Can't Crush The Boss

I was so glad it was Friday, not that I had any plans except for school and work. But it meant that tomorrow I could sleep in, since Fridays and Saturdays I worked till 11 at night. Only thing was that tonight I worked with Jessica and Rachel, which meant I needed ear plugs to cover my poor virgin ears.

Determined to make the most out of my night, I was going to be more open and friendly with the girls. Not to mention make an effort to look prettier. Which with that mindset, I was actually excited to go to work, knowing it would never be a dull evening. That's for sure.

I proudly wore my white polo shirt and decided to let my hair down, since up till now I always had it in a french braid. I applied mascara to pop my squinty brown eyes and dabbed some lip gloss not my usual Chapstick.

I walked in a bit more confident but anxious to see if anyone would notice. Jessica did and actually threw me a compliment.

"Hey, you kind of look like Penelope Cruz with your hair down like that."

"Thanks! Well she is from Spain too," I replied.

"No way, are you from Spain?" Rachel asked. "I had no idea."

And from then on I felt a slight gain of respect and welcoming into their inner circle. The girls made more of an attempt to include me in by asking me more questions and sharing their R rated jokes. I wasn't crazy about them so I'd just stay quiet and smile, appreciating whatever I could get.

I was in the back room, eating my snack on my 15 minute break, when I caught the scent of the dreamiest cologne coming from the hallway. At first I thought it was a customer that had sneaked through the employee door but it was Harry, arriving an hour late.

"Hey there, I almost didn't recognize you. You look so different with your hair like that. It looks nice," he said with a pleased smile.

I saw right through what he was doing and I wasn't falling for it. I let the flattering remark enter and exit my ears just as quickly. I tried to hurry up as he was in his office. Back on the main floor, dance beats filled the walls as they played music videos on the television screens. I have to admit I loved my job, the people I worked with were way different then my friends from school.

I liked the attention I got as cute customers were extra friendly and even flirting with me. Although the bashful person that I am, I just smiled and looked back at the computer screen the whole time. Feeling like I was making progress and opening up more, I suspected the others were noticing too.

Harry came to the register to collect the night's earnings and make sure we had plenty of change. Being the one at the register, I stood aside inhaling his amazing cologne. Wishing I had the ability to hold my breath for that long, I figured that's how he lured his victims in. I had to stay there while he counted but when I felt his arm brushing against mine I stepped back. He must have noticed because he grinned right after.

"Hey Harry, did you know our girl's from Spain?" Rachel blurted out.

Right away he looked at me and I felt my heart beat faster. Oh no! He was like the male version of Medusa, instead of turning people into stone he made girls fall in love with him. I was afraid to find the first crack in my brick wall.

"Really? What other secrets are you keeping from us?" he asked intrigued.

I shrugged my shoulders, not seeing what was so interesting about where I was from.

"You are a tough shell to crack Chloe," he finished.

"You should come out with us tonight," Jessica insisted. "We go out every other Friday night to Marty's Pub."

"I can't, I'm not 18 yet."

"Oh we could get you in," Rachel added. "Trisha is meeting us there with her boyfriend, besides it will give you a chance to get to know us better. Outside of work."

"I'll call my parents and see if they'll let me."

I doubted they'd let me go but I really wanted to. I went to the back to use the office phone, fearing that I'd hear an immediate no. Once I had explained where my coworkers were going, my dad kept asking more questions. I told him the names of each person that would be there but failed to mention it was a pub, more like a diner. He surprisingly said yes under the condition that I didn't come home too late. You can't imagine my excitement as I felt I was finally going to do something cool.

Eager for the hours to go by and finally experience my first night out, I had no doubt they'd be slower than ever. Rachel was nice enough to lend me an extra shirt she had in her car, or else I'd be the only dork left wearing my uniform. They wore theirs underneath their Polos already.

After we closed and I did my final tasks, I changed into the black tank top. I still felt slightly stupid wearing my shorts and white sneakers but I guess no one would notice if I remained seated the whole night.

The girls drove over together except for Harry, he went in his own car. As we pulled around the pub, my eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't help it, it was all so new to me. The crowd was definitely older not like high school at all. It was noisy and people were starting to get clumsy.

We walked towards one of the u-shaped booths and I was even happier once I saw Trisha at the table.

"Hey gorgeous! I'm so glad you came. Maybe tonight the butterfly will break out of her cocoon," Trisha teased.

I didn't get it at first, I felt like everyone was on a mission to turn me into someone else. Was it so hard for them to accept that I'm naturally a shy person? Or did they see something in me that I hadn't yet? Harry soon joined us with another guy with blonde hair; he had buttoned down his shirt a bit and rolled up his sleeves. I kept trying not to look at him but that was impossible since he was sitting right across from me.

A waitress went to our table and gave me an odd look.

"Oh, has anyone ever told you, you look like Penelope Cruz?" she said shocked.

"See, I told you so!" Jessica shouted.

I smiled, flattered but I looked nothing like that Spanish diva. When I looked over at Harry, he was already smiling as though he were proud to be sitting at the same table with me. He introduced me to Niall, one of the other employees that worked Mondays and Tuesdays. Then everyone ordered a round of beers but when it came time to ask me, I just asked for cranberry juice.

I hadn't noticed how cold it was till after I started drinking my juice. I had goose bumps all over my arms so I began to rub my hands over them, not knowing that Harry was watching me.

"Are you cold?" he asked and went ahead to unbutton the rest of his shirt to take it off.

He had a white sleeveless shirt underneath, which caused all the girls to stare at his arms. I was beyond speechless as he got up to swing his shirt around my shoulders. I caught Rachel elbowing Jessica as they snickered amongst themselves.

"Th-thanks," I uttered.

I finished putting my arms through the sleeves, at least now my sneakers matched this odd outfit, not that anyone cared since we were all sitting. A song came on that the girls knew and began to sing while Niall drummed on the table with a pair of straws. Clearly the beer had taken affect. I couldn't help but laugh, they were pretty entertaining and good.

"There ya go! I think we're finally starting to break through," Harry announced.

"Just take one sip, I won't tell your parents," Trisha offered.

I had that little voice whisper in my ear not to but then I thought just one sip couldn't hurt. I took her bottle but my facial expression said it all as I tried to swallow the bitter liquid. Almost the whole table erupted with laughter after I handed Trisha back her beer.

"Wow! Was that your first time tasting beer?" Niall asked.

"Yes and I didn't like it at all!" I chuckled and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Would you be willing to try something else? You don't have to finish it if you don't like it," Harry asked.

"Sure."

Harry left to go to the bar. I wasn't planning on drinking the whole cup of whatever he was bringing me but I felt like I was bonding with the group now, not that they were forcing me to drink. I knew they wouldn't mind if I had said no even though I wanted to do this. Besides, they weren't getting drunk and stupid, they were just more relaxed.

Harry came back holding a weird long stemmed glass with a neon green drink and cherry inside. I smiled from excitement and took the first sip. My taste buds nearly shriveled up from the tangy sweet taste as I raised my eye brows impressed by the flavor.

"Yum... what is this?" I asked curiously.

"It's an Apple Martini. I thought you would like that, you seemed like the sweeter type," he assured me.

"You just want to get me drunk! It tastes like juice, I could easily drink the whole thing."

He laughed as I shared my glass with the other girls.

"Nah... I wouldn't do that. That wouldn't be very responsible of me, being your boss and all."

"Oh like buying a 17 year old a drink is so responsible!" Trisha snapped back.

I laughed and felt this warm fuzzy feeling after two more gulps. It was then that I stopped drinking and gave my glass to Jessica. We drove back to work an hour later and I felt well enough to head home, if not I wouldn't have but I was only a few blocks away.

When I got home, I went straight up to my room as quietly as possible. My parents were asleep as it was well past one in the morning. Crashing on to my bed, I crawled beneath the blanket and noticed the white rolled up sleeves and gasped. I forgot to give Harry back his shirt, he didn't remind me or even ask for it back.

I slipped it off and call me crazy but I took one deep breath of his shirt covered in his scent. Then I did what any foolish teenage girl would do, I slept with his shirt wrapped in my hand. This was one of the best nights of my life.

Notes

Getting better yet? :) I hope you liked it.