Downfall | Austin Butler

Chapter 9

look into his angel eyes
one look and you're hypnotized
he'll take your heart and
you must pay the price
— angel eyes, abba

——

"Alright so," I started, blowing out a breath as I stared at the shelf in front of me. Today was a big reorganizing day; and of course Dax just so happened to be here for it. "All you have to do is make sure this right here looks pretty, not messy." I explained to the boy on my right, waving my hand around to cover the entire section I needed him to work on.

"Pretty?" He scoffed, grilling my word choice, looking at me like this was an entire joke.

It took all my restraint not to roll my eyes at this kid as I tried to break it down in a way he'd hopefully understand. "Pleasing to the eye," I elaborated. "If it looks like crap, no one's gonna buy it, especially if it's not in order. Won't look good on Mar, won't look good on us, and it especially won't look good on your paycheck."

I hoped my last point would shake him to just drop it and get to work, but it didn't. Shrugging, he looked it over, seeming not to care less. "Looks fine to me," he said, "Here." He picked up a random book on the shelf that was tipped over on its side from someone clearly manhandling it and just tossing it back without putting it where they found it. "Wow, I love — um — Engel — what the?"

Looking over his shoulder, I took in the cover. It was a music book, clearly not in the correct section at all. We were in the fucking cookbooks for crying out loud. "Engelbert Humperdinck." I pronounced it out for him.

"Hump-her-dick?" He snickered, making a dirty joke out of it like a middle schooler. "What kind of name is that?"

"Christ." I breathed under my breath, looking up at the ceiling trying to maintain my composure before I reamed this kid out. I did not have the patience for this today, especially when I had my tentative plans with Austin for later looming over my head.

"What are you kids looking at?" Marilyn suddenly materialized, walking down the aisle we were in. She came in today to look over the store for Marlon while he was out fishing with some buddies, but she was just about to leave with her bag slung over her shoulder. "Oh! Engelbert," she fawned, when Dax turned it towards her to see. "Love that man."

"Ew," Dax screwed up his face in disapproval. "Gross."

"Really?" Marilyn feigned offense. "If you think that's gross, you should hear what my friends say about him."

"No thank y—" he immediately rejected, but she cut him right off.

"They get all hot and bothered," she stressed, totally messing with Dax and putting him in his place. "My friend Donna said she'd do anything to just lay flat on stage next to him. She tossed her bra at him once."

"Oh god!" Dax dropped his head in his hands, covering his eyes to probably mask out the mental image that was conjuring up over Marilyn's words which really weren't that bad.

I couldn't help but crack a satisfied smile when he handed the book over to me with his eyes snapped shut, wanting to get rid of the object in his hand as fast as possible. It was funny as fuck watching this kid squirm at an old man getting all this attention from ladies.

Marilyn glanced my way, giving me a knowing look, shaking her head over Dax's reaction. I mouthed a simple 'thank you' to which she nodded, completely understanding that he was a total pain in my ass, and her intentions were to save me.

"I'll put this back in the right spot." I motioned to the book in my hand, happy to be stepping away for just a moment. "Do you mind showing him how to make this look pretty before you go?" I asked her.