WEDNESDAY (at Bargain Mart)
"I hate this place," Peter mumbled, as he stocked cans of soup.
Peter used to love his job at Bargain Mart. He would show up early or work late and take on extra duties just to help out - but not anymore. Since Sunday morning when Alicia broke up with him, he had already missed two days of work and he had shown up late every day this week. To anyone who paid attention to him, Peter had given up.
He had slumped into a depression since the break-up. Not only was Peter slacking off at work, but he was also neglecting duties at home. His mother seemed to be the only one who noticed his change in behavior.
His mother regularly checked on him to make sure he was doing alright. Peter would stay in his room all day, only leaving the house to go to work. She was concerned about him. She quickly grew to despise Alicia - who she blamed for Peter's current state. Every day since Sunday, she contemplated picking up the phone, calling Alicia, and cursing her out
Since Peter kept to himself, he hadn't discussed the details of the split with her. The only details she had were the things that were shouted by Peter in his room that morning. She knew that Alicia had fooled around on Peter and it made her angry. How could she do this to her poor son?
Peter took a deep sigh and put the last can on the shelves. His manager, Derek, approached him - startling him. Derek was someone who was impossibly optimistic. His attitude had rubbed off on Peter, but now it seemed to do nothing but annoy him.
"Hey Peter! How ya doin'? The shelves look great!" he chirped.
"Yeah...thanks," Peter mumbled.
"Say, I could really use your help, buckaroo. See, we're short staffed this weekend and I was wondering if..."
Peter cut him off, "No. I can't come in. I have something I'm doing."
"Oh...well, uh...nevermind then. I was...going to tell you that we let Gladys go this morning so we needed someone to..."
"Yeah, I can't do it," he repeated, cutting him off again.
"Alrighty tighty, I'll find someone else, Peter. No problem. Keep up the good work," Derek said, patting Peter on the back before walking away.
"Fucking asshole," Peter said, under his breath.
Meanwhile in Tommy's car, Alicia was upset that Tommy was driving to Bargain Mart.
"Why are you going there?" she asked.
Tommy chuckled, "Because I need some things. It's OK."
"No, it's not OK. You know Peter works there!"
"Yeah, so?"
She folded her arms and pouted, "You're doing it to start trouble. I've had enough trouble today. I don't want anymore."
"I'm not starting anything, babe. Chill out, alright? Look, you don't even have to get out of the car. You can stay in here, while I go inside and get what I need. OK?"
"Fine," was Alicia's response.
The rest of the car ride to Bargain Mart was quiet. This was the first time that Tommy and Alicia had had problems since they started dating Sunday night. Alicia didn't think it was a fight, but it definitely was their first disagreement. She wasn't quite sure if she believed what Tommy had to say. After all, some of his friends sent pictures from her gangbang Sunday night to Peter to torture him. Maybe he did come for some groceries, but maybe he also wanted to mess with Peter?
Tommy pulled up to Bargain Mart. He parked along the side of the building.
"Last chance. You coming in?"
Alicia looked at him and sighed, "No...I'm staying here."
"Fine. Suit yourself. Need anything?"
She didn't answer him. Tommy shrugged his shoulders and shut the car door.
Peter looked at the clock and found some relief - it was five minutes until his break. He couldn't wait. He finished unloading the last box of laundry detergent on to the shelves and walked into the back of the store.
"Fuck," he said quietly.
It was his co-workers, Marty and Lewis. He never liked them, even when he loved his job. Marty and Lewis were inseparable. They were always together, no matter what they did. They were both around his age. This meant that they went to high school with Peter.
They picked on him at school and at Bargain Mart. "Peter Peter Pecker-Eater" was one of the thousands of different childish nicknames the two came up with for him.
Marty had short black hair, which he styled with entirely too much gel. He was short, around 5'7", and lean. Lewis was almost identical to Marty, except that he had brown hair and was slightly taller.
"Hey Petey, what's up? Don't you have work to do?" Lewis teased.
"I'm not in the mood guys. I'm going on my break," he replied.
The two stopped him, so he couldn't walk passed them.
"Easy, Petey, don't get your panties in a bunch. We're just having fun with you. Come on, where's your sense of humor?" Marty asked sarcastically.
Peter didn't humor them with a response and instead pushed passed them. As he walked to the break room, he could hear them laughing at him.
In the car, Alicia waited for Tommy to come back. She was flipping through the stations on the radio trying to find something to listen to to distract her from where she was. She felt almost as uncomfortable as she felt earlier with Ricardo. This was too much for her to deal with in one day.
When she found a heavy metal song that she liked, so she turned it up, put her seat back, and closed her eyes.
Peter normally ate his lunch inside, but he had started taking his breaks outside lately. He didn't want to be inside any longer than he had to now. He grabbed his lunch out of the refrigerator and stepped outside.
He opened his bag and pulled out a sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water. It was a pitiful excuse for a lunch and he knew it. He wasn't going to get full from eating it, but his food was the last thing on his mind. He didn't care what he ate, as long as he got away from the store for a few moments.
As he started eating, he saw the back door fly open - it was Marty and Lewis again.
Peter sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Hey buddy, we thought we'd take our breaks with you! How do you like that?" Lewis laughed.
The two sat on either side of Peter on the bench he was sitting on.
"What do you have there? Mommy make ya a lunch?" Marty teased.
Peter remained quiet. His way of dealing with this situation was to ignore them and hope they would go away.
It wasn't working.
Lewis grabbed Peter's bottle of water, while Marty grabbed his apple.
"I'm hungry," Marty said. "I'm thirsty," replied Lewis.
