Stephanie needs a smoke

Stephanie walked through the mall with a determined gait. She was fuming mad, maybe irrationally so, but it was how she felt nonetheless. She was so fed up with her job. Fed up with her managers. Fed up with the customers. She couldn't wait to leave retail behind.

An incident with an asshole customer had been playing on repeat through her head all day. Some snarky, middle-aged asshole who thought he was better than everyone else got mad at her for daring to ask for a donation to the store's charity. As if she was trying to scam him out of his pocket change. It was her fucking job! She literally had to ask for a donation with every customer or else she'd be written up!

And to make matters worse, fucking Devon decided to remind them every fucking hour to ask for donations. It just served to twist the blade in her wound and furl the fires of her rage.

She needed a smoke.

Stephanie fumbled through her purse, knowing full-well that she didn't have any cigarettes in there. She pulled out her pack of nicotine gum and shook it. The sound was devastatingly hollow. It was empty.

"Fuck!" she cried. A few people took notice and stared at her. She didn't care. She didn't care that she was making a scene. She didn't care that she was wearing her store's uniform. She was on break. She could do what she wanted. And what she wanted was goddamn nicotine!

Immediately, the slender brunette changed her trajectory through the mall and headed towards the convenience store. Missing out on her vice just served to exacerbate her rotten mood, and it continued to sour as she walked on. She cursed at people who were walking too slowly, then pushed past them in an attempt to get to the convenience store faster. The world was not prepared for Hurricane Stephanie. She just needed some nicotine, then she'd be OK.

As she turned the corner past the jewelry store, Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks. The convenience store was closed for renovations. "God dammit!" she yelled. She had completely forgotten about it.

"Fuck!" she yelled, spurring more people to look her way. She wanted to hit something or kick something, but all she had was her empty pack of gum. There was a nearby garbage can and she threw the pack as hard as she could towards the garbage. It missed, of course, and fluttered to the ground next to the garbage can.

Stephanie took a deep breath and tried to ground herself, a technique she had learned when she tried quitting smoking before. She closed her eyes and listened to the hustle and bustle around her. It wasn't exactly the most calming thing to listen to, but it helped to bring her out of her destructive thoughts. She listened to the constant buzz of conversation throughout the mall, she heard the faint tunes of a song over the intercom, she counted the footsteps of people walking by.

"It's just a bad day," she thought, "I can get through this, just four more hours before I'm home."

Stephanie opened her eyes again and looked at the sad gum pack on the ground, discarded and dejected due to her volatile behaviour. She walked over to the garbage and kneeled down to pick up the pack. "No use making somebody else's job harder," Stephanie thought. The rational part of her brain was finally taking over from the bundle of nicotine-craving nerves. She picked up her garbage, as well as a crumpled piece of paper beside it. Some yellow within the paper caught her eye and her curiosity caused her to investigate. Her one hand discarded the empty pack of gum before returning to unfold the crumpled paper. It was actually two things: a receipt, and a bright yellow coupon with bold, pink lettering.

"Bimbo City," she read aloud before chuckling to herself. It seemed like kismet or dare. If the energy drink tasted as good as Joanne claimed, maybe they'd have some gum. She figured it wouldn't be nicotine, but it could at least satisfy the empty feeling in her mouth.

With the coupon in hand, she searched the mall for the elusive, pink store. Destiny called.