Falling in Love at a Shopping Cart

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"Hey," she said walking up to one of the employees, "can you help me?" The boy turned around and faced her. He didn't look a day over eighteen, his brown curls hung in his eyes beneath the lenses of his glasses and he had a slight stubble on his face.

"What do you need help with, ma'am?" He asked, his eyes, unabashedly, surveying her body. She looked to be about his age with long brown hair that hung in waves down her back and warm brown eyes. She smiled at him awkwardly, watching as his gaze lingered in her chest.

"I'm looking for a new camera," she began, "the last one I had was a Nikon, but I think I'm interested in getting a Canon this time." He stared at her for a second longer before he answered.

"Alright," he said, "well, the cameras are over here--"he led her to the display where they kept the cameras--"look at them and let me, or someone else, know when you decide." He flashed her a smile and started to walk off.

"Wait..." she trailed off and waited for him to turn around so she could read his name tag, "j...James." He rolled his eyes inwardly. Didn't she know he had better things to deal with than helping her? Like...goofing off in the back with Ramone and Kristy.

"Yes?" He asked. He was trying not to be rude, but he wasn't patient enough to deal with her right now. She stared at him, chewing on her lip.

"Model for me?" She asked and he raised an eyebrow, his body shaking with held laughter.

"Me?" he asked, adding in an amused thought, That isn't part of my job description.

"Yeah," she said, flashing him a smile and picking up the nearest camera. She flashed a quick picture, catching him off guard. He lips curled into a smile once more when she realized how shocked an unprepared he looked on the film.

"Um," he said, blinking. He didn't think this was a good idea at all, but he didn't really have anything better to do. And he was sure he couldn't think of an excuse. He watched as she picked up another camera, examined it and snapped a picture of him.

"Why do you need me to model?" He asked as she was examining the picture she has just taken. He has smiled for this one, brown eyes glittering as he flashed his teeth at her. She pressed her lips together in amusement.

"Because," she answered, setting that camera down and reaching for another one, "you have a nice face." He stared at her in confusion. This girl was officially weird. A second later she snapped his picture again, giggling as he stared at her with a stunned expression.

"How about you warn me before you do that, okay?" He asked, rubbing the spots from his eyes. She snapped another picture while he was doing that, a sly grin on her mouth. He looked at her, eyes narrowing. She snapped another picture and he was rendered temporarily blind. Some of the cameras they sold had killer flash.

"You okay?" She asked him, watching in amusement as he rubbed his eyes.

"A little disoriented," he responded, opening his eyes slightly to look at her. He wondered if he should be doing this.

"I'm sorry," she said, snapping another picture, this time without flash. He stared at her in disbelief. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Hey, James!" Someone from across the store shouted to him. He looked up, noticing that it was Kristy. He smiled at her, watching in wonder as she walked towards him, her small hips swaying, her dark pony tail jumping up and down with every step.

"Hey Kristy," James said when she stood across from him. He admired her. She was Indian so she had brown skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He had always found her attractive.

"Whatcha doin?" She asked, motioning to the girl behind him that was holding a camera and examining it.

"Helping out a customer," James said, turning back to where the girl stood, holding one of their high end Canon cameras. Kristy smirked, watching her.

"Didn't look like that," she responded after a few minutes, prompting James to turn around and look at her.

"She asked me to help her find a camera and I am," he responded, trying to justify his behavior. Behind him, the girl dropped one of the boxes of the Canon camera into her shopping cart and started to wheel it away, not wanting to be a part of some argument.

"Thanks," she said as she was walking off and James turned to look at her, "it was cool that you helped me decide." She winked at him and started moving towards the register. James turned back to Kristy, who stood in front of him with an annoyed expression on her face.

"She was totally flirting with you," the small Indian girl remarked. James raised his eyebrows.

"She was not," he said, "she was just trying to decide on which camera she wanted. Besides, why are you so worked up about it?" Kristy stared at him, brown eyes narrowing.

"Like you don't know," she growled, crossing her arms across his chest. James was at a loss.

"James, dude," someone else called for him, up at the registers, he looked in the direction that he was called, glad for a distraction.

"Yeah, man?" James asked, jogging over to Ramone.

"Can you open the other register?" Ramone asked, "Kinda swamped here." James almost sighed with relief. He could've practically kissed Ramone for saving him from that awkward situation.

"Sure thing, dude," James responded. He made his way to the other register, relieved to be through with Kristy. She was acting totally strange.

"I can take you over here," he said to the girl who was buying the camera. She flashed him a smile and made her way over to his register.

"Hi again," she said. He smiled back at her and took her camera, scanning it and ringing it up.

"Will that be all for you today?" He asked. She scanned around his register, seemingly trying to decide if she wanted something else. She pointed to one of the sharpie minis on the counter.

"I'd actually like one of those too." He smiled and rang that up too. He looked back at her again. "That's it, she told him." He gave her the price and she scanned her debit cart, typing in her pin and hitting enter. He watched as the receipt printed and handed it to her. She lingered there for a second longer, pulling the sharpie out of her bag and using the side of his register to write something down on the back of her receipt. She handed it back to him and smiled.

"What...?" He started, but she shook her head, grabbing his hand and placing the receipt into it.

"Read it," she told him, grabbing her back and walking out of the store. James looked down at the note.

Model for me again sometime,
555-657-7705
xo, Mandy.

He stared down at the note in shock. She was flirting with him. And he had just let her walk out of the store.

"Sir?" The next lady in line asked, looking quite peeved. He turned to her and apologized, beginning to ring the next woman up. This was going to be a long day.