Page 11 of After the Storm

I turn to walk out of the room right as she walks back in, stopping me in my tracks. She’s standing there wrapped in a little black towel and it takes everything in me to turn my head and look away from her. I whirl around, face on fire, just to hear a laugh fall from her mouth.

“Scared of women in towels, Roman?” she teases, walking past me and over to her closet. I clear my throat.

“Just trying to be respectful,” I say, and I know she can hear the strain in my voice.Just trying to be respectful— oh and, you know. I’ve had a big fat crush on you since I was in middle school, so if I make eye contact with you in nothing but a little towel, I’ll have a bulge in my pants to show for it.

Doinganythingto change the fucking subject before she can respond, I ask, “You gonna be okay at the house by yourself all day?”

“You’re leaving already?” she asks quietly. I can’t tell if it’s fear, disappointment, or just plain surprise in her voice.

“Well, I have to work at The Surf Shop today.”

“Oh,” she mumbles, turning to face me then quickly turning back to the closet. “Yeah. I’ll be fine…” I don’t know who she’s trying to convince, but I know I’m not sold.

I find myself wishing I could bring her to work with me so she didn’t have to be left alone here all day. Who am I kidding? I own the shop.

My parents always planned on gifting me and Ares each a car when we each graduated, but the money from odd after-school jobs and summer surfing competitions made it possible for me to buy my own early on. So when graduation rolled around, I was gifted The Surf Shop instead.

“You could come with me?” I offer. She turns to look back to me with those big, bright, green eyes, a slight smile hooked at each end of her perfect lips.

“Really?” she exclaims, and for the first time in weeks her tone sounds bright and hopeful.

“Yeah, I mean, itismy shop. I make the rules and what do you know-” I pause, pretending to check my calendar. “It’s take your new friend to work day!”

She laughs; a real, deep, genuine laugh. As it rings out into the room, I think my heart might burst, dropping me dead right there in the doorway. I know then that the sound of her laugh willneverget old, and that I’ll be doing just about anything I can to hear it a million more times.

“Oh, lucky us! What are the odds? It’s almost like your boss knows you made a new friend,” she teases.

“Yeah. Sometimes I feel like we share a brain,” I joke back.

I leave the room, letting her get dressed for the day without an audience. I spend the rest of the morning watching Audra finish getting ready and it’s never been harder to ignore the voice in my brain screaming how I wouldn’t mind spending every morning this way.

It was hard to ignore the voice when she made coffee and slid an extra mug in front of me without asking. It was harder still when she stood in front of me in nothing but a towel and stared at me with hopeful, shining, green eyes when I told her she could come to work with me.

But by far, it was the hardest to ignore when we lingered in her bedroom as she put the final touches on her look for the day. She sat criss-crossed on her bathroom sink doing her makeup and every time I made a joke, she made eye contact with me through the mirror and threw her head back laughing like a little kid. Without a doubt that was the moment that I knew her laugh had quickly become my favorite sound on earth. That’s when that insistent little voice became impossible to ignore.

We leave her house soon after, stopping by mine quickly to grab my work clothes which really just means a fresh pair of sweats and one of my shop shirts. I rush out of the door and we head to The Surf Shop. We pull into the parking lot on the shore about fifteen minutes later.

I park my Jeep in front of The Surf Shop and she follows me inside. The shop is already open. Beck, my oldest friend and sole employee, is standing behind the counter with a wax comb and the board one of our regulars dropped off earlier this week. Audra follows close behind me and Beck leans to peak over at us, his brown ringlets falling over with the tip of his head. He flashes us a wide smile showing all of his teeth.

“Hey, Ro! Who’s this?” he asks, gesturing to Audra. I could smack him for this. He knows good and well who Audra is. I’ve only brought her up a million times. She’s moved to stand slightly behind me in the face of someone new.

“This is Audra,” I reply, pointing to her over my shoulder. “Audi, this is Beck.” I add, nodding my head in Beck’s direction. She smiles sweetly and waves to him.

“Audra…” he pauses, thinking hard like he’s trying to connect the dots. “Oh! Like the one you?—”

I cut him off quickly, shaking my head. “Audra as in Ares’friend.And mine,” I correct. Audra looks between me and Beck questioningly, but doesn’t say anything. Beck, however, laughs to himself as I shoot him a glare.Please don’t do this to me, you fucker.

Beck knows all too well who Audra is, considering the amount of times I’ve drunkenly confessed to how completely infatuated I am with her. Beck is the best person I know and certainly the best friend I’ve got. A helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, and second father I never knew I needed- all of the things that make Beck the man he is. They also make him thelastperson I should be letting Audra talk to unsupervised.

I whisk Audra away shortly after, spending about half an hour walking her around the shop. During that time, I show her everything, from where basic stock items are, to the repairs we do during the day. She seems interested enough in the goings on of the shop. Either that, or she’s really good at pretending.

We move to the employees only section, where I show her the makeshift studio for cleaning boards and painting custom orders. I show her the shed out back where we keep the wetsuits for renting and surf lessons. Finally, I bring her back inside and show her the big, comfy couch where we spend the majority of our time.

“Well, that’s it, that’s the shop!” I say, plopping myself down on the couch.

“It’s cute! Like something out of a movie or a Pinterest board,” she giggles, sitting down next to me.

We sit in comfortable silence for a few moments, and I watch her take in the main room one more time. “I have to get a couple things done, you cool to hang out here and wait for me?” She nods and I get up, walking to the front counter to start going through my everyday tasks. Usually, they feel overly boring and mundane, but today? Today, I get to do them while the prettiest girl I’ve ever met watches and it feels like I won the job lottery.

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