Archive of Our Own ^beta

Julie moved into her very own off-campus apartment at the end of August. It was a big step for her, as she'd never been away from home such as like this. Living on her own was also a brand new challenge; however, her building was filled with other students who also attended Berkeley. She met some friends when moving in; she was surprised at how friendly they were, one even going so far as to inform her of some job opportunities in the area.

If Julie was going to be living on her own and attending university, she needed a steady income.

So, when her building-mate Flynn suggested her own place of work, a grocery store just down the street, Julie figured there was no harm in at least applying. Unbeknownst to her, Flynn put in a good word on her behalf, and within a week, Julie was already receiving a call to come in and interview.

Flynn was quite straight up with her. It was a hell-on-earth type place to work, there was no question about it. But the silver lining were the people and the flexibility of hours during university classes. A lot of their part-time staff were students, due to the proximity to Berkeley, so they were more than understanding about their erratic schedules and were able to accommodate.

Julie's interview went as good as could be expected. On the day of the interview, she followed her phone's directions and arrived within minutes by foot. It was part of a large-chain company, with stores all over the country. But Flynn had warned her that this was one of the oldest stores in the state; it was outdated and quite literally, falling apart at the seams (they mostly just ignored it). Julie liked that it was smaller; it settled her nerves about being the newbie.

When she walked in for her interview, she went right to customer service. There was a bit of a line-up, as it was also where they sold their lottery, but she noticed another individual behind the counter with a safety vest on over his jacket. She could only see the back of his head, so she approached cautiously and called out quietly, "Excuse me?"

The individual whirled around and it took everything in Julie's power to not gasp loudly. He was unbelievably gorgeous, with shaggy brown hair that flicked out under his beanie and captivating green eyes that seemed to widen upon noticing her. So far, not bad at all, Julie thought to herself.

"Can I help you with something?"

His voice was smooth and upbeat for someone at work, and he was shooting her a sweet smile, which only flustered her further.

"Yeah, I have an interview with Casey?"

Julie's eyes flickered down to the name tag peeking out from inside his jacket. Luke. His face lit up at her words, and Julie hesitantly smiled in return.

"Oh, awesome! I'll go get her for you!" He offered politely, whirling on his heels to walk away. Before he got far, he turned back around with a charming smile. "Good luck." And as if his smile wasn't enough to have her mind running a mile a minute, he had the audacity to drop his right eyelid in a wink.

Julie could only blink in response.

She didn’t see him again that day, but she was too preoccupied to think about him anyway. She had her interview to focus on, which went surprisingly well. The Front End Manager, Casey, asked her some very basic questions, some scenario questions and about her previous work or volunteer history. It was all very routine, and she left the store feeling good.

She looked for Luke on her way out but didn’t see him.

Julie met up with Flynn later that night in her apartment to talk about it. Flynn was adamant she was going to get the job; as she so eloquently put it, “they’ve hired way dumber people than you.” Julie retaliated by throwing a spring roll at her (it was Chinese night).

But lo and behold, the next day, Julie received a call offering her the job. Of course she jumped at the opportunity, quickly agreeing to go in the next day to complete all her computer courses. Casey informed her that she would be spending about four hours in a small computer room located in the back, and it was ridiculously cold, so to bring a sweater. Flynn seconded that; she claimed no one told her and she froze her ass off.

And that’s how she found herself in a cramped room surrounded by a dinosaur age computer and random supplies. On the bright side, she was flying through the courses. The tedious part was that you couldn’t skip through the entire course and just do the quizzes, so she was going as fast as that would allow her.

Julie was about three hours into her courses, and it was starting to get boring. She was leaning her cheek on her hand as she clicked through the courses when the door slammed open. Julie jumped, turning to the door with an alarmed expression; she probably would have screamed if she didn't catch sight of a familiar face.

It was Luke. With friends, this time.

Luke seemed to be the one that ripped open the door, stopping alarmingly when he realized the room was occupied. His eyes were wide, but they widened even more when he seemingly recognized her. His two friends peeked curiously over his shoulders, a tall blonde and a smiley brunette.

"Oh hey! It's you!"

The blonde behind him pushed him farther into the room; she wasn't kidding when she said it was a small, cramped room already. "God, that's so romantic, Lukas. Who are you talking to?" He pushed under Luke's arm and sent Julie a dazzling smile. "Oh, hello. I'm Alex!"

"Uh — Julie?" She replied hesitantly, wheeling herself farther into the room so Luke's other friend could push him out of the way to introduce himself.

"Hi, Julie! I'm Reggie! Did you just get hired?"

Julie nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I'm doing my training now."

"Do you want to die yet?" Alex asked, eyeing the computer over her shoulder.

"Wanted to like two hours ago," she responded honestly. The way they all let out a chuckle made a warm feeling bloom across her chest. "Sorry. Did you guys need something?"

Luke finally pushed himself back to the forefront. "No, sorry to interrupt," he started, and Julie still could not get over the beauty of his eyes. "We just sometimes have lunch here. It's usually empty."

"Oh, sorry!" Julie apologized, immediately making a move to stand up. "I can go —"

Alex placed a delicate hand on her arm and pushed her back down, a fond smile on his features. "God, you're adorable. We're going to keep you."

"We're going to ruin her," Reggie corrected, watching in delight as Julie's expression morphed into one of horror. "Well, this job is. But don't worry, we'll keep you sane!"

Luke elbowed Reggie in the gut, nearly bodychecking him out of the way. "Ignore these dorks. Uh, I'm assuming you got hired for front end?"

"Yeah, cashier."

"Oh cool, Luke's also in front end," Alex explained cheerily. "I'm in grocery. Which in retrospect was a big mistake on my part because I hate talking to people, especially annoying customers."

Reggie poked his head back over Luke's shoulders. "I'm over in produce!"

"You'll know that soon because he's notorious for knocking over displays," Alex teased, ducking when Reggie tried to swat him. "Anyway, we'll let you finish. It was nice to meet you, Julie! We'll see you soon!"

Alex and Reggie easily squeezed out of the room, but Luke hung back, scratching the back of his neck in what looked like was a nervous tic. "I'm glad you got the job. We needed some fresh blood around here."

"That's very... welcoming? Thank you," she laughed.

"Anyway, I'll see you around," he replied, sending her a charming smile.

Julie sent him a nod, and watched as he closed the door behind him.

Well, so far, everyone seemed very welcoming... and young. Flynn had warned her that a lot of the staff was on the young side because it catered to the university students in the area. Julie didn't mind; she absolutely loved everything about Alex and Reggie and their friendship seemed so wholesome, it made her heart squeeze.

And clearly, Luke had caught her attention more than once. She was lowkey glad he would be working in her department; that meant she would probably see him often. It seemed childish and maybe a little high-schoolish, but she was in a brand new city and she needed friends. And if said friendship were to turn into something more? Well then, who was she to stand in the way of that?

Julie flew through her last two courses, and she was ready for a nap. She made her way out of the backroom and up to the front of the store where the front/cash office was located. On her way up, she passed multiple aisles and customers, including Alex who was stocking a few shelves.

"Don't work too hard," Julie teased as she passed him by.

His neck snapped up and a smile instantly made its way onto his features. "I never do, Jules, good night!"

She tried to hide her ridiculously large smile at the newfound nickname.

After checking in with the Front End Manager and Supervisor for any outstanding paperwork, her computer and paper training was officially finished. Now she was to come in the following day and have her training shift on an actual till. After that, she would have three cash shifts with another cashier so they could help her with any questions, and then she'd be on her own.

It was a lot, but she was incredibly excited.

After thanking them and bidding them goodbye, Julie left the store feeling accomplished. As she left, she spotted Reggie working away in produce, which was located on the right side of the store when you first walked in. She was too far away to say goodbye, but she waved when they accidentally made eye contact.

She's really going to like it here.

Julie spotted Luke's safety vest far out in the parking lot. She knew he was front end, and from the safety vest she saw him with the first time, she assumed he worked as a bagger. From what Flynn had explained, a bagger (AKA cart boy) collected carts from the parking lot and brought them back into the lobby. Aside from that, they were in charge of all the nitty-gritty jobs no one else wanted to do: changing garbages, cleaning washrooms, cleaning spills, helping other departments and doing all the running around.

But on the bright side, they weren't trapped inside like everyone else. Whenever they wanted, they could go outside and get some fresh air.

Julie envied that.

When Luke spotted her across the parking lot, he easily made his way over (maybe he was speed walking, but who's judging?). "Hey! All done?"

"All done!" Julie held up her bag which contained her employee manual and uniform. The uniform consisted of a black t-shirt embroidered with their store name (Moxie's) and a black apron. The apron wasn't mandatory and Julie couldn't see herself wearing it if she didn't have to. She was glad she could wear her own pants, and just standard jeans would suffice. "I'll be back tomorrow for my cash training."

Luke waved a hand nonchalantly. "Ah, piece of cake."

She wasn't particularly nervous about the next part of her training, but she had a weird suspicion it was because she figured Luke would be around.

So, she tucked a stray curl behind her ear and nervously looked up at him from underneath her lashes. "Uh — will you be here tomorrow?" Her voice was shaky, and she thought she was blushing but she just didn't want to focus on that for now.

Luke was too busy admiring the way the sunlight caught on her eyes, and he nearly missed her question. But then he noticed how fidgety she was and how pure and innocent her question was, and he couldn't help the smile that stretched on his lips. "I'm not working tomorrow, no. But you might still see me."

Julie raised her eyebrows slightly in question, but as per usual Luke, he just winked to fluster her further.

"Good luck tomorrow, Julie," he said and he started walking away. "You're going to kill it!"

Not even she had that much faith in herself, so she really appreciated it. She was also actively not thinking about the fact that she hadn't even started her actual job, and she was already caught in a full-on flirtationship with one of her co-workers (she wasn't complaining though). Even when she stopped by Flynn's apartment and she asked how her training went and if she had met anyone yet, Julie, as nonchalantly as possible mentioned that she might have met a few people. But even this early in their relationship, Flynn could see right through her and demanded to know all the details. Julie kept things light, because really, she had only met Luke twice and spent a total of five minutes with him.

Did she feel an instant connection?

Maybe.

Did she think he was absolutely gorgeous and want to spend as much time with him as possible?

Yes, definitely.

And maybe she went to sleep that night thinking of his perfect smile , but honestly, she didn't see the problem.

When Julie reported to work for training, she wasn't too worried. It was just ringing items through; how hard could it be?

She was sorely mistaken.

It didn't take long before she was hit with so much information that she was merely just blinking as she tried to keep up.

"Refunds over twenty dollars need to be approved by a Manager."

"All hundreds and fifties need to be checked by a Supervisor."

"Refunds without a receipt need to go back on a gift card."

"All fruits and vegetables that are weighed have a four digit UPC; you'll learn to memorize them the more you work."

"No refunds back on debit. Either cash, gift card, or back on their credit card if that's how they've paid for it."

"Print a duplicate receipt after you change a price and write down why."

"If your shift is under five hours, you're entitled to a paid fifteen minute break."

"The code to page is *3302."

"Face all your bills facing the same direction in the register."

Julie truly hoped she was retaining all the information she was hearing; even as she listened, her trainer was showing her all the functions on the till. There was a menu just for refunds, completely with specific reasons as to why that product was being returned. There was a menu solely for transactions, to suspend and cancel. There was even an entire void menu (a tad bit intimidating) which would void any forms of payment if you put it in wrong.

The till had so many buttons, and Julie was a meticulous perfectionist. She wouldn't be able to rest until she memorized the mechanics of the entire system, and before she was even given the opportunity, she was tasked with grabbing a cart, heading through the entire store to grab random items off the shelf and out of produce. She grabbed as much produce as possible, because not only did she need to memorize the system, she also needed memorize hundreds of produce codes (her brain literally wouldn't rest until she did).

As she made her way through the produce department, she was so focused on grabbing every different type of apple she could, that she didn't notice Reggie walking up behind her. "That's a Granny Smith," he offered from behind her ear. The shock caused her to squeak, the apple popping right out of her hand and rolling onto the floor. "Sorry Julie! Didn't mean to scare you!"

Julie's face was burning and she went to pick up the apple, but Reggie beat her to it and threw it into her cart. "No, it's fine. Sorry, I'm just jumpy."

"Don't be nervous," he said softly, shooting her a kind grin. "Seriously, the more relaxed you are, the easier things will be."

"Thanks," Julie replied. She felt herself let out a breath of relief. "There's just so much information to remember."

Reggie seemed to ponder on her words for a moment. "Honestly, I literally don't know anything and I'm still employed."

Julie let out a laugh, feeling genuinely better. "Thanks Reggie, that really helped."

"Good!" Reggie smiled, patting her shoulder affectionately before walking away.

Julie really did feel better. She knew her way of coping with this new change and new job was to learn the job inside and out as fast as possible, but Reggie was right, she just needed to relax. As she went through the rest of the store, grabbing random items, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she felt so much better. Even when she went back to her training till, loaded everything up on the conveyor belt and started ringing everything through, she didn't stress once.

Scanning through the product was a breeze; all you had to do was point the barcode in the direction of the scanner. It was the produce that was a bit more challenging; some of the produce had stickers containing the PLUs, others did not. If they didn't, she had to search through the rolodex hanging above her till. It was an extensive list of all the different types of produce they offered sorted alphabetically; it took a second to search through it, but with practice she would get faster (and hopefully she wouldn't even need it because she would memorize it).

She went through a few more tests. When products didn't scan, she would have to call the department to get a price or go find the price herself and add it in under open-department (that was another intimidating menu). She also had to learn all about the Scanning Code of Practice, and she really had to laugh.

All over the internet, she constantly saw customer service memes of products not scanning or scanning in at the wrong price and customers saying "it must be free then". Wrong. If it doesn't scan, you just find a price. If it scanned incorrectly, there were a few more steps to go through before they actually got the product for free. It kind of freaked Julie out and she made a mental note to call a Supervisor whenever something scanned incorrectly to make sure she handled the process correctly.

By the end of her four hour shift, she was exhausted. It wasn't that it was a long shift, but she was just hit with so much overwhelming information that her brain physically hurt. At this point, she just wanted some ice cream and a nap.

So, on her way out, she grabbed two pints of cookie dough ice cream, rang it through on the self-checkouts and planned out the rest of her night in her mind. Maybe some Netflix? She was a notorious binge-watcher and she was making her way through Brooklyn Nine-Nine at an embarrassing speed. She was supposed to meet up with Flynn, but Flynn would probably just be on her phone all night anyway.

As she rounded the corner following the exit doors, she was pleasantly surprised to see Luke and Alex leaning against the outside wall. She nearly didn't recognize them; she hadn't seen them in regular clothes yet (including Luke without his trusty safety vest and Alex's black Moxie's cap).

Luke's eyes seemed to light up when he noticed her and he immediately kicked off the wall in excitement. "Hey Julie! How was your training?"

Julie was well aware her eyebrows were probably furrowed in confusion because she wasn't expecting to see them right on her way out, and she tried to smooth out her face because he looked so happy to see her and she wasn't trying to give off the wrong vibe. "Oh. It was — well, it was kind of overwhelming but I made it."

Luke seemed to soften at the obvious distress in her features. She did feel much better than she did originally, but the anxiety was still real.

"Don't even stress," he said with a soft eyes, "It seems like a lot at first, but you don't ever have to deal with all those issues all at once. Plus, people are always around to help." He seemed to hesitate before he continued, biting his lip before saying, "Also, I'm there, anytime you need me."

It didn't seem like a lot, and maybe it wouldn't have been had she not felt such an immediate connection with him from the very first day they met, but his words meant everything.

Julie was too captivated by his green gaze to notice the way Alex's eyes were flickering between the both of them, an obvious shit-eating grin covering his facial features. He cleared his throat as loudly as he could manage and revelled in the way Luke glared at him and Julie blushed while avoiding eye contact.

"Julie, do you have any plans now?" Alex asked, holding back a laugh. "We're waiting for Reggie and Carrie and going out to the diner around the corner. Do you want to come?"

Julie's chest squeezed at the mere notion of getting invited to an outing so soon after starting. She felt included right from the get-go, but this just really made it official. It was also entirely possible her heart was beating faster at the idea of spending time with Luke outside of work.

Oh God, was she sweating?

"Julie?" Alex prompted when she didn't say anything except stare at him blankly.

"Oh! Sorry," she blushed once again. "I mean, I was supposed to meet up with Flynn and — wait, do you guys know Flynn? She works here too."

"Yeah, of course we know Flynn!" Alex replied, nodding enthusiastically. "Wait, you mean she hasn't told you all about us yet? I'll need to have words with her."

Luke rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. "Text her and tell her to meet us there; haven't seen her in a hot minute."

The fact that Julie barely thought of the ice cream currently melting in her backpack, solely because she was too excited at the prospect of Luke in an outside setting told her just how whipped she truly was. So, she pulled out her phone and shot a quick message to Flynn. She was even more surprised when Luke said that Reggie and Carrie could meet them there as well (he claimed it was because he was tired of standing around but Julie had the teeniest of suspicions he was only waiting outside to invite her before she went home).

Yes, the thought freaked the hell out of her, but this was supposed to be a new adventurous chapter in her life.

Who said she couldn't embark on this new chapter with Luke and her new friends?

(The ice cream would've melted through her backpack if it wasn't for her apron and sweater, but it was all worth it to watch Luke laugh carelessly for a few hours).