Florence

After a rushed morning filled with final preparations and frantic checks that everything was working, it was around 9am when Olivia excitedly flipped the sign on the door, officially going from 'closed' to 'open.'

She grinned at me. "We're in business!" she squealed, the bauble at the end of her Santa hat bouncing along with her.

I smiled back at her, adjusting the reindeer antlers on my head. It was my idea for us to wear the antlers and Santa hats, but I was kind of regretting it now that we were officially open. If someone we knew walked in...well, I supposed if they had any objections I could just tell them to get into the holiday spirit and use that as a starting point to try sell them some stuff. I was shy, yeah, but that didn't mean I couldn't pull on my sneaky salesperson hat when I needed to.

Olivia would mainly be on customer duty - one of us would be at the till at any given time, and the other would be roaming around the shop, asking people if they needed anything. Thankfully, Liv had offered to be the 'roamer' first, so I didn't have to leave my spot at the till until half past eleven. She had always been the people person of the both of us; people just always flocked to her,  following that glowing golden smile.

She came and stood next to me, eyes on the shop window. "Any time now, someone will walk in," she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

We watched the shoppers pass by absentmindedly, some glued to their phones, some staring at the ground. A few people peered in, mainly the parents of little kids pulling at their hands to watch the moving Santa Claus, which was kindly donated by my parents for our store. I thought he was a bit scary; rocking back and forth with a big plastic smile melted on his face, chuckling out an automated 'ho ho ho!' every five seconds, but it seemed to fascinate the little kiddies. 

As the minutes continued to tick by, and not a single customer walked through the doors, Liv whispered, "Someone's bound to come in soon, right?"

I nudged her with her elbow. "Don't look so glum. It's only..." I looked to the clock in the corner, "9:13. We have ages."

Liv nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah," she said, perking up a bit. She straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to have a look out the back just in case we've missed anything or forgot to shelve them." 

"You do that," I said, pushing her towards the cupboard where we kept our extra stock. Liv was like a puppy - she would droop a little initially if her plan didn't live up to her expectations, but the second someone turned up or the slightest kernel of hope was offered, she'd jump up in a second and any disappointment she may have faced would disappear. I always admired that about her.

I was just playing with the till, pressing the button and watching the little drawer open and close to pass the time, when the little jingle bell rang at the top of the door and it creaked open.

Frantically, I whipped my head around the shop, not spying Olivia anywhere. She must have still been in the back. Crap. 

The customer, or customers, were a swaddled mother trying to push her bulking pram through the door, clearly struggling. The familiar anxious bees began buzzing around in my stomach. Should I help her? I smacked myself mentally. Of course I should help her.

Wringing my hands, I ran to the door, holding it wide open. "Let me," I said, helping her cram the stroller in with one hand. My hand got stuck in the gap between the door and the wall, sending a sharp arrow of pain flashing up my arm. Damn it, Olivia, this is what happened when you weren't here.

The woman, who looked to be in her mid-thirties, looked up at me gratefully. "Thank you," she said, finally managing to squeeze the pram through the door. She had soft blonde curls framing her face, stuffed into a burgundy beanie, and wide blue eyes. 

"It's no problem at all," I said, channeling my inner Olivia and gritting my teeth in a winning smile. After she passed through, I shut the door, cradling my hand. How heavy was that baby?!

I walked (ran) back behind the till, fiddling with the edge of my cardigan. "Is there anything I can help you with?" I called over to her.

"It's alright, I'm just looking!" she replied, apparently hidden behind the Christmas tree in the centre of the room.

Olivia, fresh-faced and carrying a box of silver baubles, looked at me expectantly. "Anything?" she asked.

My hand whined at me as I pointed towards the Christmas tree. "We have one, technically two, customers!" I replied, a genuine smile forming on my face.

Liv bounced up and down. "Yay!" she squealed, scurrying off to find the poor mother, who was most likely unprepared for the Christmas hurricane which was Olivia Meyers. I shook my head and went back to fiddling with the till. 

The door jingled again, and in walked a tall, bearded man. "Good morning," he said, in the most beautiful Swahili accent. 

I smiled at him. "Welcome to our shop," I said. "My friend Olivia and I are here if you need anything."

As the morning passed, more and more people began streaming in and out of the store, Olivia scurrying around to greet each one, me at the till packaging and accepting money. I didn't want to admit it, but I was even beginning to enjoy myself, chatting to each customer, watching the little kids awe at the light-up reindeer on the wall, and wrapping presents like I was Santa Claus. The hours flew by as Olivia and I flurried around our little grotto of a store, proudly selling little bits and bobs like proud mothers. If we could keep this up until Christmas, by the number of people who were coming in and out, it could just be enough for the travel fares we needed to book.

Around noon, as the stream of customers calmed to a trickle, I went up to admire the Christmas tree that Liv and I had decorated together last night. A smile tugged at my lips as I remembered the shenanigans that had gone down as we bantered and argued about which ornaments should go where.

~

"It should be green and red!" Olivia insisted, swinging around the two lengths of tinsel in her hands. 

I shook my head furiously. "But silver and gold looks so much nicer!" I said, exasperatedly gesturing to the pile of silver and gold tinsel by my side.

"Green and red are the traditional Christmas colours!"

"Silver and gold are the traditional colours of literally everything!"

Liv slouched, an adorable pout forming on her face. "You know what? I'm done! Why don't we just make our Christmas tree insane and put them all on?"

I grinned, satisfied. "Sounds like a plan," I said.

She glared at me. "I still think just green and red would look better," she muttered.

"I still think you're wrong."

"OHHHH!"

~

And so the evening had proceeded, tossing jokes back and forth, stringing tinsel and lights around our tree and hanging various candy canes and traditional ornaments up, topping it all off with Liv's sparkly angel, which had been passed down from her grandma. It shone now under the lighting, as if it was blessing our store from its place atop the Christmas tree.

As I stood admiring our creation, I felt a light poke on my back. "Excuse me?" a little voice asked.

I turned around to see a little boy behind me, clutching his father's hand. His little Santa hat drooped slightly as he looked up at me. "How can I help you?" I asked, smiling at the adorable little boy.

He tugged at his father's arm, who smiled at me politely. "Hi there," he said. "I was wondering if you could reach to the top shelf and grab my son one of those light-up reindeer? I would, but as you can see, neither of us are very tall." He patted his son's head, who giggled and blushed.

"Of course," I said, reaching up and grabbing one of the reindeer for them. I had never been tall, per se, but I wasn't short either. It was easy for me to reach on my tiptoes for the top shelf. Liv, the smaller of us, was still snuffed at how she stopped growing in Year 7 and how I had overtaken her. When we hugged, I could easily rest my head on hers, to her utter dismay. 

I gave the little reindeer to the young boy. "Here you go," I said cheerily. The boy smiled at his father, jumping up and down excitedly.

The father grinned at him, his eyes shining. "Thank you," he said. I watched as he looked around our shop. "It's a wonderful shop you have here. I hope it all goes well."

"Thank you," I beamed. "We've only just started; but it's going well so far. My friend Liv can package that if you like." I gestured to Liv at the counter, serving another customer. "I hope you have a very merry Christmas!" 

"To you as well," the man replied, before he led his son to Liv to pay for the reindeer. The little boy turned and grinned at me, his little eyes twinkling. I waved back.

After that lovely encounter, the afternoon breezed by quickly, as I meandered through the store assisting customers and Liv attended the till. After the last customer had left, and we had switched all of the Christmas lights off, I flipped the 'open' sign back to 'closed,' feeling satisfied with the day. I expected it to be a new experience, but I didn't expect it to be...well, fun. Enjoyable. I looked to Liv, who was fiddling with a calculator.

"And our final revenue for today is..." she tapped at her calculator, "€116.52!"

"Woohoo!" I applauded, smiling. "That's actually a fair amount!"

She grinned. "Yep, enough to buy...let's see, two Harry Potter wands."

I laughed. "Come on, Liv. It's great for the first day."

"I know, I know," she said. She turned off the till and came and stood in front of me, holding her hand up for a high five which I obliged to.

"So," she said, her eyes bright. "What shall we do now to spend the afternoon?"

It was only now that I realised how close she was to me. Our feet were barely inches apart, and our hands dangled by our sides, so close to touching. I knew it wouldn't be a big deal if I held her hand - we were best friends, after all - but it felt like it, in this moment, with all of the lights in the store off and no one around us to see us. My heart tap-danced in my chest, frantic that everything was still fine. Even though the sirens in my head indicated otherwise.

But before I could do anything, thunder cracked outside, and the previously pattering rain turned to a full on downpour, washing away any plans to spend the rest of our day outside in an instant. I was glad for Mother Nature intervening, as Liv stepped away out of surprise, looking outside.

She turned to me. "Want to watch some Marvel movies in the flat upstairs with some hot chocolates?" she asked. Liv's parents also owned the flat upstairs, and had gifted it to her after graduation as a place for her to have as her own, while not completely moving out of their home yet. And Liv, being Liv, had turned it into the coolest den ever.

"Sounds like a plan," I grinned.

Liv smiled back as we locked up the shop and went upstairs, babbling all the way about which ones we should watch, completely unaware of the moment we had just shared and the way my heart had freaked out inside my chest, and how much my hand had itched to be in hers.

Hello!

I realised that I have set myself up to either fail or accomplish something huge: I'm going away for five days on Friday, and I'm now two chapters behind, which means I'll have to write seven chapters over today and tomorrow (I just finished this one.) So, wish me luck for staring at my laptop screen for the next day and a half and typing away furiously trying to get them all done!

This chapter was pretty long compared to the others, but given the short time frame I have the next load will probably be quite short. But hopefully they'll still be enjoyable! :D

Thanks so much if you're reading,

residenthobbit49 :) <3