CHAPTER TWO
1284 Words
CHAPTER TWO
“I didn’t even know I had a Great Aunt Petunia.”
“She was your Grandma’s younger sister, Aggie. I must have mentioned her once in a while when you were little. Don’t you remember?” said her mother.
“No,” Aggie replied.
“Well, she certainly seems to remember you, for some reason, because she’s left you the old corner shop in her will.”
“What? What corner shop?” Aggie asked as she shifted the phone to her other ear while she balanced several books under her right arm and walked across the room.
“The one underneath her flat where she used to work.”
“Why on earth would she leave it to me? It’s just weird.”
“Weird? But darling, you should be happy. You won’t have a job to go to in a week’s time. At least you can do something with the shop.”
“A shop? What on earth am I going to do with a shop?” she reiterated, trying and failing to stop the books from tumbling to the floor.
“That’s enough, Agatha. You should be grateful to your late Great Aunt Petunia for this opportunity.”
“Mum, I am grateful. Really I am. Sorry, it’s just with the library closing down and me losing my job, I’m just not myself. I’m sorry,” Aggie said as she crouched down and tried to pick up the books.
“I understand, sweetheart, I really do, but this could be the perfect opportunity to get you back on your feet. I know it’s not your dream job, but it’s a job all the same.”
“I know, Mum. I just can’t imagine being a shopkeeper, that’s all.”
“Well whatever you do, that shop belongs to you now, whether you like it or not,” her mother stated.
“Thanks Mum.”
“I’ll talk to you soon. Love you sweetheart. Toodle pip. “
“Love you too, Mum. Bye.”
Aggie put the phone down and tried to remember her mother talking about her Great Aunt Petunia as a child but she just couldn’t. She must’ve been too young. Way too young.
Before she could continue packing away the beloved books she’d spent several years caring for, her mobile rang again.
“You’ll never guess what. No, you won’t guess. I’ve won a holiday for two and I’m taking you with me,” Coco shrieked down the phone so loudly that Aggie had to hold it at arm’s length.
“Huh? What are you talking about? You’ve won a holiday?”
“We’re going to Las Vegas!” Coco yelled.
“What?” Aggie asked in shock.
“We leave in two weeks,” Coco replied.
“Coco, what on earth are you talking about?”
“Honey, I entered some random Twitter competition to win a five-day trip to Vegas and I won. I want you to come with me.”
“You want me to come with you to Las Vegas?” Aggie asked.
“Yes,” Coco shrieked again.
“In two weeks?”
“Yes!” Coco replied.
“I can’t come to Las Vegas in two weeks,” Aggie decided. “I’ve just lost my job, I’ve inherited a corner shop and my life is insane right now. I really can’t Coco.”
“Of course you can and of course you will.”
oOo
The breakfast buffet was bigger than anything Aggie had ever seen. In fact it appeared to be more of a banquet than a meal to be eaten in the morning hours. It was famous, after all. Almost anyone and everyone who had ever visited Las Vegas knew about the amazing champagne breakfast buffet at the ridiculously grand hotel.
“I can’t possibly drink any more,” sighed Aggie before she swallowed the last drops of her third rather large glass of champagne.
“Nonsense, of course you can,” Coco said as she nodded at one of the many waiters who seemed to appear out of nowhere to pour a fourth glass.
“Cheers, my dear. Now come on, let’s hit the buffet one more time,” said Coco.
Holding her full, slightly rounded stomach, Aggie only semi-reluctantly stood up and headed back toward the food for the third time.
“I’m going for Chinese this time. What about you?” Coco asked.
“Hm?” Aggie murmured, not really taking much notice of the question.
Coco ignored her and wandered off, leaving Aggie to decide over the massive selection of hot and cold meats, seafood, pasta dishes, salads, vegetables and much more. But she’d had her fill of savoury stuff, so she turned her attention to the sweets. A rich chocolate mousse, topped with a generous serving of softly whipped cream caught her attention.
Back at her table, Aggie spotted Coco being chatted up, yet again, by a particularly good looking guy in his early twenties. She couldn’t help but notice the manliness of his square jawline, not to mention the twinkle in his eye as he looked down at Coco. She always received attention with her caramel-coloured skin, mass of honey brown curls, huge blue eyes, and naturally dark pink bee-stung lips. The only thing that prevented her from being a supermodel was her height, or apparent lack of it, Aggie thought. Coco was only five foot one. Not that she let it hinder her from doing anything. She often chose to wear at least five-inch heels—even when she was just nipping out to the corner shop.
In other words, Coco was the exact opposite of Aggie.
She sighed and turned her full attention back to the chocolate mousse at the exact time that a very attractive guy in his early thirties appeared beside her.
“Erm, excuse me, Miss,” he said.
“Huh?” Aggie muttered as she looked at him.
“You dropped your jacket,” he smiled, pointing to the floor behind her.
Her heart began to flutter as she watched him lean over, before he stood up and put it back on the chair.
“Oh, thank you very much,” she said, her cheeks changing colour.
“You’ve, erm, got a little cream...” he pointed to her top lip.
She blushed an even deeper shade of red and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. The young man grinned and walked away. Aggie looked down and noticed the huge amount of whipped cream she’d wiped away.
She lost her appetite all of a sudden and pushed the offending dessert away.
“Not gonna eat that? It looks delicious,” said Coco as she put down yet another plate of sushi on the table.
Aggie shook her head, “I thought you were having Chinese?” she asked.
“That guy recommended the sushi,” Coco smiled as she pointed across the room to the young man with whom she’d been chatting.
“Oh, okay. I don’t know where you put it all,” Aggie sighed.
Coco grinned, “I’m lucky I’ve got a high metabolism.” She pouted before placing a large piece of tuna sashimi into her mouth with the chopsticks.
Aggie blushed and shook her head.
“Want some?” Coco offered.
Aggie shook her head, dabbing her mouth with the cloth napkin for the third time.
“I think I’ve had enough. So who was the cute guy?”
“Just some guy who wanted to go out with me tonight,” she answered as if it happened every day. Probably because it did.
“Oh.”
“I turned him down,” said Coco, before she put another piece of sushi in her mouth.
“He was very attractive.”
Coco swallowed the fish before she replied, “A bit young for me.”
“He was probably the same age as you!”
“Exactly...too young. Enough about me anyway, I thought I saw someone chatting you up,” Coco teased.
“Not really, he just picked up my jacket from the floor...and then told me I had a cream moustache.”
“Oh, oh well. Better luck next time, hon.”
“Yeah, I don’t think there’ll be a next time. I just don’t have the kind of appeal that you have, Coco.”
“Nonsense. You’re beautiful. You just don’t seem to see it.”
Aggie looked across the table at her friend as if she was looking at a little green man.
“I’m serious! I’d kill for your poker-straight hair, perfect skin, and height.”
“But not my thin lips, flat chest, and sticky-out cheekbones,” Aggie almost whispered.
“Oh Aggie, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with your lips, chest, or cheekbones! Honestly, woman. I do believe you’ve got body dysmorphia or something. Your problem is that you hide from the world. Even when you’re out and about, you just want to blend in with the crowd or sink into the floor.”
Aggie glanced around and pulled herself more upright in her chair.
“What you need is a makeover and some confidence-building lessons. In fact, let’s go out on the town tonight and I’ll do your hair and makeup. Ooh, we could go shopping first and get you a new outfit.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Aggie whispered.
“You’re doing it again,” Coco shook her head.
“What?” Aggie asked.
“Trying to sink into the floor.”
“No I’m not.”
“Then let’s go shopping!” Coco exclaimed.
- Writer
