Closing and opening back-to-back was never easy. Tom didn’t get out of work until eleven last night, and today he had to be there at eight-thirty to open. He picked up the largest cup of coffee Dunkin Donuts was legally allowed to sell him and sipped it in the car. There was already a line out the front doors at South Wing to see Santa. He glared at the men and women in line, most of them without children. They were keeping actual kids from meeting Santa. Why did they have to lose their minds over the one guy who wanted to hang out and have sex with Tom?

Can’t you people just watch porn?!

Between the Santa creepers, as Tom called them, and the new Décor Store Julie fanatics, the morning flew by for Tom. He barely had a second to catch his breath. Antonio milled about the store before eventually taking lead on the register when things got busy.

“Do you have any of these extra candle sconces in the back?” An older woman in a pink parka asked Tom.

“We do not. What’s on our floor is what we have for candle holders and sconces.”

“Hmmm. How many people would you say have touched these sconces?”

“I…I don’t know.” Tom thought he’d heard every question in the book from customers, but every single day, they continued to surprise him with a new humdinger.

“Ballpark estimate. How many people, employees and customers, do you think have touched them? I don’t like buying things that are covered in germs.”

“You can clean it. There are cleaning instructions on the tag.”

“You should really be selling these in boxes, not loose for anyone to leave their DNA on.”

Tom didn’t know why, but his mind instantly went to somebody jizzing on the sconce. “You can order the sconce online. It’ll be shipped in a box. It’s free shipping over fifty dollars.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, you just have an answer for everything, don’t you?” And then she left.

Just another day in retail.

The pink parka lady stopped just before the store detectors and gawked at Randall, who was coming in. Dressed in his Santa costume, he would’ve elicited stares normally, but this being the Hot Mall Santa, it was like time stopped.

He came up to Tom.

“Hey, wanted to say hi.” Randall looked around and smiled awkwardly at the gawking customers. “Are you free for dinner Thursday night?”

That was two days away and a mental check of his schedule showed Tom he was off by eight that night.

“Sure.”

“Cool.” He slipped Tom a note with his phone number. “It’s crazy in here, so I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Cool,” Tom said, still focused on the audience they had.

“Merry Christmas to all!” Randall yelled out to the onlookers in a great Santa impression as he left.

* * *

For lunch, Tom got a Subway sandwich. He figured he should have something moderately healthy to make it through the extra busy season. He also ordered a large fries from Wendy’s and kept them in the bag. He had switched breaks with another co-worker so that it lined up with Randall’s break. He couldn’t wait to surprise him at their secret rendezvous office.

But Randall was not alone.

The office had at least a dozen people in there, all mall employees. Tom read their nametags. There were employees from The Gap, Nordstrom’s, Bath and Body Works, the full gamut. Guys and gals. And Randall was the center, sitting on the desk, the star atop of this tree.

They looked up at him, blushing, fawning. Randall pulled a French fry from his Wendy’s bag and ate it. Tom hid the bag he brought for him.

“I had this woman sit on my lap and ask for a new husband. Her husband was waiting for her in line and heard every word. Awkward!”

The room echoed with laughter.

“That is amazing. You should write a book or something,” the Bath and Body Works person said. His hand grazed Randall’s knee. Fucking Bath and Body Works.

“Have people outright asked you for sex?” A female Banana Republic sales associate asked.

“They actually installed a guard so if someone does, they are removed immediately. But then that brings up people asking in more creative ways, talking a lot about milk and cookies and how I can enter their fireplaces.”

They were eating this up. Tom felt invisible in this room. Their room. Randall soaked in the attention. He could talk about the supposed burden of being so attractive as much as he wanted, but he sure knew how to wield that power when he wanted. He didn’t seem ashamed.

“Hey,” Randall said when his eyes found Tom.

Tom gave a half-wave. He knew he had no claim over Randall, but something about this felt like a violation.

Randall pointed to Tom. “Tom works at the Décor Store.”

Everyone said hello back. Tom recognized a bunch of them from his time in the mall. The Bath and Body Works guy gave him a split-second glare before breaking into a fake-friendly smile.

“I was just regaling them with stories from my time in the Santa trenches.”

“It’s quite an experience,” a girl with both eyebrows pierced said. He recognized her from Hot Topic. “Did anyone ever propose to you?”

The group whipped their attention away from Tom and to the guy they were all there to see. Randall did not disappoint. He brought story after story. Tom wished he could go back to pining from afar. He threw out his fries without anyone seeing.

* * *

During a brief lull in the busyness, after the midday rush and before the after-work crunch, Tom swept up behind the cash register. Ripped tissue paper, unwanted receipts, and ripped-off tags littered the floor. He had stayed and listened to Randall’s stories for the rest of the break, but he felt like a groupie. Maybe that was all he was to Randall, his number-one fan. His Christmastime Penny Lane.

Antonio came up to Tom with a clipboard. That meant scheduling changes were afoot.

“Great job today!” Antonio said. Tom wondered if he had tailored his apron so that it tightened at his chest at the right points. “This time of year feels like living inside a tornado.”

“Actually, the inside a tornado is calm, according to this special I watched on The Weather Channel.”

“Oh.”

Tom didn’t know why he broke out useless trivia at inopportune times. He could be a conversational party pooper. “But yeah, it’s a shit show.”

“Question for you. Are you available to work Christmas Eve? I know, you worked Thanksgiving, and I was supposed to give you a break.”

“I worked Christmas Eve last year.”

“I know, believe me. But a lot of people have put in time-off requests, and the seasonal workers who haven’t will probably flake out. I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t need you.” Antonio twisted his face as he braced for Tom’s answer. “I would owe you.”

“You still owe me from Thanksgiving.”

“I double owe you. Please, Tom.” He placed a hand on Tom’s shoulder and opened his eyes extra-wide, like he was Puss in Boots from Shrek.

They were only open until six on Christmas Eve, and Tom wasn’t going anywhere, just his mom’s apartment to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, so it wasn’t a huge imposition. Just the principle of the thing. He wished that all this owing could amount to something, like a promotion.

“Fine.”

Antonio clapped with graciousness. “You are the best. I will definitely let corporate know about this.”

“Thanks, Antonio.”

He marked his clipboard, then put it down. He inched closer to Tom and checked to make sure no customers were around. “So, what’s going on with you and the mall Santa?”

Hello, left field.

“What?”

“I saw him come in here today to talk to you again. Are you guys friends, or…”

Tom’s eyes nearly fell out of his skull.

“I kind of got this feeling he played for our team. Well, Milo thought so after meeting him.”

Tom felt exposed, but at the same time, was grateful to have someone else know.

“We’ve become friends.” He could call them friends. That wasn’t an exaggeration. Perhaps a stretch of the truth, or even an understatement depending on how one looked at it.

“Well, just be careful,” Antonio said. Tom couldn’t tell what was going on behind his eyes.

“Careful?”

“That Santa guy seems like a player. I don’t trust him.”

Had they met the same mall Santa? Tom hadn’t heard Antonio be this serious with an issue that didn’t involve stealing.

“He’s a nice guy,” Tom said.

“He seems that way, but I don’t want you to be taken advantage of. He just comes in here and is a big celebrity, and everyone is in love with him. That can go to a guy’s head, and people can become disposable to him. I just…I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Tom’s cheeks got warm. He wasn’t used to this kind of attention from Antonio of all people. Where was this concern about Tom’s schedule? He admitted he liked it, knowing that Antonio cared about him like this.

“You’re too good of a guy to fall prey to a person like that.”

“He’s not…I appreciate the concern, but there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I can’t help but worry about guys I…work with.” Antonio put his hand on Tom’s shoulder, but it felt totally different this time. Everything did.

“Thanks.”

Antonio went back into his office. For the last moments before the after-work crunch of businesspeople grabbing gifts for co-workers and loved ones, Tom remained fixed at the cash register, thinking. Maybe Antonio was right about Randall. The attention could easily go to his head, and there could be ten different Toms out there. Being that beautiful of a specimen was like having a superpower, and all superheroes struggled with using their powers for good. With chiseled abs comes great responsibility, right?