I looked up when someone plopped down in the chair across from me. I was in the college library with several books spread out on a table in front of me along with my notes. I had a big exam coming up Monday and I had to pass.

A feminine voice said, “Hey, Scott. Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, hi Amy,” I said trying not to look annoyed. Amy is very pretty and a good friend since the tenth grade. We were both attending the same college that was only a hundred miles from the town we went to high school. “Would you like to make a guess?”

Grinning at me she said, “Cramming for a test?”

I smiled. “Bingo! See? I told you that you’re smarter than your sister.

Amy pouted. “I think you told my sister she was smarter. Anyway, I have a question for you if you can pause your study for a few minutes.”

I set my pen down on my notes. I said, “Sure, Amy. The most important test of the semester can wait.”

Ignoring my sarcasm, Amy smiled sweetly at me and asked “Are you still looking for a job?”

I sat up a little straighter. “Sure. Do you know of one?”

Nodding, Amy said, “Yep. And it’s kinda up your alley.”

I chuckled. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense.”

Amy looked down at her hands and said, “The place I work at is hiring. I think you’d be perfect.”

Frowning at her, I said, “I’ve told you I’m not interested in a kitchen job.” Amy worked at a burger place popular with the college crowd as it was right on one of the main streets across from the college.

Amy grinned. “This isn’t a kitchen staff position. It’s waiting on customers.”

“I don’t know if that’s any better,” I said. “But I thought they only hired girls for the wait staff.”

Amy shrugged. “Legally, they can’t only hire females. But because of the uniform requirement, guys usually shy away.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you saying there’s no male version of the uniform?” The place is called Pink Bear Burgers and the staff wears short, pink and white striped dresses and pink fuzzy bear ears head bands. “Everyone wears the same uniform?”

Amy nodded. “Yep. Including the make-up and pink lipstick. It’s not required, but they prefer if you also wear pink nail polish.”

I grunted. “No wonder guys shy away. And why do you think I’d be perfect?”

Amy grinned. “You know why, Scotty. Are you going to make me say it?” I’ll admit it. I like to dress up in girls clothes. Many times I’d go over to her house and she’d help me put on make-up and get dressed. Then we’d spend time looking at cute male celebrities on the internet. Occasionally, I’d be dressed up and go with her to a movie or just to the mall. For fun, sometimes we’d flirt with boys in the mall.

I sighed heavily. “No. But we’re not kids anymore, Amy.”

Amy laughed. “So? With your long hair, you still get mistaken for a girl a lot. I think you’d like it. As a bonus, you’d get to work with me!” She giggled.

I laughed. “Well, that’s certainly a plus. Honestly, I’m not sure I could do that. It’d look kinda weird me leaving the dorm dressed as a girl.”

“You can change in the office,” Amy said seriously. “I’ve already cleared it with the boss, should you apply. Come on, Scotty. It’ll be fun.”

I shook my head. “Let me sleep on it. Maybe I’ll look at it next week.”

Amy said earnestly, “You need to apply tonight. The boss will think you’re perfect. But if we wait, Susan Hendly is interested in the job as well. The position needs to be filled quickly and the boss is leaning towards Susan if no one else applies.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Susan? Really? She’s annoying as hell. She’ll chase away customers.”

Amy’s eyes widened. “Exactly! You gotta come down tonight. You’ll get hired on the spot.”

I sighed heavily as I flipped closed one of my books on the table. “Studying’s for losers, right? Okay. Let’s go.”

Amy’s eyes shone brightly. “Super! We’ll take my car.”

I stood outside Pink Bear Burgers after getting out of Amy’s car. Amy turned back towards me. “Are you coming, Scotty?”

“I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” I said.

Amy posed as if she was flexing her muscles. “Are you a man or a mouse?”

“Squeak.”

Amy shook her head. “Oh come on. You know you want to.”

I sighed as I surrendered. “Okay. Let’s go talk to your boss.”

As we walked in, two girls behind the counter, wearing fuzzy pink head bands with bear ears, one with dangly pink bear earrings turned towards us. The one with the earrings said, “Hey Amy! I thought you were off today.”

Amy laughed. “I am. We’re here to see Joanie. I have a possible recruit.”

Earring girl looked at me and grinned. “Oh! He’s cute!” I felt my cheeks turn red.

Pointing at a door, Amy asked, “Joanie is here, right?”

The other girl nodded. “She’s in her office.”

Rapping on the door, Amy said, “Knock, knock! Hey Joanie. Can we come in?”

Slightly muffled through the closed door, a woman’s voice said, “The door’s always open for you, Amy. What’s going on?”

Turning to me, Amy said, “Come on, Scott.” As she opened the door, she said, “Joanie, remember that guy I thought would be perfect to work here?” She pointed at me. “Well, here he is. Joanie, this is my friend Scott. Scott, this is Joanie the manager.”

Smiling, Joanie stood up and extended her hand towards me. “Nice to meet you, Scott.” Glancing to Amy, she said, “You’re right. He is a cutie. I love your hair.” I could feel my face growing red.

Eyes wide, Amy grabbed my arm. “Isn’t he though? And he’s so sweet! All the customers will just love him!”

Smiling at me, Joanie said, “I agree. I think he’s exactly what we’re looking for.” Looking straight at me, she asked, “Can you start tonight?”

The question took me by surprise. Remembering my dad’s advice as well as my own personal experience, saying anything other than ‘Yes’ will cost you the job. I really needed to get back to studying. But I really need a job too. But a job where you wear fuzzy bear ears and lipstick? Do I need a job that bad?

I took a deep breath and said, “Yeah. Sure. I can start right now.”

Joanie grinned at me. “Congratulations, Scott. You’re hired. After we find a uniform that fits you, you can fill out these forms.” She handed me a short stack of papers. She started rummaging around in a box. “Nope. Too big. Nope, also too big. What size do you think he’d be, Amy?”

Amy shrugged. “I dunno. He’s just a bit shorter than me.” She looked in the box. After a moment, she exclaimed, “Oh! Here we go!” She pulled a short dress from the box and held it front of me. “This will be perfect!” It was like the others, pink and white stripes with a big picture of the face of a pink bear right in the center. She pulled a headband with large bear ears attached. “Here, Scotty. You’ll need this as well. Do you have any make-up with you?”

I looked up from filing out a form and frowned at Amy. “I must have left it in my dorm room.” Amy slipped the headband onto my head. The door was opened just enough to look back into the kitchen. One of the cooks looked at me and started laughing.

Amy frowned. “We’ll need to do some shopping tomorrow. Tonight, I’ll let you borrow some of mine.”

I looked up at Amy with a smirk. “After I flunk my test tomorrow, I’ll have time for shopping.”

Looking around in her purse for make-up, Amy said, “That’s a good idea. Call me when you’re done.”

Frowning, I said, “I probably failed it before I even get it.”

Amy handed me the dress. “Oh, you’ll do fine. Here. Put this on and then I’ll do your make-up.”

Amy and Joanie left the office to give me a bit of privacy. Thinking I must be insane, I took my shirt and pants off. I held up the dress and scowled at it. What am I doing? I slipped the dress on and fumbled with the zipper in the back. I re-adjusted the headband and then opened the door.

Joanie exclaimed, “That dress fits perfectly!”

Amy said, “Sit down so I can do your make-up. All I have with me is my compact, mascara and lipstick. So that will have to do for now.”

Amy hummed as she worked on my face. I was reminded of back in high school when she’d do my make-up. I knew I was in good hands.

She grinned at me as she invited Joanie back into her office. When she saw me, Joanie grinned wide. “Oh my! Isn’t she adorable?”

Amy stepped back. “Go check yourself out in the restroom mirror.”

I stood up and entered the grimy restroom. I was shocked. It’s been a couple of years since I last wore any make-up. Joanie was right. I am adorable!

“Amy, you haven’t lost your touch.” I said honestly.

Smiling, Amy said, “Thanks! We’ll get some nail polish tomorrow as well.”

Joanie looked at both of us. “So, Scott. What name should we use for your name tag? What do we call you?”

Amy looked thoughtful for a moment. “Why not just Scotti, with an ‘I’? That’s kind of a cute name.”

I said, “Well you know. I was thinking…”

Interrupting, Joanie said, “Scotti it is. Since we’ll be closing for the day soon, let’s do a quick overview of your duties and how to use the cash register. We’ll go over it again when you come in for a full shift.”

As I was getting a run through of what I was to do, two boys entered the restaurant and walked up to the counter. Both of them grinned at me.

Amy whispered in my ear, “Those two seem to love coming here just before closing.”

Despite the fact that there were two full time girls already standing behind the counter, as well as Amy, Joanie smiled at me and said, “Scotti, why don’t you help these two gentlemen?” Internally, I groaned. This isn’t fair!

I walked up to the counter and looked at both boys. “Welcome to the Pink Bear. How may I help you?”

Both boys grinned at me. The boy closest to the counter said, “Just the student special for me.” He looked at his friend. “Joey?

Joey reached for his wallet in his back pocket. “Uh yeah. I’ll have the special too.”

Before I rang up the specials, I said, “You know, our chicken fried steak is very good.” It’s also more expensive.

The first boy said, “I know. I’ve had it. But not today.” I smiled pleasantly at him as he gave me the money for his order.

As Joey paid for his meal, the first boy said, “Can I ask your name? You don’t seem to have a tag. My name is Jerry.” I wanted to say I don’t give two shits in hell what your name is. But the boss was standing right next to me.

Smiling, I said, “Hi Jerry! My name is Scotti… with an ‘I’. This is my first day. I don’t have a tag yet.”

Jerry grinned. “Well hello, Scotti with an ‘I’. Are you a student?”

Oh God, this twit is flirting with me. “Good guess! Are you a student here as well?”

Jerry laughed. “I got the student special, didn’t I?” Joey had already sat down at a table.

I giggled. “I guess that should have been my first clue!” It’s not like anyone checks for a student ID to get the student special.

“That’s so cool that you’re a student here. What’s your major?” Sheesh. Virtually everyone with a job within a mile radius of the school is a student.

Without thinking, I automatically said, “Computer Science.” Oh jeez. I hope I don’t see this clown hanging around the computer department now.

Jerry’s face lit up. “Oh, cool. I’m in Aerospace engineering. We have a lot of computer labs, so I might see you around.”

I was about to say something when from behind, I heard a guy from the kitchen announce, “Order up!” I just nodded to Jerry before turning around to grab two trays in the order window.

Setting the trays on the counter in front of Jerry. I smiled and said, “Here’s your order. Enjoy!”

Joey got up to get his tray. Jerry hesitated a moment before taking his. “Oh I will, Scotti with an ‘I’. I will. He turned to sit with his friend.

Though he spoke in a low voice, I heard Joey ask, “Well, did you get her number?”

Jerry glanced back at me and then turned to Joey. “Damn! I will next time. She’s really cute.”

I started wiping down the counter top when Amy leaned over to whisper in my ear with a giggle, “Boyfriend material!”

I frowned at her. “Go away!” She laughed.

Thankfully, no one else came in after Jerry and Joey wolfed down their dinners. Joanie walked up to me with a paper in her hand. “Here’s your schedule. I worked it around your school schedule. I’m looking forward to you working here.”

Amy grinned. “She’ll definitely be bringing the boys in. That’s for sure.”

I frowned at Amy. “Will you please knock it off?”

Joanie smiled at me. “I have a feeling she’s probably right.”

I rolled my eyes at both of them. “Terrific.”

I changed back into my clothes and washed my face in the restroom. Amy drove me back to my dorms.

As I got out of her car, Amy said, “Scott, you did great tonight on your first time. I noticed Joanie paired us quite a bit on our schedules. Call me after your test so we can do a little shopping. Eventually we’ll have to get you some outfits as well. See ya tomorrow!”

I waved at her as she drove away. Did she say ‘outfits’?

To be continued…