januarie robinson
- january 15, 2019 -

THE CLEANING CREW EXITED THE theatre, leaving Carmen and I standing there staring down the hallway. We were opening and they just finished the room, meaning the seats would be completely soaked. Neither of us bothered to speak with the man walking about behind the counter with a uniform on. Someone Lucas must have hired without telling anyone again. We simply watched as Paulo came back in and pulled a folded-up bill from his back pocket.

            "Thank you so much for your patience," his words dripped with an Italian accent, "Lucas told us not to worry about the time. He said he'd switch around the shows going in the rooms."

            Carmen sent the man a tight-lipped smile, "Thanks, Paulo. I'll fax this straight to the office."

            Nodding, he smiled, "You guys have a wonderful day."

            We watched him walk off. Carmen turned to me and her brow twitched. She breathed, trying not to crumple the paper in her grasp, "I'm going to kill him."

            Laughing, I turned on my heels and sighed. Whoever had closed the night before had fallen short of finished. I barely glanced at the clock above me. As quickly as I could, I filled the candy cases and moved popcorn tubs around to fill the counter.

            The man stepped out from the back and spared him a glance. He had short, trimmed brown hair, matching eyes and every time I caught sight of him, he had this aura that he was about to punch a wall or even a person for that matter. I wanted to ask what could possibly be wrong, but I held my tongue the best I could.

            Scurrying to the back, I grabbed the crate from a rack and filled it with drinks from storage. I felt a pinch in my wrist as I carried the crate out to the front and dropped it on the counter with a huff. My eyes found the guy once again with a frown lingering on his face. I thought someone would have introduced us this morning, but that didn't happen and I wasn't going to walk up to him. Not with that expression on his lips.

            Pulling the step stool up to the mini fridge on the back counter, I began removing the drinks that were left from the night before. I wiped the whole fridge with a bleach rag before starting to return the bottles to their rightful places. I stood on the top of the stool and placed another orange juice. Counting the bottles, I stared at the empty stop. Turning, I found the missing juice on the counter behind me.

            I closed my eyes and sighed, my head tipping back. Between the fridge, soda bibs, and candy cases, this job was going to destroy my joints. It was always up, down, up, down. Plus, no one else seemed to want to do them and I wasn't one to be able to just walk by something that needed to be done. It was a curse of the Robinson family; I was sure of it.

            "Here." My eyes shot open and I turned to the voice. Standing in front of me was the new guy. New to me at least, but considering he wore a blue management shirt instead of red, I guessed he wasn't new to the company. Perhaps, he left before I was hired and now, he was back.

            His voice was gruff when he spoke. It matched his sour expression.

            "Thanks," I smiled, took the juice and put it in its rightful place. Climbing down, I folded up the stool and grabbed it. I had fully intended to go on ignoring the man and doing my job, but apparently, he had a different idea.

            He cleared his throat and stuck out his hand, "I'm Nicholas by the way. Well, actually people just call me Nick."

            Glancing over my shoulder, I nodded, forcing a warm smile and shaking his hand, "Nice to meet you, just Nick. I'm Januarie." He barely smiled at the joke much to my disappointment, but in all honesty, not my best joke.

            Carmen came from the back and shook her head. She slipped her phone back into her pack with an irritated look resting on her features, not that it was anything new to us. Nick and I glanced at her, waiting for her to say something, "I tried to call Lucas, but no answer." She huffed, "Honestly, why does that man even have a phone."

            I clasped a hand over my mouth hard, but that didn't help to keep the laughter at bay. I knew the feeling all too well, "What a loser."

            Nick looked at me and there was an actual hint of a smile. He had a nice smile, a simple one; almost familiar the more I looked at it. Maybe I'd seen him around town before; however, Kensington was the kind of place with the kind of people that don't forget faces. But still, I couldn't place him. Something glittered in the light and I looked down. Wrapped around his finger was a gold band.

            I didn't give it another thought. I turned my back on him and started to clean out one of the candy cases. My eyes kept bouncing to Nick as he filled a small bucket with water and stepped up to the counter. He pulled off the soda spouts one by one to clean them. We worked in comfortable silence for quite some time before either of us said a word.

            I crawled into the candy case and twisted onto my back just so I could see the mirror that faced out as I whipped it down. I closed my eyes and spread the glass, letting the excess mist settle on my face and glasses. After I was finally satisfied with the look of it, I breathed a sigh of relief. One down, five more to go.

            I grabbed the glass cleaner and was about to move out of the case when Nick's voice found its way to me, "So, how long have you been working here?"

            I didn't move. I simply stared at my reflection, "Just a little over a year and a half now."

            "That's a long time." He hummed, "You must like it here. How's working for Lucas?"

            My eyes darted to the front doors as if Nick had somehow summoned Lucas to us, "Oh, it's fine. He's a pretty interesting guy from what I've seen." I didn't even try to move at that point. I didn't know Nick at all, but I wasn't known for keeping my face blank at any time.

            "Funny," Nick's voice dropped low, "he says the same thing about you. The two of you must be close."

            My eyes grew to the size of watermelons and I placed my hand down, "No!" I shot up, my head smacking against the top of the candy counter. Falling back, I dropped the palm of my hand on my forehead.

            "Shit." Nick dropped in front of the case, a chuckle cutting through him and he held his hand out to me, "Are you okay?"

            I took his hand gladly and let him pull me out of the candy case. Standing in front of me, Nick moved my hand and looked at my forehead. There was something in his eyes. He didn't look so gruffy this close. He looked more like he was broken. A real smile formed on his lips and he laughed enough that he had to lean back. He wiped a tear from his eye and let out a breath.

            I was about to say something, but the phone rang. We both turned and looked. It took Nick three steps to reach the phone and lift it.

            "Hey, man." He nodded as if the person on the other side could actually see him. "No... Actually, it hasn't been half bad." He spared a glance my way and shook his head.

            "Well, I'm not entirely sure. Oh yeah. Let me just put you down." Nick put the phone back on the wall and turned to me, "It's for you."

            My brows knitted together, but that just increased the tightness in my forehead, "Okay. Yeah." Holding my hand to my forehead, I leaned against the door jam and took a deep breath. Plastering a smile on my face, I grabbed the phone and put it to my ear, "Kensington Cinema, this is Januarie."

            "Januarie." My breathing caught in my throat, "I heard there were some problems this morning. Is everything good now? No more problems?" Lucas sighed, "I hope."

            "Yeah, no." I smiled, "Carmen handled it."

            "What was wrong?"

            "Oh," I laughed, "you forgot to switch the movies around because of the cleaning crew this morning."

            He laughed, "I knew there was something I was forgetting when I left this morning." A pause and a shuffle came from the other side of the line, "I haven't had a chance to ask, but how's the otter?"

            "He's cute and cozy on the top shelf."

            "He went from one top shelf to another."

            "Well, that's because he's top notch." I smiled at the dumb joke, but it had Lucas laughing all the same. Nick cleared his throat at the end of the bar and I looked at him before knitting my brows. I could practically see him squirming from here, but I didn't understand why.

            "I'm glad."

            "I still can't get over that," I said, looking away from Nick.

            "Get over what?"

            "How you just hit that bullseye so effortlessly. It blows my mind."

            Lucas laughed, "You make it sound much more impressive than it actually is. All it does is tell you how much time I've spent in bars."

            "Hey." The word came out so forcefully that I paused after it flew from my mouth, "You've got to stop talking down about the things you can do. It's impressive because I can't do that if I tried and that's what makes you a unique person. An individual. That's what sets people apart from one another."

            There was a pause on the other side of the line that sent an entire zoo racing from my stomach all the way to my heart, "How's Nick doing?"

            My eyes darted to Nick for only a second before they returned to the phone receiver, "Really good. Funny and nice..."

            "Good." Lucas sighed, "I had to get him out of this house—"

            "Oh," the thought hit me like a train, "he not your—"

            "Brother?" Lucas laughed, "Yeah. He used to work for Richard in high school, but he left when Sophia moved to Colorado. He just took off in the middle of the night and told no one. A year later they were married."

            "Oh, no..." I breathed. My hand covered my mouth and my jaw dropped open. I turned to and looked at Nick who simply waved, his lips tipping up; however, his eyes didn't quite crinkle. Nick was the brother Lucas had mentioned at the festival.

            "Lucas, I have to go. Customer. Have a good rest of your day, okay?"

            "Yeah, have a great—good day."

            "Thanks, bye." I spoke quickly before slamming the phone back on the receiver. I stood there dumbfounded, just staring at the phone.

            "No one died right?" Jumping, I put my hands up, ready to attack. Nick stepped back in surrender, "Hey, hold on there, no need to attack. What are you a ninja?"

            My heart pounded away at my eardrums, "I'm sorry. You startled me."

            "Well, I was just asking because it looks like you've seen a ghost." My gaze bounced from the phone and back to the man in front of me. They didn't even look alike. What brother didn't look alike?

            Nick placed a hand on my shoulder, bending a little to look me in the eye and smile. That's where that smile was from. The one thing they had in common. They had the smile.

            "No," I walked over to the bar, letting Nick's hand fall from my shoulder, "no. I just didn't realize you and—Well that you and—That the who of you were—"

            "We were brothers?"

            Clearing my throat, I nodded, "Yeah."

            "Trust me," Nick grabbed a soda cup and twisted it in his hands. He stopped when his eyes landed on the gold band, "It's not as interesting as it sounds. I mean, he doesn't like when people talk during his movies which is ridiculous and he sleeps with socks on like some kind of maniac. And he drinks coffee at nine o'clock at night, who does that?"

            My older sister and brother, they both wear socks to bed too." I laughed, smiling over my shoulder, "I have nine; nine siblings."

            His jaw dropped open, "Nine siblings? Makes my three look like nothing compared to that."

            "You mean to tell me you're not the only one?"

            Nick glanced at me from the side, "No, I'm not. Lucas is the oldest, I'm the youngest. We have two others in the middle; four in total. All boys."

            "Do you... Do you ever feel like you're just following in their steps being the youngest? Like they jumped and now you have to work your ass off to jump too, but you can't just jump... You have to jump three feet higher just to prove that you can do it too." I stopped rambling and shook my head, "I'm sorry. That was a lot to dump on you and we just met."

            "No. I get it." Nick nodded slowly, "The only thing I ever had on my brothers was..." He tapered off, staring out into the lobby. When he never came back to the conversation, I grabbed the cup he was squeezing in his hands and put it back before it cracked under the pressure.

            Blinking, he cleared his throat, "Sorry. Was Sophia; my wife."

            "I've never heard Lucas talk about his family much... Or not at all really. Definitely not about having three brothers. It's nice to hear about it." I smiled, trying to change the subject for him.

            "Yeah, well," Nick chuckled, "Lucas doesn't talk much about anything. Not with most people. We can barely get him to talk to us half the time. When he offered up his guest room, I was a little blown away, not that I would ever tell him that."

            "Your secret is safe with me," I crossed my heart with my finger and beamed my most innocent smile, "promise."

            "Yeah?" He glanced over and shook his head, "Well, so are yours."

            My cheeks flushed and my eyes widened. Stumbling through a laugh, I leaned against the counter, almost missing it entirely. Smooth, Januarie.

            "My secrets? I don't have any secrets. What secret would you be talking about exactly?"

            He laughed, his tired eyes crinkling at the edges, "That you think he's a loser, of course." He went to go to the back before looking over his shoulder, "Among others, I'm sure. You've got one of those faces."

            One of those faces? What did he mean by that? Did it look like I was someone who could keep secrets from anyone?

            Knitting my brows together, I was about to speak up. Defend my honor in a way, but the sound of the doors caught my attention. Instead, I spun around with a smile to greet our customers.

            Two men approached the snack bar, one of them carrying a banged-up briefcase. The taller of the two placed his hand on the glass and I winced. I'd have to be sure to clean that later, which I would have done had he not left a very distinct handprint on the glass, but that's not the point.

            "Is Lucas Hill here? We were told that today was the best day to catch him."

            "Normally, it would be, but he's actually not in right now. If you'd like, you could leave a message with me or maybe leave a card for him to call you back the next time he's in."

            "It's case sensitive, but we do have a card, if you'd be kind enough to pass it along. It's imperative that we speak with him the next time he's available."

            "Of course, I'll be sure to leave a note for him as well as give him the message the next time he's here."

            "Thank you."

            "You're welcome." As they walked away, I flipped the card between my fingers. The logo was a mixture of baby blue and black. His name was Greg Huxel. I ran my thumb over the letters. Greg Huxel with Lilac Cinemas.