Me, You, and Mason

4

"Your boyfriend's here," Eric's voice broke through the monotony of an idle register.

Darcy glanced up from her latest read, a gossip magazine, to find him leaning against the carousel of plastic bags.

"How'd the cart collection go?" she deflected.

"People still leavin' their buggies any-damn-where, but the job got done. How else you think I know that ol' boy's here? That fat ass truck don't belong to nobody but him."

She teased apathetically, "You jealous?"

"Jealous that the dude you were bar hopping every weekend for a month straight to try to find is finally coming to collect whatever pieces he's got you in? Never."

She rolled my eyes.

He snickered, "So, you gon' wait till he comes in or are you gonna go to him, crazy lady?"

She straightened up defensively, "He's the crazy one. Where does he get off coming here?"

"To a grocery store?" Eric nearly laughed.

"I'm for real, Eric!" She hissed.

"Who's to say he's even here to see you? You said he be in here all the time, right?"

"That's just what he told me. He's probably a stalker," she murmured.

"Because he took you to lunch?"

"Because he took me to J.P.'s! Eric, stop asking me shit like I'm crazy because you really startin' to aggravate me."

"Well, shit. My bad... I mean, J.P.'s is pretty poppin', Dee. You ain't the only one that knows about it. I don't wanna make you feel like you're crazy, but you are being just a tad paranoid."

"Paranoid...."

"I mean, yeah. This dude takes you out, and you have a good time, and then you get all pissy because you had too good of a time."

"No, it was because he was too nice."

"Too nice? Dee, you don't think you deserve a nice dude?"

"I do but—"

"Don't ruin a good thing by trying to sabotage a future that only exists in your head. Just let the nigga be good to you, at least for a while, huh?"

She figured he had a point.

But her stubborn nature urged her to stay posted for a while longer. She delayed her lunch break until she couldn't anymore.

And when she finally stepped out of the cool building and into the oncoming heat, she spotted him in an instant.

He was leaning against his truck, dressed in a jumpsuit that was unzipped and half-worn. His wife beater framed his scattered tattoos, one on each bicep.

His hair had been twisted and tied back into a ponytail. This would've left his beautiful face on display had a trucker hat not been shielding the top half of it.

She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she'd missed the sight of him.

She hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks, and honestly, she'd been taking extra precautions to avoid him in case he came into the store.

More time was spent in inventory, and when she was on the registers, she prayed that he made use of the self-checkout kiosks to avoid her too.

But it seemed that they couldn't avoid one another forever, not in Mason. So, Sage extended the first olive branch and made sure, firsthand, that it was delivered as intended.