#sorry for the delay today was kinda nuts lol

[olliedollie1204]

Can I scream at you about something

i wish u would /gen

[chelleztjs18]

Hello you mrs. lady robin hood honey nut cheerio lefty eyebag 😅

Oh no! Delays suck. But it's good that you guys got to CA safely. That's a long drive from the airport to their house..

I am freezing my butt over here. It is snowing and the temperature is down to 10 degrees. Do you wanna trade? I can go enjoy the heat in CA while you play in the snow here. Hahaha 🤣 so all the clothes you brought are thick layers? Hopefully it does get cold but I doubt it because all the cold temperatures are heading my way haha

Hm so you like stories that have a dark theme to it?

So I listened to some songs of Glass Animals. I love his voice. It gives me a soft bar vibe hahaha I think my favorite so far is Your Love. And I didn't know they are the ones who sings Heat Wave. I like that song too.

Hm is it bad that I have a lot of crushes? Hahaha 😅 okay so technically one of them is the girl from the past that I have been crushing on since grade school. I've always like her since we were younger and we don't talk much now but whenever I see her on social media, it's like feelings come back?? And I hate it lol.

The others are sort of recent. Yeah the tumblr crush, she's cool but I don't know, I don't wanna put feelings into it because it might turn out bad.

Haha I guess I could be. One time for our anniversary, I gave her a book of all the letters I wrote to her but never sent (because we were long distance at first).

Sounds like a busy day! How many brothers does he have? So his parents are not together?

Anyways, it's almost Christmas time! Are you guys going to take Emily to see some lights or decorated houses?

- CuriousGeorge

Corn-punn righty eyebag! Hello hello! I'm back! But i bet u r asleep already since u r 2 hours ahead i think.

I tried not to be rude to be on the phone when they were talking.

How r u? Hows everything in the last 2 days?

Sorry for the late reply.. we went to have sushi for lunch, then went to his brother's house to chill nncatch up. Got mexican food for dinner n too the kids to see christmas light neighborhood. Em fell asleep so easy because she was so tired. She had a big meltdown before go to dinner but thank god we could handle it.hahaha.

I'm so tired today.. i had to wake up early tomorrow because im gonna go to indonesian food place to hv some food n bring home some desert. 😁

Hahaha yeah we can trade place n weather for a bit .today was kinda chilly n windy so i still wore my pull over hoodie n thick jeans at noon n wore my coat at night when we were walking to see the christmas light.

I didnt bring all of the thick clothes but u brought long sleeves. Some of them r thick ones, some of them r thin.. i got upset because i took out the cardigans last minutes. Which they would be perfect for the weather right now.🙄😒

Yeah i like dark stories or thriller that has that vibes i told u. Because usually it focuses more on the antagonist's mind such as why they do what they did, or why they did it n what wrong step they did that got them caught, or the revelation of who did it.. N it's interesting. Even better that usually it has plot twist at the end. I love movies like that. I can recommend u some movies like that if u want. 😊

I wish i can write that kind of story someday.. 😊 a thriller story.

Yeah i love Glass Animals. The singer's voice is pretty unique.. n their style of music is pretty different. I love Your Love song. It inspired an interesting plot idea..😁

He has 3 younger brothers. He is the oldest. N em is the first granddaughter on his dad's side. His parents divorced a long time ago but they get a long well so they still hang out or attend each other's family gathering.

Yes we took em n her cousins see christmas light neighborhood. There are quite a few big neighborhood that do that every year on christmas n halloween too.

It sucks when i got the chance to reply u, u r either not awake yet or already went to bed because of the time difference. But oh well, i hope it doesnt bore u from waiting. Just leave me next questions after this. Will for sure still reply u asap

Cheerio!

[notorious-fiction]

The Christmas Prince (A Whoever You Want to Read With One-Shot)

        You two had made a deal.

         Shook hands and all, very solemn looks on your faces, promising one another a very simple thing.

         No gift exchanging on Christmas day.

(You'd just been laid off your job and it sucked balls, and he knew money was a bit short on your end and also knew you would never, in a gazillion years accept any money from him, so he started to come up with a bunch of lame ass excuses to make you feel a bit better.)

("It's cliché", he had snorted when you touched the subject "Exchanging Christmas gifts. Ugh. It was meaningful before but now it's just another "especial" date that lost it's core value to boost capitalism. I mean, you can be a crappy boyfriend all year round as long as you buy your girl an extra glittery Hallmark card and a Tiffany Bracelet, right?")

("Right." You had agreed, although not really, because as much as you found sexy as fuck when he used pretty words - core value, damn - you still flipping loved Christmas and looked forward to it all year long.)

        So no gift exchanging it was.

        You'd spend Christmas day with you family and he would spend it with his - you knew how rare it was for him to take some time to see them - but the day before, the 24th, you had him all to your own.

        Just "a casual dinner, the two of us" (his words, not yours) with some "classic Christmas movies, deal with it, loser" (your words, not his) at your place.

        Going out was a real pain nowadays, with the whole paps, fangirls, Snapchatters, etc thing, so to save yourself from the stress (how come he never failed to look like a Goddamn model on those candids whilst you looked like you were about to sneeze? Ugh.), staying in it was.

        In, with no gifts.

        Or at least you thought so, because mid afternoon on December 24th your iPhone seemed to gain a life of its own, all your social media accounts on a frenzy of notifications as, oh well, your famous as fuck of a boyfriend was spotted loading a box the size of a small poney into his car.

("She is so lucky!!!!!!")

("What did he get herrrrrrr i'd be happy just with his dick on box and by the size of it its prob that lol")

("Ugh i hope its a bomb")

(Insert other very sweet comments here.)

        You controlled the urge to text him (going against your über curious personality with all the strenghth your posessed), instead focusing on the fact that you were...

        Fucked.

        Because whilst your boyfriend was on the posession of a very big, flashy box (what you had no idea what was inside, Christ, what the hell was inside of it?!), you were in the posession of...

        "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", "Elf" and "The Polar Express".

(All masterpieces, in your humble opinion.)

        And the phone of the thai take out two blocks from your place.

(Best pad thai and sticky rice ever.)

(Plus it gave tons of free sriracha packets! Yay for free stuff!)

        But seriously, what the fuck were you supposed to give to a human being who seemed to have absolutely everything?!

        It'd be stupid to give him clothes - he got those for free -, you had no idea what his shoesize was (did that make you a horrible girlfriend? oops) and anything else you could think of was undoubtely lame. 

        What if you made him something?

        Okay so you didn't know how to draw or paint or knit or rhyme or write a song or do anything that required a minimum artistic vein slash handicraft talent but you could...

        Try?

        Throwing your body on the couch, your laptop literally on your lap, you sat on your ultimate comfy position - which he had lovingly nicknamed "Cirque Du Soleil's contortionist catching up on reality TV on it's free time" or "how you don't have a back problem is beyond me" (when he said that last one he totally reminded you of your mom) -, typing on the words that were responsible for many delayed papers at Uni and scurries off the house whilst almost tripping on your shoes as you were late as fuck.

        Pinterest dot com.

(A blessing and a curse to womankind, honestly.)

D. I. Y.

(Do it yourself.)

(Although you actually never did.)

        Scrolling down the screen - DIY baking soda shampoo! DIY mosaic tile birdbath using recycled DVD's! DIY Glittery Bath Bombs! - you noticed that all of them seemed to involve stuff everyone apparently had at home except you like glue guns or spray paint or Scrabble tile holders (...seriously) so after five minutes of Pinterest searching, you sighed in defeat.

(Hard effort wasn't your forte, you had to admit.)

        Even friendship bracelets are a hard task to accomplish when you have the skills of a three year old toddler and if you actually purchased a glue gun you could already picture yourself glueing nothing but your own fingers and spending Christmas Day at the ER.

        But you did have glitter glue, and that wasn't so dangerous was it?

        You also had an old, slightly crumpled piece of cardboard and a "DIY Easy Glittery Hallmark card tutorial!" (snort) at your screen, so you decided to give it a go.

        If it came out okay you'd be able to give him as an ironic gift?

("Oh hey, I know you gave me a super awesome/expensive/fancy/cool/thoughtful - insert whatever the hell could be inside that massive box here Christ the curiosity was killing you - but ha-ha-ha remember that snark you made about glittery Hallmark cards?! Instead of giving money to the greedy capitalist men I made one myself, how about that?! Aren't I the Best Girlfriend Ever?!?!?!")

        And if it came out like crap you could, y'know, throw it in the bin...

        ...So of course it came out like crap.

        Because you somehow managed to put more glitter glue on the tip of your fingers than on the goddamn cardboard, more glitter glue on your clothes as you absentmindedly rubbed your hands on it as you tried to think of what the hell you could do to save your "Merry Christmas" masterpiece.

(Trash.) (That was how you could save it, your dignity, your boyfriend's poor eyes and your dignity.)

(By throwing your masterpiece on the garbish.)

(Fuck ironic gifts.)

        Of course that instead of coming up with another idea after the Glittery-DIY-Hallmark-Card fiasco, your procrastinator side spoke louder, and click after click after click you found yourself going deeper and deeper of that pit called Pinterest, until you blazed on a section you'd never dared to venture on before.

        The recipe session.

        There were gooey chocolate chip bars, chocolate fudge brownies, kale and artichokes dip, quinoa fried "rice" (...why would someone all it fried "rice" if it had no rice in it only quinoa, you wondered...) and everything made your mouth water and stomach growl and you deeply wished there was someone who could make it for you.

        Everything sounded too tempting (and too hard and with too many fancy ingredients and kitchen appliances you'd never even heard of) until you found...

"Easy adaptable chocolate chip cookies with ingredients everyone has at home!!!!! Can be made vegan gluten/lactose/nut/anythying free paleo atkins insert random diet you'd never heard of before here"

        Well...

        Following a recipe wouldn't be that hard... Would it?

        Especially when you could sub eggs for oil if you didn't have any or oil for mashed banana or mashed banana for applesauce or applesauce for honey or honey for agave which were all obviously so much alike, right?

        Throwing everything you had into a single bowl - did you mention it was a single bowl recipe? Seriously, it could not get any better, your dishes-washing-hater-side thought - you frowned as you compared your final result to the one on the screen.

        Pinterest's batter: gooey but firm, looked so good you wouldn't mind spooning it raw directly into your mouth.

        Your batter: two year old's diarrhea, you wouldn't want to spoon it raw directly into your mouth not even if they paid you.

        You somehow managed to put little (balls, on Pinterest, blobs, sounded more accurate to your situation) blobs of the batter onto the baking sheet and onto the oven, too busy freaking out slash trying to understand what the hell you did wrong (ooh two american cups of flour? what were american cups? weren't your cups american? why america has to control everything for god's sake?!) to notice the door being unlocked, only realising you had company when you heard an amused chuckle behind you.

        Turning around so quick you almost broke your neck - fouet filled with sticky disgusting batter held in hand in a threatingly way - you found him staring, all long legs and perfect hair and mocking grin and...

        Empty hands?

        Where the hell was the box the size of a toddler he was seen loading into his car?!

        Goddamit, internet!

(And why did you feel a lil' bit disappointed I mean...)

(...you had him, hadn't you?)

(Best Christmas Gift Ever, am I right.)

        "Hi."

        "Hi. Were you..." A cute little frown appeared between his brows, pearly white teeth still on show as he asked "Baking?"

        Getting a bit defensive - why did he have to sound so confused/terrified? - you dropped the fouet on the sink, replying "Yes, why?"

        "Oh, for nothing! I mean, it smells..."

(Awful.)

        "Pretty good."

(Damn, he was a liar.)

        Leaning to check the oven temperature just one more time - I mean, better safe than sorry, you couldn't push your luck (any further) - you ignored your boyfriend's stare (a cute little smirk on his lips because well, he thought it was cute how you hadn't noticed the chocolate batter on your chin or how you wore an apron thrice your size), asking maybe a little too cheery "So, how's your Christmas eve going so far?"

( "...Loading too many big ass boxes onto your car?", you rhymed mentally.)

        "Well, not too good I mean, I only got to see my lovely lady today." He replied with a charming smile, expecting for you to giggle - alright, fine, he knew you weren't one to giggle, or at least give him love eyes.

        You squinted skeptically.

...Okay.

        "Empty handed, I see."

        "Yeah, kinda glad we decided to skip on that Christmas madness. Had to help a mate out with picking up a complete set of one of those fancy Le Creuset cooking things. Said his girlfriend would love it." He added with a scoff, rolling his eyes "I told him that if I gave you anything kitchen related you'd throw it in my head, but seeing you're apparently into cooking now..." He paused, pursing his lips "Should I write it down as a suggestion for your birthday?"

        Her mind went black.

        Kitchen appliances.

        His mate was giving his girlfriend freakin' casseroles and frying pans.

(Oh poor girl.)

(Poor, poor girl.)

(The disappointment when she opened that huge heavy box.)

(Damn.)

        And you had been freaking out the entire day thinking he'd gotten you something big and awesome and you'd look like the awful ungrateful girlfriend.

        Man, that ugly glittery card would look like heaven next yo, y'know... Nothing.

        "If you ever give me a damn casserole pan I shall rip off your little buddy of you, cut it into tiny little pieces, cook them in the freakin' thing and serve you for dinner." You stated, and he replying, giving you a kiss on the forehead  "Aw, see? I know you so well."

        God, you were glad he didn't get you anything.

        Because being with him was the best gift you could've ever asked for.

(Insert vomiting and cringing here.)

(Fuck you never thought you would be THIS gross and disgusting and loving about any human being in your life after your miserable string of awful break-ups.)

(Yet there you were, with your very own prince charming.)

(Yup, that was it, you guys would be watching The Christmas Prince on Netflix.)

        You showed your appreciation by getting on the tips of your toes and pecking him on the lips, the little wrinkle of confusion between his forehead making you want to kiss him even more.

(How was possible for someone to be so cute slash sexy at the same damn time?)

(Seriously.)

(Ugh.)

        But then, maybe you'd been too distracted by his pouty pink lips - no chapstick or anything, you wondered how the hell he managed to get them always so soft and puffy and kissable - to check the oven...

        And the whole room started to smell a bit smokey.

        And look a bit smokey.

        "Fuck, my Pinterest cookies!" You squealed, startling him.

        You were sort of thankful your fire alarm wasn't working so well, because if the firemen showed up because you almost burned your kitchen down, your landlord would have (even more) reasons to hate you.

        "It looks... Edible." Your boyfiend said matter of fact, poking one of your cookies at the tray with the tip of his fingers with brows furrowed.

        They looked like baby alien fetus.

(Edible, in some outer galaxy cultures, probably.)

        "Want to try them?" You knew by the raise of his eyebrow that it was a challenge, a thing you rarely passed.

        Daringly, you got one - dropping it back to the tray because damn they were hot -, trying it again after a few seconds of you two staring at each other with "Who Shall Quit First" eyes.

        Was he going to make you eat them first?

        By the fake tight ass smile he was giving you, he was...

        So with the biggest grin you could muster, you squeaked "Merry Christmas baby! I made these for you! Hope you like them!"

(Or at least don't get food poisoning and die! Please don't get food poisoning and die! I kinda really really really really really like you!)

(And if you die because of me slash my cookies your fans will murder me!)

        With a small gulp, he picked one of the alien fetus cookies, shaking it off so they wouldn't be "too hot and burn his tongue" for about three minutes.

        You kinda knew he was trying to make as many tiny pieces of it fall out so he'd eat as less of a cookie as possible, but you didn't call him out on it because oh well, he was at least going to eat a teeny bit of them.

        And in the end, after a bit of fake awing "Oh, tastes so good babe" and maybe spitting on a napkin when you turned around to throw the dirty dishes on the sink, he did eat your alien fetus cookies.

        What made him the best boyfriend slash Christmas present ever.

        And after drinking maybe a bit too much wine and watching The Christmas Prince, he drunkenly vowed to never ever give you anything cooking related - as the cookies now rested in peace in your trashcan, on top of your ugly ass glittery card -, and that vow would be proved to be a gift that kept on giving.

(I mean, it would give stomach aches and calls to the fire fighters and be a total waste of ingredients, so you were cool with that.)

(And even if he never gave you anything at all, he dealt with your craziness, your PMSing, you overreacting whenever you let your - very expensive - makeup fall onto the floor, never watched Game of Thrones episodes without you and always let you eat the biggest last slice of cheesecake.)

        And if that wasn't much of a proof of real, true love, you had no idea of what the hell it could be.

           And that was the greatest gift of all.

(Cue to cringing due to cheesyness again.)

-------

MERRY CHRISTMAS U GUYSSSSSSSSS!

Hope y’all have a fantastic one and find all you wanted under the tree! ooh and if you liked it pls don’t forget to click on that like button (i’ve been watching too many youtube vids send help)

lots lots of love

Gabe

ps: i’d like to dedicate this to my favorite humans on earth victoria, nina and lari, who are still my friends even after i’ve been through probably 30 different mental breakdowns this year, love you guise so muchhhhhhhh thanks for always encouraging me to write!!! oh and if you haven’t read my stories based on them you can find them all here 

[alex-guerin]

Last night I didn't get to sleep at all No, no I lay awake and watched until the morning light Washed away the darkness of the lonely night ... But more and more I find The dreams I left behind Are somehow too real to replace

Oh last night I didn't get to sleep at all No, no The sleeping pill I took was just a waste of time I couldn't close my eyes cuz you were on my mind And last night I didn't get to sleep No I didn't get to sleep at all!

Read under the cut for happy flailings and giddiness!

Literally me. Because I legit got zero fucking sleep last night cuz my brain just kept going back to Jason and sending me mental pictures of his smile and eyes and how adorable he looks coming into the cooler without his jacket or hoodie on and he’s got his arms kinda buried in his snowpants. Gads. I swear I’m in freaking love. The entire day, once 4:30 hit, I was a grinning dope and literally was unable to eat cuz the butterflies in my stomach kept trying to launch off with it and my heart. I was standing at my freezer locker when I saw a familiar orange hat go by on a fork truck and I was done for. Dopey smile the whole way to lunch cuz Jason had arrived for his shift. So I texted my mom during lunch telling her, “...I hate that an orange ballcap can bring such a dopey grin to my face. An orange ballcap going by on a fork truck. Yep. I have a biiiiiig problem!!” And she just texted back laughing at me! 

I’d also been trying to figure out how I could find out his last name without being weird about it. Had finally settled on I’d ask my buddy on second shift if he’d be able to do some sleuthing for me. He’s crushing majorly on one of the guys on my shift, so I figured Brandon would be my go to to find info out for me and not judge me on it. Well, I walked into the building tonight, clocked in, and glanced to the first shift time cards and there, right in front, nothing blocking it from view, was a time card that said Jason Stobaugh and I went, “AH! O.O” Some how my piss poor brain instantly memorized that spelling even though I’m dyslexic and horrible at spelling to begin with. But that I was spelling to myself the whole night, including to the point of writing Alyssa Stobaugh on the back of my load sheet. Yeah, I sunk that low. LOL! But, later, I saw a list of birthdays for September up in the lunch room and there was another Jason listed, so, I wasn’t sure which was him until after I got back to the cooler and was working a bit and one of the first shift cleaning guys came in and was talking to me and I just casually was like, “Oh hey, Tyler. What’s Jason’s last name?” Tyler kinda looked at me like I was nuts for a second and then went, “Uh, I know it starts with a S, but I’m not sure what it is. ...whyyyyy?” I played it cool and shrugged and went, “I’m just curious. I know your last name, and a few other people’s last names on first back here, but hell, I didn’t even know his name was Jason until I’d heard someone call him that. So, I was just curious.” I fiiiiiiinally have a bit more info on my adorable, quiet Jason! Sadly, I’ve already looked, if he has a facebook page, he has it hidden. Cuz of the four or five that pop up with that name, none of them are him. 

He spent most of the night running shipments into the freezer, but oh God, the few times he came into the cooler were basically the highlight of my utterly sleep deprived night. No, no, correction, getting to talk to him and make him smile and laugh again were the highlights of my night! I’m seriously making it my life goal to make him smile and laugh every day. Thus, I am never skipping work again. Ever. I was almost afraid tonight I wouldn’t get to talk to him, not even just our usual passing off labels and being all, “Here ya go,” “Thanks.” BUT! I got my chance when I knew shipments had come in and he was putting stuff away, so I figured he’d be the person to ask about a product the computer was telling me was a markout (nowhere in the warehouse, whatsoever) before I did anything with it. So, as he was starting to leave the cooler, I kinda stepped up with the paper in my hand I had the product info written down on and went, “Hey Jason!” He stopped and waited and oh sweet Jesus! Lemme tell you! I’mma tell you a thing here! I cannot for the life of me make and keep eye contact with people while I’m talking to them. I can’t do it. I get all shifty and uncomfortable and awkward, right? I zeroed in on those eyes and got ‘em locked in and good Lord his eyes are to fucking die for!!! Especially out from behind his glasses (he hadn’t put them back on yet after having been in the freezer). Oh fuck me please???? I dunno how, but I kept my eyes locked to his the entire time I asked him if he’d gotten a shipment of the FairLife 2% milk in. At first all I got was a headshake and closed mouth “hm-uh” which was almost a disappointment until I had kinda started to nod and turn back for the computer and heard him go, “We were supposed to get one last week, I think, but because of the hurricanes a lot of our shipments are being delayed. So, we should be getting it maybe next week I think?” The fact that I remember what he told me is rather surprising considering how in my head all I kept screaming was, “HOW ARE YOUR EYES SO FUCKING GORGEOUS?! HOW IS THIS FAIR?!?! THIS ISN’T FAIR!! OMG YOU’RE SAYING QUITE A BIT TO ME! DON’T BE A DOOF, LYSSA! DON’T BE A DOOF!!!” I nodded and started to scoot out of his way so he could get by me and turned it into kind of a little playful dance thing as I spun back around to face him again going, “Oh hey! My favorite words then! Markout!” Which got me my first laugh and smile of the night as he nodded and continued heading out. 

Then later I needed product pulled down for my guys to pick from like, right the fuck now, so I didn’t have time to run out and get our backstocker guy to pull it down. I’d seen Jason come in to put some more stuff away so I went hurrying to his fork truck, waited for him to finish before I caught his attention again.

“Hey Jason? Could I maybe borrow you for just a second, please?”

He stopped and looked over at me and was like, “Sure. What’cha need?”

“Could I get you to pull some muffins down for me just real quick?”

“Yeah, absolutely.”

Now, I hadn’t wanted to ask him to do that for me cuz I knew he was busy and honestly, the first and last time I’d asked him to pull product down for me was moooooooooooonths ago and he kinda made a big deal about it (to be fair, he was new -- I think... -- and was busy trying to get his own stuff done at the time). So we headed into the “muffin room”, I pointed out which one needed to be pulled down and I stood there and waited until he brought the pallet down and put it in its spot, I thanked him, “Thank you very much, Jason.” 

“Yeah, not a problem.” Got a bit of a smile and off he went.

And there’s me, standing in front of this pallet of lemon cakes, fighting back the urge to grin like a massive idiot as I pulled a couple boxes loose, clutched them to my chest and went scurrying back to my computer and what I’d been stacking at the time. I think next time I brave to ask him to pull something down for me, I’mma walk right up to his fork truck, fold my arms over the side of it, rest my chin on my arms and look up at him. Just to see what kind of reaction I get. :D 

Honestly, with as sleep deprived as I was tonight, my filters were down pretty damn low. I don’t know how I didn’t do something ridiculous like call him darlin’ or something, which I tend to call everyone back in the cooler dear or darlin’. I almost did! I was once again waiting as he was putting some product away, mostly just watching him but making it look like I was paying attention to what he was doing and everything so I knew where he was going so I didn’t risk stepping behind him while he was backing up or something. And for a while my guys were constantly in his way. They were leaving carts in the middle of aisles, stepping out in front of him or just walking backwards and not paying any attention at all as he was trying to get back out again. So, when he finally noticed me and motioned that I could scoot by him, I did and went, “Da---dude, I am so sorry my guys keep getting in your way, today!” WHICH earned me smile and laugh number two as he shook his head and went, “You’re fine. Don’t worry about it.” 

I was legit so sleep deprived that I was changing the lyrics to “I Want Candy” and “Hey Mickey” to “I want Jason” and “Oh Jason you so fine, you so fine you blow my mind, hey Jason! Hey Jason!” and was singing them out loud to myself. I’m sure someone had to have heard me. Luckily, no one said anything about it. I could have easily have asked him if he was single or for his phone number and probably not have batted an eye or even kicked myself later for it, I was that sleep deprived. I didn’t though. Dunno how, but I didn’t.

My favorite pastime now has become Jason watching. I ain’t even sorry, but man, it’s gonna get me into trouble one of these days. Literally any time he came into the cooler I basically stopped what I was doing to watch him and get this dopey, silly grin on my face. I was stacking a truck and he came in. He was in the other aisle. I couldn’t even really see him just his fork truck and I stopped and watched and giggled and got all goofy feeling inside. And my favorite part was when he’d brought a pallet of milk in to restock and it was too tall to fit wherever he had wanted to put it so he’s trying to pull these crates and cases of milk off the top...dude is only freakin’ 5ft5 at most. I swear me and him are exact same height. I swore he was gonna drop one of those cases on his head! He looked so silly and adorable stretching on his toes to reach crates and his fingers just brushing over them cuz he was just that much too short to really reach them. Oh God, I couldn’t stop laughing. It was just so damned cute! 

Anyway, so, towards the end of the night, we were basically done picking and I was scrambling to get things checked since management decided to be dumbasses once again and needlessly sent me newbies who didn’t know what was happening and everything. Well, newbies done fucked shit up is what they did. So, I was trying to get one of the stops straightened out when I heard the printer start going off next to me again. Look over, and there’s Jason’s labels getting printed. I started folding them and went, “Fuck it. Jason, you’re adorable, but I’m not doing this right now.” So I let them drop and tried to continue, except they kept printing and printing and I was like, “GUH! FINE!” Dropped what I was doing and quickly started folding them -- all while my buddy Josh is standing there next to me laughing at my struggle to get them folded and my mutterings about Jason being adorable as fuck and he was lucky he was so damned cute. I’d confessed to Josh earlier in the shift about how my mom was laughing at me cuz I’m such a coward and how I’ve seemed to developed quite the crush on “the first shift receiving supervisor”. In fact, apparently my desire to not let half the department know about this was forgotten by me today in my sleep deprivation as Josh was in fact the second person I’d told about it. First was the stacker on second shift and she gave me such a look that I regretted telling her. Anyway, so, I got the labels folded up and set aside, got back to doing my stuff when Jason rolls in on his fork truck, disappears down an aisle, and a minute or two later starts back out again. I grabbed the stack of labels, jumped over the cart that was in my way and went darting after him. “JASON!” He stopped, turned, I held ‘em out and in our true way, had our typical, “Here ya go!” “Oh, thanks!” “Yup! No prob!” He didn’t even know they were printed. His assistant had printed them. Well, I was sick of assistant boy coming in to get them. Every time I heard the door open after labels had been printed, I’d look back all smiles and see it wasn’t Jason I’d get all disappointed. 

I didn’t see him much after that, but then again, I was also busy trying to get shit stacked cuz the rest of the warehouse was waiting on us again. So, eventually, freezer/cooler crew all got sentenced to cleaning the freezer, except for me. I had to keep stacking. So, I kept stacking and singing to myself and dancing around a bit. And I don’t remember if it was while I was working on stacking, or after the last truck had been taken out and I was doing some clean up of my own that I heard the printer start up again and sure enough, more of Jason’s labels were printed. And, being alone in the cooler, I was cool with talking to myself, so I was like, “I swear to God, if he comes in here, it’s gonna be really hard not to go, ‘Ah, the sunshine of my day!’” And no sooner had I said that, that the cooler door opened, I looked under the rack, and there were these short legs scurrying in and I just got even more dopey cuz fuck yeah! Me and him were alone in the cooler! I WAS GONNA FUCKING TALK TO HIM! So I did. He grabbed his labels and started to leave so I went, “So’s it gonna be another 16hr day for you today?” And he stopped in his tracks, turned and got this big grin and laughed, shrugged and made a show of thinking for a second and went, “Eh, maybe only about a 14 hour day, today.” 

“Hey! That works!” 

“Yeah, ya know, shave a couple hours off, it’s not so bad.” And then I couldn’t fucking believe it, but he reversed course and started walking over to where I was standing so we could joke a bit more about the long hours. So I asked him if Wednesday ended up being a 16hr day like he’d feared it was gonna be, which got another adorable thinky face before, “Actually, I think it was fifteen and a half.” Which got me laughing and shrugged and went, “Hey! It wasn’t sixteen! That’s a whole half-hour less than you thought!” And mooooooore laughter from him. God, I’m fucking addicted to his laughter and smiles! And I’m so glad it was just us in there cuz I’m not sure if he would have come over if anyone else was there. Plus, I felt so damned special, I guess, that he took even just the minute or two we spent joking about the hours together out of his day to come over to me instead of stand at the edge of the racking he’d been when I called out to him at first. It felt like a great end to my day, and it was. Except I got to see him oooooooooooooone last time before I left! 

Was heading out with a dumpster, my gear in hand and half blind cuz my glasses were fogged up. The main door rolled up, I started out with the dumpster just as he was heading in with his fork truck. He reversed course so I could head out and scoot past and our eyes met a couple times before I just smiled and went, “Have a good weekend, Jason!” And even though he had his freezer gear on so half his face was covered from his freezer mask, I saw his eyes brighten and crinkle in the corners so I knew he was smiling again and got, “Thanks! You too!” 

And it has occurred to me that, I know his name now for sure, but I don’t know as though he actually knows mine. So, Monday I’mma fix that. Not entirely sure how yet, no doubt in some way that’ll make him laugh, probably hold his stack of labels out to him and then yank them back real quick and be like, “Ya know, it dawned on me Friday that I know your name cuz I heard someone call you one day, but I’ve never actually introduced myself to you. Hi. I’m Alyssa.” Just so maybe, MAYBE, I can finally hear him say my name. I may also hang a sign above my head that says, “You’re beautiful. Will you marry me? I love you!” ...no no...maybe not that. Though, I’m horrible at this whole flirting thing, and even worse at figuring out when someone is flirting with me, so, I’m not exactly sure how to go about getting my point across of, “Hey, I think you’re attractive. I’d really like to get to know you, please?” without it crossing into the whole sexual harassment area at work. If we still had the “Share a Coke” bottles in the break room, I’d buy one that says “Jason” and leave it back on his computer with a note: To help you get through another 16hr day! But...I dunno...I don’t wanna embarrass him and I don’t wanna seem weird. Especially since I still don’t know if he’s completely unattached to anyone yet or not. God I hope he is. I really, really hope he is. 

If you managed to get this far, does anyone have any clues or tips on how to find out? I don’t know what to do!