Six

“Sorry for the mess, I just came back from work,” Laura apologized, grabbing some clothes she had discarded on her bed.

“It’s fine, it is your place,” Ezra shrugged.

“Is your apartment such a hole too?” Laura joked.

“It is pretty similar, just bigger since I have a roommate. But hey, at least it’s clean.”

“And there are no rats or cockroaches.”

“Touché,”

It was quite refreshing for her to talk to someone who didn’t judge and who was used to a modest lifestyle (sorta poor) like she was.

She loved June, but since she grew up rich, when it came to these things she could be very judgemental and condescending.

They sat at the small table when Laura made them coffee , she didn’t even have a sofa so the other option was sitting on the bed and that just seemed strange with a guy she barely knew so they sat on the floor instead.

“So what have you been up to?” Ezra wondered.

“Nothing much, mostly just work,” Laura shrugged: “But I have been thinking about dyeing my hair. This is my natural hair color, but I had some colors in the past and I kinda miss it.”

“Go for it, if it’s not a problem at work then do what you want,” Ezra said.

“Yeah, I am gonna have to ask, but I think it will be fine since I usually just stock the shelves and don’t talk to customers and I don’t work in a fancy place either. But I can’t decide which color to get.”

“What colors have you had before?”

“Um, let’s see,” She thought: “I was blonde, red and even pink for a while.”

“Interesting choices,” the elder grinned: “You should try something you haven’t had yet, but I personally think that you could pull anything off, I mean, with a face like yours it really doesn’t matter what your hair looks like.”

Laura bit her lip flustered and looked down at the table with a small blush. Did Ezra just compliment her and call her beautiful ?

“Oh, fuck, that came off really weird, right? I am sorry, I swear I am not some creep!” Ezra gasped when he realized what he said.

“No, no, it’s fine,” she reassured him: “It’s just...I didn’t expect such a compliment from you.”

“Well, truth needs to be said, right? You are really beautiful and I am sure you know it.”

“You are quite handsome yourself,” the brunette admitted since they were already honest with each other.

“Thanks,” Ezra smiled with a small blush of his own that wasn’t normal to see on him.

Laura always thought of the older man as cool and handsome, but the truth was that he was quite cute too, it was endearing.

“You said you are leaving, when are you leaving? ,” she decided to change the topic.

“Yeah I am, tomorrow, not sure for how long yet, since I work from home, I don’t really have to think about it, I am just taking my laptop with me to work if needed.”

“And where are you going if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Ah, just Starlight city, my hometown. I have some relatives there where I used to spend holidays and I made some friends there too. I haven’t seen them for a while so I decided to go.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” She nodded with a smile: “Enjoy your holiday then, I hope I will be able to go too one day.”

“To your hometown?”

“No, not there,” She shook her head quickly: “I...don’t really have anyone there I’d want to see, you know? I just cut off ties with everyone when I came here.”

Ezra looked at her curiously, the answer was pretty ambiguous. He was very well aware that he was often like this too, but he had his reasons for it. Maybe Laura had her reasons too, maybe she had something to hide too and that made her even more intriguing.

They talked for a while longer before Ezra got up, saying he needed to finish some work and then he had to pack.

“Stop by when you get back,” Laura told him when she saw him off at the door.

“Sure, I will be looking forward to it, I hope you will have that new color,” the elder winked and left.

She bit her lip, feeling slightly flustered as she watched him disappear into his own apartment.

There were so many sides to her neighbor, sometimes he was just nice and really cute, other times he was playful and teasing and even flirty.

She liked that, she really liked when there were layers to people because that made them much more interesting.

“Laura , can you come to my office after your shift?” The manager came asking one day at work.

“Of course, sir,” she nodded, instantly nervous about what it was about. She just recently dyed her hair. She listened to Ezra’s advice and got a color she hasn’t had before, he went for silver and she really liked it, it made her features even softer and eyes look sharper.

Was it about the hair? But the manager complimented her the other day, there was no indication that he would be upset about it.

Her shift ended and she changed in the small employees’ locker room, grabbing her things and going to the manager’s office.

The man told her to sit down and from the heavy tone, Laura knew she was in some kind of trouble, but she didn’t recall doing anything that would warrant it.

“Laura, this is not really easy for me to say. You have been a good employee, you’ve always done your job well and took weekends and stepped in for sick people and so on but...I have to let you go,” the manager looked at her apologetically.

She just stared at him, she was expecting some scolding and that she could take, but being fired?

“Sir, if it’s because of my hair-“

“No, it’s not because of the hair,” the man sighed:

“I don’t have a choice, the truth is that the supermarket is not doing very well and we need to cut costs. You are a good employee, but I can’t fire people that have been working here for years, most of them have families, they would lose their income and that might ruin them, I hope you understand.”

Laura was speechless. She understood the manager’s decision, from a logical point of view it just made sense, she had worked there for a few months and she was young and didn’t have a family to take care of, but it was just unfair. She needed money too, she just got a new apartment and even though she had some savings to get by for a few weeks, she would have to hunt for a job immediately.

“You still have two weeks in your contract so you will continue working here for that time and I promise that I will give you a small bonus on your last paycheck,” the manager smiled kindly and Laura couldn’t really be mad, at least not at him.

“I understand, sir,” she said with resignation, knowing there was really nothing she could do about the situation. She’s been in worse places in her life, this was something she could deal with, even though the unexpected news certainly made a mess in his plans.