Baby be Mine

Chapter 11

[Lila]

"I'm telling you hoovers would be so much easier." Cal says, getting out of the car and stretching his back. I take the moment as we both walk around the car to roll my eyes. He'd been on this thread the whole drive in. I quickly check my phone, having had a message come in while I was driving.

"What about getting the hoovers up and down the stairs?" I ask, smiling at him.

"Backpacks. Surely you can get ones that you can wear on your back."

I laugh at the image. Helped by Cal demonstrating how it would work. "What about the noise? You can't have the noise of hoovers interrupting the screen next door if they have a quiet moment."

Cal had one of his first ushering shifts yesterday. Over the last month we'd been working at Jace cinema Cal had had mainly retail shifts. His charm making him good with the guests. While I'd been mainly ushering, checking the tickets and cleaning the screens.

I kinda preferred ushering. Organising who goes to clean each screen just as they're coming out; who does the checks on the screens and toilets every half-hour. All while trying to catch every ticket as they head into the screen area.

It's not the most glamorous of jobs but it takes an organised mind which I enjoy.

"I see your point but my back is killing me today."

"You get used to it. After the second shift your back doesn't hurt anymore." I say, speaking from experience.

Bending over with the brush and scoop aches when you're bouncing from screen to screen, sweeping popcorn in every row. Seriously, popcorn gets everywhere. You can sweep down a row and look behind you and still find popcorn. Then there is the picking part of the job where you have to pick up everything the guests leave on the floor. Is it really that hard for them to take their rubbish with them? They carried it in there why not carry it back out. I get paid minimum wage, so no, I don't get paid enough to clean up after you.

When we get around the corner into the main yard area. Cal starts going one way while I start to veer off.

"Where you going?" I ask him.

"The canteen, the guys are meeting up there."

"Oh, Paige is in the common room. I'll see you later then."

"Yeah, have fun."

It's a few minutes later that I walk into the common room and find Paige.

"Hey, girly." Paige says when I sit next to her. There are a few other groups in the room but none that we're close with. Paige keeps fiddling on her phone, barely looking up.

"Hey, you fancy a quick game of cards?"

"Sure, spilt the deck."

I pull out the pack of cards I keep in my bag. Since being in sixth form and having use of the common room everyone has gotten into playing card games. Nothing to do with gambling, just the simple games. Solitaire, rummy and snap. The latter being the game Paige and I engage in now.

My pack was starting to get a little worn now but it didn't stop me from practising shuffle tricks. I'd gotten quite good at doing the shuffle where you arch two halves of the cards pile and they fall into one pile. Paige had tried but her hands were too small to achieve it properly.

With the deck split in two we start the game. Alternating putting a card down on the pile.

"So, how's things with your girlfriend?" Paige asks.

"I don't have a girlfriend." I answer, confused, placing another card of the pile.

"Okay, how's things with your crush?"