Front Desk Demands.

Heart hammering in my chest, I padded up to the front desk of the tech store, my bare feet making slapping sounds on the cold hard marble floor.

Buddy walks up from behind and puts his arm around me, "Hey, if it makes it easier, I can go up and get the phone while you wait outside."

I smiled weakly at him, "Thanks Buddy, but Austin was painfully specific about his instructions. The person working the front desk knows I'm coming. Apparently she's a friend of Austin's, she has been told if she doesn't see me specifically, she won't hand over Brittany's phone."

"Yikes, sucks to be you. Oh well, I guess it's a chance to make a new friend!" Buddy laughed then slapped me on the butt. I winced and then frowned as I stood before a large white counter with a cash register perched upon it. Behind this desk was the large frame of a red-headed woman with her back to me as she checked the stock on a clipboard. I shimmied up closer to the counter so no one on the other side could see below my waist, though I kept my hands over my privates for good measure. I sighed as I enjoyed this final second of dignity, I knew I had to go through with this to get it over with.

"Ahem? Excuse me Miss? Um, I'm here to pick up a phone?"

"Oh I'll be with you in just a...whoa! Hello!" My face was already as red as a tomato before she turned around and saw me. She had big brown eyes, her jaw was wide open, and her name tag said 'Debbie' on it. "Oh. My. God. You're Benjamin!? I didn't actually know what to expect when Austin told me he was sending you over. He just said I will know him when I see him and I was going to see a lot of him!" The corners of her mouth curved upward.

Buddy leaned against me shooting her a peace sign and a wink while I just stood there mentally pushing myself to ask Debbie about the pick up. "Uh, do you have the phone?" I asked sheepishly.

"The...? Oh yeah! Brittany's phone! Yeah I'll get it for you." She took a moment to ogle my bare chest as her eyes fell to the counter. Knowing I was naked on the other side of the desk, she looked as if she were trying to will the counter to disappear to get a full view of me. After another moment of wishful thinking, she worked her way to the back to retrieve the phone. "Just a friendly word of advice," Debbie called out "you might want to head to the front corner of the store behind the display as you wait for me to get back. No one is there right now and something tells me you don't want to be seen. And I wouldn't want you scaring off any customers. Then again, who's to say you won't draw more in that way?" There was an air of playfulness in her tone but I chose to ignore it because she had a point. I didn't want another run-in like I did when I entered the store. So I sneaked off to the display a in the corner while Buddy skipped up behind me humming merrily. Everyone seemed to be enjoying this day but me. Little did I know it was only going to get worse.