Elizabeth's Ordeal

The mall was always packed on Saturday afternoon and Elizabeth was fed up with everyone.
Where's this? Do you have it in blue? Can you take a check? Have change for a five? How much is this? Does this look good on me?

It was driving her mad! Working at POSH was something she only did during the summer and she hated every second of it. In the fall she would be out of this hell hole and having the time of her life in college. Until then, she had to put up with the hicks and wannabe glam preteens that frequented the fashionable dive she wished so badly would burn to the ground.

“Elizabeth!” yelled her boss. “I need to see you in the back for a second.”

Elizabeth quickly finished hanging a pair of $60.00 size 0 shorts on a metal rack and scurried to the back of the store. She filed through the employee only exit and then made her way into the tiny office next to the warehouse. The broom closet/office barely fit her boss’s plywood desk or the laptop computer he carried everywhere he went. She stepped inside, leaving a space of half a foot between her slender body and her creepy boss.

Paul was twenty-two and thought he knew everything because he managed a store. With the way he boasted, you would think he was in charge of every POSH store in the country. He always wore full three piece suits to work and slicked back his fiery red hair. He tried to hide his acne scars with a half-assed goatee, but his freckles and pale skin made his blemishes more apparent.

“Ah! Elizabeth!” he said with a smile. “We just got in a shipment of summer clothing and I want everyone on the sales floor wearing and showing off the new items.”

Paul handed Elizabeth an unwrapped gift box.

“Go ahead and put it on.”

“Alright,” Elizabeth replied. “What does it look like?”

“I'm not sure. I haven't seen the new line, but with summer on the way I’m sure it’s something thin and short.”

“Wonderful,” said Elizabeth, biting her tongue. She turned to walk out, but Paul cleared his throat to bring her to a halt.

“Where are you going?” he asked with a sly smirk.
“To try this on…” she replied.

“What's stopping you from doing it right here?”