She Knows The Secret

"I think," he replies carefully, "That might be a fast track to getting me fired."

Rachel pouts, "You're no fun."

"But I am gainfully employed," he offers instead, a counter that I am more than willing to give him.

So too is Rachel, it turns out, who only smiles wickedly and clearly reveals that while her offer did sound like a whole lot of fun, it was really something that she never truly mean. She was just pushing buttons. Just being flirty, really, and I didn't really know whether I could fault her for that.

Turns out I could. Turns out she was only using that little ice breaker to set up a dive into the ice cold briny depths beneath.

"You could be both," she says thoughtfully, "If you help a girl out?"

"The discount not enough for you?" he asks.

She shakes her head, her golden curls bouncing and almost glittering in the store lights as she does, "Not by a long shot. If you're going to be a party pooper and shut down something that could be really fun, you could at least point us in the direction of the real party."

It's like a wave washes over him when she says that. It's only momentary and nearly instantaneous and then he's back with his smiles and his charms, even if they are a little guarded afterward.

"It's the middle of the day," he offers, "Though I do know a few clubs if you're looking to-"

"We don't want to travel," she shuts that down before he gets going, "And we're on a bit of a tight timeline. But I did hear a rumor that there was some fun to be had here."

He shakes his head, "Don't know what you mean. I mean this is a store."

"Awful big space for little old this," she points out, gesturing at the stock on offer, "Couldn't help but notice, especially, that the inside of the building is an awful lot smaller than the outside. And then there is that door back there..."

Rachel lets her voice trail away as she almost lazily points at a non-descript door at the back of the room we're in. I'd barely even noticed it before, and certainly wouldn't have thought anything of it if she hadn't pointed it out.

"Stores need a stockroom," he says, a little nervously now.

"I'm just saying dimensions of the space," she moves her hands, indicating a discrepancy in the place, "Pretty big store room."

That lingers for a moment. It hangs in the air between us for a moment longer. And the employee looks nervous, his handsome eyes flickering from her to me to the back door over and over in a sequence before he finally says, "I don't know what you heard."

"I heard about the booths," she says bluntly in reply.

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