Sweet sounds on the nightshift?

“C’mon, Jerry! Duane can do it can’t he?” Mark complained to his manager as Duane quickly walked away to do whatever he did when trying to avoid an unpleasant task. 
“What you got a hot date or something?” he smirked ignoring the fact that they were left standing in the middle of aisle 5 in Duane's absence.
“Yeah, in fact I do!” he shot back semi-disrespectfully but trying to hold it together. 

The movie they were all going to at the Little Theater was to start and he had timed his arrival there to coincide nicely with his shift ending. He knew he would get paid for the overtime, but he didn't care about the money because Nan was going to be there and he desperately wanted a seat next to her.
“Well, you’re spot mopping anyway…” Jerry ordered as he walked away. He was done with the conversation and Mark made his way to the produce aisle to begin his new task.

The muzack was especially loud as there were barely any customers or activity in the store. It made it the perfect time to spot mop, but also the worst time for him. Mark started dancing and singing along to the Commodores and tried his best to make the situation less of a chore and more of a music video of sorts.

But there was no way he could fake it. She was almost to the theater now and he had prepared her for the eventuality that he would not be able to make it out of work in time. Not that he, in any way, thought that would negatively impact her night. But he dreamed it would. 

He hoped it would.

He thought that maybe his absence would be noticed by her. Maybe she would wince a bit when someone else in the group sat next to her knowing that it could have been him. Maybe her cheesecake or drink would be a little less than she wanted it to be given the fact that he was not there. "Yeah...maybe." he thought. "Maybe I'll get out of here in time for me to meet her at Perkins with the other guys."