Heading into town

The days following the encounter at the retail park passed in a carefully maintained routine for Sylvie. She threw herself into wedding planning with renewed focus. She and Alex spent evenings browsing venues online, discussing flower arrangements, and finalising the guest list. Everything felt safe and familiar. Predictable. Proper.

Yet, every now and then, unwanted flashes of that afternoon would intrude. The loud laughter. The thick accents. The way Courtney had looked at her with such brazen disrespect. Sylvie would catch herself frowning at the memory, a mix of irritation and something uncomfortably close to intrigue rising in her chest. She pushed it down firmly each time. Those girls were common. Loud. Cheap. Everything she had been taught to quietly disdain.

One Saturday afternoon, Sylvie decided to go into town for some light shopping. She told Alex she needed to look at wedding stationery and perhaps pick up a few things for the house. The high street was busy with weekend shoppers. She enjoyed the familiar environment: the nicer boutiques, the cafes, the sense of order and respectability.

As she walked past a small side street near the bus station, loud, raucous laughter caught her attention. It was them again. The same group from the retail park. Courtney and her three friends were gathered near a bench, smoking and chatting loudly. They were everything she quietly looked down on: thick fake tans that looked cheap and orange, heavy gold hoop earrings, long acrylic nails, tight tracksuit bottoms, cropped hoodies, and heavy black eyeliner.

Courtney spotted her immediately and grinned.

“Oi, look who decided to show her face again,” Courtney called out, taking a long drag from her cigarette. She stepped forward and deliberately blew a thick cloud of smoke directly into Sylvie’s face as she tried to walk past. “What’s the matter, princess? Come to slum it with the council scum today?”

Sylvie coughed, waving the smoke away with a look of pure disgust. The smell clung to her clothes. “Excuse me,” she said sharply, her polite tone cracking with frustration. “That was completely uncalled for. Do you mind?”

The group burst out laughing. Courtney stepped even closer, blowing another puff of smoke toward her while her friends whispered loudly behind her.

“Look at her face,” one of them snickered. “Proper offended, innit? Bet she’s never even smelled smoke before unless it’s from a fucking candle.”

Another added in a mocking whisper, loud enough for Sylvie to hear, “Bet she’s still a virgin too. All stuck up and proper. Probably thinks sex is only for marriage and candles.”

Sylvie’s cheeks burned with a mix of embarrassment and growing anger. She stopped walking and turned to face them directly, her usual composure slipping. “I don’t know what your problem is,” she said, her voice tighter than usual, “but I would appreciate it if you kept your smoke and your comments to yourselves. Some of us have actual standards.”

Courtney raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by the confrontation. “Standards? Fuck me, listen to her. You proper think you’re better than us, don’t ya? Walking around like your shit don’t stink. Bet you’ve never even had a proper night out or let loose once in your life.”

The girls continued whispering and laughing among themselves, throwing occasional glances at Sylvie as if she were some curious exhibit. Sylvie felt her frustration rising. She wanted to say more, to put them in their place, but she knew it would be undignified. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked away briskly, heart pounding.

The rest of her shopping trip felt tainted. Even as she browsed elegant wedding invitation samples, her mind kept replaying the confrontation. She told herself she was simply irritated by their rudeness and lack of class. Nothing more. Definitely nothing worth dwelling on.

That evening, when Alex got home, Sylvie greeted him with a kiss and showed him some of the stationery options she had picked up. They talked about wedding details over dinner in their comfortable house. She smiled and nodded in all the right places, keeping her voice soft and refined. She didn’t mention the girls in town. Why would she? They were beneath notice.