“Yeah, well, I can take a hint, but using the excuse of laundry, really?” He teased with a magnetic smile.
“Hah, very funny, Shane. Thanks for saving me from the industrial washers.” I responded in a low tone as I collected my dark clothes from the rolling basket and pushed them into the large washer he was leaning against.
“It was my pleasure saving you, Little Clumsy Rose,” he answered as he caught one of my socks that tried to escape.
“Hey, now! Well, I guess I earned that name today.”
He handed me my sock. Thank God it wasn’t a pair of my crotchless panties. I scooped up a pile of ten quarters I stacked in preparation of washing my clothes.
“Yeah, you sure did.”
“Little Clumsy Rose huh?” I asked, filling the laundry detergent compartment and feeding the quarters into the machine.
“Yeah, and I think you should come back on Thursday.”
“Thursday?”
“We’ll see if the name sticks. From what I understand this laundromat is world renowned for its suckers.” He pulled out a yellow sucker from his back pocket. “I’ll see you this Thursday let’s say around five thirty? Don’t be late, or a stranger.” He smiled and emphasized each word by pointing the sucker at me. I grabbed the candy, he lowered his eyes to the floor before he pushed up from leaning against the washer, buried his hands in his front pockets and wandered to the back door. His manly swagger automatically caught my eye and caused my entire body to tingle and crave his weight. He pushed open the back door, gave me a short, intentional smile then left.
Little Clumsy Rose, huh? We’ll see. I pulled open the sucker and pushed it into my mouth.
That was the first day we actually spoke and he learned my name. Sure, I’d say he was super charming and I was totally giddy but I didn’t see him again until I showed up with the same sack of clean clothes three days later, on Thursday at six o’clock at night. Maybe he’ll add fashionably late, to my new title, Little Clumsy Rose.
I JUST HAD the three longest nights in the history of my six squares of sidewalk ever! Dealing with cheap-ass pricks along with stingy fucks who tried to get a push and pull for half price truly exhausted me. Not even the act of taking on a trick had used the amount of energy I spent haggling with these cheap ass dickweeds. And let me just say, language barriers didn’t count when the foreign fucks were trying to purchase my pussy. They had no problem communicating what the hell they wanted from me with universal hand gestures. And to top off my mood, my feet were killing me from the piece-of-shit snake skin stilettos I bought from the tiny consignment shop around the corner from my apartment.
Hell, if there was one thing I should’ve known, it was to never wear an untested pair of heels while on the prowl. Lesson learned, stick with the shoes your feet know. The best excuse I could come up with was the full moon last night and the fact that suddenly I wanted the last three nights to go by faster than usual. Normally I didn’t have very much to look forward to, but knowing that I was going to walk into the Stop and Wash with the same huge laundry sack; filled with the same clothes that were still clean and folded only to shove them back into another washing machine made me antsy.
I woke up super late and starving. I ate some key lime yogurt sprinkled with granola before I showered and got dressed into my ass hugging black capris and rack highlighting sheer v-neck, chocolate-brown T-shirt. I pushed on a pair of glossy black Chelsea heels, they were more comfortable to me than sneakers and rushed out of the door with my sack of already laundered clothes.
Even though the laundry sack was lighter this time, it still caused my hands to go numb as I carried it to the Stop and Wash. I pulled the front door open and didn’t expect the music blaring from a couple of little speakers up in the corners of the room.
Only a handful of people turned their heads to watch me enter the laundromat. I guess the Black Keys’ song Fever over a muted reality show of little girls painted by makeup and throwing tantrums was more interesting than me carrying in my fake dirty laundry. I noticed some women leaning into washing machines, while others, who weren’t dissolved into the TV, had their noses buried in their books.
The laundromat was crowded, more people than there was on Monday. So many people in fact, it was difficult to find an unoccupied laundry cart. Who would’ve thought the Stop and Wash was going to be such a happening place on a Thursday. They say the city never sleeps and well, everyone has laundry.
I skimmed the place for you-know-who hoping that the uncomfortable bubble building in the back of my throat would disappear. I spotted him coming toward me out of the corner of my eye. A reassured smile spread wide across his gorgeous face. I couldn’t help but smile back. His vivid hazel eyes lit up as he spoke.