Chapter Text
“Just try to remember that something good always comes right around the corner after a bad change, even if it takes a long time to happen" Charlie grimaced as the partial memory flashed through her head like a bolt of lightning and knocked her current train of thought off the tracks. Almost instinctively, she nearly asked aloud the same question that had nearly gotten her in trouble with her aunt's friend who'd delivered that little "nugget of wisdom" all those years ago.
'How can it be just around the corner but still take so long to get here?'
The recollection of her aunt's response to Charlie's childish query came next; one of her subdued smiles before sipping at her seemingly ever-present mug as her friend frustratedly attempted to explain the meaning behind her statement. But like most things at that tender age of seven, the explanation failed to help Charlie understand it and thus she never even bothered to commit it to memory.
Not that it would have mattered much if she had, despite the overall noble intentions behind the advice, it had failed to leave any sort of meaningful impact on sorrows. Back when she'd first moved in with aunt Jen, almost everyone she'd met seemed to have some recommendation for how she ought to live her life after losing her father.
Her aunt's friends had spent so much time trying to make Charlie feel happy that her continued melancholy made her feel like an ungrateful little girl who was rudely shoving aside their continued kindness. Especially since in hindsight, there may have been some truth to some of the adult's sympathetic advice after all.
Throughout most of her life, Charlie had grown accustomed to sudden and huge changes which were then followed by periods of nothing happening. Usually, it took a few years before any sort of really meaningful changes actually occurred in her life.
It was a routine that she'd grown to complacently accept, unready for any major shake-ups like the one that had happened to her so long ago. But recently she'd found that the tides of life unexpectedly started shifting faster than they'd ever had before, with the catalyst in this storm of change being her week back in Hurricane last summer. Where she'd nearly lost her life while also managing to uncover a few forgotten memories in the process.
A rather low point that had eventually resulted in something better actually happening a while later. However, Before she could fully get lost in those bittersweet memories; a sudden flash in the corner of Charlie's eyes pulled abruptly her mind out of the past and back into the rainy present.
Charlie shuddered beneath her scarf and then pulled it as tight as it could go around her face. . The distant sound of rumbling thunder finished the dispersal of her childhood memories from the forefront of her mind. She stopped walking and looked up towards the nearly pitch-black sky. Counting under her breath before a much closer rumble of thunder put a swift end to her tally.
'What a way to spend a Thursday. Should have just called it off and crawled back into bed.’ Charlie grumbled inwardly as she resumed plodding along the dampened sidewalk; her mind switching gears to curse herself earlier for ignoring John's warnings.
But even though the rainstorm was getting worse by the second, she was too far away from their apartment to turn back now so Charlie kept on moving. Walking at a pace that was just slow enough to take mental note of some of the more noticeable and unique local landmarks whilst moving briskly enough that she wasn't at any more risk of hypothermia than she already was.
Besides knowing where everything was might be useful in helping her map out a way back home. The last thing she needed was to get lost in an as-of-yet unfamiliar city; Making sure that she knew her surroundings had been one of the first things that Jen had hammered into Charlie's brain whenever she went on a trip that was going to last longer than a single day.
As she moved deeper into the downtown area, Charlie briefly flashed back to when she and John had first rolled through the now rain-soaked streets after their long cross-country journey from Utah. Their conjoined tiredness gave way to a brief moment of excited relief at the journey's end. The memory of their first time seeing the town on a more pleasant day was at odds with the typhoon that now lashed at the town.
It was then that she caught a faint sight of the colorful sign marking her journey's end. Just in time too, as the wind sharply picked up and whipped the already heavy rain into a frenzied torrent that violently blasted anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its path with a spray of ice-cold water. Charlie squealed in shock and felt another deep shiver run through her as the freezing water crashed across her body, leaving her feeling even more soaked than she already was
'Great, like I didn't already look like I walked through a waterfall, ' With a weary sigh, she continued pushing herself onward in the hope that her efforts to get to reach her destination would not be in vain.
The thought of having to return to the apartment with nothing to show for her journey wasn't one she wanted to entertain for very long, but it briefly tried to linger on just a little longer regardless of her attempts to force it away.
"That's a defeatist attitude, Charlie. Don't let it take control of you." She mumbled to herself, summarizing and repeating a few of the useful bits of advice that both Jen and her therapist had given her regarding such negative thoughts.
Her aunt had quickly manifested a very particular interest in keeping helping alleviate some of the mental troubles that had been plaguing Charlie for most of her life after she'd returned from Hurricane. Though it was something that was easier said than done thanks to the rigors of high school life and early adulthood, Charlie had felt much better after a few talks with a professional.
With his help, she'd even managed to put down some of the lingering nightmares resulting from that...experience.
After another minute of walking through the relentless downpour, Charlie looked up and found herself standing at the base of the sign she'd previously only gotten a glimpse of earlier. Even though it didn't provide any real shelter from the storm, she felt a modicum of relief standing beneath its shining gaze. The bright letters that spelled out the store's name stood out amongst the darkened sky like a lighthouse beacon out on a storm-tossed sea.
“Saver Saviors..." Charlie read aloud and turned towards the decently sized parking lot that lay just behind the sign. "Guess this is the place."
Charlie looked and saw a modestly sized supermarket-type building sitting at the other end of the parking lot. The same colorful lettering that was present on the sign above her hung over the building's entrance, albeit blown up to a much larger size. The sight of the store brought a welcoming sense of closure to Charlie's rain-soaked journey; the thought of being able to finally get out of the rain pushed her into a cautious jog across the waterlogged parking lot.
Right as her feet touched the sidewalk that lined the store's entranceway, an even closer rumble of thunder reverberated through the air around her. Charlie jumped and shot forward through the mercifully automated doors into the store's warm embrace. Charlie came to a stop just inside the entrance and reached up to carefully tug down the scarf.
As the warm atmosphere of the store began to settle over her as the clatter of the automatic doors filled her ears as they moved to close out the still-raging storm outside. If it hadn't been for the final roll of thunder as the doors came to a final stop, Charlie could have easily convinced herself that she was now standing in a comparatively new world. The interior's bright lights and warmth provided a stark contrast to the darkened skies that Charlie had just left behind her.
Once she'd managed to warm herself up enough, Charlie took a couple of exhausted steps into the store itself and looked around at the almost warehouse-like room which would hopefully soon become her place of employment. It was easy to tell that the store was laid out in a way that benefited the local college students that needed a cheap place to spend their limited budgets.
From her vantage point at the front of the store, Charlie could see that nearly all of the most essential utilities were placed towards the front of the store. Most of the foodstuff was located just to the left of the entrance, with an extensive row of industrial refrigerators just barely visible through the rows.
To their immediate right sat what Charlie saw to be several aisles of both bodily essentials and healthcare products along with some school supply stock scattered here and there along the far right side of the building. Everything else that the store had to offer seemed to be further off towards the back and beyond Charlie's line of sight.
After Charlie finished up taking in all the front area of the store, her eyes fell upon a large countertop that ran the length of the wall near the start of the food aisles that featured a small gate at the end closest to Charlie. She could see three large wooden desk-like structures on the countertop that she assumed to be where they kept the cash registers out of sight from the customers.
But even though there were three register stations in total, Charlie could only see one employee standing watch over them. Said employee was a boy who looked about a year younger then her with curly dark-brown hair with a plain white shirt underneath a black vest that had a little silver name tag attached to its right side that identified him as being named "Arty." Aside from the name tag, the only bit of visible color on him was a couple of elastic bands loosely wrapped around his right wrist that he was absentmindedly fiddling with while his dark eyes blankly stared off into the distance.
Charlie glanced around the empty store and rocked back and forth on her heels to give herself time to calm her suddenly troubled stomach. She then took a couple of controlled breaths through her nose, and then made her way over to the lone employee. But as she moved closer to the worker, Charlie noticed that he didn't even seem to notice she was there. In fact, It was only when Charlie stood nearly face to face with him that Arty bothered turning his dark eyes in her direction.
"Welcome to Savor Savers," He droned, "My name is Arty, how may I be of assistance to you today?"
"Good Morning, my name's Charlie Rosebury and I was asked to come in for an interview today," Charlie asked with a polite smile. "Do you know if Mr. Fitzgerald is in right now?"
To Charlie's dismay, Arty remained stubbornly silent in the face of her questions. Though despite what she initially thought, it wasn't because he'd tuned her out as she'd initially suspected. The teenager's face had suddenly gone red as gazed he suddenly looked up at her with a suddenly life-filled expression. Before Charlie had a chance to fully take in this new look, Arty had abruptly turned his expression downward towards the countertop and hurriedly mumbled out a reply.
"Oh.., I think you're gonna need to talk to Rebecca about that. Just give me a second to call her up from wherever she's gotten off to." He let out a strained laugh as if he'd just made a joke that even he knew wasn't all that funny.
Arty leaned across the counter flicked on a microphone attached to one of the other desks and flicked an unseen switch on the device that caused a crackling sound to reverberate throughout the store. Charlie couldn't keep herself from glancing upward in an effort to see just where the noise was coming from. But before she was able to pinpoint exactly where the loudspeakers were located, Arty's voice boomed across the store like a ghost calling out from inside a dark tunnel.
"Rebecca Fitzgerald to the store entrance, Rebecca Fitzgerlad please come to the store entrance. Thank You." Arty pulled away from the microphone so suddenly that Charlie thought that the device had shocked his hand.
The expectantly cocky look on his face told a much different story though. In fact, it kind of seemed like he was expecting Charlie to be impressed with what he'd just done. As if using the intercom to order around his boss was the most amazing thing he'd ever done in his life.
Before she had the chance to think more about it, the sound of footfalls making her way towards them from down one of the aisles made her turn her head just in time to see a stony-faced woman who appeared to be in her late thirties move out from behind several shelves near the coolers.
She had a square face, apple cheeks, blue reading glasses, and long chocolate brown hair that was pulled up in a high ponytail. Attached to the black vest that she wore over a plain white shirt was another silver-colored name tag that proudly displayed the name "Rebecca," with the word "manager" written underneath in smaller text.
As Rebecca moved closer towards Charlie, her rigid expression hastily morphed into one that was a lot more pleasant than the one she'd originally worn. Yer her change in demeanor did little to hide the authoritative aura surrounding her. Which told Charlie this was someone who was not to be trifled with.
"Is something wrong Arty?" Rebecca stopped a few feet away from Charlie and addressed her subroutine with a questioning tone.
"No, but this nice girl here," Arty gestured over towards Charlie, the cocky expression having faded from his face long before Rebecca had arrived. ", says that Mr. Fitzgerald called her in for an interview today."
Arty's comment caused an involuntary flush rise to appear on Charlie's cheeks as Rebecca turned her gaze away from Arty and looked over her still soggy frame. While the person she'd spoken to over the phone had claimed to be the store owner, the authoritative presence in the woman's voice had her wondering if Rebecca was actually the one in charge.
"You're Ms. Rosebury?" Rebecca didn't even wait for Charlie to give her an answer before looking over towards the double doors that Charlie had just entered through only moments ago. "We thought that you were going to ask for a reschedule with how bad the weather's getting. Did you walk here in that mess?"
"Yeah, I was supposed to have an interview today with the owner at eleven-thirty and didn't want to miss it." Charlie mentally prayed that her voice didn't sound as taut as she thought it sounded in her head. But it was hard not to sound that way due to her tiring trip and straightened up her posture. Her mind turned back to some advice she had given her when she'd tried to get a job at the local library right after turning 16. While they had passed her for someone else, she was hopeful that her aunt's advice would prove more useful this time around.
The butterflies in her stomach were swarming in full force as she watched Rebecca's face become neutral, then stern as her mouth formed into a very thin line across her face. The older woman warily breathed before she spoke once again in a brittle voice, as though she'd already heard what Charlie had just said a thousand times before.
"Mind if I give you some advice kid?" Rebecca asked. Charlie blinked and nodded for Rebecca to continue.
"I'm going to need you to forget whoever put it in your head that you need to kiss up to us like that. Not that we don't appreciate the enthusiasm, but you don't go putting yourself in danger just to get here on the dot if there's stuff going on that's beyond your control. As long as you call us in advance, then we won't have a problem with you coming in late. Understand?"
"I understand." Charlie felt the words catch in her throat as a rush of shame rose up within her.
"Good, we don't need any suck-ups running around here." Rebecca reached out and patted the younger girl's shoulder. "Now, since you came all this way though, we should get you that interview Jeremy promised ya."
"Are you sure?" Charlie asked hastily. "I don't want to be rude and I completely understand if he's changed his plans and isn't able to see me right now."
"Oh, It'll be fine don't worry, It's not like any of us are doing much around here besides gathering dust. Sides, it'd be cruel to have you go through all that rain and not get you what you came for." Charlie felt the pressure lift off both her chest and throat as Rebecca finished her stance and looked back over towards the direction she'd just walked with her face scrunched up in thought. "
Though, I've still got a few things to do over in the frozen section so..." She trailed off in deep thought before she turned around towards the cash registers. "Arty, can you take Charlie back to Jeremy's office for me real quick?"
The young man had been trying subtly to listen to the conversation between both women and momentarily lost track of what was going on; so when Rebecca asked her question, the suddenness of it made Arty nearly jump out of his chair. He looked back and forth between the both of them for a couple of seconds as his mind tried to process what had just been asked of him. Once that was done, Arty quickly collected himself and rose up from his chair.
"Oh of course! I'd be more than happy to help our potentially new co-worker!" He said with an almost excessive amount of cheerfulness in his voice.
"Make sure you're quick about it too," Rebecca advised before she began to walk back toward the frozen section, ", I don't want to leave the checkout unattended for too long okay?"
"You got it, ma'am," Arty replied after a pause, although he'd been thinking about saying something rather snarky in response to Rebecca's order but then thought better about what he was going to say.
Once he'd finished moving around the countertop, Arty moved over towards Charlie's side as quickly as he could manage without breaking into a run. The quickness of his actions caused a few bits of nervousness to crop back up in Charlie's mind, though these worrisome were promptly ignored by the young woman. Although his shift in conduct was a little jarring to her, Charlie tried to stay positive and assume that his behavior had more to do with him finally getting to do something besides sitting behind a desk all day rather than anything to do with her.
When he finally got to Charlie's side, Arty looked as though he'd just been handed a pot of gold. He attempted to keep his excitement tampered with a couple of deep breaths before he gestured towards the back of the store.
"Shall we get going then?" He delicately asked, sounding almost as nervous as Charlie had felt when she first walked into the store.
"Uh...sure, lead the way," Charlie answered with a half-formed smile. +
Arty stepped away from Charlie and then broadly gestured for her to walk with him down the rightmost aisle of the store like he was some sort of stage magician setting up an act. Though his little performance did little to impress Charlie, who just raised a curious eyebrow before setting off down the aisle with her temporary companion. But as they walked along, Arty seemed to become more and more fidgety with each passing step until he finally had enough courage to ask Charlie a couple of questions.
“So, mind if I ask what might be a stupid question on my part?" He asked in a low, slow tone of voice. "I don't wanna sound rude but, Charlie's not really a name I think of for a girl..."
Charlie's neutral face abruptly switched to an annoyed frown at the mention of her name. She'd had questions like this asked of her so many times that she could have had John fill a whole book with all the variations of this question. But before she could give her usual response about her name to his question, Arty quickly backed his train of thought back into the station and began attempting to change the topic.
“Not that it's a bad name by any means! In fact, it makes you sound like a very responsible and professional person. Especially since you went through all that rain just to get here on time. ”
"Thanks, I guess," Charlie murmured. Her annoyed expression refused to vacate her face despite the de-escalation static Arty had deployed.
"Were the roads pretty bad for you coming in? Because I'm getting picked up by a buddy after work and I don't want him risking his neck just for lil ol me." Arty asked again, hopeful that a change in the topic would smooth over whatever feathers he may have ruffled.
"I can't say for sure since I walked here.
"You wal-why would you want to walk through that storm?" Arty asked, his face aghast. As though the idea wounded his very soul.
"I only did it because my boyfriend took my car today."
After the two of them moved into their apartment, they did so under the assumption that Charlie would eventually join John at the local university. This meant that the use of Charlie's Honda would be equally shared between the two of them. But when Charlie tried to pick out classes, she herself lacked the motivation to pursue a secondary education. Charlie's therapist had done her best to reassure her over the phone that this was common and that she probably just needed some time to reflect on what she wanted to do with her adult life after spending a few days in the apartment in deep thought, Charlie decided to try and join the workforce for a spell and see if that might do her some hood.
Because of this change in plans, she'd allowed John full access to the old car to quickly get to and from classes each and every day. Though he had said that she ought to take it back when she found herself a job. Charlie had told him she was comfortable walking to wherever she needed to go.
But right as he'd been leaving for his orientation earlier today, John had managed to hear a rather nasty-sounding weather bulletin that warned all those who might be listening about a massive downpour that was heading towards the Brookhaven area around the same time as Charlie's interview.He'd gone back into the bedroom to suggest that Charlie ride with him to campus and then take the car back home, his warnings were rebuffed by Charlie's tired yet firm assertion that the weather wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.
It was a decision that she'd quickly come to regret once she'd actually gotten outside and started making her way toward Saver Saviors. Even though Charlie had been ultimately fine with the situation, Arty seemed to have a different thought regarding the whole thing. He was about to comment on what Charlie had said but then thought better and bit his tongue in order to keep from offending Charlie more than he already had.
It wasn't like he had much time to do so anyway as he led her past the bathrooms at the back of the store and down a small hallway with a large pair of double doors at the very end of it. But right before they passed through the larger doors, Arty came to an abrupt stop and turned towards an old wooden door that nearly blended in with its surroundings.
"Here we are," Arty said. "The place where the big man himself does all the really boring stuff."
Charlie glanced at the immediate area around the pair with a befuddled look on her face as Arty reached out and rapped two of his fingers against the door. Before the sound of the knock had even finished dying down, Arty tried knocking the more traditional way. But just like before, the knocking was answered. Arty turned back towards Charlie with a meek expression and let out a slow chuckle
“Guess Mr. Fitzgerald's not in right now.” As soon as the words finished leaving his mouth, the door behind him swung open with a sharp squeak that almost made Charlie want to cover her ears.
“Or you could actually take the effort to open up the door, I keep it unlocked for a reason ya know.” The man who stepped from the door and responded to Arty's comment was a lean and very tired-looking fellow. The scruffiness of his face and the tired look in his eyes made him appear to be much older than he actually was, though if Charlie's guestimate was right, he couldn't have been that much older than Rebecca.
Like both Arty and Rebecca, the man wore an almost identical-looking vest with a crooked nametag that read "Jeremy Fitzgerald," attached to the vest. Underneath that, he wore a neatly pressed dress shirt with a pair of well-worn slacks. In his hands were a cup of coffee and a clipboard, though the coffee didn't seem to be doing much as he proceeded to use the clipboard to stifle a yawn.
Once he'd finished taking in some air, he glanced down at an old watch on his wrist before glancing back at the clipboard and then looking directly at Charlie.
"Are you...Charlotte Rosebury?” He drowsily asked.
"Uh, yes," Charlie said quickly, ", although I prefer to go by Charlie if that's alright with you sir."
Mr. Fitzgearld paused and then tiredly looked down at his clipboard. For a moment, Charlie was worried that she'd said something out of line. But instead of reacting negatively towards her request, the man simply nodded before taking a long sip from his coffee and gave her a tired smile.
"Very well Charlie, you're right on time. Come on in and we'll start your interview.” He said and stepped aside to let her pass. As Charlie walked past him, Mr. Fitzgealrd looked back towards his wayward employee and cleared his throat.
“As for you Arty, you can go head upfront," Jeremy ordered.
"You got it, Mr. Fitzgerald!," Arty replied, the false cheerfulness returning to his voice as he leaned past his boss to get a final word to Charlie. "Good luck in there Charolette!"
Charlie froze and felt a flood of anger pass through her mind at the usage of her real name. But before she was able to comment on it, Jeremy unhesitantly closed the door in Arty's face and moved around Charlie to sit behind his desk. Anything that she had to say to Arty would have to wait until after her interview; if she managed to pass it that is.
Much like the store itself, the back office wasn’t anything to write home about. It was a simple room with two withered chairs stationed across from each other with a large, well-worn desk separating both sides Besides that desk and chair, the only other bit of furniture in the room was a large metal filing cabinet to the right of the desk on which sat an old silver coffee maker
Sat upon the desk was a fairly modern computer along with several disorganized piles of paper that Jeremy stopped to shift and push away before he was able to finally settle down into his chair and then he gestured for Charlie to sit down in the chair opposite his.
Charlie walked around the chair, making sure that there was nothing on it before she sat down. Her legs crossed as she tried her best to maintain the same sort of professional air her aunt constantly maintained. After taking a second to scratch off something, Jeremy put down his clipboard and pulled out the copy of Charlie's resume that had been sent to him the week prior.
“Alright, Charlie I've got several questions I'd like to ask. The first of which is what brings someone like you all the way out here from Utah to work at our little store? If you don't mind me asking that is."
"Not at all," answered Charlie. "I moved into the area with my boyfriend after he got a good scholarship offer from the university and I decided to get a job during his classes."
“I see...so you're not taking any classes of your own then?" Jeremy asked again as the sound of his pencil moving across the clipboard filled the otherwise silent room.
“No." Charlie sighed. "I thought about it for a while but...I didn't feel like there were any subjects that interested me at this time."
Charlie watched the older man write something else down on the clipboard with his lips pursed in concentration. Much like the topic of her name, her decision to not pursue a secondary education had become a rather sensitive topic in the young girl's life. While John, Jessica, Jen, and her therapist had all been mostly supportive of her choice, there'd also been a few people who'd been all too quick to condemn her decision without even hearing her side of the story.
But to her relief, Jeremy didn't seem to be at all critical of her choices. Once he'd finished taking down his newest set of notes, the older man turned back towards her with an understanding smile etched onto his face.
“There's nothing wrong with taking a little time to figure things out," He said and leaned back in his chair. ", in fact, I did the same thing you did and waited a couple of years before I bit the bullet and went to college."
"Thank you," Charlie whispered as Jeremy started throwing her some of the more typical questions that she'd been told to expect from an interview. Charlie wasn't sure how long they'd been talking, but after what felt like an hour's worth of answering the older man's questions, Jeremy pulled out a sheet from one of the many stacks of papers lying around his desk.
"One last thing, you said that you wanted to work while your boyfriend was doing his classes right?" When Charlie answered with a confirmative nod, Jeremy reached across the desk and offered her the sheet of paper.
"So these are his is all of our currently available part-time shifts. I'll be starting you off there and letting you work up to full-time if you're interested in a particular one, that'll help me figure out where to place you."
"W-wait." Charlie stammered nervously. "Does this mean that I got the job?"
"More or less." Jeremy shrugged. " Once you've picked out a shift, you can consider yourself a part-time of the Saver Saviors team."
Charlie smiled and felt a growing sense of pride that erased all of the leftover worries she'd still been carrying since the start of the interview. The rest of her time in Jeremy's office was a breeze as they picked out the times and days that she wanted to work and figured out which vest size would fit her the best. After which, Jeremy typed out a timesheet for Charlie and printed it out for her to take home and memorize.
“I should have your vest and nametag ready for you on Monday." Jeremy finished as he handed over Charlie's timesheet. "I'll also have Rebecca show you how and where to clock in on your first day. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me now."
“I don't really have anything else to say,” Charlie replied cautiously. ", I'm sure if I need to know anything else I'll learn it on the job."
"Alright, In that Ms. Rosebury, I'd like to welcome you to our team." Jeremy stood up and reached across his desk with his right hand extended outward. Charlie quietly rose to meet him firmly grasped hold of his hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Have a safe journey back to your home and we'll see hope to you bright and early Monday morning."
“You can count on it, thank you for the opportunity to work here sir."
"None of that "Sir" business, Just call me Jeremy. Everybody else around her does." The older man said with another small laugh.
"Okay, then I'll see you on Monday then Jeremy." Charlie pulled her hand free of his and turned to make her way out of the office. All the while trying not to let the grin she was hiding spread too far across her face.
Once she was out of Jeremy's office though, she let her excitement show as she started making her way back toward the front of the store. There was a little more energy in her step than what she'd originally had when she first came in. Just one part of an undiminishable pride that only grew with each step.
Even though most people would've been quick to write this off as just another dead-end job, after what she'd been through over the past year Charlie felt like it was still an accomplishment in what would hopefully be the first step to creating a life that was better than the one she'd left behind back in Utah.