“I don’t know you.”
It startled me. Without even noticing I must have dozed off staring up at a sign that even now I had no idea what said. In fact I had no idea where it was. But only for a second. Then I remembered. And the soul sucking began.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, “I’m Katarina. I don’t work here.” This time the girl looked at me like I was crazy. Which made sense since I was sitting on the employee stool of the mall kiosk. “No, I mean…” I laughed, “I used to work here. I’m just covering the kiosk for a day so the boss can go on a trip.”
“Oh!” The girl laughed and gave an idiotic flick of her blond hair to expose a row of piercings up her ear. I gave her a quick once over. From afar I might mistake her for a sorority moron but she was definitely a stoner moron. Definitely more preferable.
“Can I help you?” I asked and jumped off the stool.
“Oh, no,” She extended her hand very precisely, “I’m Cici. I work… Well… Right there.” She pointed at the kiosk next door, “You looked lonely and bored so I thought I’d come talk to you. Come on! We’re drawing mushrooms.”
“Is your name really Katarina?” Cici asked.
“Yes.”
“Kat?” A guy sitting at the coffee kiosk a few feet away asked.
“No,” I explained, “Katarina.”
“What do your friends call you?” He asked.
“Katarina.”
“I’m going to call you Kitty!” Cici bubbled.
“Katarina is fine.
“Oh my God!” Cici squealed. I jumped a little. Her male friend jumped up and scooted over to see what she was so excited about and laughed. “Its Robert.”
“Who is Robert?”
“Its Robert. Robert!” She waved happily over my shoulder, “You know what, Kitty?”
“Katarina.”
“You should totally ask Robert why he won’t sleep with me.”
Cici was clearly completely insane. I didn’t want to tell her that that was probably why this random person wasn’t interested in hopping into bed with her. But who knows. Maybe he was just as crazy as she was and too stupid to realize that she wanted to jump his bones.
“Don’t ask him,” Cici hissed then turned her attention fully onto the guy who entered the picture. The momentarily infamous Robert. I bit my tongue not to say anything. Cici seemed like the kind of girl who would be drooling all over a guy like the little skeeze boy who’d been hanging around at the coffee shop in his faded, overly baggy jeans and zip-up hooded sweatshirt with some punk band stenciled across the front and a nose ring… Exact opposite. The guy she had thrown her arms around was only a few inches taller then her, had very politely cut un-dyed hair, thick wire rimmed glasses, and a pristine security guard uniform that seemed starched enough to put up with hyper blonds climbing all over him.
“You must be Robert,” was what I said instead.
“This is Kitty,” Cici explained, “Oh my God! You two should totally hook up!”
I just stood there in stunned horror.
---
“When do you work again?” Cici asked me when I began picking up my coat and fucking off for my replacement.
“I don’t.”
“What do you mean you don’t?”
“I’m only covering one shift. Its over. I’m done. And, frankly, I hate the mall.”
“How can you hate the mall?”
“Its soul crushing,” I told her, “I remember why I quit in the first place.”
“You’ll come visit me, right?”
I didn’t know what to say. So I said “Yeah. Sure. Of course.” It seemed politer then ‘Hell no.’
“Do you have someone to walk you to your car?”
“Its not like my car is miles away, its just out the back exit.”
“You have to have someone walk you to your car. Its mall policy since some girl who worked at Claires got raped or robbed or murdered or something. We can all get in big trouble if you don’t.”
“But I don’t work here.”
“It’d make me feel better, I don’t want you walking out there in the dark all by yourself!”
“Its four in the afternoon.”
“Pretty please? Just swing by the customer service desk and ask for someone to walk you to your car,” Cici gave me a triumphant shove, waved happily, and bounced off.
“Is there some sort of policy about getting to my car?” I demanded of the girl at Customer Service.
“You’ll need an escort.”
“Its just out the back door. I have a great spot.”
“Robert will walk you,” The girl motioned pointlessly in no general direction. I turned around to find him standing behind me.
Before I could stop myself it just bubbled out, “Just great.”
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“No. Nothing like that. I didn’t mean…”
“Did I do something to upset you?”
“Its not that. Cici is very embarrassing and I was kind of hoping I was rid of said embarrassment since I’ve walked away.”
Robert laughed, “That’s just how Cici is. You really don’t need to worry about it, Kitty.”
“Katarina.”
“What?”
“My name isn’t Kitty. Its Katarina,” Yep. I felt like an idiot saying it.
“I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
“Really. Its not your fault. I should have corrected her when she introduced me as that but I kind of… um… Got distracted.”
“Yeah, Cici can be pretty hard to handle,” Robert laughed nervously, “That’s a pretty name. Katarina. Does anyone ever call you Rina?”
“No. Pretty much just Katarina.”
“That’s a pretty big mouthful. Do you mind if I call you Rina?”
“Actually I mind very much. This is my car.”
All contents on this and any other page on Complications is the intellectual property of Rebecca Moses.
