Naive Greens

"red truly is a dull colour." Reece Morag was sitting on his bed at his new apartment staring at the dark red painting. he has been doing that for 30 minutes now. there was a time when the colour red was his favourite colour, despite the way his ex wife, Judith, hated it and referred to it as "dull". But that didn't matter anymore. his wife, his parents, all of that is gone now. he left them all back in Manchester and travelled all the way to the place they loathed most. To New York City. He got up from the bed and attempted a subtle walk to the kitchen, which was nearly impossible, seeing as the entire floor was filled by his suitcases. He checked inside the fridge before realizing of course it had been empty considering he just arrived to this Godforsaken flat 40 minutes ago. his stomach growled and he gave it a small pat "No matter, buddy. I'll feed you tomorrow. but now, we sleep." -------- the walk to the grocery store didn't take long, actually, it only took about five minutes on foot for him to find one titled "happy chems". He went for the door and found a paper with big bald letters written "HELP WANTED" on it before he grabbed the paper and pushed open the door. the man at the cashier was in his mid 20's and seemed to be deep in whatever he was doing on the phone. Reece ignored the man and went straight to the boxed section and brought himself bread and milk. he thought twice before grabbing a box of cereal with him but eventually took it. He clumsily walked to the man still on his phone, and put his groceries on the cashier table. the man finally looked up with an uninterested look, he had dark black hair and even darker eyes. He quickly put everything in a bag hoping to get this all over with "20 dollars." His voice was even more uninterested than his face. Reece grabbed 30 dollars from his pocket and handed them over. The man sighed as he looked for change and handed them over, he went back to his phone before looking up again and staring into his eyes. "The hell do you want?" He seemed frustrated with the way Reece was staring at him. Reece raised the "HELP WANTED" paper and waved it "you know, you should be nicer to your co workers, mate." the man looked confused but then broke into a smile before realising what the paper was saying. "Oh!" His voice sounded different and humanlike this time. "You want a job? Cmere why didn't you say anything? I'm frank." He put out a hand for him to shake which Reece shook back "Reece. You lot need someone like me to bring life to this dead party." It was a low blow but Frank seemed to get agitated which caused a smirk to appear on Reece's face "Just give me your number and ill arrange a meeting for you and the boss." Frank told him through gritted teeth. Reece nodded as the man got his phone out and typed in his number while reece gave it to him. He gave frank a nod before he left the shop and heard him faintly say "ill see you sometime soon Reece." ---- It was one week later when he got the phone call from frank letting him know they're willing to interview him. He was done with tidying his flat for the most part and everything else could be done in an hour or so, he headed outside right after he put on his leather jacket. The streets were cold at night and he got stopped more than once by homeless people asking for "just 10 dollars man. i needa buy a friggin sweater, please! jesus christ" but Reece didn't want to spare 10 dollars especially when there was a record store right next to the grocery store he was headed towards. When the store finally came into view, the sign said "CLOSED" but the lights were on, he knocked on the door and Frank quickly appeared on the view inside, he nodded at Reece and opened the door "you! Glad you know you still want our offer," his tone was filled with sarcasm. "Now don't worry mate i know how much you need me to make sure your precious costumers don't fall asleep on you while you're 'aving a chit-chat" Reece shot back which earned him a scoff from Frank who was doing a shite job at hiding his resentment. "How about I just take you to meet the boss. Okay?" he locked the door behind him and grabbed Reece by his shoulders towards the storage room written on it "EMPLOYEES ONLY". Inside, the lights were dim, and the place was filled with boxes lying on top of each other. there was one table in the middle of the room with a man who looked to be in his late twenties sitting on it, chewing aggressively on a Pen. "Reece, this is Miller, our boss." Frank, in an uncharacteristically low voice, told reece. The man was now walking towards reece. Still chewing on the pen. He was a slightly-short skinny man with blonde and streaks of black hair. He stretched his arm out and gave a toothy grin while the pen was still being chewed which made Reece a tad bit uncomfortable. Miller, seemed to notice his discomfort and broke into a hysterical laugh before spitting the pen out releasing a loud noise that echos into the silent room when it reached the floor. "sorry, I just don't have my cigarette with me right now. You know how it is sometimes." Reece simply nodded since he felt that's the answer that was expected of him, it seemed to satisfy Miller, who gave a small smile. "So, you got any experience in the wakkies?" Reece just tilted his head in confusion at the word "wakkie". Miller and Frank shared a quick glance and pretended it never happened but Reece noticed. Miller let out a small laugh "right. Sorry. We refer to grocery stores as wakkies in our shop." Reece nodded his head in understanding "Right. Well no i don't got any experience in that." Miller raised an eyebrow and looked towards frank. "Frankie! You ain't even tell me our man here isn't local." He spoke in a passive aggressive manner which seemed to terrify Frank "i didnt think it was important" Frank daren't meet his boss' eyes. Reece started subconsciously scratching his head, an odd coping mechanism of his, miller noticed and calmed down before sighing and breaking off into a smile. "Don't worry Frankie boy. it really ain't that important. So, reecey puffs, you Australian or something? You got an accent." "I come from Sheffield. I only been here a week actually." Miller lightened up at that "Really? A Brit in the US? hiya Mate!" He attempted a british accent and started laughing like a maniac. Reece was beginning to think Miller is a hyperactive lad who gets excited all too easily. "yeah. now the whole 'wakkies' thingy. does that mean i need to have experience to-" "Nevermind that" Miller interrupted, "come on let's have a seat. Frankie, be a nice guy and grab a chair for yourself, won't you?" They sat at the table, Miller facing Reece while Frank is sitting at the side. "So, Reecey Puffs, tell me about yourself. What were you like as a kid? You get in trouble a lot" "well i, i was a massive dummy" miller smiled "no, seriously, did you get in a lot of fights in school? As a kid?" reece was confused as to why this has anything to do with getting a job but decided to reply anyway "yes actually i was a bit insane. got expelled from school once." Miller seemed satifised with that answer for some reason. "Did you win?" Reece raised an eyebrow. Did he hear that right? "what?" "Did you win the fights or not." Reece stared blankly at him. He wasn't sure if this was a trick question or not. "well most of the time. sure." Miller glanced at Frank who glanced back at him and then looked at Reece. "You're in. You start tomorrow." Reece blinked "what?" Miller was standing up "I said you're in. Wear something decent tomorrow. Your shift starts at 8 sharp." Reece looked to miller then looked at Frank who was smirking "well. You met the boss.". "Oh and," he heard Miller say before leaving the storage room "you have a good night mister Reece..?"he looked at Reece expectedly "Morag. Reece Morag". Miller broke into a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before leaving the room. "Nice lad" reece was saying as they walked out the store "oh you'd be surprised. See you tomorrow Mr.Life Of The Party." Reece couldn't help but notice Frank was jealous. Let him be.