Post by Carter on Aug 7, 2011 23:00:31 GMT
With his headphones already slung around his neck, his iPod tucked into his pocket and his satchel slung around and over one shoulder, Carter was more than ready to head home. Standing on the ground floor of the store as the shift manager -- Ian, a nice guy if a little too loud and direct, both traits that had no doubt played a part in his promotion three months previous -- shut out the lights and set the alarms, Carter went over the the day in his mind. It had been a relatively uneventful shift, stressful if only because Jimmy had called in sick for the third time that week on short notice, leaving them short-staffed. The people in charge of the company had decided to cut down on staff costs by lowering the number of people on one shift to the bare minimum, so when one person called in sick it meant a lot more work for those left hanging. Carter Hayes had never been one to complain about being kept busy, however, and so he had taken to the extra workload without grumbling or even so much as rolling his eyes.
Kerry, on the other hand, had been quite the opposite. She came up behind him and he half-turned his head to the left and towards his shoulder, both of which raised slightly in what many might have taken for a sort of weary shrug. Wolves would read it differently. They would see the guardedness of the posture, the flicker of uncertainty and the discomfort with being approached from behind at all. With a rough sigh she came up at his side, tapping the back of her hand against the satchel that hung against his leg. Kerry liked to touch, clapping her hand on the others' shoulders or rubbing their arms, hugging and even sitting on their laps if they weren't completely against the idea. Thankfully she had learned that Carter liked none of those things, and so she substituted her love for tactility with touching his bag or giving a gentle tug on the hood of his sweatshirt when he was wearing one, that sort of thing. Touching without acting making contact with Carter himself. All her complaining and quickness to judge aside, it was good of her to change her ways for him like that.
"Hey," she greeted, shoving her hands into the front pocket of her Virgin sweatshirt. "Reckon he'll be here tomorrow?"
She was talking about Jimmy. Carter's shoulders lifted and dropped in a shrug. "We'll find out," he said. There was no other way of knowing. It was just a matter of waiting and seeing.
"Right." Kerry nodded her head and started pulling her ear-buds out of her big front pocket, continuing to nod her head even after her agreement as though already listening to music no one else could hear. Carter took his eyes from her when Ian's voice sounded from the bottom of the stationary escalators as he finished bounding down them two grated steps at a time.
"All right, let's haul ass. I am so ready to put this place behind me tonight, you know?" He snatched his backpack from the floor by Carter's feet and made a shooing motion with both hands after swinging it onto one shoulder. "You know the drill, guys, move it or lose it."
That phrase had never made much sense to Carter when said by someone like Ian in a situation like theirs. There was nothing to lose, technically, if they didn't move. The alarms would start ringing, yes, and Carter would suffer for it most, certainly, but they wouldn't lose anything. Still, alongside Kerry, he moved for the doors and slipped out of them after the lone female in their small group pulled them apart just wide enough for them to step through. Ian made short work of the final closing procedures and then hopped out after them, sliding the two doors together. Carter listened as the alarms whined inside before going silent as they finished activating, and he watched as his superior -- a young man whose grandparents possibly hadn't even been born when Carter was his age -- finished locking up. With a clap of his hands as the shutters came down on both sides of the doors, Ian spun around on one heel as though he expected applause, arms open wide. "And now it's official," he said. "We kicked today's ass."
Carter smiled crookedly and Kerry let Ian pull her into a one-armed hug. By contrast, he simply stood off to one side by himself and offered nothing in the way of agreement. Once upon a time he might have added his own cocky remark, but not now. Those days were behind him. "See you tomorrow," he said to his co-workers and stepped back from them and out from under the large semicircle overhang that cast the entrance into shadow. Ian lifted a hand in a sort of open-palmed salute of farewell and Kerry waved before the two headed off side by side in the other direction. Carter watched them go and then turned to make his own way home, one hand reaching up to take his headphones from around his neck.
Kerry, on the other hand, had been quite the opposite. She came up behind him and he half-turned his head to the left and towards his shoulder, both of which raised slightly in what many might have taken for a sort of weary shrug. Wolves would read it differently. They would see the guardedness of the posture, the flicker of uncertainty and the discomfort with being approached from behind at all. With a rough sigh she came up at his side, tapping the back of her hand against the satchel that hung against his leg. Kerry liked to touch, clapping her hand on the others' shoulders or rubbing their arms, hugging and even sitting on their laps if they weren't completely against the idea. Thankfully she had learned that Carter liked none of those things, and so she substituted her love for tactility with touching his bag or giving a gentle tug on the hood of his sweatshirt when he was wearing one, that sort of thing. Touching without acting making contact with Carter himself. All her complaining and quickness to judge aside, it was good of her to change her ways for him like that.
"Hey," she greeted, shoving her hands into the front pocket of her Virgin sweatshirt. "Reckon he'll be here tomorrow?"
She was talking about Jimmy. Carter's shoulders lifted and dropped in a shrug. "We'll find out," he said. There was no other way of knowing. It was just a matter of waiting and seeing.
"Right." Kerry nodded her head and started pulling her ear-buds out of her big front pocket, continuing to nod her head even after her agreement as though already listening to music no one else could hear. Carter took his eyes from her when Ian's voice sounded from the bottom of the stationary escalators as he finished bounding down them two grated steps at a time.
"All right, let's haul ass. I am so ready to put this place behind me tonight, you know?" He snatched his backpack from the floor by Carter's feet and made a shooing motion with both hands after swinging it onto one shoulder. "You know the drill, guys, move it or lose it."
That phrase had never made much sense to Carter when said by someone like Ian in a situation like theirs. There was nothing to lose, technically, if they didn't move. The alarms would start ringing, yes, and Carter would suffer for it most, certainly, but they wouldn't lose anything. Still, alongside Kerry, he moved for the doors and slipped out of them after the lone female in their small group pulled them apart just wide enough for them to step through. Ian made short work of the final closing procedures and then hopped out after them, sliding the two doors together. Carter listened as the alarms whined inside before going silent as they finished activating, and he watched as his superior -- a young man whose grandparents possibly hadn't even been born when Carter was his age -- finished locking up. With a clap of his hands as the shutters came down on both sides of the doors, Ian spun around on one heel as though he expected applause, arms open wide. "And now it's official," he said. "We kicked today's ass."
Carter smiled crookedly and Kerry let Ian pull her into a one-armed hug. By contrast, he simply stood off to one side by himself and offered nothing in the way of agreement. Once upon a time he might have added his own cocky remark, but not now. Those days were behind him. "See you tomorrow," he said to his co-workers and stepped back from them and out from under the large semicircle overhang that cast the entrance into shadow. Ian lifted a hand in a sort of open-palmed salute of farewell and Kerry waved before the two headed off side by side in the other direction. Carter watched them go and then turned to make his own way home, one hand reaching up to take his headphones from around his neck.