Baby Blue Eyes

Chapter Ten

Unlocking the shop door, I step inside, greeting the familiar smell of paper with a smile. Saturday mornings are always rather long in here, but they’re calm too. I like being sat in here, when all the jobs are done, settled down with a book, occasionally sitting upstairs to see if I can spot any hot guys walking past. Yes, yes, I’m a sad young girl, but there are some seriously attractive people in our town. It’s when they head into the shop that I actually start to die. It’s rare, as, sadly, hot boys don’t seem to like books, but it’s happened. And it may well happen again; a girl can hope!

But that won’t be the case today, I’m pretty sure. I doubt Levi will want to play spot the hot guy with me, and it seems a bit anti social to play it by myself. Perhaps he wants to play spot the hot girl? Nah, he has a girlfriend; and it would be a bit weird anyway, I expect. Seems like my spotting is going to have to wait. Wait, what was I thinking about?

I head over to the computer, switching it on to check if we’ve had any orders recently. As I type in the password, the bell of the shop door rings, and I look up to see Levi striding in, dressed casually in a plaid shirt and jeans, but looking like a model or something. My oh my, he certainly would have been one of the guys I picked out in the spot the hot guy game. That’s if I hadn’t realised who he was, of course.

‘Hey Zo,’ he calls, coming over. ‘You okay?’

I nod. ‘I’m fine thanks. You?’

‘Yeah, good.’ For a moment we stand there and just look awkwardly at each other, but then I, being, of course, entirely unbothered by the fact that I’m currently trapped in a book shop with my ex, get up in an entirely unbothered way, and… trip over a pile of books.

Damn.

‘Whoa!’ Levi’s at my side instantly, helping me up from the small sea of books I appear to be drowning in, supporting me by gently holding one elbow. I ignore the fact that my elbow is tingling. ‘You alright there, Zo?’ he asks.

Oh yes, yes, I’m fine. Except for my tingling elbow and the fact that I just clearly displayed the fact that I’m not entirely unbothered by this whole ex in my book shop scenario.

‘Yeah. Just tripped.’

Levi smiles. ‘I think we should sort out those books first, hey?’ he asks, gesturing to the big pile which caused my near death.

‘Good idea,’ I say, dusting myself down. I realise that I’m dressed in my uniform- a black blouse and black skirt. My mum thinks it looks far more professional if we’re all dressed in black, so I have to dress in this fashion when doing my shifts. ‘Er, actually, Levi, you need to get out of those clothes.’

Levi’s eyes widen. ‘What?!’

‘Oh crap, no, not like that!’ I tell him, rapidly picking up the bundle of clothes my mum sent over which she’d saved from when he was going to take up the job so long ago. ‘Your uniform!’

‘Ohhh,’ Levi says softly, taking the pile. ‘Where can I change?’

While I show him to the toilets, I curse myself inwardly. How on earth had I managed to make this into a complete disaster, I’m not sure, but in the first few minutes, I’d already made a complete idiot of myself twice. Yeah, it’s not going well, is it?

I go back to the online orders, sorting them out to soothe my troubled mind. When Levi returns, still looking like a model in his black shirt and trousers (though I can’t think about him being hot. It’s inappropriate for a colleague, surely. Let alone a colleague who happens to be my ex,) he rubs his hands together.

‘Right, where do I start?’ he asks, enthusiastically.

‘Here,’ I say, gesturing him to the computer. ‘I’m just sorting out the orders from online. If you sit in the chair, I’ll show you how to do it.’