They didn’t see me as they giggled over some private joke on their way over to the Comedy section.
I was planning on busying myself behind the counter checking in the pile of returned videos, but Martin asked me to set up a cardboard display of Back to the Future Part III instead. I took the stack of cutouts from him and sat down in the middle of the store to put it together.
So it was in the midst of attaching a “Coming Soon” sign to Christopher Lloyd’s kneecap when I heard Trip say, “Hey, Layla! There you are.”
I put down my project and tried to look surprised to see him. Had Tess not been standing right there, I would have thrown out a flirty line like, “Why, were you looking for me?” but I figured it probably wouldn’t have gone over too well in front of the girlfriend.
Instead, I went for, “Hey, Trip. Hi, Tess. Renting a video?”
DUH.
They both said, “Yeah,” and Trip added, “So, I guess you got the job. Cool.”
I tucked a strand of hair back into my banana clip and countered, “It’s really not, but thanks.”
Trip smiled as Tess checked her watch. He said, “No, it’s cool. Working here’s gotta be better than my dad’s office. Are you guys hiring?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Here?”
“Yeah, why not?”
I shot a quick look at Tess, but she didn’t seem to have any opinion on the matter. “Umm, let me check.”
I mentally crossed my fingers as I went into the office to ask Martin. I made a huge point not to mention that the potential employee was a friend of mine and simply said, “Some guy out there was asking about a job opening?” Martin didn’t say whether they were looking for more help or not, but dug out an application for Trip to fill out.
Tess wandered around the candy display looking bored as Trip met me at the front counter to fill out the form. He had his license out-copying the numbers onto his application-and that’s when I saw it.
Terrence C. Wilmington III’s middle name was Chester.
Chester! This was just too good. But I made the decision to keep it to myself for the time being. It was awesome enough just having the inside scoop on him, knowing something NO ONE else knew about the infamous Trip Wilmington, so I didn’t want to call him out on it right away. As trivial as it was, his middle name was something only he and I knew about. Even though he was unaware of it, there was some tiny little unspoken bond between us now, some inherent bit of information that even Tess Valletti wasn’t privy to. It was like I had a piece of him all to myself.
It took me a couple tries, but I was finally able to get the register working properly. I scanned their chosen movie (Spinal Tap- nice) as I asked, “Are you sure you want to work here? I’ve only been here for two hours and I’m ready to quit.”
Trip didn’t look up from his writing. “Baby, that’s half the reason I’m applying here. You need me.”
I rolled my eyes, but he didn’t see. I leaned way over the counter and whispered my best horror-movie warning, “Ruuun.”
Trip laughed as he signed his name to the bottom of the page. “Too late now, sweetheart. Here you go.”
He handed me the completed application, which I put in a top drawer for safekeeping. “You’re sealing your fate here, you realize that, don’t you?”
He gave me a dirty look out of the corner of his eye, and I was expecting some sort of witty retort. Instead he asked, “What do I owe you?”
“Three-eighteen.”
He slapped a ten down on the counter. I was counting his change when out of nowhere, he came out with, “So, hey-I was thinking-You want to get together tomorrow?”
At first, my heart leapt out of my chest, until I realized that he was only trying to arrange a brainstorming session for our Shakespeare thing. “Oh, for our report. Yeah, sure. I’m not working tomorrow, but-” and I hated having to say this aloud, “I don’t get my license for another two weeks, we’ll have to do it at my house.”
Oh my God. Did I just say “do it at my house”?
Trip gave a shrug. “No problem. I’ll just drive you home after school.” He turned and called out over his shoulder, “Hey, Tess, you ready?”
At that, she sauntered over, they offered their goodbyes and then they were gone...
...leaving me trying to think about anything other than the fact that I was going to be spending an entire afternoon alone with Trip Wilmington.
Chapter 10
...ALMOST
There was never a longer Tuesday in my entire life. Lisa didn’t settle my nerves any with the way she kept talking about it all day long. She was confident that Trip and I were going to be spending most of our study session groping each other on the couch. I wasn’t so sure.