The Best of Fools (Jane Austen Book 2) by Marilyn Grey Page B

are you doing?"
    I stood up and walked away. "I'm just looking around. Shopping, you know, because that's what you do in stores. What are you doing? That's the real question."
    He laughed. Zoe didn't.
    She pulled his hand back and they stayed behind, surely about to kiss each other's lips until they turned blue. And I would be alone, wheeling away on my beloved, comforting, very nice unicycle, thank you very much.
    I finished my shopping in peace and asked an Ikea employee if he could help me load the truck I bought.
    "Sorry," he said. "There are people outside that do that. Not me."
    "Kay." I maneuvered my cart thingies to the side of the exit and pushed one outside. Don't know what he was talking about because there were no Ikea employees anywhere to be found, so I wheeled the cart to the yellow poles and went to get the moving truck, then parked it and stared at the stuff.
    Kay....
    I brought the other three carts out.
    Stared at them.
    Kay.
    Okay.
    Okay!
    I could do this.
    Oh, wait! Out of thin air, he appeared! The blue shirt I so wanted to see. I walked up to him and smiled. "Hey, um, the guy in there told me that you help load?"
    He didn't speak. But he moved toward the truck and began throwing—yes, throwing—my new stuff into the car.
    "Um, I can do it. Don't worry about it."
    The lips on his face seemed real, but they didn't move at all. He threw another box in. The wood inside banged against the truck and probably shattered into a million pieces.
    "Right," I said. "So, I can take care of it, but thanks."
    He didn't make eye contact with me, just stood there reaching his hand out. I looked at his sweaty palm.
    "Yes?" I stepped back.
    He picked up another box.
    "Do you speak English?"
    He tipped it on to the back of the truck so that half of it was hanging toward me, then reached out his palm again. "Tip."
    "Hark, he speaks!"
    He narrowed his eyes and chewed his gum. "Tip."
    "Isn't this your job?"
    He extended his hand closer to me.
    I shoved a five into his hand just to get him the hell away.
    I swear, only me.
    He disappeared into a secret door and I turned back to grab the box, but it fell on my foot. I seized up and grabbed the edge of the truck, leaning over as stars danced inside my head.
    "That hurt," I said, looking down at my toe. It felt broken. Thankfully it only looked a little red, but as I loaded the rest of the enormous heavy boxes into the truck without the slightest bit of ease, the pain turned into hot prickly needles stabbing my toe from the inside out.
    I worked fast, shoving the damn things into the truck and contemplating suing Ikea. When I got everything settled I closed the truck and wobbled inside, careful to put pressure on the side of my foot to relieve the pressure from my big toe. I went to the customer service desk and told them my story. They shrugged. More gum chewing.
    "Is there a manager here?" I said.
    "That would be me." Ryan pointed to his name tag.
    "Right. Thanks. Okay." I turned and walked back to the truck, sat down in the driver's seat, and held my toe which was now turning black.
    Great.
    This unicycle didn't have medical insurance now that she was supposed to be eighteen and responsible with her own money.
    So, I took myself home, driving with the outer edge of my foot pressing on the pedal and even then it hurt like, oh, about nine thousand wasps stinging me at once while setting my foot on fire for kicks.
    I breathed in and out, cringing with each throb, until finally parking behind my lovely new apartment. There was no way I could move the rest of the boxes in myself. Not now. Not when I needed to figure out how to deal with a possibly broken and definitely excruciating toe.
    I hobbled to the back door and did what I always do when life sucks. I popped my earphones in and played my favorite music. From my favorite movie. From my favorite hero ever.
    Batman.
    Batman Begins. The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight Rises . I played the Batman Begins soundtrack by the incredible