Return of the Sun - 7. Chapter 7

Charity shops. It seemed that Hailsham was made up with about half of those second hand stores that were miniature versions of the Salvation Army store. They put a logo of an illness research society on the door, collect junk and resold it to unsuspecting passers by as the best deal out there.

Scott huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of his face as he stood wearing a suit that was a size too large and put together somewhere back in nineteen ninety four. He swam in it, but his Gran was adamant that if he was to find a decent job, then he would need a decent suit. It didn't seem to matter what he thought, so he allowed himself to be dragged around, an over sized ken doll to be dressed and undressed on a whim.

Gran had been making steady additions to his wardrobe over the last few weeks; he would find she had left neatly folded shirts and trousers on the end of his bed whenever she went out shopping. Nothing fashionable, but all of it smart, she was making sure he had what he needed to be professional. He felt for certain it was her way of ensuring a young man of his class looked respectable.

"Ow!" he exclaimed as he was poked with a pushpin into a nether region. He glanced back at the overweight old clerk who tittered at him in apology and was taking entirely too long adjusting the lines of the suit.

Gran had insisted that the grey suit was perfect; everyone wore black of pin stripes she reasoned, so grey would make him stand out. His uncle, you see, had found a nice grey suit for a wedding in this very store and he had made an impression with it... He rolled his eyes back, bit his lip and endured.

She was right, and he knew it, it was really a nice gesture, but it was a little too much fuss, he could have bought a nice blazer, a couple of pairs of slacks and have been just fine, it was an awful lot of work for just one suit.

Gran brushed the lapels down and stood back, "Very nice, yes that will do nicely." She stated firmly, "we'll have that."

Scott looked at himself in the mirror; staring back at him was a man in a business suit. The sudden realization that he was no longer a kid hit him. Here he was getting ready to go to work for the first time in his life, the real world, not that sheltered existence of university or high school in the States. And it was sheltered; he had no idea what he was going to do next. He had skills, but wasn't educated to do anything specific. And he realized how totally unready he was for it.

He changed out of the suit, pulling his slacks back on and loosening the collar of his shirt. He wasn't even dressed like himself, he had figured to put a shirt on to give the proper affect when he tried on suits. He looked so much older, so like any other Brit. No jeans, no Henley's no jacket... Just a stranger staring back at him.

Gran was steering him through the town centre, essentially leaving him alone to his thoughts. It was a market day, and so town was bustling with the farmers from the various farms in the region, all stopping into town to buy and sell livestock. Hailsham was one of the oldest and last remaining open markets in Sussex, so the heavy transport trucks with livestock pathetically bleating or mooing in their containers in the back would occasionally rumble by with that distinctive smell of the farm.

"You're quiet today," Gran said eyeing him over her glasses as they angled towards the Boots pharmacy. Gran was a diabetic, and the regular trips to renew her prescriptions were a standard part of the week.

"I was just thinking," Scott admitted, stopping to let a pregnant woman wielding a pram like a deadly weapon go ahead of him.

"About work?" Gran asked him waiting for him to catch up.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what to do."

"What do you like doing?" she pointed to the shopping baskets by the door, "Grab one of those would you dear?"

Scott picked one up, holding onto it, used to his role as general baggage mule on these shopping trips, it was a way to pay her back for everything she was doing for him. "I don't know, I mean I just never gave it much thought."

Gran was picking up items she needed and loading the basket as they walked, Scott staring in fascination at the nylon stockings, a fresh pair for each day, it was almost extravagant.

"Well you're father got a job working at the glass cutters in the industrial park. Your Uncle Ron is in the garage, and your uncle Nigel worked in the printers down Diplocks way." She eyed him carefully, taking in his small stature, "But you're not really right for that kind of work. Have you though about working in a shop?"

"I could do that," Scott replied, "We could pop over to the Friday Ad store and ask Serena if they're hiring."

"The Friday Ad, of course." Gran exclaimed excitedly, "They advertise lots of positions in there, we'll pick one up on our way through."

The Friday Ad is a classified magazine; packed full of small ads selling everything from used sofa sets to cars. It was one of those staples of south coast life. When he was little he had always flipped through it dreaming about the really neat cars, he never thought he would now be looking through it for work.

"Do you need a new toothbrush?" she asked holding up one and distracting him from his thoughts.

He blinked, "I have one."

"Yes but it's a little old," Gran said already adding the item to the basket, "Don't worry, you'll figure out what you want to do, get settled and be back on your feet in no time." She gave him a reassuring smile, "You're a bright boy, you wouldn't have been accepted to University if you weren't. We just need to find you a nice job to get you started."

"Mmhmm," Scott nodded absently as his eyes wandered to a particularly nice looking young man who was bending down for a hair bleaching kit. He had to drag his eyes away before his Gran noticed, "Well I've got a good resume and with a little luck..."

Gran was oblivious, "That's good dear," she led the way up to the prescription counter, "You just need to have a little belief in yourself."

The blonde brushed past him, and Scott was certain he had felt fingers brush his hand, the Blonde nodded to him as he stood in front of the Aspirin display. Scott wasn't certain but he was sure that...

"Oh I do Gran," he responded to her comment over his shoulder, "It's only a matter of time."

"You're still young," she continued leaning in to hand her prescription across the counter, "You should take your time, and find something you like."

The blonde picked up a bottle of Aspirin and eyed it suspiciously before glancing to make sure Scott was still looking. When he saw that he was, he blushed a smile and looked away, dropping the bottle into his basket.

"I absolutely agree," Scott continued, breaking out into a grin as he endeavoured to play it cool, resting a hand on the edge of a display stand. Unfortunately it hadn't been clipped in correctly and he leapt as the whole stand came crashing down in an explosion of bottles and bouncing white pills. He stared at it in shock, standing amidst the total devastation he had just wrought with his carelessness.

"Scott!" Gran exclaimed holding a hand to her chest and trying to work off the shock he had just given her.

He held up his hands, "I didn't...I mean... It just..." he was thoroughly humiliated and just stood there embarrassed.

The Blonde was staring at him, grinning from ear to ear, laughing at him. Scott was half tempted to blame him, after all if he hadn't been so flirty he wouldn't have tried to act cool and the shelf wouldn't have fallen down.

"What were you doing?" Gran asked catching her wits and collecting back her composure.

"It's okay," the store manager stated rushing forward with a couple of assistants to begin picking up bottles, "It does that occasionally, I'm so sorry Mrs. Walker is your boy okay?"

"Aside from a case of frayed nerves," Gran said, "I should be fine. Scott?"

He looked down at the pile of rubble and up at her, "Something tells me I shouldn't work in a shop." He said with a grin.

* * *

Serena thought it was hilarious, laughing as he explained the story to her as she worked in the stationary store. She rested her elbows on the counter of the deserted store looking over at him. "Did you at least ask the guy out?"

"I couldn't," Scott said, "not with Gran standing right there, and after I made a complete ass out of myself..."

"Arse," she corrected, "If you're going to live here you're going to start pronouncing it properly."

He gave her a miffed look as he corrected himself, "arse then, if I am going to make a complete arse out of myself I am not about to try chatting up some complete stranger." He had left Gran to recover in the local teashop using the time to dart across the road into the stationary shop to get a Friday Ad. Serena had been glad of the company.

Serena grinned at him;"Oh I just think it would have been nice to see you snog him in the middle of Boots."

Scott screwed up his nose, "Did I mention my Gran was there?"

Serena straightened up and began to reorganize a display of pens, "At least it would be some excitement round here." She smiled at him, "I think you kissing a bloke would be interesting to see 'cause I still don't believe you're gay."

Scott folded his arms, "that is only because you have the hots for me..." He replied rolling the Friday Ad and tucking it under his arm.

"Yeah, I want to shag you rotten," she said tossing back her mass of curls and leaning on the counter again and fixing him with a large smile, "But seriously though, there isn't exactly a gay pub in Hailsham, I know there is one in Eastbourne but we're right close to Brighton, there's like a million there."

He looked back at her, "Brighton?"

She grinned, "Want to go?"

"When?" he asked looking about him to see if anyone would over hear.

"Friday night, babe." She said, "I mean you come out with us, least we can do is go out with you one night to prove you're a poof."

"Don't call me that." Scott said, his dopey grin on his face, he knew she was just teasing him, but he still didn't like it, "alright we'll go if it will satisfy your curiosity."

"That's the badger!" she stated firmly.

Scott blinked, "What does a badger have to do with...?"

Serena stared at him, "You know, that's the dogs bollocks, that's the badger... It means its great." She shook her head, "Should I buy you one of those little pocket translators?"

"I don't think they are programmed to cope with English slang," he replied honestly, "I mean I think it would have a conniption after the first five minutes. I know I feel like that sometimes."

She shook her head at him, curls following the head a second or two later. He didn't know how she got it to do that, stay so tightly curled with so much volume, but it always made her look so exotic. He loved that about her, she was also so vibrant like that girl off of Trek, Deanna or something. He really hadn't watched enough of it to know anymore, but the woman off of it had always struck him as beautiful.

"Well I have Friday off, so we could go, buy you something to wear..." she had that 'shopping' fever again, and she was always looking for an excuse to drag him with her.

"I don't know I..." he began cautiously.

"It's pay day, I'm going to buy you a real out fit as well. None of this nineteen fifties retro look you have on at the moment, I mean real clothes." The door clattered as a man walked in to buy some printer paper; he nodded to Scott before paying and walking out again.

"Wow so there are customers." Scott said in amazement.

She threw a pen lid at him, "Of course there are, they come to see me."

Scott caught the pen lid and set it back down on the counter, "Just teasing you, look I should be getting back before Gran start's to wonder where I went to."

"So we're going on Friday night?" She pressed.

"Yeah," he replied hand on the door handle, "it should be a lot of fun."