Wait them out.

After thinking it through Jen opted to just wait. She decided she couldn’t trust the ladder to make no noise as she climbed, even though she had pulled on it. If she got above the evergreen and it began rattling then, she would easily be seen by the two young men nearby.

She got as close to the bush as she could without its branches rattling and ducked down as low as she could. Looking up she felt that an inch of her head was still visible. This would be right in the line of sight of the two men, and if one happened to look her way for any reason then her light brown hair might draw some attention.

Eventually Jen opted to lay on the ground, still close to the bush but with her legs pulled up towards her chest. If anyone drove by from that direction her she would be visible, and all she could do was hope they wouldn’t really look in her direction and realize they were seeing at a nude woman’s feet and ass. But she felt the lower profile would make her stand out less if either of the two men happened to look behind themselves.

Minutes passed as she listened in on their conversation. The young man was lamenting that his girlfriend was upset he missed their anniversary, while the second man mostly listened and offered the occasional platitude.

Jen estimated she had waited about fifteen minutes when the conversation finally started to wind down. She felt like it had been a lot of time to lose, and maybe taking the ladder would have been better overall. But she reminded herself of the reasons she’d opted against that and tried to convince herself she’d made the best possible decision.

“Anyway, thanks for hearing me out,” the man who’d been doing most of the talking said.

Jen heard the sound of shoes scuffing against cement and figured they were getting to their feet.

“No problem,” the other man said, “I hope you figure something out.”

After this Jen heard two sets of footsteps leading away from her. She gave them a moment or two before she got up. Looking out from behind the bush, she saw the two men walking separate directions into the parking lot. She silently wished they would walk faster, her patience being thoroughly worn out after the long wait.

Jen looked again towards the end of the building. It wasn’t too incredibly long, but if she ran for it, that would mean several seconds of total exposure if either of the men happened to look back. It was dark outside, but the light sconces sporadically illuminating the side of the building meant that they might get a clear view of her if they did look. Even if she was in darkness between two lights and one happened to look over, they would certainly see the outline of someone running and it might draw suspicion. She **** herself to wait until they reached their cars and left the parking lot, despite her continually growing unease at being stuck in one spot for so long.

With time, both men eventually the mall’s lot. Her patience now exhausted, Jen took a split second to check her surroundings, then quickly stepped out from behind the bush. Immediately she broke into a sprint, dashing for the corner of the building as fast as she could manage. Along the way she had to pass under two of the lights, quickly glancing around for any sign of people about just before she reached them. She saw and heard nothing and made it to the corner.

Freezing here for a moment, Jen peered around the corner and tried to catch her breath. The next set of bushes were about ten yards away, an easy run, but another service door stood next to the plants. Several yards beyond that, she saw another mall entrance.

Okay, that’s the service door to the hallway I was in earlier, Jen thought, so the service door Eve is expecting me to leave through must be just beyond the entrance.

Emerging from around the corner Jen worked herself back into a sprint, covering the distance quickly. Practically diving behind the bush, she was back into hiding as fast as she could be.

From this position she was now able to see the bushes and the service door she was supposed to come out of. The run across the entrance of the mall was daunting, but she felt that most employees must have left by now and the risk would be a bit more minimal.

Just before she was about to run, the service door next to her opened. Jen stifled a surprised gasp. Ducking as low as she could manage, she watched as an older woman walked out the doorway, a fatigued look in her eyes, and headed straight into the parking lot.

After waiting for several moments, Jen’s patience finally died. She allowed the lady to get fifteen feet away before she stood up. Skirting around the edge of the bush, Jen set her feet back on the cement and started briskly creeping along behind her. She kept her eyes firmly on the departing woman, ready to run if she happened to look back.

Jen had to suppress another shocked gasp when she heard a car turn on. Looking towards the noise, she realized that it’s coming from the area Eve promised to be parked in. She couldn’t tell from here if it was Eve’s car or not, but she picked up her pace regardless. She only wanted to get to the bushes and hide again, especially if it was anyone else driving that vehicle.

Reaching the mall entrance, Jen briefly stopped, just long enough to peer in through the glass doors. She saw a janitor cleaning the floor a long ways down the mall, not nearly close enough to know what he was seeing if he happened to look in her direction. She resumed her speedy jog, quickly crossing the entrance.

She glanced to her right and from the corner of her eye she could see the woman still walking, heading towards a lone SUV parked in the lot. Ahead of Jen, the car had pulled out of a parking spot and was moving down the aisle, towards the mall.

As much as Jen felt it could only be Eve, she still wasn’t certain. She began sprinting once again, trying to avoid making any loud footsteps but more concerned with only getting behind the bushes before the car’s headlights reached that area.

She got behind the bushes just before the car’s headlamps illuminated everything. Ducking down she looked through the leaves and was able to just make out Eve’s face in the dark interior of the car. Jen poked her head up and looked towards the departing lady from the mall. She was climbing into her SUV just as Eve swung her car about and pulled up next to the sidewalk.

Part of Jen wanted to wait for the SUV to leave, but her patience hadn’t improved over the last several moments. She stayed low, she side-stepped the bushes and hurriedly moved towards Eve’s car.

Pulling the door open and dropping herself into the passenger seat, Jen was greeted by Eve’s laughter and her asking “did you come out the other service door?”

Reaching into the back seat and gathering up her clothes, Jen absentmindedly said “the side of the mall.”

“Wait, you were outside?” Eve asked, giggling again. “Why? And for how long?”

Jen dropped the clothes into her lap and started searching for her bra, saying “I don’t really feel like talking about it.”

“Oh of course you don’t.”

Eve spun the wheel and turned the car towards the mall exit. Looking up, Jen saw the SUV some ways ahead of them, and she started trying to struggle into her bra.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go a little slow so we don’t get too close,” Eve said, “still, I hope you tell me how you ended up outside someday.”