Meet Me in the Hallway (HS AU)

sixty four.

I love the supermarket, I always have. It started when I would go to Pa's house after school. After devouring whatever he had cooked for my arrival, we would go to the supermarket. The simple joy of strolling around the aisles with him as he explained to me how important it was to have high quality ingredients.

I found that even into my early adulthood if I was feeling on the brink of sadness, walking around the supermarket helped. It reminded me of simpler times and happier memories, like Pa telling me that the supermarkets will never know if you take a grape or him reminding me that no supermarket visit is complete without a walk down the chocolate aisle.

If I said I was surprised I ended up here, I would be lying. 9:26pm on a Saturday night was a peaceful time to be wandering around the supermarket. Everyone was either out or home, staff was minimal as they were closing soon and the sky was dark.

After spending the majority of the afternoon standing in the shower with Harry, I had decided I needed some time to be by myself. I needed some time to arrange my thoughts and what better place than the supermarket. I pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down over my hands as I aimlessly strolled through the aisles, paying little attention to the items on the shelves.

Occasionally, I would snap back to reality to grab an item and place it into my basket. On the drive over I had made the decision to make Rum Baba like my Pa used to. Part of me needed the control that baking gave me, the other part of me needed to feel some sort of closeness to Pa before I fell apart at the seams.

I had walked all the aisles, observed all the people doing the same, collected all the ingredients I needed to bake and now all I had left to do was stroll down the chocolate aisle and pick one to finish off my shop.

My mind had slipped back into a state of dissociation as I stared at the rows and rows of different chocolate bars. I knew if Pa was here, he would be reaching for a pack of M'n'M's as well as a Kit Kat before looking at me and saying "I won't tell Nan if you don't."

Smiling at the memory, I reached for a Kit Kat. Right as I turned to head down the aisle towards the registers, I came to an abrupt stop. The basket on my arm suddenly felt like it was 50kgs heavier than it was a moment ago.

Will stood around three metres from me and wore the same tormenting smirk he had grown into over the years. Head cocked slightly to one side, almost daring me to run. He soon realised that I wasn't game enough to move a muscle because he took the opportunity to close the gap between us, chests almost touching.

"Hey Miss Cook, how ya been?" His tone was low and condescending, "that was a rhetorical question, fyi. I already know how you're going and what you've been up to."

His arms raised quickly, making me flinch on instinct but his breathy laugh confirmed he was doing it to scare me, merely crossing his arms over his chest.

"Go away, Will." I whispered, pleaded even. This was like all of my nightmares forming into one super shit storm.

"Where's the fun in that? I'm having fun right now, aren't you? I'm just having a friendly conversation with someone in a public place. Isn't that what we do now, sweetie? Don't we approach people and make conversation about things that don't concern us?"

I had been in a lot of overwhelming situations in my life. I had been in a lot of overwhelming situations with Will. But this moment took the cake, not only was I alone but he was trying to intimidate me in the middle of a supermarket. It was showing how low he was actually willing to stoop so low.

It also confirmed that everything I had spoken to Ella about had been relayed onto Will, nothing was kept quiet. She truly didn't believe a word I had spoken and that hurt me more than Will was right now.

"El told me you guys had a cute little catch up in the park. She told me how you're corrupting her best friend. What's her name, it's a fruit yeah? See one thing that Ella and I have that you and I never did was communication. She doesn't feel the need to keep secrets from me and I don't have to lie to her about anything. How does that make you feel, Jo? Knowing that Ella is doing everything better than you could, including being a decent person."

The mention of Clem was enough to awaken a new level of fear within me, Ella had just thought she was conversing with her boyfriend when really she had put her best friend directly into the firing line. If it could be done to hurt me, Will would do it. Even if that meant hurting an innocent third party like Clem.

"I don't understand what you want from me. I left and you are now with Ella. If you are as happy as you're making out to be, you would have no interest in trying to torture me. If you really hated me as much as Ella said, wouldn't you be thankful to wake up and I not be there? Why are you trying to constantly be around me if I disgust you so much?"

His eyes lit up, almost like he had been patiently waiting for that question. He cleared his throat, obviously he had already prepared the answer.

"Well, you see Josephine. If nothing else, you are consistent. You embarrassed me the entire time we were together, I mean look at you. But you embarrassed me more when it was you leaving me and not the other way around. People like me do not get dumped by people like you. So maybe I want you to feel the way I felt, the aching feeling of self loathing. And if I get a few good fucks out of Ella along the way, so be it."

It was clear I didn't like Ella, but the way he was speaking about her as just something to put his dick in made me sick. Prior to her cunt side shining through, Clem and Adrian couldn't say a bad word about her. She was worth a lot more than just being Will's pass time.

"So this is how it's going to work. You are going to stop trying to 'warn' Ella about me. I'm not a danger to her, just you. If you don't think you can do that, I'll just have to permanently remove one of the pieces. I'm not picky; it could be you, it could be El, it could be the fruit girl or even the guy that took in the stray that is you." Will glanced at his watch before clicking his tongue.

"Is that the time? I had better get going, I have a naked woman in my bed waiting for me. Guess what, she doesn't take up three quarters of the bed. I'll be seeing you later Josie."

I stood stunned in the middle of the aisle, at some point during the exchange I had dropped my basket and I now needed new eggs for my Baba.

The universe had a wonderful way of making sure I knew that I was the catalyst for all the dominoes falling around me.