It’s from Liz

Liz: Heya! We should chat soon. What time are you off?

That made me blink and a little worried.

Me: I’m on a break now, but only for a little bit.

Liz: …

I saw the typing bubble.

It kept going, and I was nervous. I figured while she was doing that I’d grab a snack from the convenience store.

As I was walking in I gave a wave to the lady behind the counter. Her name was Amara and she and I were amicable and customer service chatty. She returned the wave then her eyes went back to the other customers in the store. Which comprised of a family buying slurpees, a pair of joggers in ludicrously bright spandex, and a man I mentally labeled “sketchy mcsketh”.

It wasn’t the ragged clothes or the unkempt appearance that made me label him thus. It was his jerky movements and wild unfocused eyes.

He was over by the candy.

“Well, Amara has it” I thought to myself. Grabbing a soda, I ignored the buy 2 for fifty cents more deal.

I was struggling to come up with a solution for Breanna and I was stil confused at the lack of impression of her features.

“The only thing that was different” I thought to myself.. I replayed that moment at the store.

When I was pushing down the button as I swung around to the door. I stared dumbly at Breanna’s million dollar smile before thinking to release the button.. “ Was how long I held down the button for...“

Liz finally finished texting me, and I opened it up.

Liz: Soooo you know how I borrowed your coat when I left last night? Anyways when I was reaching into the pocket after putting Chantal’s phone away (by the way, found some juicy stuff there! Hehe).. I found what’s his pickle. The dickhead. Anyways, I went to the store and when I put the coat up it was super busy already. They really need to have a second person on tills at all times there! But they don’t want to waste the money. Anyways..

Liz: …

She was typing more and I didn’t like where this was going.. I had forgotten where I had put Mark..

While she was typing I figured it would be a good idea for me to buy the soda. While walking up the aisle I passed a number of items including basic medication and hygiene - but something caught my eye.

Glancing at a pack of condoms it occurred to me that I might be needing some soon. Grabbing a pack I walked up toward the checkout.

Then two things happened at once.

One was Sketchy McSketch trying to hold up the till with a hand in his hoody pocket.

The second was a text message sound & vibration from Liz.

Which brought McSketch’s attention my way.