Page 2 of Killer Summer
Matt backed away from the counter, but the distance wasn’t far enough. Her entire body was tense, pulse thrumming off the charts as gallons of adrenaline-rich blood pumped through her veins. She had heard things about Matt when she was in school. Bad things. Things that made her want to stay as far away as possible from him and his romantic inclinations.
Dani watched from the corner of her eye as the top of his white blond head bobbed through the aisles, first lingering in the action and horror section and finally disappearing behind the red curtain that hid the adult videos. The thought of having to suffer through performative customer service for him again made her sick. It was bad enough that he continued to cross boundaries and relentlessly ask her out at work, but having to ring up X-rated videos while averting eye contact with him was more than she could bear.
“Kyle!” she whispered across the store, waving her hands. “Hey! Can you take the register for me? Kyle!”
Her co-worker bobbed his head, blissfully unaware that she was in distress as he continued to shelve tapes. From her spot behind the counter, Dani could see that Kyle had his headphones on, and no amount of arm waving our shout-whispering would work to get his attention. She gave the adult section curtain a nervous glance, stepped out from behind the counter, and fast-walked over to the wall of VHS tapes. Loud, crunchy guitar music spilled out from the padded speakers wrapped around his ears as she tapped him on the shoulder.
“Kyle!” She hissed.
“Whoa!” He tore off his headphones and gave her a wide-eyed stare. “What’s up?”
“Can you please take the register for me? Creepy-ass Matt Vickers is back.”
“What a douche.” Kyle scoffed and shook his head. “Yeah. I’ll finish stocking these later.”
“Thank you so much,” she said, pressing her hands together in prayer formation. “I’m gonna go wait in the break room until he’s gone.”
“No sweat.”
Dani forced her legs to move and fast-walked toward the break room. She knew her days of working at the video store were numbered anyway, but the urge to walk out right then and there was strong. Only a few more weeks of summer remained before she would head off to college in a town more than a dozen states away. If it weren’t for the fact that she would leave Kyle hanging, Dani would clock out and never look back.
As she slipped into the little break room in the back, Dani felt her pocket buzz. She pulled out her purple beeper and for a brief moment forgot all about her stalker and his unwanted advances. She read the small rectangular screen and smiled.
143.
Tommy. She smiled, picked up the employee phone mounted on the wall, and punched her boyfriend’s beeper number into the keypad. She waited and listened to the automated message before entering their shared secret code. 143. I love you.
Dani and Tommy had been dating since the beginning of senior year. They went to homecoming and prom together, and even though their relationship was fairly new, it was alsointense. Tommy was headed to Ohio State in the fall on a basketball scholarship, and the thought of not being able to see him regularly tugged at her heart. Part of her wanted to follow him, change the course of her life and see what their future could hold. A bigger, more sensible part of her knew that throwing her scholarship away was a terrible idea, especially for someone she had only been dating a short time. Tommy was a great guy, but she wasn’t about to give up her dreams for him or anyone.
She slid the beeper back in her pocket and peered out of the break room door window onto the main floor of the video store. Nearly two hours left to kill before closing; two hours before Tommy would pick her up after work like he always did. Dani flipped off the break room light and peered out from her dark hiding position. Matt approached the front counter and unloaded a stack of VHS tapes, all of them from the 18+ section. She held her breath and strained to hear his conversation with Kyle even though it was muffled behind the door. Matt’s gaze flicked up to the break room door window, and her heart stopped as they locked eyes. So much for staying hidden.
Bile rose up into her throat as she huddled in the dark break room, the acrid flavor mingling on her tongue with the thick remnants of her stalker’s sickening cologne. Everything about Matt jolted her senses into high alarm, every cell in her body sick with terror as she watched him leave. Dani waited to step out of the breakroom until she was certain he was gone, diligently watching the headlights of his black Mustang exit the parking lot as the sun began to disappear into the Pacific.
“You okay?” Kyle stepped out from behind the counter, his features pinched.
“Yeah,” Dani sighed and rubbed her forehead. “What did he say?”
“You sure you wanna know?”
“Not really. Spill it though.”
“Well, first he asked where you went, so I said you were on break. Then he asked if you really had a boyfriend, and I told him that it wasn’t any of his business.”
“You said that?”
“Yeah.” Kyle snorted. “He got really weird and quiet after that. Then he paid for his videos and left.”
“Great.” Dani slid back behind the register, her heart pounding. “Thanks for covering for me.”
“How does he even know you?” Kyle asked. “Did you guys date in school or something?”
“No! I never spoke a word to him.” Dani glanced out the window. The light in the sky was fading by the minute. “I don’t understand it.”
Kyle’s forehead crinkled. “Tommy is picking you up after work, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t think I’m coming back for my next shift though. I can’t do this anymore.”
“Maybe you can get a restraining order?
