CHAPTER NINE
“Oh shit.” Alyssa comments as she opens the dressing room door and notices the clock on the opposite wall. Shit! I’m 15 minutes late opening the store, she thinks as she adjusts her underwear and runs her fingers through her hair. She shakes her head in disapproval as she briskly walks to the door, and unlocks it while flipping her sign to “open.” I’m never late opening my store. I hope these customers aren’t new… I don’t want them thinking I can’t be punctual, they look impatient and judgmental, shit. Alyssa sighs. There are a few older ladies outside waiting, they seem to have been growing impatient because they are tapping their feet, with their arms crossed on their chest as the look at her with an annoyed expression.
“I’m sorry to have kept you lovely ladies waiting. Please, come on in.” Alyssa sheepishly urges as she holds the door open for them. “Please take your time and look around. There is a display over there for the items that have been marked down today. If you need any help, just let me know. I’ll be happy to assist.”
Alyssa closes the door behind them and huffs as begins to make her way to the counter. As she does she hears one of the old ladies speak up from behind her.
“Ohh-ho, I see what I want!” one of the older ladies with a raspy, soft voice exclaims as she notices Vincent in the store. “Such a fine looking young man. You’re Vincent, from Seven Ravens, aren’t you? The guitar player. Oh-ho.” she continues. “Don’t be shy. Here, give me a moment.” She says as she looks at her purse.
Vince chuckles nervously but nods and is patient with the woman as she starts to fumble through her purse. She pulls quite a few things out while mumbling to herself before she finds what she is looking for.
“Here, here, please sign this. It’s an autograph for my daughter.” She says as she winks and elbows him. “I knew you guys were playing this month, but I never expected to see you in a little boutique like this! Oh my daughter is going to love this.”
Alyssa leans back on her counter as she watches the old ladies and Vincent interact. Vincent takes the pen and signs his autograph for her. By this time the other ladies have pulled out things for him to sign, and he autographs them, too, with a polite smile on his face.
As the first lady puts her pen away, she pulls out an older smartphone. “Er. Hey, do you know how to get this thing to work? I know it takes pictures, but I don’t remember how…” she asks as she starts to look the device over as if it were an ancient hieroglyphic.
Vincent laughs as he nods and offers to help her. Soon, he’s got the camera up and snaps a selfie with her. She thanks him profusely, suggesting that she’ll send it to daughter. Ha. More like you want a little bit of young eye-candy. Alyssa thinks to herself as she moves back behind her counter and sits on her chair. Gosh. Have to admire him for his kindness, though. He is so nice to those ladies. So patient and earnest, better than I would be that’s for sure. Alyssa smiles in approval and she begins to tap her fingers on the desk. Maybe he isn’t so bad after all.
As Vincent finishes up with the ladies, he makes his way to the door, but before he leaves, he turns around, with the door in hand and looks at Alyssa. “I’ll be back at the studio. I’ve got more work to do. I want to see you there; I’d like to actually talk sometime.” He says before slipping out.
“He’s such a nice young man!” An old lady exclaims while she is looking through the sundress section of the store. Alyssa chuckles to herself, yeah, seems so.
“Is there anything I can help any of you with? Do you need a dressing room?” Alyssa hesitates at the thought of opening up the dressing room for them. She reminds herself to double check the dressing room she made love in, because she doesn’t want there to be obvious signs of anything fishy in there. It makes her a little nervous.
“Actually if you wouldn’t mind. I would like to try this on.” The same lady states.
“Just one moment,” Alyssa says as she gets up. She walks the lady over to the dressing rooms, and she opens one of them up by pretending to unlock it. She silently reprimands herself for not actually locking them before opening the store. She opens the door for the lady and lets her walk in. “You can lock it from inside,” she advises and then she opens the second one up and double checks to make sure it is still in pristine condition. If there was a mess, Vincent was nice enough to clean it up. I should have been paying more attention and focusing less on my own pleasure. Heck, who am I kidding, he’s too good for that, she thinks to herself with an outward chuckle. Then she locks the second dressing room and walks back to her register.
While sitting at the counter Alyssa starts to daydream, thinking about how nice Vincent was to those ladies, how nice their sex was, and what it is that he might want to talk about. I’m happy that he finally apologized for not putting more of this thoughts into words, but I still don’t know what to think. Is he just dragging me along for sex again? Is he going to disappear after the band leaves town again? Go out and have sex with a shit ton of other women unti-
“Ahem.” An old lady with grey hair, a white bonnet hat, a blue crocheted cardigan and flowery, flowing pants says from the other side of the counter. It brings Alyssa back to reality.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Alyssa states as she starts to ring up the clothing the lady has picked out.
“It’s okay. I’d be daydreaming, too if I had a hunk like that in my store, especially if he wanted to see me later.” The old lady says with a wink and a laugh. She elbows the space next to her.
Alyssa laughs in response, “Yeah. Something like that… These are some really nice pieces that you picked out, I’m sure you’ll look wonderful in them,” she responds as she finishes ringing up the clothing. She gives the lady her total and tells her to have a wonderful evening as she leaves. The other two ladies are in line and give her the same spiel about how wonderful it is to have a man like that around, how lucky Alyssa is and how she should get a ring on her finger as soon as possible with a man like that. Alyssa responds politely, and as best as she can. She doesn’t try to engage in too much conversation because Alyssa knows if she does it won’t take but a second for one of the ladies to bring up a story about their past. Then the other one will want to talk, and Alyssa knows she’d be stuck in never ending torture.
Once they finally leave, Alyssa looks at the clock and then down at her counter. Where was I? Right, right, how I don’t think that he has any intention- or how I don’t know if he has any intention of turning this from just sex to anything more than sex… but maybe that’s what he wants to talk about… Maybe he wants to entertain the idea of a relationship with me. I’m amazing, he should want me… Maybe he wants to let me know it’s just sex. I wish I knew what the hell was on his mind. Alyssa complains to herself and then sighs as another person comes into the shop. She greets them with as much enthusiasm she can muster and she tries to drown out her thoughts by focusing on the computer screen.
She doesn’t want to think about the fact that he could just want her around for sex until he leaves. She doesn’t want to think about the pain it will cause her when he leaves again and starts sleeping with other women. When he left the first time, and they had agreed they would just have sex, she was secretly disappointed he didn’t ask her for something more, and even more disappointed that he continued to have sex with other women. She had hoped she’d ruin his taste for others. She sighs.