no turning back

• forty •

gladys

Neither Brant nor I spoke the entire drive to the nearest pharmacy, which ended up being in a grocery store. I guess there wasn't much to say. He was angry, and rightfully so. I wanted to see him free, but we both knew it wasn't up to me.

When we got to the store, Brant and I split ways so he could grab a few items while I went straight to the pharmacy. I perused the aisles until I came across the condom section. There were way more options than I expected.

They make flavored condoms? My eyes widened at the visual implications of that product. What is ribbed? Extra thin? That sounds unpleasant. Large?! Oh god, what size should I get? He is pretty big . . .

"Do you need some help?"

I jumped at the unexpected voice, turning to see a familiar face. An olive-complected woman my age evaluated me from behind two yellowy-hazel eyes and a polite but reserved smile.

"We met," I blurted. As her eyes widened, I recovered quickly, wishing a black hole would swallow my socially awkward ass up. "In the bathroom at that Italian restaurant. What was your name again?" My eyes dropped to the name tag pinned to her store uniform, a muted green apron.

"Cyra," she said her name while I read it, feeling like even more of an idiot. "You're Gladys, right?"

I let out a single, dry chuckle. "Yep. Kinda hard to forget, I guess."

"It's unique is all." She smiled.

"Right. Well, it's nice to see you again. I hope things with your family have gotten better?"

Her smile tipped south as she looked away, and I cursed myself internally for bringing it up.

"Sorry," I quickly recovered. "I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean to be nosy—"

"No, it's fine. Don't apologize." Her gaze found mine again, caution but curiosity in them. "It's not nosy of you to care. It's nice, actually."

Relief hit that she wasn't offended, but that was quickly replaced with mortification as she turned to view the section of products I'd been studying.

"It seemed like you were looking for something?" she asked, glancing back at me.

Heat burst across my cheeks. I tucked my hair behind my ear and smiled awkwardly. "Yeah . . . it's kind of embarrassing, but I don't know what kind to get. I've never had to buy condoms before."

"Normally that's the man's job, right?" She laughed.

"I guess." I chuckled, too. "He's just busy and I have to get some other things while I'm here. Not to be weird, but do you have any recommendations?"

Biting her lip, she smoothed a hand down her apron. "I don't, but I could probably get one?"

"Oh, not necessary," I said quickly, and we both laughed again. "I'm just gonna grab one and hope it works. They all do the same thing at the end of the day, right?" God, shut up already.

"Yeah, they should," she chimed in.

I plucked one of the boxes without even reading it, just desperate to put myself out of misery.

"Did you need help with anything else?" she asked me.

Why does she have to be so nice and helpful? Girl, let me run away with my tattered pride.