ORIGINAL: Supermarket heroine
Summary: just like the title says
Word count: 2.169
About the story: This bit was supposed to be Chapter 1 of a longer story called The Perfect Design, but the Muse gave up on it half way through. So I just wrapped it up as what you see under the cut.
Leigh barely kept her eyes open while dragging her feet against the floor all the way through the food section. Christmas themed music was playing on the speaker system above even though it was middle of June. She never liked coming to this store anyway. She always seemed to be the only customer at such late hour and the whole place was a bit too reminiscent of 80’s B horror movies where horny teenagers go to stock up on booze just before the slaughter begins. When her late shift was over and everything in the studio got done it was close to midnight and this place was the only market still open on her way home. Since she had no habit of weekly stocking her refrigerator she figured it was her own fault for having to listen to Santa Baby every night.
As if she had a personal beef against them, she never decided to use one of the dozens of shopping carts huddled up in front of the entrance, but she rather balanced everything in her hands. Walking by the stocks of oranges, she picked out three and placed them on top of the loaf of rye bread, melted cheese and salmon slices that she already had an awkward grip on.
Stopping for a second in the middle of the aisle she took a sharp turn and made a beeline for the dairy product section where she forgot to take a carton of milk. Just before she got there, she remembered her cat and snatched a can of cat food off the shelf in the passing.
The bloody song seemed to be on the loop and she already saw herself humming the tune in her car on the way back home. Fanning herself, Leigh strode over to the cash register where a teenage girl worked the night shift. Just as uninterested as Leigh was, the girl snapped her bubble gum loudly a few times as she waited to ring up the products Leigh had picked out.
“Candy”,Leigh whispered to herself as she inspected the rack in front of the cash register trying to decide for which chocolate bar was she the most in the mood for at that time. This one! She smiled like a little kid and reached over to pick out the chocolate desert that came with the surprise toy inside.
Balancing everything she already held in her hands, Leigh squatted next to the rack and reached for the chocolate. She had a feeling it would happen, but she still huffed angrily when one by one, the items she held, started to drop from her hands. “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled to herself while trying to pick everything up and keep it in her hands long enough so she could stand up and place it on the cash register counter.
Frustrated in her attempt to collect everything and keep it in place, Leigh missed to notice another shopper approaching until she saw a pair of legs stopping inches away from her. The first thing she saw was the stilettos and on impulse she forgot about the oranges bouncing off the floor as they once again slipped out from her grasp. Slowly, her eyes raised up to reveal a pair of long legs and then the rest of the person that stood next to her.
Well, hello there, Leigh smiled up at the woman looking down at her with a raised eyebrow and a little smirk curving her lips.She held the woman’s gaze for a second and then remembered where she was and what she was doing just moments before. Leaving the oranges on the floor, Leigh jumped on her feet coming into the same eye level as the woman and smiled bashfully before she dumped her purchase on the register “I’m sorry. Just a second.” She then ducked back down and swiftly picked up the three disobedient oranges while stealing another glance of the woman’s legs in the process.
“Paper or plastic?” the girl at the register sighed and snapped her gum one more time.
“Plastic.” Screw the environment, Leigh thought, I just want to go home. With the corner of her eye she spied the woman as she placed her items on the register to get rung up next. Or her place. I bet she has a comfortable bed.
“Sixteen ninety-five. Card or cash?”
Leigh slapped a twenty-dollar bill on the counter and proceeded to collect her items into the bag. The woman placed a bottle of Merlot and grapes on the register just as Leigh was finishing her purchase and a little mischievous smile crept up her face as she remembered how she once seduced a girl with the exact combination of fruit and wine.
Leigh looked at her watch as she waited for her change - it was quarter to one. She held up at the studio much longer than she intended, but right at this moment that didn’t seem so tragic as it did just five minutes ago.
“Thank you for shopping at Zero 24. Visit us again.” As unconvincing as the register girl’s enthusiasm sounded, Leigh knew she’d be back at the same time the next day even though tomorrow won’t just be for the groceries but in hope for a little bit more of eye candy as well.
The parking lot was deserted apart from two cars waiting on two opposite sides in front of the entrance. Leigh plucked on her keys until she found the right one. As she walked over to her old Mercedes she wondered why she even bothered to lock the damn thing when no one in their right mind would ever decide to steal it. The other car that was parked just a few spaces down was obviously the woman’s and by the look of it she had money to burn. It was a black Escalade with custom rims and vanity plates that read Summer 21.
For a brief moment Leigh inspected the classy vehicle while blindly trying to stick the keys into her car door. Dropping her purchase onto the passenger’s seat, Leigh seated herself into the driver’s place and closed the door with a loud bang. One day she’ll get that door fixed. And maybe she should just get a new car and be done with it.
The lavender scented pine that dangled from the overhead rearview mirror stopped serving its purpose a long time ago, but she kept it up there because she enjoyed the unlikelyness of the pine tree that smelled like lavender. It made her smile every time.
Her smile faded just a second later when she put the key into the ignition, turned, and all she got was the old engine coughing wildly and then relenting. “Nononono.” Leigh pleaded, “Don’t die on me now, girl. It’s late and I have to get out of this place or I’ll scream.”
Leigh tried once again carefully, and then a few more times while grunting and cussing under her voice. The damn car wouldn’t budge. She looked at the dials on the control board: the tank was two thirds full, the battery was working, and the oil got changed recently… Leigh closed her eyes and, with a desperate whimper, she hit her head against the steering wheel making the sound of the horn echo over the empty parking lot.
She remained that way for a minute or two perhaps, when a tap on the window startled her and made her jump in her seat. Disoriented, she grabbed the wheel and looked around herself until she saw the woman from the check out line standing next to her car, curiously peering through the window.
“Are you alright?” The window glass muffled her voice but Leigh noticed how smoothly the words rolled down the woman’s tongue, sultry and yet so poised-sounding.
“Um… no.” Leigh cleared her throat a little to disguise the sudden surprise caused by the woman’s address to her. She reached over to open the door to her car and stepped out. “I mean… I’m fine. But my car is dead. Which is why I’m not so well after all.” She shrugged like a little child and the woman gave her a knowing smile.
“Well, it does look like it was its time.”
Leigh looked at her car and pursed her lips, “Yeah. Bad timing though.”
The woman tapped her fingers against the hood of the car, “Why don’t you pop this open and we’ll take a look.”
“You mean, under the hood?”
The woman smiled, “Yeah.”
Although slightly baffled, Leigh reached inside the cockpit and pulled on the lever that released the front hood and it popped open. She watched as the woman lifted the hood and then rolling up her sleeves she leaned into the engine for inspection.
“Do you have a flashlight?” she asked and Leigh once again ducked into the cockpit, taking out a penlight from the glove compartment. The woman eyed it suspiciously, “I guess that will do,” then she smiled and Leigh felt her knees buckle.
Motioning Leigh over, the woman pointed with her finger at something on the side of the engine. Leigh followed her finger as it rose up to the block of the engine while the woman explained what might be wrong. Leigh just nodded her head slowly; she might as well be speaking Chinese.
“I’ll need a cloth and a big wrench.” She said, “and I’ll need you to hold the light.”
Marveling after she managed to find a wrench in the trunk of her car among all of the crap she had stashed in there, Leigh handed it to the woman together with an old t-shirt that she found in the trunk as well. First she wrapped her hand into the cloth and checked a few screws on the side of the engine and then she banged the wrench a couple of times against the engine’s block. Leigh stood aside, with her one arm propped on her hip and the other holding the light, unsure if that’s what one’s supposed to do when the car breaks down or was this woman just getting her kicks out of slamming tools against other people’s car’s engines.
After she was done with whatever it was that she was doing, the woman stood up straight and, while giving Leigh a content smile, she puffed away a strand of hair that fell in her eyes.
“Why don’t you give it a try?” She nodded towards the car.
“Are you serious?” Leigh squinted suspiciously. “You think that fixed the problem?”
“We won’t know if you don’t try.” The woman said with a shrug.
Leigh got in the car and turned the key in the ignition. The car jolted and then the engine started running, purring like a cat. Leigh sat there in wonder for a few moments as the woman stood next to her with her arms crossed over her chest and a big smile on her face.
“This is amazing!” Leigh looked up at the woman in shock. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“I grew up with four brothers. And I’m surrounded by handymen all day, every day. I was bound to pick up a few tricks.”
“Well this sure is one neat trick.” Leigh got out of the car and smiled at the woman. “How can I thank you?”
The woman waved it off with her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t gonna leave a girl stranded all alone on some parking lot in the middle of the night.”
“What are you,” Leigh smirked, “some kind of a supermarket heroine?”
The woman chuckled, “Tonight, maybe. During the day I’m just a plain constructor. You must know, this won’t hold forever, but it’ll get you home, for sure. I recommend you get yourself a new car and let this one go out with some dignity.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card. “Here,” she offered it to Leigh, “hopefully your house is in a better shape than your car, but in case it’s not, I can fix that too. And more permanently.”
Leigh took her card and before she could mouth another word the woman was already on the way to her car, getting ready to leave the parking lot. Left completely without words, Leigh stood frozen in place as the black Escalade slowly rolled past her and the woman waved goodbye before she drove off down the road.
“What just happened?” Leigh spoke to herself. “What the hell just happened?!” She stared into the distance where the taillights of the car started to disappear and absentmindedly fingered the business card in her hand. After a moment she snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at the piece of hard paper she held. Mallory West, the card read, real estate development and construction. In the corner of the card there was a phone number and Leigh could already see herself dialing it.
The end.
Word count: 2.169
About the story: This bit was supposed to be Chapter 1 of a longer story called The Perfect Design, but the Muse gave up on it half way through. So I just wrapped it up as what you see under the cut.
Leigh barely kept her eyes open while dragging her feet against the floor all the way through the food section. Christmas themed music was playing on the speaker system above even though it was middle of June. She never liked coming to this store anyway. She always seemed to be the only customer at such late hour and the whole place was a bit too reminiscent of 80’s B horror movies where horny teenagers go to stock up on booze just before the slaughter begins. When her late shift was over and everything in the studio got done it was close to midnight and this place was the only market still open on her way home. Since she had no habit of weekly stocking her refrigerator she figured it was her own fault for having to listen to Santa Baby every night.
As if she had a personal beef against them, she never decided to use one of the dozens of shopping carts huddled up in front of the entrance, but she rather balanced everything in her hands. Walking by the stocks of oranges, she picked out three and placed them on top of the loaf of rye bread, melted cheese and salmon slices that she already had an awkward grip on.
Stopping for a second in the middle of the aisle she took a sharp turn and made a beeline for the dairy product section where she forgot to take a carton of milk. Just before she got there, she remembered her cat and snatched a can of cat food off the shelf in the passing.
The bloody song seemed to be on the loop and she already saw herself humming the tune in her car on the way back home. Fanning herself, Leigh strode over to the cash register where a teenage girl worked the night shift. Just as uninterested as Leigh was, the girl snapped her bubble gum loudly a few times as she waited to ring up the products Leigh had picked out.
“Candy”,Leigh whispered to herself as she inspected the rack in front of the cash register trying to decide for which chocolate bar was she the most in the mood for at that time. This one! She smiled like a little kid and reached over to pick out the chocolate desert that came with the surprise toy inside.
Balancing everything she already held in her hands, Leigh squatted next to the rack and reached for the chocolate. She had a feeling it would happen, but she still huffed angrily when one by one, the items she held, started to drop from her hands. “Son of a bitch,” she mumbled to herself while trying to pick everything up and keep it in her hands long enough so she could stand up and place it on the cash register counter.
Frustrated in her attempt to collect everything and keep it in place, Leigh missed to notice another shopper approaching until she saw a pair of legs stopping inches away from her. The first thing she saw was the stilettos and on impulse she forgot about the oranges bouncing off the floor as they once again slipped out from her grasp. Slowly, her eyes raised up to reveal a pair of long legs and then the rest of the person that stood next to her.
Well, hello there, Leigh smiled up at the woman looking down at her with a raised eyebrow and a little smirk curving her lips.She held the woman’s gaze for a second and then remembered where she was and what she was doing just moments before. Leaving the oranges on the floor, Leigh jumped on her feet coming into the same eye level as the woman and smiled bashfully before she dumped her purchase on the register “I’m sorry. Just a second.” She then ducked back down and swiftly picked up the three disobedient oranges while stealing another glance of the woman’s legs in the process.
“Paper or plastic?” the girl at the register sighed and snapped her gum one more time.
“Plastic.” Screw the environment, Leigh thought, I just want to go home. With the corner of her eye she spied the woman as she placed her items on the register to get rung up next. Or her place. I bet she has a comfortable bed.
“Sixteen ninety-five. Card or cash?”
Leigh slapped a twenty-dollar bill on the counter and proceeded to collect her items into the bag. The woman placed a bottle of Merlot and grapes on the register just as Leigh was finishing her purchase and a little mischievous smile crept up her face as she remembered how she once seduced a girl with the exact combination of fruit and wine.
Leigh looked at her watch as she waited for her change - it was quarter to one. She held up at the studio much longer than she intended, but right at this moment that didn’t seem so tragic as it did just five minutes ago.
“Thank you for shopping at Zero 24. Visit us again.” As unconvincing as the register girl’s enthusiasm sounded, Leigh knew she’d be back at the same time the next day even though tomorrow won’t just be for the groceries but in hope for a little bit more of eye candy as well.
The parking lot was deserted apart from two cars waiting on two opposite sides in front of the entrance. Leigh plucked on her keys until she found the right one. As she walked over to her old Mercedes she wondered why she even bothered to lock the damn thing when no one in their right mind would ever decide to steal it. The other car that was parked just a few spaces down was obviously the woman’s and by the look of it she had money to burn. It was a black Escalade with custom rims and vanity plates that read Summer 21.
For a brief moment Leigh inspected the classy vehicle while blindly trying to stick the keys into her car door. Dropping her purchase onto the passenger’s seat, Leigh seated herself into the driver’s place and closed the door with a loud bang. One day she’ll get that door fixed. And maybe she should just get a new car and be done with it.
The lavender scented pine that dangled from the overhead rearview mirror stopped serving its purpose a long time ago, but she kept it up there because she enjoyed the unlikelyness of the pine tree that smelled like lavender. It made her smile every time.
Her smile faded just a second later when she put the key into the ignition, turned, and all she got was the old engine coughing wildly and then relenting. “Nononono.” Leigh pleaded, “Don’t die on me now, girl. It’s late and I have to get out of this place or I’ll scream.”
Leigh tried once again carefully, and then a few more times while grunting and cussing under her voice. The damn car wouldn’t budge. She looked at the dials on the control board: the tank was two thirds full, the battery was working, and the oil got changed recently… Leigh closed her eyes and, with a desperate whimper, she hit her head against the steering wheel making the sound of the horn echo over the empty parking lot.
She remained that way for a minute or two perhaps, when a tap on the window startled her and made her jump in her seat. Disoriented, she grabbed the wheel and looked around herself until she saw the woman from the check out line standing next to her car, curiously peering through the window.
“Are you alright?” The window glass muffled her voice but Leigh noticed how smoothly the words rolled down the woman’s tongue, sultry and yet so poised-sounding.
“Um… no.” Leigh cleared her throat a little to disguise the sudden surprise caused by the woman’s address to her. She reached over to open the door to her car and stepped out. “I mean… I’m fine. But my car is dead. Which is why I’m not so well after all.” She shrugged like a little child and the woman gave her a knowing smile.
“Well, it does look like it was its time.”
Leigh looked at her car and pursed her lips, “Yeah. Bad timing though.”
The woman tapped her fingers against the hood of the car, “Why don’t you pop this open and we’ll take a look.”
“You mean, under the hood?”
The woman smiled, “Yeah.”
Although slightly baffled, Leigh reached inside the cockpit and pulled on the lever that released the front hood and it popped open. She watched as the woman lifted the hood and then rolling up her sleeves she leaned into the engine for inspection.
“Do you have a flashlight?” she asked and Leigh once again ducked into the cockpit, taking out a penlight from the glove compartment. The woman eyed it suspiciously, “I guess that will do,” then she smiled and Leigh felt her knees buckle.
Motioning Leigh over, the woman pointed with her finger at something on the side of the engine. Leigh followed her finger as it rose up to the block of the engine while the woman explained what might be wrong. Leigh just nodded her head slowly; she might as well be speaking Chinese.
“I’ll need a cloth and a big wrench.” She said, “and I’ll need you to hold the light.”
Marveling after she managed to find a wrench in the trunk of her car among all of the crap she had stashed in there, Leigh handed it to the woman together with an old t-shirt that she found in the trunk as well. First she wrapped her hand into the cloth and checked a few screws on the side of the engine and then she banged the wrench a couple of times against the engine’s block. Leigh stood aside, with her one arm propped on her hip and the other holding the light, unsure if that’s what one’s supposed to do when the car breaks down or was this woman just getting her kicks out of slamming tools against other people’s car’s engines.
After she was done with whatever it was that she was doing, the woman stood up straight and, while giving Leigh a content smile, she puffed away a strand of hair that fell in her eyes.
“Why don’t you give it a try?” She nodded towards the car.
“Are you serious?” Leigh squinted suspiciously. “You think that fixed the problem?”
“We won’t know if you don’t try.” The woman said with a shrug.
Leigh got in the car and turned the key in the ignition. The car jolted and then the engine started running, purring like a cat. Leigh sat there in wonder for a few moments as the woman stood next to her with her arms crossed over her chest and a big smile on her face.
“This is amazing!” Leigh looked up at the woman in shock. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“I grew up with four brothers. And I’m surrounded by handymen all day, every day. I was bound to pick up a few tricks.”
“Well this sure is one neat trick.” Leigh got out of the car and smiled at the woman. “How can I thank you?”
The woman waved it off with her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t gonna leave a girl stranded all alone on some parking lot in the middle of the night.”
“What are you,” Leigh smirked, “some kind of a supermarket heroine?”
The woman chuckled, “Tonight, maybe. During the day I’m just a plain constructor. You must know, this won’t hold forever, but it’ll get you home, for sure. I recommend you get yourself a new car and let this one go out with some dignity.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card. “Here,” she offered it to Leigh, “hopefully your house is in a better shape than your car, but in case it’s not, I can fix that too. And more permanently.”
Leigh took her card and before she could mouth another word the woman was already on the way to her car, getting ready to leave the parking lot. Left completely without words, Leigh stood frozen in place as the black Escalade slowly rolled past her and the woman waved goodbye before she drove off down the road.
“What just happened?” Leigh spoke to herself. “What the hell just happened?!” She stared into the distance where the taillights of the car started to disappear and absentmindedly fingered the business card in her hand. After a moment she snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at the piece of hard paper she held. Mallory West, the card read, real estate development and construction. In the corner of the card there was a phone number and Leigh could already see herself dialing it.
The end.