SUCH A FRIEND

The time finally came. It was around 9:01 pm. She wasn't feeling sleepy at all, but still she laid in bed and clicked on the button. The watch made a gentle whoosh sound and a hologram was projected from it. The hologram comprised of a group of seven wolves, each dancing on a planet which revolved around a central star. It was unusually beautiful, and she thought what was meant to call her up from sleep early might be the cause of her waking up late in the morning, because, definitely, she could stay up all night watching it.

Five minutes later, she saw a large, spinning whorl gradually emerging from beneath. Then she watched the planets and the wolves spiralling into it. The whorl grew larger and larger as it swallowed them. She suddenly began feeling drowsy while she watched the drama, yawning and trying to keep her eyes wide. When the star spiralled into the whorl at last, Kylie's eyes began to deem unrestrained. The whorl gradually began a disappearance, and her eyes got ever heavier. She finally fell into deep slumber when it disappeared.

Kylie found herself falling into the same holographic whorl she saw last night, and like a leap-fall, she was jolted out of bed. She got up and looked to her right. The watch laid there, no hologram nor any sound emanated from it. The time was 6:30 am, and she was expected at work by 8:00 am. It was at that moment she understood the whole process of getting her early to work. Though she was grateful to the boy for gifting her the watch, she felt the jolt was a bit too startling.

She got to work early even before Mr. Yamato arrived. She stayed at the counter reading a random book, while expecting Mr. Yamato to come at her with his draining instructions. An hour later Clarissa entered and told her that her dad wouldn't be coming to the store in a few days. He fell ill last night as a result of how he had overworked himself within the week. In addition, she didn't fail to blame Kylie for it.

"Maybe he wouldn't have stressed his ass out if you hadn't allowed him do all the work each morning," she said.

Kylie sighed and shook her head.

"Anyway, another win for me," Clarissa said.

"And I'm not guessing anything today," Kylie said.

"You don't need to." She smiled. "Yesterday I went after that dude. He's quite nice. I took his contact, and we had a nice chat last night."

"Oh, that's a sure win for you," Kylie said.

"You -- you don't seem bothered?" Clarissa asked in a low tone.

Kylie snorted. "Maybe I forgot to cry over that."

"Listen Kylie, I'm trying to ship you both up. Actually, I expected to see a jealous expression on your face." She giggled. "You need a relationship just this once. I don't think I need it, a relationship with me wouldn't last a month, you know how it goes."

"Yeah, yeah," Kylie said.

"See, I don't think he likes your attitude. You didn't even seek to know his name, after what he had gifted you?"

"It helped me get up early, and I'm grateful for that. I hope he comes around so I could give him a befitting thanks," Kylie said.

As though he heard what they had been discussing, they saw the boy walk into the store. Kylie was gripped by a brief andrenaline rush while Clarissa quickly ran at him, gushing over his looks, but his reaction told he didn't come for her. He only said a few friendly words to her and proceeded to the counter where Kylie was.

"Looks the device came in handy," he said to her, grinning.

"I found it really pretty," Kylie said. "Where did you get that?"

"I made it," he said.

"You made that?" Clarissa entered. "Brad, never knew you were such a genius."

"Oh, wow, Brad," Kylie said under her breath.

"I have much more back home, you know," he said to Clarissa.

"Now, I would love to pay you a visit," Clarissa said.

"Maybe you both can," he made a sweeping gesture.

"No she can't," Clarissa said. "She works here, she just can't leave that way."

Kylie looked at her in astonishment, but she didn't bother much, it could be another scheme to get her jealous.

"When would you be having a day off?" He asked Kylie.

"I don't think I'd be having any," Kylie said.

"You see, so it's just me," Clarissa said.

"Uhm, I guess this is something we'd fix. You could start with having my digits." He took out a card and wrote down his telephone line. "And I'm Brad." He winked.

Kylie reluctantly took it.

"Hit you up at night," he said and left.

"You had better made out time to see his place," Clarissa silently said to her and went after Brad.

Back at home, before putting the watch to work, she and Brad had a good chat. She was surprised at how quickly she was knocked over by the feeling of a bond between them both. It was as though she had known him before, and he just had to give her a few more details about himself. He had a really interesting personality. She didn't forget to ask him what he did with a lot of horror books, and he told her something very spooky and weird.

He told her that feeling of fear instilled productive inspiration in him. But he'd explain more of that to her when she comes around. That led to the issue of making out time to come see his collections and constructions. He told her she could lock up a bit early and join him to his place. At first she disagreed, but when she remembered that Mr. Yamato wouldn't be coming to the bookstore anytime soon she obliged.

7:00 pm was the time Kylie was normally done for the day, but Brad came around 6:30 pm in a Chevrolet Silverado to pick her up.

"That's my dad's," Brad gestured at the car, when they were out of the bookstore, after seeing her expression of astonishment.

"He must be really liberal with you," she said.

"Dad and mom are currently making out in San Francisco, so I have it all to me," he said.

Kylie chuckled. "Tell me you're not always this witty."

"Of course I am," he said, ushering her into the car.