Work Text:
Narenthar was stocking shelves at IGA when Nysa came in for her shift. She walked past him in a huff without even waving, something he... never really saw her do. At this point, he considered them to be alright friends. They worked similar shift hours, and they'd covered for each other numerous times.
Admittedly, Nysa was probably his favorite part of work outside of Jadearra stopping by before they'd moved in together. She was spontaneous, funny, and was always brightening his work days.
So to see her in a huff, and actually looking angry, was not something he was used to seeing. He took a second from stocking shelves and followed her to the back room to the lockers. "Hey, Nysa, are you okay?"
She spent a few moments stuffing her jacket and bag into her locker then looked up at him. "What time are you on break today, Narny?" She sounded tired.
He blinked, then pulled his phone out. "Ah, normal. 2 is my next break." It was close to 1:30.
"Rats." She shuffled. "Are you stocking? I'll try to get over to you. Can I rant to you?"
"Of course."
"Thanks Narny, let me go clock in!"
She waved to him as she tromped off to the station. He waved back and decided to go back to stocking.
*****
"So then Brent told me I was bein' too clingy! Me! Too clingy!" Nysa continued piling cans onto the shelf. "Of all the people in the world, he decides to choose me to call clingy. I'm the least clingy person I know! I literally bounce between people all the time!"
Naren nodded as he stocked pasta boxes. "Brent seems annoying, actually."
"He isn't. Not really." She frowned. "I don't know, I mean. We made plans to go to that party. Last week. He was the one who asked me. And now it's Wednesday, and he canceled our plans." Her voice depicted that she was hurt. "I can't believe him."
"Just dump him." He pushed the boxes back and continued stocking.
"Oh don't worry Naren. I did. I told him if he didn't want to see me, then he won't be. I broke things off. I mean, we weren't even dating, so."
"Forget about him." He felt his phone go off in his pocket. It was closer to 3:30 now, and Jade usually texted him.
"Ah, that the Jade bug you keep telling me about?"
He laughed and pulled his phone out. Indeed it was. "Ah, yeah." He smiled. "Hey, actually, we're not really doing anything Saturday for Halloween. Want to come by for a couple of hours? We were going to play spooky board games, eat cookies, drink, and watch Netflix."
Nysa seemed to perk up and bounced a little. "Yes yes yes! Oh, I can't wait to meet her!" She jumped up and crushed the empty box. "Can I dress up?"
He laughed and texted Jade, just to make sure she was fine with it.
[I invited Nysa--you know, from work?--to our place Saturday. Her boytoy broke their plans off.]
"I don't see why not. I don't know if I will yet, but Jade said she thought she might."
He got a reply back a second later, and clicked it open.
[Ah! Sure! I can't wait! She won't find me annoying or anything will she...?]
He typed a quick reply.
[Nah--she'll love you.]
"Jade can't wait to meet you, either. Saturday it is then?"
"Yeah!" She pushed a second box of cans against the shelf. "I'll bring rum!"
He laughed. "Deal."