Chapter two: Every Rose Has its Thorn

Nakata

I stood in the department store, slowly putting a short shirt onto a hanger. 

German music softly played in the background, and even though I kind of sucked at speaking German, I could at least understand that the main singer was lamenting about Lost Love.

Outside, it was raining rather hard. Our store was right outside the sidewalk, and  while usually the doors were wide open, this time they were closed.

I walked over to the box full of even more clothes and sighed. What did I do to deserve this? I thought. About a couple years ago, my life had been great. My mother and father were both Japanese, but had moved to America, and thet was where I was born.

At the age of twenty I had moved to LA and began an acting career. However, acting was a horrible choice for an occupation, as it had a terrible impact on my physical and mental health. I quit my job, and then moved to Chicago, were I got a marketing job for a cereal company.

One day, I ended up on a business trip to Europe, and fell in love with it so much that I decided to live there permanently, much to my parent's dismay.

And now I was here. Living in a small apartment, with a crappy job at a department store. Fun.

Suddenly, I heard the door open, and a man walked in.

He had short blond hair, freckles, and was wearing an ugly rain jacket that he probably thought was cool.

"'Sup?" He asked in German.

"UGH." I said. This was none other than Herbert, probably the most annoying person in the entire world.

Herbert was in love with me, that much I knew. I still remembered the first day that he'd come to the store- He was going on a date.... at least until he saw me.

At first, I was charmed- I thought that he was a cute guy who liked me, and I liked him back. It was like that for at least a month... until his true side shone through. It turned out that he was annoying, weird, loud, and liked to sing weird songs whenever, wherever. 

He was seemingly convinced that I still liked him, despite the emphasis from me that I didn't. But he still came. 

I tried to squish myself into the clothes, but it didn't work. Herbert saw me and came running. I groaned.

"Here." he said, and pulled out a (rather beaten up) rose from his pocket.

"Here," he said. "For my rose."

"Ew." I said. "I'm not taking that. No way,"

Herbert pointed the rose at my face, waving it. It was clear he wanted me to keep it. 

"Take it," he said.

"Fine." I snatched it out of his grip as fast as I could. The moment I did, however, I cringed.

A thorn was stabbing into my finger. 

"Wow, thanks." I said, quickly laying the rose onto the nearest table. "What a kind gift, dude."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" He said. "You know what they say. Every rose has its thorn."

"Um, that's, like, only in that one song," I scoffed. "But whatever."

"But whatever? Whatever???" He asked, quite annoyed. "What do you mean by whatever??"

I ignored him, and went back to work. "Bye," I said pointedly.

Herbert took the hint. "Bye." He scowled and walked out the door. Just when I thought he was gone, however, he looked back at me and said, "See you tomorrow, honey!"

I inwardly gagged.

With that note, he left, walking out into the rain, which was now coming down in sheets.

"Ew." I shivered. 

"What do you mean, ew?" My co-worker, Dianne, popped up next to me. I jumped.

"Have you not seen how damn hot he is? How cute he is? How dreamy he is?!" Dianne snapped. "Honestly, though."

"Are you crazy?!" I asked, and whipped out my hand, accidentally knocking over a lamp. It crashed to the floor, and Dianne screamed.

"Seriously?!" She snapped. "Ugh. Shattered light bulbs are very dangerous. I'm calling poison control- you're cleaning that up." 

"ME?!" I yelled. 

"You knocked it over." Dianne said.

I rolled my eyes, and Dianne pressed the rose up to her nose, and walked away.

I cursed as I brushed up the shattered lightbulb into a dustpan. 

It really wasn't my day.