Just like any ordinary day of work on a Sunday, I dread it. I wake up at 8:30 to get ready for work. I put on my black pants, my black shirt, black socks, and black shoes. On a day like today, when I’m really tired and lazy I just put my hair in a ponytail to get a little bit of extra shuteye. I have to be at work by 9:15 but I’ll usually get their five minutes early because we get paid a little bit extra for those minutes. As I leave for work I take the smoothie my mom made me and head off to work. I have to park on the far from the entrance so it’s closer to the side door I go through. The side door is the only one open in the morning. Recently I figured that out by clicking on the front doors and one of my managers said,
“You know that the side door is open in the morning right?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know that?”
“Now I do.”
To say the least I was a bit embarrassed. But as I walked into the side door a gust of wind that smelled like popcorn hit me. It smelled like old popcorn, not the kind that you get fresh out of the popper. I hated this smell, it used to be fine and not bother me but now I can’t stand it. I walk over the computer in the front of the place and clock on. I was three minutes early, not bad. After clocking on I had to hurry to the break room to put my coat. In reality you’re supposed to put your coat away before you clock on but I had to walk past the computer to get to the break room so why not. I walked into the break room and an even worse smell hit me, the smell of popcorn and all different kinds of hot foods. There were probably 100 small square lockers to put all belongs in. I stuffed my coat into the little locker then closed it. I took a look around to see why the small was so bad today, worse than other days. I’m guessing someone used the employee bathroom that was in the break room. You’re better off going to the bathroom where everyone else goes; the employee bathroom is grimy, has no color, no mirror and even has a dirty shower. I walked back over to the computer to get the list of movies for the day and a pen to cross out the movies that already passed. After, I walk over to the concession area where I always work and set up the place. I have to stock candy, bottles, napkins, straws, and lids, fix the freestyle machines if they’re red light is blinking, sweep, set up the ropes for the line and more. I hated opening because I was usually closing the night before, which I don’t understand. I stay at AMC until about 12am, get home, go right to sleep, then I have to wake up early to close. They’re setting me up for failure. They know I’m going to be tired and I can’t possibly get more sleep than I already got.


At 10, another guy named Miguel came to work at the concession register as well. I was happy about this because when I have someone to talk to during work it goes by so much faster. Miguel and I talk about so much, he talks about stocks, politics, and other stuff I know nothing about. I usually talk about how much of an ass my ex boyfriend is. Unfortunately though, after working a couple hours, Miguel got off work earlier than me. This left me working register along for a couple hours. I got off at 4 and it was 2. Only two hours, I can make it.


A bunch of different kinds of people came to register that day, old couples, grumpy old people, middle school kids, and families with little kids, and cute boys. Of course I like when cute boys come to my register but whenever they do I get nervous and end of stuttering or knocking something over. There was a cute boy in particular that I had my eye on and of course I knock his cup over. It was embarrassing but I thought to myself, it’s whatever, you’ll never see him again it’s okay.


When it turns 4, I look around for my replacement. I wasn’t aloud to leave without someone being there to take my place. I kept looking through the little spot through the wall and I didn’t see anyone. I was getting impatient because I just wanted to go home. All of a sudden, the cute boy comes up to me and catches me completely off guard. The sun was shining his way and his bright green eyes sparkled in the light.


“Hey, how old are you?” he asked.


“Uh, 17, almost 18.” I replied


“No way, you’re lying” he accused me.


“No I swear I really am 17” I laughed.


“Damn, I wanted you to come to one of my shows but you have to be 21 to get in.”
I could hear the disappointment in his voice. What kind of show was he talking about? He’s probably in a band, THAT’S HOT! He walked away really quick to talk to his friend and then came right back.


“Do you like bowling?” He asked.


“Yeah, I guess.”


“I’m just trying to think of things we could do, I’ll take you to see a movie!” he sounded excited about it.


“Sure, I get free movies” I laughed and gave him the list of movies that were out.


“Pick any movie you want!”


“I don’t even know what any of these movies are,” I admitted.


“Well we will think of one. Can I give you my number?”


“Sure, what is your name” I said as I got my phone out of my pocket.


“Sean.”
I typed in his number as he said it and then him and his friend walked away. A few moments later, my replacement got there. She was ten minutes late. I wasn’t all that mad though, if she came to work on time I would've never conversed with this guy. I said goodbye to my co-worker and went to go clock out. I didn’t want to text this guy right away and scare him off so I told myself I’d wait until about seven o’clock to text him. In the meantime I went home and took a shower to get the stench of grease and popcorn off my skin.


As seven rolled around, I was getting nervous to text him. Should I just wait until tomorrow? What if he expects me to text him today though? It’s kind of like fate that I met him. If my co-worker never came in late we would've never met! I texted him saying, “Heyy.” I used double letters to sound a little friendlier. About 45 minutes later he answered saying, “Hey I thought you were going to forget about me!” As we started getting into a conversation I slipped in the question of how old he was because I still had no idea. It has to be older than 21 because that’s how old he expected me to be. Then he told me he was 23 years old. I was shocked because I was going to guess 21 or 22. I didn’t even consider 23! He didn’t look quite 23 if I remember correctly. As we kept talking a little more he seemed like a good guy. I asked him what his last name was so I could add him on Facebook. When I found his profile I wasn’t too sure if it was actually he. He was in a cop uniform and he never said anything about being a cop so I wasn’t sure. I asked him and he said yeah that was him. I didn’t ask any more questions about it I just ignored that fact and clicked the “Add Friend” button. He accepted it so I did a little more research on him by creeping on his profile. As I looked closer at his profile picture I saw a stage in the background. I had no idea what that was. So I scrolled down on his timeline and saw a picture of a room with the same stage with the caption “This is where the magic happens.” My jaw dropped as I read the comments.


“Magic Mike?


“Yeah but this is the real deal, no Hollywood bullshit”


“LMFAO ur bad”


“Are you working there again?”


“Yeah I’m the cop lol”


“Yuck”


“Thanks for the support”


“She said yuck lmao”


“I will have to come see you”


“I miss working here! Gotta come visit soon”


“Yes def come and say hi and tip a few singles while ur at it lmfao”


“Hmmmm”
I couldn’t believe it. He was a stripper. He was actually a stripper. I was talking to a stripper. That’s what shows he wanted me to go to. He wasn’t in a band, he’s a stripper! Wow, a 23-year-old stripper is talking to me. I never thought I’d be able to saw those words. Is this actually the real life Magic Mike? Is he my Magic Mike? I have to at least give it a try I guess. I ran into him for a reason.


After letting that fact that this guy is a stripper sink in, I was ready to text him again. I didn’t want to bring up the whole stripper thing because I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable or anything. We texted a little a couple days later and he asked me when the next time I was working.


“Saturday night and Sunday morning. Why?” I wondered.


“Okay I was just wondering, maybe I’ll come to visit you at work on Sunday.”


“Oh okay that would be nice!”


“What's your favorite color?”


“Uh, purple. Why?”


“I just like to know random things about people lol” he admitted.
I thought he wasn’t going to actually come to my work because I don’t see why he actually would. We didn’t talk until the next Sunday.


On Sunday my day started off as any normal Sunday would. I had to stock everything because we opened the doors to people. There was now a new rule too. The night before they have to take all the cups out and put them in the back room because they don’t trust the cleaners. A co-worker walked in on one of the workers peeing in the janitor’s closet. I’m guessing that was the last straw and something more rash had to be done. So in the morning I had to put every single cup back. The smalls, mediums, larges, small ices, large ices, and the kid’s cups. It was such a hassle. Although I was working with my friend Savannah and she made working in the morning bearable. She wanted to meet this stripper guy to approve for me she said. I texted him and asked him what movie he was going to see that day and what time. He replied with saying he just wanted to stop in to say hi because he didn’t want to see a movie or anything, just me. I got a little bit worried because I don’t think you’re aloud to do that. I didn’t worry too much about it because I didn’t think he was going to come. I didn’t even answer the last text he sent me. Savannah and I were messing around with cups to help pass the time. Out of nowhere I see Sean right in front of me and jump a little bit. I was not expecting that. He walked over the opening of the counter and told me to come over there to give him a hug so I did.


“I have something for you” he told me.


“What? You do?” I was confused.
He unzipped his jacket and I had no idea what to expect. He pulled out a beautiful pink rose. I blushed as I took the rose and put it by my side. I could feel my face getting really hot because I felt awkward. I thanked him and replied telling him I had nothing for him.
“Oh don’t worry about it! “He said happily, “I didn’t expect you to have anything for me. I’m giving it to you because I missed Valentines Day. They didn’t have any purple yet and I know that’s your favorite color so I got you the closest color, pink.”
I was nervous of what my co-workers, supervisors, and managers would say. Was this inappropriate? Was I going to get yelled at if they saw? After the exchange, he talked to me a little bit. He asked me about how my weekend went and a bunch of other typical conversation starters.


Within a couple minutes he left because he wasn’t seeing a movie or buying anything. Right away Savannah hopped over to me to see how the whole turn out went. I told her it went well and I obviously wasn’t seriously interested in him. He is 23 and I’m not even 18 yet. He lives here and I’m about to go to college. He is probably looking for a serious relationship because he’s probably looking to get married within the next couple of years. I want to go to college and have fun; I wasn’t looking to be tied down by a guy I don’t even know. Savannah was a little too worried for me.
“Lauren, don’t do anything with him. He is so old. This is bad. What if he has an STD? You need to tell him this isn’t going to happen. Stop talking to him.”
“Savannah, I have this under control. I’m not giving him the wrong idea and there isn’t any way I’m going to even come close to catching an STD from him. Besides I’m not looking to be serious with anyone right now. It’s fine, you don’t have to be so worried about it because it’s not going anywhere.”


I made mixed emotions of Savannah’s reaction. I was happy that she was kind enough to care about my well being and me but also kind of annoyed that she thinks I’m stupid enough to make a bad decision about the whole things.


After Sean gave me the rose and left, I haven’t talked to him since. If I don’t talk to him anymore he will probably get the idea. I’m not too worried about how he will react anyway because he knows I’m still 17 and I’m in high school. How far could this have possibly gone on for? I’m flattered that someone was so kind to me when I thought I would never be able to pick up any guy again. It feels good for people to think you're worth their time.