The Wedding Shop

Chapter 7:

I was overjoyed to see Maggie sat behind the till when I came in to work.
I gave her a warm hug to welcome her back to work and she seemed very pleased to be back where she belonged.

"so, Maggie, did you ever find out what was wrong?"
"well, they never quite found out exactly, but mind you they didn't give me any tests, so I presume it was just a very bad cough."
"ah well, I'm glad your back. Shall I get started with the orders?" I asked, but Maggie clearly had other ideas as she lowered her voice drastically.
"actually," she began in a hushed whisper, "Maddy's in the back room packing up her things with Cindy; we've had a lot of problems with her recently and decided enough was enough."
I began to whisper too, until we heard the clicking of shoes coming up the hallway.

"well Maddy you got everything? Listen we really appreciate what you've done for us but I think it's time we all moved on, eh?" Cindy rubbed her arm gently and I could see she was finding it hard to have to tell this to the girl again.

Maddy was dressed completely differently to how I would come to work, or quite frankly to how I'd ever go out. She wore super tight jeans that were lightly washed and quite bleachy looking. Her trainers seemed far too big for her feet and her scraped back high pony tail to me seemed rather chavy for work. Even if I wanted to, my parents wouldn't let me leave the house looking like that, especially if I was going to work.

As Maddy walked by she stared at me with a nasty glint in her eye and
deliberately nudged past me, knocking against my shoulder. Although I believed I was pretty well mannered I did sometimes lose my rag slightly but bit my lip hard and excepted it for the sake of my job.

Once she had gone I could feel the tension escape from the room and everything seemed perfect again. I had to fold some letters and post them which was the first thing Maddy would do and then there were a few important documents to scan. Luckily I I'd done these sort of jobs at my parents work before and so didn't have to be taught everything again.

I heard the door chime and was expecting someone to come in for a fitting. I presumed Cindy and Maggie would appreciate me making some tea for whoever it was so I made my way to the front of the shop. Maggie and Cindy weren't in sight, only a young man with a small box. I thought I'd better deal with him before they came to sign the order sheet or whatever it was he wanted.

"hi there, how can I help you?" I stood behind the counter in front of the boy. He seemed quite young and pretty handsome too with dark brown chocolatey eyes and curly hair.
"oh hi I'm looking for the two lovely ladies who run the shop, I'm Matt, my dad designs most of the dresses for the shop maybe you know him, Chris Parker?"
I quickly butted in feeling slightly rude, "oh yes I love his designs he's one of my favourites actually." I felt my cheeks flush slightly and I didn't really understand why, I think it was the boys easy charm that made me feel slightly embarrassed or nervous around him.
"oh so you have heard of him. Well he has a package for them and he said to mention he may pop in at some point this week or possibly next weekend." he ended the sentence with a bit of a cheeky grin and I think he could tell I found him quite cute.
"ok, well I'll give this to them and pass on the message."
"great, thanks," he began to walk away but came back to the desk, "sorry I don't think i caught your name,"
"oh I'm Sophia."
He took my hand and gently shook it.
"Sophia. Well it was nice to meet you Sophia and thanks for your help."

As I watched him leave the store my heart fluttered around slightly and I guess I found him quite attractive. I could hear the ladies giggling from behind the kitchen door and wanted to check out what what was going on.

"oh, hi ladies! What are you doing back here?" I asked with my arms crossed and my foot tapping away.
"oh well..." Cindy began,
"we were eavesdropping dear," Maggie continued, I again felt my cheeks turn pink as I didn't want them to think I was flirting with him.
"oh," I was a bit shocked for words but they both excitedly squeezed one of my arms each.
"oh don't worry Soph, we know he's cute, I'm not going to lie we've both had the occasional flirt with him, in't that right Magz?"
Maggie began to nod away, "oh yes he's quite the charmer, and when we heard you were dealing with him we didn't want to disturb you two love birds."
We all giggled and I began to catch on to their excitement.
"well he is quite cute, and he has nice eyes, but he'll forget who I am as soon as he arrives home, trust me..."
"oh no!" they both cried out in time.
"he will not!" said Cindy turning to face me. "you heard Magz he was half way out the door when he came back and asked what your name was, and you could tell he liked it as he said it about five times in one sentence!"

We all chatted away and cracked on with a bit more work here and there, but when I went to bed that night I smiled to myself constantly as I remembered our little chat. I hoped he would come back again another day, and one when I was there!

by vera©