Stay on Task

Lindsey snapped out of it, pulling her hand free of the stranger’s. “I’m good, I’ve got to get to work.”

He clicked his tongue, “Dressed like that Momma? What corner you workin’? I got mullah for your fine ass.”

“Gross, I’m not a prostitute,” Lindsey said, pushing past him and across the parking lot.

“Damn Momma, I could watch you walk away all day,” he said letting out a whistle.

She ignored his catcall as she entered the empty gas station. The only person within was the attendant, mid 30’s pronounced widow’s peak and a round belly. Lindsey ignores the way he stared at her, while she looked around the store. She spotted a rack of shirts up by the wall of windows.

The door dinged and the guy from outside entered the store. She ducked behind the shirt rack while watching him look around. He shrugged and made his way to the soda fountain.

Lindsey flipped through the shirts. Most of them were inappropriate, she couldn’t wear a shirt of a bikini-clad woman leaning over the hood of a muscle car under the words “Fill Me Up” to work. The others weren’t any better, until she found one shirt that was appropriate. It was a plain gray shirt with the gas station logo in the corner. It was a size too small, so it would look like it was about to burst on at the seems squeezing around her chest. But a tight tee sounded better than her current tied together shirt.

She grabbed an iced coffee from the drinks cooler since she wasn’t able to make it to Cool Beans! her favorite coffee shop. “Find everything alright?” asked Dan, according to his nametag.

He scanned the shirt and coffee, “Yea, and I’ve got gas on pump,” she turned to glance out the wall of windows. The guy from the pump was standing behind her, his gaze still glued to her ass. “Uh, pump 3.”

Dan was staring down her cleavage, “That will be $51.79.” She inserted her card and the cash register beeped. “It’s saying declined.”

“What? That’s not, no, um let’s try again,” Lindsey said looking at her card again. Surely Nate didn’t already cancel her card. She tried it again to the same results. “I,” she said sifting through her wallet, “another card.”

The machine beeped again, “Declined.” Dan couldn’t look Lindsey in the eyes, and not because he was staring at her cleavage again. How embarrassing was it to have not one but two cards declined. She couldn’t believe that Nate was spiteful enough to cancel her cards and so quickly too. Luckily she had a card only in her name for emergencies, Nate wouldn’t have access to it. “Declined.”

The realization sank in. It wasn’t Nate blocking her cards, it had to be Hubert. She looked for cash but she only had a five. “I-I can’t pay,” Lindsey said.

“You already pumped the gas. Do you have anyone you could call? Otherwise policy says I have to call the police and let them handle it from there.”

She could call Nate, he’s mad at her but maybe he’d come bail her out. Hubert locked her cards, maybe he’d unlock them but what would he want in return? Lindsey watched as Dan found the gas station’s phone, surely the cops wouldn’t arrest her over this, would they just take her info in case she didn’t come back tomorrow to pay?

“Tough luck, Momma. Offer still stands,” the stranger said stepping up closer, his groin pressed against her ass, “Me and you have some fun and I’ll pay off your gas.”