" I think he's waking up." as I slowly opened my eyes, I groaned. My vision was blurry and I couldn't remember what had happened. "Hello? Are...you awake?" I blinked a few more times before I then realized what was going on. I was on the floor, I had been knocked out.
As my vision cleared, the first thing I could see was a girl leaning over me and cupping my cheeks. She grinned. "Hello!" she chirped as I gasped, leaning up and pulling myself away from her quickly.
"W-where am I?" she kept smiling despite my obvious fear. I began to breathe heavily.
"You're in a Lush store." I looked at her as if she had three heads before responding.
"W-what?" I then tensed up as I looked over to see Ariel, my girlfriend, walking over angrily. She folded her arms.
"You're really a idiot sometimes you know..." I blinked several times then put up my hands.
"Wha--I-- What did I do?"
"Is something wrong?" The girl from before spoke up.
"Shut up!" I slowly stood and put out my hand towards Ariel.
"Whoa whoa, calm down. This girl didn't do anything wrong. Wh-Why are you upset again?"
"While you were dozing, I was left all alone in this big store. All by myself. I could have gotten hurt!" I sighed and shook my head. Sometimes I wondered why I was dating Ariel in the first place. She wasn't a bad person or even a bitch necessarily. She was just overprotective. And by overprotective, I mean overprotective of herself. "A-are you just going to stand there?"
"I-I-I..." I stayed quiet. It wasn't worth it. She huffed and turned away, walking out of the store. I sighed and looked to the other girl. She seemed extremely unsure of what to do as she slowly stood. She then held out her hand and smiled.
"Hi, my name's Dory." I looked at her strangely for a few moments before slowly shaking her hand. She acted as if what had just happened, didn't happen.
"Jesse. M-my name's Jesse and um, I have to ask. How did I get here and why was I on the floor?" she smiled a little more.
"Oh, that girl took you in here. I overheard her, she was looking for some bath bombs. I'm guessing she was your... girlfriend? She was holding your hand when she walked in..." I raised my eyebrows then nodded.
"Y-yeah...She's my girlfriend. I'm so sorry for how she was rude to you by the way. She's usually not like this..."
"Oh don't worry! Literally like, almost everyone's rude to me! It's kind of a part of the job..." I chuckled a little, thinking she was joking as she clasped her hands together and kept a happy expression on her face. For several moments we stood in silence, both of us clearly unsure of what to say. She then put out her hand and spoke again. "Hi my name's Dory." I laughed as she repeated herself.
"You already said that. You don't have short term memory loss do you?"
"Oh no. Of course not. I just say that whenever I'm nervous." I laughed again before going silent once more. We both stood in a short and comfortable silence again before we were interrupted by another man whom walked up to us.
"Are you buying anything?" he asked me right away, overwhelming me a little.
"I-I don't plan to so far..."
"Okay. Well then, fuck off. Dory I need you." I blinked my eyes several times as he then put his hand on Dory's shoulder and began to walk again. I assumed Dory was going to walk with him yet she didn't.
"What is it Jeremy?"
"We're busy. I can't have you just talking to someone who's not going to buy anything..." I bit down on my bottom lip a little. For some reason I didn't want Dory to go away. Maybe it was because I knew that if she left me alone I'd have to deal with the real problems at hand, and more importantly I'd have to go see Ariel again. I quickly intervened.
"T-that doesn't mean I wouldn't be open to buying something... This is my first time here..." as they both looked at me, Dory smiled. Jeremy nodded.
"Oh. Well then. Dory will show you around I guess." he looked at me, then looked to Dory. "Just make sure to do some group demos, okay?" Dory nodded and smiled at him.
"You got it Jeremy!" as he walked away he yelled back his response.
"Quit saying that!"
"Sorry! You got...Sorry!" I chuckled as she then turned towards me. She smiled kindly again. "So. Do you have any idea of what you're looking for?"
"Uh no...Not really. I was hoping you could show me around some." she nodded a little.
"Sure. Follow me." she grabbed onto my hand and continued to walk me around the store. I kept a wide smile on my face the whole time.
...
"Hey Jesse?"
"Yes?"
"The store's closing..." she laughed a little as I batted my eyes again.
"Oh." I grinned at her. "I guess time flies..." she nodded and turned me around, pushing me out.
"Well, I know I had a lot of fun but it's time for you to go. Jeremy will yell at me again if you don't leave." I laughed a little and turned towards her.
"I imagine I'll see you again?"
"Well yeah. If you come back to the store." we both laughed a little as she smiled at me. We both stared at each other a little before Jeremy interrupted again.
"We're closing! Goodbye!" I gave Dory a small nod before walking outside and leaving the store.
I shivered as I began to walk down the street, heading to my apartment complex. I looked up to see snow falling quickly and stuffed my hands in my pockets. It was one of the coldest Decembers New York had ever seen, yet for some reason I didn't mind. I kind of liked the cold. It reminded me of better days and nicer times.
December was usually the month were good things happened. December, was always the month of the year where the odds were in my favor and where I suffered just a little less. Yet this December, just so happened to be the worst month of my life. I had a girlfriend who was constantly mean to me, I was stressed out from working and plans, and not to mention I still had a small and shitty apartment. I had panic attacks almost everyday and nothing ever seemed that good.
At least in that store I had a small escape from all of that. A small escape from reality. I sighed and pulled out my keys, unlocking my apartment.
I opened the door to immediately see Ariel under another man on the couch. I gasped loudly and slammed the door behind me as I left. I quickly walked down the hallway as I breathed in and out heavily. She cheated on me again. It was something I was used to, but was I supposed to be used to that?
I quickly walked to the end of the hallway towards a wall. I turned, leaned against the wall, sank down and pulled my knees up to my face. I rested my forehead against my knees as my breathing was still shallow. I was absolutely miserable and I didn't know what to do. I looked up at the celling and shook my head as I could feel tears forming. How much more of this could I take?
