It was a crisp early spring day, one of many beautiful Saturdays that would grace the people this year. It was midday, and it seemed like everyone was out and about, running their errands, meeting friends and family for lunch, the parks were full of children and the streets and highways were buzzing with traffic. Nothing seemed out of place, it was a perfectly normal day. well, for most it was.
For Temperance, today wasn't normal, today was completely out of place, or so that's how she felt. Her day started at about lunchtime and work was going to keep her busy until the early hours of the morning, and she was rushing, but then and again, she was always rushing.
You see, Temperance isn't by any means defined as normal, for one, she's a young woman who drives a truck across country for a living. Even though Women truck drivers have been around for decades, the thought of women in the trucking industry is still a taboo subject. Besides being a truck driver, she is also an extremely introverted woman, even at the age of 26 she still doesn't feel like she belongs with the rest of society. Combine her introverted personality with her ability to comprehend data and retain information, you'll understand why she was mistaken to be autistic in her early years. And after realizing she was "beyond her years" she started to drift away from society as a whole and came to the crude conclusion that people in general suck.
Temperance wasn't a complete recluse though, she did have social media accounts, and a few close friends, although, she never actually met these friends and she was ok with that. Keeping people at arm's length was something she was good at. Getting close to people wasn't something she was interested in, and to hell with finding a significant other, especially not after the few bad experiences she did have with past boyfriends.
Temperance could feel that today was going to be anything but normal for her, why you ask? Because today was the day she decided to make plans to meet one of her internet friends. She wasn't completely sure why she choose to meet up with someone she's never met before but she couldn't help but be excited to meet him. And that's why she was rushing across three states on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.
At the same time Temperance was rushing. three states away Vicente was trying to find a parking spot in the crowded grocery store lot. He had no reason, nor any urge to act impatiently, in his mind he had all day to manage his errands. After driving around the lot a few times Vicente pulled into a parking spot, turned his car off and got out of the ear to head into the store. Of course, he was excited to finally have plans of meeting Temperance, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up for fear that she might ghost him for a second time.
Vicente is a handsome young local truck driver who has direct family ties to Mexico and honestly believes there's no point of rushing in life, especially when it comes to his love life. He spent many years attached to one woman, and after the relationship ended, and he recovered from heartache he decided to not get into another relationship. He knew of plenty of beautiful, available women, but he truly enjoyed the peace and quiet of the single life.
Vicente strolled through the grocery store at a leisurely pace, picking up his wanted items here and there. He checked his phone every couple of minutes, he was always getting messages and pictures from his friends or getting notifications from his social media accounts. He believed he was a private person and mostly kept to himself, but the truth is that he had an abundance of friends and family, plenty of people that enjoyed keeping in contact with him. And of course, some ladies were dying to get his attention, so his notifications sounded off pretty regularly.
Vicente strolled down the last aisle, not actually needing anything in the seasonal outdoor toys section but it didn't hurt to take a look. After deciding he was content with his cart full of options he headed to the registers. He moved through the line quickly and was back to his car in no time. He put his bags in the trunk and got into the driver's seat, but before leaving his parking spot he checked his phone one last time and decided to send a text to Temperance.
Vicente: Are you actually showing up this time? Or ghosting me again? Let me know, porfas, it's kinda important.
He added a bunch of laughing emojis knowing he would get a little bit on Temperance's nerves.
Temperance: I'm just over 300 miles away. And I never ghosted you.
Vicente: You did ghost me, a couple of weeks ago. And that still doesn't tell me if you're showing up this time.
Temperance: I didn't ghost you. and yes I'll be there.
Temperance's text message was followed by a row of middle finger emojis. Vicente laughed at this knowing he was getting on her nerves, he just loved to get on her nerves. Vicente casually carried on with the rest of his day, at his own pace of course.
Later that night, Vicente got lost surfing through the cable stations and lost track of time, not only did he lose track of time but he also lost track of his phone. He glanced at the clock on the wall, it was just past 10 at night, he figured he should reach out to Temperance to see if she was chickening out again. That's when he realized he misplaced his phone, he started digging into the couch cushions around him, with no luck, then he got up and looked around the coffee table. He looked under the couch, all around the living room, then headed into his bedroom to look in there. After going through everything. he still couldn't find his phone. he cursed himself for turning the ringer off. All his frantic movement confused his old tired dog, Zeus, the 11-year-old Labrador got off of his spot on the couch and headed for the front door. To Vicente's utter annoyance, he saw his phone on the couch cushion his dog just vacated, he walked over to the couch and snatched up his phone, then he texted Temperance.
Vicente: So are you chickening out or what?
Temperance: I just made it into the city, I'm dropping this trailer at the yard. Where are we meeting?
Vicente was shocked at how fast she responded; he honestly didn't think she'd follow through with the plans.