samuel fields' name tag was hidden under a piece of tape that he'd scribbled 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚖𝚢 on with black sharpie

his shift had started at 9 already, he'd cleaned three cages, fed all the animals and sold three

working at the pet shop pets from jet's, owned by oscar jet - his father named the business and passed it down to him so the name had not been changed in a few decades - required time and some patience

obviously sammy had both, and the fact that he was very good with animals, of course, dealt as another great qualification as well

it was now 11:38, and he was sitting behind the counter, snacking out of the small box of grapes he'd bought at the marketplace on his way here, the ferret he'd named lil street swagger roaming around in his lap playfully as he chewed on the bracelet around sammy's wrist

on the counter sat his notebook, a whole page about mitosis that he would have to memorize until tomorrow hidden under his keys, the grapes, sticky notes and the bag of raw chicken strips for lil street swagger

the job had no uniform, so he wore an oversized shirt with a print that had faded with all the washes it'd been through and jorts, jeans shorts, top tier fashion

before lil street swagger could munch the festival bracelet off his arm he pulled the animal away, letting it crawl into his sleeve

with the ferret up his shirt, crawling around on his back and digging its small nails into his skin, he wanted to resume studying for the upcoming bio exam, when the small sound of the bell above the door sounded

and in came you

lil street swagger immediately jumped out of his shirt at the sound, almost like he knew how unprofessional it would seem for the cashier to have a ferret up his collar, and returned to jumping around in sammy's lap

"hey", sammy greeted, chewing a grape and grinning a bit crookedly as you approached the counter, sitting himself up a little straighter while the ferret gnawed on his thumb

"what can I help you with?"