Four came and went. Then, four thirty followed closely by four forty-five. Hannah was late. I sat down on the floor behind the counter with Jude.
“Is your friend always late?” he asked.
“Yup,” I answered.
No one had come in the door since I got there. I stared up at the ceiling. I was absolutely bored, but Jude had it worse. He practically lived in this store. He lived two floors above the store itself and worked here all day.
“So, where do you live again?” he asked.
“Just down the street in the Raffle Apartments,” I answered.
“Raffle,” Just said, disgusted. “Thomas Raffle practically owns this whole town. The theater, the stores, the apartments. He doesn’t do anything with it though. Hell, he doesn’t even live in this state anymore. He just owns it all. I don’t like him.”
“It doesn’t matter. Either way, we’re paying him, or working for him,” I answered, though I agreed with not liking him.
Just then the bell for the door rang. I scrambled up to see who had entered.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Hannah said, walking in.
“Late? You’re way past late,” I said.
“I know. I got caught up. I’m sorry,” she said.
Jude poked his head up. “So, you’re Hannah.” He stood up, and opened the counter for her.
“What took you so long?” I asked.
“I had to run an errand for the boss,” she answered, then turned her attention to Jude. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”
“Not that I know of,” Jude answered.
“Oh. Well, whatever,” she said. She stepped back behind the counter, over my legs, and followed Jude up the stairs. I followed after them to grab my things, but Hannah kept me from getting them. She quickly went back down after just dropping her things on the floor, and Jude followed. “Will, can you stay?” Hannah asked me.
“Sure, I guess,” I said slowly.
“Good. Because I need to tell you something,” she said. This worried me. It was never good when someone says they have to “tell you something.” I sighed and followed went back down. Back behind the counter, Jude and I took the same place we’d been before. Hannah sat next to me where the counter opened up.
“Paul called me again today,” I told Hannah after a bit of an awkward silence.
“He did?”
“Yeah. He still wants me to tell Mom and Clint,” I said.
“Huh?” Jude obviously didn’t understand anything going on.
“My step brother keeps calling me. He wants me to tell my mom and Clint about him getting his girlfriend pregnant, because apparently, they’ll take it better from me than they will from him,” I said.
Hannah broke in. “But why won’t you tell?”
“Because. I don’t want to explain to my mom that she’s going to be a grandma,” I said.
“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” Jude said, trying to be part of the conversation. It was somewhat pathetic, him trying to keep up with two girls talking about their personal lives.
“Just tell him to do it himself,” Hannah replied.
“I’ve tried, but it’s Paul. He’s not exactly easy to get through,” I said.
“Yes, but knowing you, you probably added a few remarks when you said it, and you know that Paul doesn’t understand sarcasm.”
“That’s because he’s a retard,” I added.
Hannah just rolled her eyes, then turned her attention to Jude. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. Those robberies here last week, were they at gunpoint?”
“No. Both of them had knives,” Jude said casually.
“Oh. I heard you caught one of them,” Hannah continued.
“Yeah, but I don’t think it counts. The kid was only fifteen, sixteen at most, and really short. He didn’t even put up much of a fight. Just some punk.”
“Still, that’s awesome. Stopping a robber,” Hannah said.
The three of us continued talking until Jude had to go up stairs to help owner Joe out with his medial treatment. It was then that I asked about what Hannah had to tell me.
“Oh, it’s nothing important. It can wait,” Hannah said.
“You sure?”
Hannah nodded.
I had a feeling she was keeping something secret. I was going to find out what it was.
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