Grown-up by Kim Fielding

Author:Kim Fielding
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

WORKING AT Gifted turned out to be fun. He liked working for Tabby, and his coworkers were nice. Most shoppers were in a good mood in a store like that and very few came in with obnoxiously specific desires, so pleasing the customers was easy. The traffic was heavy enough that he kept busy, which meant the days went by quickly. And he got paid to play with toys, which was always a plus.

One of the waitresses at Rosenberg’s was stricken with appendicitis on Wednesday, and when Gopal called to offer him extra shifts, Austin couldn’t say no. By the time he dragged himself home each night, all he could do was fall into bed, with barely the energy to text Randy and Colton his refusals for dancing.

But goddamn if he didn’t clock in on time to every one of his shifts at both jobs—every single day for two fucking weeks. It was a miracle.

An even bigger miracle occurred when the stars aligned and he ended up with not one but two days off. In a row. He spent the first day grocery shopping, laundering, and cleaning his room. He washed the dishes and wiped down the counters even though it wasn’t his turn. He even took a big plastic bag out to the parking lot and removed every bit of trash from his car. Maybe he didn’t go so far as to hang a pineapple-coconut-scented tree from the rearview mirror, but at least when he was done, the car looked more like a vehicle and less like a dumpster. That night he sat on the couch with Rob, refused bong hits, and watched several episodes of the original Star Trek.

The next day was Wednesday. “Hump day,” Rob said from the couch when Austin emerged from his bedroom. Then Rob giggled. Austin didn’t know whether the guy had spent the whole night there or if he’d crawled back to his cavelike bedroom for a few hours. Also, Austin didn’t know why it mattered to Rob what day of the week it was, considering that Rob had no discernible obligations.

But Austin nodded agreeably. “Yep.” He wandered into the kitchen and was happy to discover that Kyle hadn’t eaten the bacon Austin had bought the day before. Whistling happily, Austin fried himself a delicious, artery-clogging plateful, then sat at the kitchen table to consider his day. He didn’t have any plans. But he hadn’t made time for exercise lately, so maybe he should hit the gym. And then, perhaps, he could…. Suddenly he remembered his list. Shit. He’d been so busy performing a few of the items that he hadn’t thought to see what else he should be doing.

And then a sickening realization hit him so hard that he dropped his fork. Fuck! He’d been going about his life for the past two weeks without so much as a howdy to Ben, who’d been so nice to him. He could have at least let Ben know he’d found a job. Yeah, most likely Sam had mentioned it, but Austin should have said something too.

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