Jon's POV

"Uhm no? Nothing like that." She says nonchalantly. Well, fuck. I thought she'd be begging me to stay over. At least that's what her face said. She looked like a sad puppy who wanted more play time with her master. Shit that sounds kinky.

"What else then?" I ask narrowing my eyes.

"It's uh....about your jacket! I-I washed it but it's still in the dryer. So I hope you don't mind if I return it to you some other day."

"Ohh that's totally fine. Don't worry about it." I say scratching the back of my head. I stay for a couple of more minutes waiting for her to say something further, but she's just as awkward as I am. So I take that as my fucking cue to leave.

"Well, then I'll see you on Monday." I say heading towards the door.

"You too"

****

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I say chuckling lightly.

"Yes! And then I was like 'No ma'am I do not work as a drag queen' gosh I was humiliated in front of my date. She made an excuse of using the restroom and never showed up after that." Bob says tossing the pliers into the tool box.

"Well I don't blame the lady to confuse you with a drag queen." I say trying my best to hold my laughter in.

"Which drag queen has a full grown beard? Come on, cut me a slack here brother!" He sighs, leaning against the hood of the car we're currently repairing. My first impression about Bob was of him being a total geek. He seems to theoretically know each and every crap about cars, but it turns out that he is practically just as smart. He's pretty easy going for his age. Dude's got no worries, just go with the flow as long as you can put your shit together.

It's been nearly two weeks since the whole 'grocery store incident'. I'm glad that it happened, because Emmy seems to be much closer to me now. She isn't that shy or awkward around me like how she used to be. In fact, we've got way too close. Once I was fixing the light bulb in her kitchen, and when I was done she smacks my fucking ass and says "good job babes". To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I was fucking flabbergasted. Do friends smack each other's asses? Even if they do, I am gonna keep my hands to myself, because once if I start, I'm not sure I'd have a command over my own hands when I'm around her.

From the corner of my eye I see James messing up with the automative air conditioner of one of our customers' car.

"What the fuck is James doing? That's Alex's car. His car needs automobile electrification, why is he screwing up the air conditioner?" Bob asks.

This is just an everyday thing now, James does something to screw things up and I keep cleaning his mess. I feel that he's bringing more losses in my business than profits. I will be lying if I said that I didn't consider firing him. I've yelled at him a billion times, yet he goes back to being a careless, irresponsible jerk.

"James!" I call out heading towards him. He gets startled and turns towards me with a questioning look.

"Why the fuck are you messing up with the AC? This car needs an automobile electrification." I say calmly, trying my best to tame my anger.

"Oh damn. I might've confused this with Jackson's car. Sorry boss I'll fix it right up." He says nonchalantly, as if this was the first time he has messed up. I've lost a lot of money in the past because he'd order up the wrong equipments. I have never cut the money from his pay, assuring myself that this would be the last time he'll mess it up. But he proves me wrong. Every. Single. Time. I couldn't take this anymore. This boy is clearly taking me for granted. That's it, I cannot handle anymore tardiness from his side.

"James?"

"Yes boss?"

"You're fired."

Everyone at the shop stops what they're doing, and look at James and I as if we've grown two heads. But I choose to ignore them and drift my attention completely to James, who is now looking at me with disbelief.

"Jon? W-What are you saying?"

"James there is a limit to which I can handle your tardiness. And you've crossed the limit. Everyday there is something or the other which you manage to screw up. And I've been putting up with your shit for 3 years. I can't take it anymore. I'll give you the full pay of this month, leave my shop and search for a job else where." He looks devastated, probably not expecting such an outburst from my side. Hell, I didn't expect this myself either. But this had to be done one day or another. He's a grown man, 20 years is grown enough. He can find a job himself.

"Don't come tomorrow onwards. I'm really sorry but if I keep you here any longer, my job is going down the drain. All the best James." With that being said I leave from there, not gonna lie, but I feel really bad. I go to the only place which can calm me down.

****

"Enjoy our pastries Ma'am. Please come again." I hear the melodious voice as soon as I enter into Sweet Tooth.

"Hey Emmy, can I have my regular" I sigh leaning towards the counter, placing my elbows over it whilst rubbing my face.

"Woah Jonny! What happened? What's with all the negative aura." She asks half mockingly.

"Nothing it's just work." I say heading towards a seat in the corner, away from the crowd. A minute or two later, Emmy comes to me with two cups of coffee and plate full of donuts. She places them on the table and takes a seat right across from me.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asks putting her hand on top of mine. I really don't know if I should tell her. I'm not used to opening up to people about the things that bother me, well I never had the 'people' to open up to. I'm just used to keeping things to myself and moving on from it through the course of time. But something tells me that I'll feel much better if I tell Emmy about what had happened. So I do just that.

"Wait? James? That young lad who walks behind you like a lost puppy all the time?" She asks furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yeah....I think so....wait. How do you know him?"

"He comes here for coffee every single day. He's a really nice guy. Very sweet, innocent and a real gentleman. I can't believe you'd have problems with him Jonny."

"Well, he's nice and all but he's very clumsy at work. Like dangerously clumsy. I've had huge financial losses just because of him. If I keep him any longer then my shop will be at stake. And he's really immature for his age. I know 20 years isn't that old but you got to have some maturity at least when you're in your work space. He is hyperactive, he lacks patience and he just can't do anything without creating a problem. He's so irresponsible, I know for a fact that he's taking me for granted."

I feel much better venting out my anger. I really needed it. But Emma looks like she's in deep thoughts. I can say by the looks of it that she's really feeling bad for him.

"Emma"

"Yeah" She asks coming back to reality.

"You haven't said anything."

"Oh I'm sorry I guess I zoned out. So do you know where he is going to work now?"

"I don't know. I did pay him off for this month. I hope he gets into somewhere soon."

"Hmm" She says while eating her third donut. One thing I've noticed is that Emma stress eats a lot. And she is doing exactly that right now. Is she stressed for James? Why is she so bothered?

"Are you okay?" I ask

"Uhm yeah." She smiles, but it does not reach her eyes. She tosses the last piece of the donut into her mouth and stands up to get back to work.

"I should get going now. I'll see you later Jon." She says giving my arm a light squeeze. Hope she could feel my guns. I inwardly smirk. But I drop my perverted thoughts and focus on the current situation. I don't have any personal grudge against James. He's a nice guy, but way too detrimental for my shop.

I hope I did the right thing by firing him.