"It's just a friend from work."

Tyler recalled a memory from a little while ago...

"Ooooh," Kaitlyn said, snooping around Tyler's phone. "Who's this Zoey girl?" She teased.

"It's just a friend from work. We switch shifts every now and then. She's okay."

"Nah, she's your secret lover."

"Oh, definitely. Because both you and her own boyfriend are totally okay with that."

"Hey, maybe some guys are into other guys banging their girlfriends."

"And some girls?"

Kaitlyn frowned. "Absolutely not."

"Well, regardless, I have to rendezvous with my secret lover anyways. We both work today. Feel free to come with and catch us in the act of," Tyler fake gasped playfully, "re-codifying all of the books in the store."

"Oh definitely. Because I totally wanna go and work for free."

"Fine. Just don't blame me if we totally do it."

She punched his arm playfully and he gave her a warm kiss before grabbing his keys. "Love ya, kid. Make sure you don't cheat whilst I'm out, either."

___________________________________________________________________________________________

He never intended to.

It's how it always happens.

As he pulled into the lot and looked into the window, he saw her head poking up from behind at least two dozen books.

Zoey was a very pretty girl. She was an inch taller than Tyler, with olive skin and light green eyes. Her brown hair was currently pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing an oversized crewneck with her name-badge on it, as well as some tight black pants (he assumed, since that was what she always wore) that accented her nice butt and some sneakers.

By 'her name badge', it was definitely Tyler's.

He rubbed his hands together as soon as he walked into the store, then blew warm air into them. "If it gets any colder outside, I'm going to fucking freeze." He said as he flipped the sign of the old bookstore from "Closed" to "Open".

She let out a little puff of air. "No kidding. Did Danny forget to turn on the heat last night?"

"You know Danny. He probably didn't even lock the door when he closed." He walked into the back room and put his stuff up before grabbing Zoey's name-tag.

"Wanna trade, Tyler?" He asked her.

She looked down at her badge. "Nah. I think I'm a much better assistant than you are." She smiled, looking up at him from the clutter of books she was currently rearranging.

He smiled in return. "What's with you and stealing my badge?"

"What's with you and not accepting defeat?" She teased. "Face it. I'm Tyler. I'm dorky and sarcastic and I like musty, boring old books."

"My tastes in books are not boring!" He defended. "You have to have appreciation for classics, and especially preserving them."

"We sell books here, dummy."

"Well the throwaway books we get donated are often treasures. Remember that first edition copy of 'The Man and the Berry' that we got? After I refurbished it, we sold it for 130 dollars."

"Why can't you like the fun books? Things like Larry Porter and contemporary books."

"I do, but I just don't have a lot of time to read them." He said flatly. "College takes a toll on you, and plus, between having to deal with little shits like you at work and my workload at school, I don't have lots of time exactly."

She rolled her eyes. "Brave of you to call yourself-" She gestured to his badge, "a little shit."

"Hey, I know what I am." He said with a grin.

They both shared a laugh as he got down on the floor with her, grabbing one of the books as well as the labeling gun from Zoey.

"Fine. I'll be Zoey for today. I'm annoying and weird and like wearing the same pants to work every day."

"That's your best burn?"

"Sorry. I guess I'm not very good at burning the people I like."

She paused for a moment. He noted her pause, and her subsequent change in attitude.

"So you like me now?" She said with an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Hmm." He said, removing an old label and replacing it with a fresh one, "I feel like I should. You've been working here for now six months and already work harder than Danny."

"Oh, c'mon," She said, stealing the labeling gun from him and labeling a book of her own, "you know you've liked me as a coworker from the beginning." Her phone buzzed from the checkout desk.

"Ehhhh," He said, taking the gun back, "I prefer my coworkers to change every now and then." He stuck his tongue out.

"Oh shut up!" She said laughing. She got up and straightened herself out before stepping over the pile of books and over to her phone. "And plus, you know you love these pants. Without these, how else would I get those pervy old men to buy books from a college freshman as myself?" She stuck her hip out and gave her butt a playful swat.

He tried not to look too long.

"Uh-oh," She said. "Bad news."

He peered from the books over to her. He raised an eyebrow.

"That winter advisory just hit. Snowstorm today, from 9 AM until tomorrow at 9."

"What's a little snow gonna do?" He said, brushing it off.

"Keep us here, maybe. You know how bad the roads get around here. With how much they're calling for, my boyfriend already texted me and told me not to drive if it gets too bad."

"What're you going to do if it does get that bad?"

She shrugged as she put her phone back. "Probably sleep it out in my car or something. I have blankets and stuff there for, uh-" she came back and sat down quickly, grabbing the label gun, "if that stuff ever happens."

They were silent for a moment, before Tyler cracked up a little.

"Didn't know that Tom was into stuff ever happening in the car." He teased.

She punched his arm as she laughed, and he returned his laughter in full.

"Stooop," she said playfully. "It really is for emergencies. I keep my blanket, spare water, and some food in my car just in case anything ever happens."

"I bet the blanket gets more use in emergencies than the food and water."

She punched him again.