Chapter Text
Here you are, at your first ever summer job: Best Buy. As an upcoming engineer cadet in a military facility, your parents decided that as “prior experience” you should get a job. Instead of getting an internship at some mechanic company or something like how you wanted, your parents signed you up for an interview at the local Best Buy and you somehow got the job. Now this is where you’ll be working at all summer.
You stood around in your blue shirt and khakis awkwardly, fidgeting with your hands and looking back at the shelves you just stocked every now and then. You didn’t really know what you did at work. The only other person on shift was supposed to be at the register but wasn’t there when you checked, and you could smell the faint stench of weed coming from the back. The store had just opened so thankfully no one had come in yet, but knowing that your coworker was getting high while you stood between the newest Mario game and a streaming of Sonic 2 whilst running on two hours of sleep wasn’t really reassuring.
You peeked into the back, seeing the cashier sitting on a line chair with a blunt in her mouth. “Hey Jane, I’ll take the register while you help out customers, okay?” You said. She stared at you blankly.
“But like…can you even ring people up? Isn’t this like, your first job?” She asked slowly, puffing out a ring of smoke with a cough. You didn’t respond and left.
No you did not know how to ring someone up.
The first hour was hell, but thankfully two other people clocked in and took over the registers so you could just do one job until your lunch break.
“Um excuse me? Do you happen to have LGA 1200 motherboards?” You heard a voice say from behind you. You turned to see a short girl just about your age in a Starbucks uniform, talking to your absolutely shitfaced coworker.
“Uhhhh…wha?” Jane sighed out, her breath easy to smell, even from where you were standing. The girl gagged.
“Ugh…never mind.” She said, turning away to the exit.
You don’t know why, but you wanted to help her out, so you cleared your throat. “Excuse me miss? I can help you out instead.” You spoke up. She turned to you.
“Nah, it’s fine I’ll just make something similar-“
“I’ll give it to you for free.” You cut her off, only then realizing what you just said. The brunette smiled.
“Really? Wow, thank you so much! Although I’ll have to come in after my shift, lunch break and all. See you at 6?” She asked. You nodded before she turned away again, but this time with a pep in her step.
Oh boy, you are so fired.
——————
Two hours later, it was time for your lunch break. Even though it was about 2:30, you decided to go into Starbucks and get some sweet, sweet coffee to make up for going to bed and waking up late.
Thankfully the lunch rush had gotten out of there a while ago and there were only a few stragglers sitting in seats and typing on their laptops.
As you got up to the counter, the cashier looked very familiar to you. You squinted hard, only then realizing who it was.
“Oh, it’s Ms. LGA 1200.” You said aloud, chuckling out of embarrassment after realizing that wasn’t in your head.
“Hello there, Mx. Free Motherboard.” She responded with a playful smirk. “Anyways, what can I get you?”
“Can I get an iced brown sugar oat milk espresso with 5 espresso shots and a caprese panini?”
“Coming right up. Oh, and just to make sure you feel guilty if you back out on the free motherboard deal,” she paused, pointing at the machine showing your balance as it quickly went to zero. “There. Now we’re even.”
You thanked her and sat down on a stool, almost passing out into the palm of your hand. Just when you closed your eyes, the girl’s voice called your name.
“Order for Y/N!”
You walked up and grabbed your stuff. “How did you know my name?” You asked. She stifled a laugh.
“I looked at your name tag.”
“Oh, right. Thanks for the free food, uh,” you looked at her name tag. “Katie?”
“Yup, Katie Holt. Yeah I know my name doesn’t really suit me I-“
“Wait, Holt? Are you related to the father and son who went on the Kerberos mission?” You asked her, stars in your eyes. She chuckled.
“Yeah, I’m Matt’s sister and Sam’s daughter. What, are you interested in space, too?” She countered. You nodded.
“I actually sent in an application to go to The Galaxy Garrison! I mean not as a pilot, but I’m still probably going either way.” You said. She smiled happily.
“Oh, nice! I’m going in on a scholarship, since y’know, I’m just that good.” She bragged. You giggled in response.
“Nice! Can’t wait to work with you. Anyways, I can’t keep you here forever so I’ll see you in three ish hours.” You said before leaving.
You couldn’t help but be jealous. Not only did she get in on a scholarship, but she’s also related to two of the three people who are the first to go that far into space! Meanwhile, you had to beg your parents, then beg your rich aunt, then send in an application just to take the tests, take ten 2- hour long tests, and wait until two weeks before the semester begins to finally see if you got in. And that’s not counting the years your applications have been rejected over and over for.
As you munched on your panini in the break room, your coworker, Ina, sat down next to you. “Why did you offer that Holt girl a discount? You know she probably has the money to pay for it.” She asked. You raised your eyebrow to look at the blonde chick, noticing her uncomfortable and spacey stare.
“How did you know her last name?” You countered. She sighed.
“I’m a cadet at The Garrison. So is James.” She answered simply. Your eyes widened in awe. She continued, “So answer my question. She’s an upper middle class girl, if not she’s filthy rich. So why offer her the product for free? What are you, a simp?”
“I mean…I didn’t know she was related to Matthew and Samuel Holt at first, but either way it’s the least I could do to make up for Jane being higher than Chase Tower.” You explained. She sighed.
“You’re lucky I was the only other person who noticed what was going down. James would’ve already called the manager.” She said, grabbing a hand-sized loaf of bread from a small lunchbox and taking a bite.
Silence overcame the room, occasionally broken by a sip of iced coffee and the crunch of bread.
“So…what’s it like to work at The Garrison?”
——————
You stood near the entrance, waiting for your new friend to step through those sliding doors. Soon enough, the brunette in the ponytail walked in, out of her Starbucks apron and instead wearing a baggy sage green turtleneck sweater and an ankle length lavender skirt, complete with some white docs. “Wow, you look nice. Did you really work in that all day?” You asked. She turned to you and nodded.
“Yeah, the sweater is surprisingly thin and the skirt is really breezy, so I can beat the heat better.” She responded. You smiled back and lead her to the motherboards.
“Right, so you were looking for an LGA 1200? For what computer?” You asked her, gesturing to the many different ones in small boxes.
“Oh, I’m making my own computer right now. The one I made last time exploded, so I just need one that runs better when it overheats.” She said. You stared at her, awestruck.
“Wow, that’s super impressive! I tried making my own video game console once.” You mentioned. She hummed in excitement.
“How did that go?”
“Horribly. Terrible graphics and every game I put in there got damaged. I just stuck with making my own cars after that.”
“You make cars?”
“And motorcycles, and drones, oh, I tried making a functioning plane on a 20-foot-long scale, but that failed. I ended up in the ER after, so that sucked. Either way I mainly make machines.” You ranted, holding up motherboards and showing them to Katie until she shook her head.
“Wow, and I thought giving my roomba sentience was impressive.”
“Excuse me you what?”
After a while, and by a while I mean 35 minutes, she finally picked one out. You got onto the other side of the register, cracked your knuckles, and-
“Shit.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how to use a register.”
You zoned out and panicked for a second before feeling slightly smaller hands grab onto your own.
“Okay so first, do you know the login code?”
Katie asked. You looked to the label on the side with a series of numbers on it. You typed that in and it worked.
“…yes.”
“Okay now scan the item.”
As she helped you through the process, you couldn’t help but feel happy that someone was FINALLY guiding you through working here, even if they didn’t work at Best Buy themselves.
As you two finished up, James walked towards the sliding doors.
“Y/N, we’re closing. Get out quickly before you get locked in.” He said. You nodded and grabbed Katie by her hand, walking out the door and into the hot parking lot covered in a deepening sunset.
“So, do you have a ride?” The girl asked, pulling out car keys.
“Yeah, I took the bus.” You responded, looking around to see the nearby stop, only to watch as the bus left the area. You wanted to scream. “Okay maybe I don’t.”
“Want me to drive you home? I have a learner’s permit.” She asked again, laughing a bit. You smiled.
“Sure.”