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whenever he smiled. “Luke, it’s going to be a busy day today. Your
colleague has handed in their notice unexpectedly.”
     
    I hovered in the
corner. “No problem,” we were both pretty sure this wasn’t going to take much
learning. “Are you wanting to order something?” He checked with me. “I’m not
sure what you’re going to do for the four hours I’m working. The car will be
cold and dark.”
     
    His boss’s eyes
lit up. “If you’re free then I’m sure we could use some help for the night. Is
cash in hand okay? Thirty pounds for the four hours?”
     
    I spared Luke a
glance, but he didn’t look offended by the arrangement. “Sure, that would be
cool.”
     
    The fish and chip
shop was ridiculously easy to run. Luke took the orders and I dealt out the
food for the most part. It was only the hairnet that really got on my nerves.
     
    “This is so
funny,” Luke exclaimed, grinning ear to ear as I attempted to fit my
excessively long hair into the thing. It normally sat to the dip in my hip and
I felt almost bare without it.
     
    “Maybe this was a
bad idea after all.”
     
    Luke’s boss – Tyler,
he’d later revealed – hung around in the background for about an hour until he
knew we were sorted. After that, he went into the back room and didn’t come
out. I felt more at ease when Luke and I could just do our thing without a
watchful eye staring us down.
     
    We didn’t make a
single mistake, as far as I was aware, and there were a few lulls where we
actually got some German practice done.
     
    Tyler reappeared
when the shift was over and put the closed sign across the door. “Good work,
both of you.”
     
    We nodded, unsure
what else there was to say to that.
     
    “And so, Carmen,
I’d like to offer you the more permanent job, if you’d be interested. It would
be the same contract, hours and wages as Luke and starting immediately.”
     
    I glanced up at Luke
once more, but he was impartial. It was my decision. “Sure, that would be
really great, thank you.” This way, we could get the German done and I’d
actually have some money coming in. I could be less reliant on my mother for
everything.
     
    “Excellent,” he
shook my hand and went to fetch a piece of paper. He’d clearly been preparing
this whilst we’d been working. “Just sign here and we can sort out all the bank
details and stuff later.”
     
    He’d said it was
the same as Luke’s so, probably stupidly, I just signed it.
     
    “Well, that’s all
sorted then. I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time.” He handed me the thirty
pounds as promised. My regular wage worked out as slightly less than that, but
it was still more money than I’d ever had before.
     
    “Is anywhere even
still open at this time?” Luke asked as we left the shop and braced the cold. “Well,
anywhere that sells mascara.”
     
    I was too busy
shivering to really register what he was saying. I’d been working in my school
uniform with an apron on top and whilst the chippy had been boiling, the
outside weather at nearly nine o’clock wasn’t so pleasant. “I think that
Tesco’s will be open. I’m pretty sure they close at ten and they always have
some make-up.”
     
    “Okay, cool, I
hope you didn’t take the job just because of the German thing by the way. You
didn’t have to do that.”
     
    I smirked, “I’m
really just after the money, don’t worry. I’m not that generous at all.”
     
    “Well, that’s
good, then. Hey, are you cold? You can have my jumper if you want.” He shrugged
out of the big, black fleece I’d been ogling. It did look awfully cosy.
     
    “Nah, it’s cool.
I’m sure it’s not that far to the shop,” I had to hope, anyway. I’d only been
to Chesterfield a few times and really hoped I was remembering the way
correctly. I wrapped my arms around myself and wondered if Luke and I could
have always been this civil if we’d given each other the chance.
     
    It was
surprisingly nice.
     
    He