(the last two chapters could have been one. or an epilogue. or an outline. probably need to be redone completely.)

CHP 16: the perfect bob

        I walk past the furry wall in a mist of an earthy aroma. I don’t look like I’m here to shop, so the sales girl asks me if I need any help with anything. I say, no. I am here for watches, I tell her. In the next room she tells me.
        I know.
        There is a girl with a perfect bob standing behind the counter. Straight black, shiny hair. Her makeup is plain but neat and she is wearing one of the blue scarves from the other room.
        “Hi!”
        “Greetings. I was wondering if the guy still sells watches here.”
        “Who? Valentine?” she asks.
        I lean forward. “Does Valentine still work here?”
        “Nope. Job abandonment. Just didn’t show up one day,” she states with managerial precision and not in the “retail voice” she used before.
        “Are you the manager?” I ask.
        “I am. And I am working his shift because we are understaffed.”
        “I see.”
        So I am right. Well, maybe you just quit? Just because you don’t show up to work one day does not mean you are dead, Valentine. He is lured by the dead. Death. I could…
        “Would you like an application or something?” she asks me. I guess I’ve been standing there too long.
        “Sure, why not?” I take it.
        If I had killed the man, Valentine would have known. He would have found me.
        Well, if he was alive. Which I don’t think he is, but I wonder all the same.
        It is cold outside, a little. I notice people have their coats on. I am not outside much so I can get away with wearing a little less. I am walking back to he campus when I walk past the Chinese place and saw Lindsey sitting at a table by the window. I stop inside, to say hello. I notice she is with Carmelo, a little too late – after Lindsey already waves to me.
        “Hi Lindsey, haven’t seen you around in a while.” I say.
        “Hey! How have you been! How come you never call me?”
        “I don’t have a phone, Lindsey.”
        “So what have you been up to?” She is holding Carmelo’s hand.
        “Oh, I’m still in school.”
        “I dropped out. I don’t know, it’s not my thing.”
        “Are you working then?”
        “Carmelo tried to get me a job at a bakery, but it didn’t work out.” She scowls. “I think the bakery is lame anyway. I’m going to get fat.”
        “She didn’t even go to the interview!” he says, playfully pushing her shoulder.
        “You want me to be fat? Hm!?”
        “You know, the watch place is hiring. The one where we met that guy I knew.” I say. “I talked to the manager today. They are desperate.”
        “Watch place?” Carmelo looks at me.
        “Yea you remember, Lindsey, when we went shopping.”
        “Oh yea! Hey that’s cool, I guess.”
        Carmelo still looks at me, then looks at her.
        “Ok Carmelo! I’ll fill it out,” she then does a loud “theater whisper” to me across the table. “He’s going to kick me out if I don’t start paying some of the rent!” She then winks at him.
But she fills it out anyway.