Read Green Girl for Free Online

thickly coated eyelashes tick like the hands of a clock.
     
    Just then, the door opens. It is Olly from men’s neckties. He nods at Ruth and Natalie. Hello ladies. Hiya, Olly! Natalie calls out gaily. Ruth smiles, blushing a little, lowering her eyes modestly. She can feel Natalie watching her.
     
    Olly pours hot water into a paper cup.
     
    Going out for a pint Sunday?
     
    Ruth realizes he is addressing her. Yeah…I don’t know…. But she does know. Although she doesn’t know if she is being coy or still being polite. Every Sunday night the fragrance department goes to the local pub for a drink. Ruth has never been invited, since Elspeth hates her. Maybe. I don’t know, she falters.
     
    Oh. Well. It’d be nicer if you came along. He finishes his tea, crumples up his cup and throws it into the bin all in one gallant gesture. All right. Bye now, ladies.
     
    Bye, Natalie says frostily, miffed not to be included in the exchange.
     
    Bye. Ruth’s comes out unintentionally breathy, again, as if she were flirting.
     
    Once Olly has left Natalie slaps Ruth’s pantyhosed thigh. Ruth winces. Ouch.
     
    You fancy Olly, she says accusingly. She is still whispering, even though they are once again alone. Me? No. Ruth tries to blow this off, like the thought is ridiculous.
     
    There are strangers who wear your face. Is this some plot, or is this my vile hallucinations? I cannot seem to shake you away.
     
    Well, he seems to like you. Natalie appraises her.
     
    Yeah?
     
    Why not? You’re a cute girl. She says this almost reluctantly. She scrutinizes Ruth. We’re all cute girls in fragrance.
     
    Natalie checks the time on her mobile. I want to grab a quick ciggie before we have to go back on the floor. Want to come? An offer that is not actually an offer. There is a certain area out back on the dock in goods receiving where the terrible girls smoke on their breaks and spray acid on everyone else in the store. Ruth knows that she would not be welcome. She shakes her head no, thanks. She is suddenly on mute. Natalie shrugs again.
     
    As she opens the door, Natalie looks like she is struggling over whether or not to say something. The gossip in her wins out, drowning whatever else was in her underneath the surface. You know, Elspeth fancies Olly. The inferred sign posted on recently wiped glass. Ruth knows this. Everyone in all of Horrids knows this. Last month she bought him a cake for his birthday (dark chocolate), which store employees were selectively invited to eat out in the break room. Ruth had not been invited.
     
    Oh well, she can have him, Ruth blurts out. But then as soon as she says that, she wishes she hadn’t, because it was not nice. But she had not wanted to be nice, but she feels ill not being nice. Natalie regards Ruth coolly again. Anyway, I just thought you might like to know. And then she is gone.
     
    Thanks, smirks Ruth, once alone in the room, knowing that in the next ten minutes Elspeth will be given even more fuel to hate her. That American temp, that American temptress, making off with one of their own.
     
    Gossipy Natalie. Like a child who likes to light fires, just to watch them burn.
     
    Ruth is hit again with the desire to swallow her tongue, to swallow, swallow her tongue.
     
     
    Later in her shift, Ruth’s stomach begins to churn, from the nauseating combination of sweet smells and body heat as well as the casual cruelty of it all. She has a fire-breathing belly. A seething sputtering ball of stress. A volcano spilling over messy anxieties, sensitivities, fears. What if it is an ulcer? Ruth worries, worries, worries, while her stomach twists, twists, twists.
     
    Ruth hurries up to Noncy. I have an upset stomach. Fine, fine, Ruth , Noncy waves her away impatiently. The way she pronounces Ruth’s name comes out as an accusation. She knows that she is daily supplying material for the terrible girls to torment her with. She knows that every move she makes is documented, is reported