No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

3-northside woman

Eden pulled her green vest over her head and pushed it into her locker in the break room.

"Ooh-wee, I can't wait to go home and sit down on my recliner with my wine and watch my soap operas!" Martha, the grandmother figure of the company, spoke as she opened her locker which was a few to the left of Eden's. 

She was a shorter old black woman whose curly hair close to her head had begun to turn grey. Eden had always wondered why an older woman like her would work late shifts at a grocery store. The blonde chuckled as she looked at her reflection in the tiny mirror inside her locker door, feeling her nerves begin to get the best of her again.

"I'm sure a young lady like yourself has much more exciting plans than mine," Martha said with a chuckle as she closed her locker and swung her brown purse over her shoulder. "Have a good night!"

"You too," Eden returned as Martha and the remaining late shift employees filed out of the breakroom. She sighed, pulling her blonde hair out of its ponytail and trying to make it look not so frizzy. Why tonight, she thought to herself as she looked down at her light blue jeans and black sweater. She looked like she was about to go to high school, not to a bar with an upper class woman who had propositioned her so confidently.

As much as she couldn't believe it, she almost wished that as she said goodbye to Sean and exited the front doors of the store, that the woman wouldn't be there—that maybe she had changed her mind or found much more worthy endeavors for her Friday night. Contrary to Martha's beliefs, the shy Eden would have much more enjoyed to settle down in her own couch and watch a movie or two.

But as she pushed on the cold metal handle of the glass doors littered with posters and advertisements, she saw a familiar figure leaning against the light pole right outside the store. She didn't see Eden first—her head was turned and watching the cars fly past on the street, a few yellow taxis passing intermittently. She wore a black peacoat now, and the light which she stood under reflected off her cheekbones and shadowed her jaw which seemed clenched. 

As if she had felt the girl watching her, the woman's head turned to her and their eyes connected, and Eden felt very much out of place under her sight. The girl immediately started foraging her brain for what to say or how to greet her, but thankfully the woman left no pause and instantly leaned up from the pole and smoothly spoke, "Shall we?"

Her heart was leaping through her chest, and she was slightly trembling from the cold and her own nerves. Crossing her arms over her chest, she nodded, and they began walking down the street.

The previous night's snow was settled in the bank between the sidewalk and the road. It was cold, but Eden's anxiety was enough to keep her body warmed up. She discretely peered over at the taller woman who walked beside her, close enough so that they were walking together, but far enough that there was a respectful distance between them. The woman stared straight ahead, lips resting in a way that showed no emotion one way or another. She was like a sculpture.

"So..." the girl began, crossing her arms tighter around herself. "What's your name?" She felt strange asking such a question while on her way to go have drinks with the stranger.

The woman's eyebrow arched upwards, the corners of her lips indenting. "How about you tell me yours first."

Eden moved over to allow room for a few people passing by on the street, and the cloth of her sweater brushed the woman's coat. She held her breath and waited for the people to pass so she could move back over. "Well, I asked first," she said with a nervous chuckle, glancing back up to the woman whose eyes glinted.

Her chestnut hair moved behind her shoulder from the force of a cold breeze. "I approached you first. Doesn't that count for something?" She finally returned to meet the girl's stare.