A slight silver lining

Valarie then remembered that the record store she worked at was closer to where Jerome lived than to where she did. Still a two mile walk, but still. She knew that she had a spare work uniform there, and hid her spare house key in her locker, which meant that all she had to do was just swing by, get dressed, and walk back home.

However, she also remembered that Shannon was working a fifteen hour shift there. As the only two employees there, apart from the manager, Shannon and Valerie never got along, often competing with and belittling each other any chance they got. And nine times out of ten, Valerie was the instigator who mocked Shannon because of her being shorter and chubbier; and not because she was secretly jealous of Shannon's DD cup breasts! So Valerie showing up completely naked would mean that she'd never hear the end of it from her work rival.

Plus, the only reason Shannon was working a fifteen hour shift in the first place was because she was covering both her own and Valerie's shift after the latter had requested the day off for this very day. So, the chances that Shannon wouldn't be angry upon seeing her were as good as a snowman's chances of survival in **** Valley.

Then there was the question of getting to the record store in the first place. She really didn't want to knock on a stranger's door, but there was also the option to cut through the nature trail; knowing that it would cut the travel time down to half a mile. However, she had no idea who or what she would run into on the nature trail, so that wasn't an idea she was too keen on either...