and embarrassment on your face as your brows furrowed. You mentally face palmed, you just got here and you were already making enemies with what you assumed was one of your fellow tenants, great first impression. You watched him get up, he wasn’t much taller than you, being around 5‘6 with messy brown hair, thick brows, heavy eyebags and freckles sprinkled all across his face and that gauze bandage on the side of his face. He kept staring at you, not saying much as he twitched. Did he have Tourette’s? „It’s.. fuh-fine..“ he said with a slightly detached tone, as if he was distracted by something. He eyed you up and down, probably remembering what you looked like so he could complain to the landlord later, you bit the inside of your cheek nervously at the thought of that.
„Uh.. can I um- do anything to make it up to you? I’m kinda busy right now but-„ You trailed off, okay maybe you were doing too much now. You didn’t wanna leave him mad at you so you thought maybe you could buy him a coffee later in apology would help the situation, but it more so came off as desperate and weird, like you were asking him out or something. He looked back at you, slightly taken a back by your words, a look of genuine surprise on his face. One you’d have expected from him when you crashed into him, did what you say really sound that weird? Shit.. He didn’t say anything, seemingly too stunned to speak.
You felt your face heat up slightly, you needed to stop embarrassing yourself and get out of here, now. You stammered slightly, eyes darting around the floor before shifting slightly towards the exit. „I gotta- I gotta go to work now or I’ll be late- I’m really sorry, for everything-.. uh bye!“ you said as you started speed walking towards the door, turning to wave at him before sprinting out of the building. Probably leaving him confused and weirded out by you.
To your luck the bus had run late and you managed to get in at the last moment, panting heavily as you called out to the bus driver to wait for you. It didn’t take long for you to arrive at the bus station near the gas station, your new place of work and as you ran towards the doors you already saw your manager standing there with his arms crossed. Shit you weren’t late were you? You looked at your watch, 7:57 PM. Okay you weren’t late, you were three minutes early. You’d have preferred it to be ten for a good first impression but this would have to do. You slowed down, walking into the store with a nervous smile on your face, panting slightly as you caught your breath. The manager raised a brow, eyeing you up and down.
„Miss [LAST NAME], was it? Glad to see you’re not late.“ he said with a gruff and slightly judging tone. As if he had expected you to not have made it in time, you nodded sheepishly as you folded your hands and smiled up at him. „Hello mister Wheeler, it’s nice to finally see you in person. I’ve been looking forward to my first day here! you said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. „I’m sure you have.“ he responded with an unimpressed tone, your smile faltered slightly, he didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
„Well now that you’re here let’s not waste any time, I’ll show you around the store and tell you how everything works. Make sure to remember everything I say, I won’t repeat myself and since you’ll be working on your own you won’t be able to have any co workers re explain it for you.“ He said as he walked behind the registered, you followed him and nodded. He began explaining to you how the cash register worked, something you already knew thanks to your previous job at your old towns local resteraunt. He told you about the gun underneath the desk that was there for ‚emergencies‘, something you could guess meant that robberies weren’t too uncommon here wich made sense since the area wasn’t the safest, but it wasn’t like you could afford better.
He showed you where the emergency button was located, something you could press to alert the police incase something happened. He then continued walking, showing you were each section of inventory was displayed on the wracks. Ranging from newspapers, snacks, drinks, cds and even old raunchy looking magazines that made you avert your eyes. He showed you the back of the store were any leftover inventory was kept in large boxes on racks, an old looking broom and mop aswell large bucket. Something he said was mainly to be used for the bathrooms, he explained how it was important to keep said bathrooms clean and how you’d have to deny anyone that wanted to use the men’s restroom since it was currently out of order. Something he said would be fixed eventually, yet the way he said it made you think it had been like that for a while and wouldn’t be changing any time soon. Finishing up the tour he showed you the office and told you if you needed to go to use the women’s restroom as they didn’t have an employee bathroom.
You seemingly nodded the whole tour long to the point your neck hurt a little at the end, rubbing the back of it as he told you to always keep an eye on the register and let him know if there were any problems with the customers. He made it clear he wanted you to pay attention to how much said customers had to pay and too never charge them less otherwise that money would be taken out of your pay check, greedy jerk. You nodded one last time and watched as he disappeared into he back and towards his office, the store now eerily quiet except for the humming coming from the blue fluorescent lights on the ceiling.
After a while of walking around the store and checking what items were being sold you spotted a car drive into the driveway, you quickly made your way to the counter and prepared yourself for your first customer. Your first customer was a tired looking woman, presumably in her mid 30‘s. She walked to the back and grabbed two bottles of liquor, placing them on the counter and looking at you with a disinterested and tired expression. You jokingly asked for her ID, as if complimenting her and indirectly saying she looked young but all you got as a response was an unimpressed brow raise and an eyeroll. After showing you her ID you quickly scanned the bottles and let her pay, your face red with embarrassment the entire time up until she left.
Afterwards nothing really eventful happened, you scanned the items of a couple more customers. Not many people seemed to be coming to this gas station, maybe that’s why your boss was so strict about the money. If his business was failing it was no wonder he’d be in such a bad mood all the time, money was stressful, you knew that better than anyone.
You rested your hand on your face, staring at the rack filled with junk food. The happy cartoon character on the chips bag staring back at you with a big, silly looking smile. ‚What a punchable face.‘ you thought to yourself as you glared at the bag. The doorbell under the automatic doors rang as they slid open, gaining your attention as you turned your head to the new customer walking in.
Wait a minute, he looked familiar.. wasn’t that the guy you ran into a few hours ago? Shit, this was awkward. Why’d he have to show up here of all places, you literally ran from him after that whole awkward encounter and now you’d have to face him just hours later. Curse you and your horrendous luck.
You smiled at him awkwardly as you both made eye contact, waving at him, he didn’t wave back, his shoulder twitching upwards as his hand cramped slightly. You averted your eyes awkwardly, should you say something? Maybe something like „heyy good to see you again.“ or „how have you been? Doing good I hope, I’m sorry about tackling you to the ground earlier and then running away after coming off like I was hitting on you ahahahaha.“ You bit your lip nervously, eyes looking anywhere but him, you couldn’t stand another awkward staring contest with that dude. Why’d he have to come here? Why now? Right when it was on your shift?
After a few seconds you mustered up the courage to look back up and at him again, what the? he was still looking at you. Had he been staring the whole time? Since he entered the store? Or did he just happen to look at you while you looked at him? Either way he quickly turned his head away to look at the magazines, freezing when he was met with the sight of one of those old raunchy playboys that the manager probably had there since he opened the gas station. His eyes widened at the inappropriate cover, thick eyebrows raising in surprise as his face reddened and he quickly whipped around to look at the cleaning supplies on the rack instead. You let out a snort, trying to suppress a laugh, his head turned to you at the sound of the noise. You quickly looked away, pretending to not have just seen that happen and clearly having laughed at him. God he probably hated you even more now.
You decided it’s as for the best you didn’t look at him anymore until he went up to the counter, yet he seemed to be taking forever. Walking around the store slowly, all you were able to hear was the sound of his footsteps and the hum from the lights. You kept your eyes glued to the pack of lighters on the counter, strangely enough it felt like there were a pair of eyes staring at you the entire time. You didn’t dare look up again though, not wanting to risk another awkward situation.
After what felt like forever you heard footsteps approach your counter, almost relieved at the prospect of him checking out and finally leaving you turned your head to face the man and smiled at him. He sat a bag of chips down on the counter, the same one you had been glaring at earlier. „Will that be all sir?“ you asked in a polite tone, not sure if you should bring up the incident from a few hours ago. His brows furrowed momentarily, as if perplexed by something.
„Y-you don’t.. re-remember me..?“ he asked, his voice almost sounding.. disappointed? You blinked at his words before waving your hands frantically. „Oh uh, no- I didn’t- I didn’t forget. Sorry sir, I just.. I wasn’t sure if I should mention what happened earlier..“ you said sheepishly as you curled into yourself slightly. „I’m uh.. sorry about earlier, I really didn’t mean to crash into you like that.. and then run away, I would’ve been late to my first shift had I stayed..“ you muttered apologetically, not bringing up the whole asking for a favour thing in hopes he forgot, fumbling with a strand of your hair you looked down and back up at him. He eyed you carefully, dark brown eyes looking over your form as you stood behind the counter. „It’s fuh-fine, I know it was an a-a-a..“ he paused, brows furrowing as if annoyed at himself. „I knuh-know you didn’t mean to.“
You smiled at him shyly, watching him as he twitched, an awkward silence filling the air before you remembered you were supposed to scan his chips. You quickly grabbed the bag with the punchable looking cartoon character before pausing. „Uh actually..“ you stopped, looking up at him and smiling. „It’s on me, I owe you for earlier.“ you said as you extended your arms holding the bag up to him. He looked at you in surprise, twitching some more before slowly reaching out and grabbing the bag. Your fingers momentarily touching, his whole body seemed to twitch, or was that a shudder? Either way he slowly pulled away and to your surprise a smile spread across his face. It was wide and looked a bit manic, like he wasn’t used to smiling, his gauze crinkling at the movement. „Thu-thanks.. I’m Toby by the way.. I’m guh-guessing we’ll be neighbors from now o-on..“ he said with a lighter tone, your sheepish smile now turning more genuine. Thank god, he wasn’t mad at you.
„I’m [NAME], nice to meet you Toby, I look forward to having you as my neighbour and asking you for a cup of sugar.“ you said, cringing slightly at the corny joke. He seemed to find it hilarious though, practically bursting with laughter, startling you and he leaned back slightly. „guh-good one! Yeah, I look fuh-fuh-forward to that!“ he said more cheerfully now, grinning back at you, his white buckteeth sparkling at you. You nodded happily, returning the smile. „Nice, see you around then.. and have a good rest of your night, Toby.“
He smiled at you widely, not moving for a few seconds and instead just staring. You blinked, looking back at him awkwardly and waiting, was he gonna say something? He just stood there, twitching before slowly moving to walk out. Looking at you the entire time as the doors slid open and he waved. You waved back, that was a bit weird, but it went well! Atleast he won’t complain about you to the landlord.
The rest of your shift seemed to go by rather smoothly, stocking some of the shelves and cleaning the tiled floor. But you couldn’t shake the feeling that you were being watched, it was unnerving but the gun hidden under the counter kept your mind at ease, plus your boss was in the back. He was tall and looked strong.. but he seemed like he would save the cash register first before even thinking about your safety.
At the end of your shift he approached you, asking if everything went well and if you had any trouble with the customers. You told him it went great and you were pretty sure you had gotten the hang of things, he huffed and smiled . To your surprise he let you pick out a smoothie from the smoothie machine for free, maybe he wasn’t as bad as you thought.
After clocking out you took the bus home, prepared to crash into your couch again but before you could open the door to your apartment you were stopped by a hand on your shoulder. „Excuse me [NAME]?“ You turned around to be met with the gentle looking face of Mrs. Templeton. „Oh Mrs. templeton, good evening, you’re up? It’s really early..“ you pointed out, it was probably about 5 or 6 AM now, you hadn’t checked your watch.
„Oh I know pumpkin, but I couldn’t stop thinking about my lack of hospitality towards you! I just felt so bad for letting such a small thing carry all her boxes up the fifth floor by herself. Did you even eat anything afterwards? You looked so tired, I felt so guilty.“ She said with a frown and a worried look, you smiled down at her, appreciating her kindness more than she could know. „Oh no Miss, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known.. and no I didn’t have anything to eat but..“ your stomach growled before you could finish the sentence, she let out a worried sound before shoving a large container towards you.
„Please honey take this! It’s lasagna I made yesterday, the kids wouldn’t finish it all, I’m sorry they’re just leftovers but that’s all I can give you for now.“ she said with a hurry, like she thought you’d ere about to die from starvation right infront of her. You took the large container in your hands, feeling the cold plastic against your skin as it had presumably been refrigerated to keep it fresh. You grinned back at her thankingly. „Thank you so much Mrs. Templeton, I really appreciate it.“ she seemed relieved by your response, nodding before patting you on the shoulder. „I’ll be seeing you around then [NAME], get some rest and enjoy the lasagna for me, okay?“ you nodded as you said your goodbyes, turning to your door and unlocking it.
The second you closed the door behind you it was like you were hit with a wave of exhaustion, the late hours of work and lack of food seemingly catching up with you all at once, but you knew you had to eat something before going to bed. You made your way to the kitchen, putting some of the lasagna on a plate and storing the rest in the fridge, after microwaving it you sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. The lasagna tasted heavenly and reminded you of the one your mom used to make, god Mrs. Templeton and her were so alike, you felt your eyes water and before any tears pile spill out you whipped your face. You didn’t exactly know when, but after a while you seemingly just passed out on your couch. Empty plate in hand as the tv played infront of you.
It seemed as if you were too tired to notice the pair of eyes watching you through your window, how lucky you forgot to close your blinds! You looked so adorable sleeping on your couch like that, plate resting on your stomach with crumbs on your face.. Toby had to suppress a chuckle, you were such an adorable thing.. who knew you liked him so much as to give him that bag of chips for free! He’d have to thank you properly next time.. next time.. he couldn’t wait to see your face smiling back at him, the second you landed on top of him and looked back at him all wide eyed he knew there was something special between you two, Not to mention you would’ve asked him out on a date had you not gotten so embarrassed, heh.. what solidified your bond was the kindness you showed him at your job, the way you said his name nearly made him melt there on the spot. He was glad he had followed you there, now he knew where you worked, wich meant he could watch you a lot more easily now. This was going to be fun.