Tied Fate • ✓

5

He'd hardly taken three steps into the store when he came face-to-face with a woman.

The woman.

Her eyes grew wide, incredulously close to his. Thomas thought their eyeballs would touch - gross - when she staggered quickly back, knocking over a carton of oranges in her back-step. A cacophony of clangs and clatters cluttered the air as the sweet, forbidden fruit rolled daringly out into the wild of the aisle, creating a cantankerous mess in their wake.

The women whirled around to face her mess. Her expression was bewildered and set to high-panic.

She dragged a hand through her bangs, "Sh*t." She swooped down instantly, reaching to catch the rolling amo of oranges that had tried desperately to flee off her radar. Her hands worked quickly, if stumbling with every try. Her shoulders hunched, head lowered to her work. She was on her hands and knees, crawling around, like an idiot.

It took Thomas a few moments to calm his shocked heartbeat. He cleared his throat, staring uncertainly at the woman scavenging around, a toddler, in bear-posture. She didn't heed him a second of attention.

Thomas glanced around the convenience store. The whole lane was empty. The entire store, in fact, seemed to be empty but for the two of them.

Just his luck that the one person he would run into at a deserted store was her.

Finding his common sense, he glanced down and saw two oranges roll slowly to tap the old leather of his shoes. He moved to put aside the drink in his hand - which had surprisingly not spilled - and bent over to pick up the oranges.

He looked up at the woman.

She was almost done, having chucked almost every last orange back in its carton. Her hands now gripped the carton's edges, the thick locks of her bangs falling over her face and shadowing it.

Thomas, after a brief moment of hesitation, cleared his throat and said, "Um.. excuse me?"

She went still. He watched as she turned to look over her shoulder at him, her eyes steadily wary. She caught sight of the oranges in his hand, and a tired look befell her milky eyes.

"Oh," she muttered. "Uhh, you can put that in there."

Thomas did as she asked.

She moved slowly to stand - slower than she had to - and then, standing, shuffled her feet. She stared at the floor, hands moving in her jeans pockets. Thomas's gaze flicked down to her sweatshirt - she had tried to remove the large stain by drenching it in water, but it was only slightly fading. It was still, very much, there.

Thomas tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

He began, "So -" But she didn't let him finish.

Without a word, she stepped right past him. He paused, stunned, hearing her footsteps stride slowly away from him. His eyes clouded with skepticism. He turned around, "I was just going to say sorry."

"What for? Yelling at me, or the unremovable stain that looks like my baby had an accident on me?"

The impact of her words felt like a slap across his face. Thomas was sure he looked hurt too, which only flared more anger in him. Defence mechanism.

"Well, you didn't make it any easier with your tears, and the whole drama act," he shot back, tone pulled taut like the expression on his face. "You think everyone's going to fall for that damsel in distress thing you've got going there?"

She hadn't looked at him the first time she spoke, simply wandering down the aisle, back haunting him. But, now, her head snapped in his direction. The rest of her body whirled to catch up. Her jaw hung open, eyebrows drawn in shock and disbelief. She stepped towards him.

"Are you serious?" She said. "Are you kidding me right now?"

Tongue running over his front teeth, mouth lipped shut, Thomas let out a stiff sigh, demanding, "What?"

"Listen, asshole. I've just about had the worst day of my life, okay? A-And you're not making it any better by blaming everything on me."

"Well, you think you're the only one who has bad days? You think I wasn't having a bad day?"

She scoffed, glowering hard at him, "Well, I don't know, it's hard to tell due to the fact that I don't know you."

"I don't know you either," he shot back.

"Exactly," her splayed hands fell limp to her sides. Her eyes were still large, ridiculing him, but now - suddenly - something new entered them. A thick fog of numbness and.. despair. "We don't know each other."

There was a moment of silence. Thomas watched as the fog of numbness slowly slipped, giving way to something much deeper than despair. Misery. Disappointment. Anguish.

His angry demeanour shifted. He stared at her.

"Okay?" She whispered. She looked like she was about to cry again, and then - at the last second - she blinked, and blinked again. Glanced down once, and cleared her throat. "Okay. So... what's done is done. And I-I'm leaving now."

She turned and walked to the end of the aisle.

It only took Thomas a second of thought before he followed her.