"Leona love! You haven't forgotten its Mum's birthday today? You'll have to do something for tea."
Leona Meyer cringed at her husband's dulcet tones. As if her god awful mother-in-law wasn't around way more than she liked anyway, sticking her nose in where it wasn't wanted; the fact that she had to prepare her a birthday meal was insult to injury. And of course she was the one who would have to make the trip to the supermarket and pay for it all as she was the only one who worked. Her mundane supermarket job was almost as mind numbing as her ten year marriage. Des Meyer had been laid off years ago and the spark in their relationship had been replaced with bitterness and resentment as Leona did everything while he sat around doing nothing because of a nondescript 'bad back'. The said bad back had also killed any type of sex life they had once had.
"No, I haven't forgot, I will go to the shop soon," she said feigning enthusiasm through gritted teeth.
Des carried on, "A nice chicken salad or something. Make sure its none of the cheap stuff you know she doesn't like any of the white label shit. You know what she likes."
Leona cringed: yes, she knew. Both Des and his mum, Brenda were creatures of habit. She had been spending more and more time at their house since being widowed and some of her annoying traits were starting to rub off. How had her husband turned into a moaning old woman?
Nothing turned her stomach more than a mama's boy, apart from maybe the mama herself. Nothing was ever good enough for the overbearing mother-in-law. She had a particular gripe about her cooking; everything had to be home-cooked, organic and branded. That was all well and good but there wasn't always time when working a gruelling forty hour week.
"Yes darling," she sneered sarcastically.
But looking on the bright side, at least she would be out of their shabby house and the run-down council estate for a few hours. Every cloud and all that...
She wore a knee-length flowery dress, a luxury that she had treated herself to as a change from her usual comfy attire. Maybe it was a bit much just for shopping but she didn't go out very often and a simple trip to the supermarket may have been her only chance to show it off. And maybe there would be a hot young guy on the check outs?
"Oh and get some flowers too. And some chocolates," Des added, all the whilst not moving from the couch, or even turning his head to face her direction.
"How about you do it, she's your fucking mother," Leona muttered under her breath as she slipped on her sandals then mimicked his response, "Can't I've got a bad back."
He didn't hear her, or if he did he ignored her and had the nerve to yell at her as she went out the door, "Don't forget my Stella!"
"Cunt, cunt, cunt," she muttered in a rage as she kicked it shut behind her.
Of course, he had to have his Stella (another thing she didn't need reminding of) yet the rare times she had a glass of wine after work, she had to put up with snide remarks from Brenda.
But never-mind. She took a deep breath and embraced the summer sun beaming down on her face. A few hours out was a blessing.
It was a pleasant walk into town once she was out of the graffiti decorated estate and into the mile or so stretch of country side. It was days like these, she didn't miss the car they had had to give up through lack of wages, but she would certainly miss it on the way back with all the shopping to carry.
It was the usual Saturday morning chaos in the supermarket; screaming kids and gridlocked trolleys, queues halfway down the aisles that was exasperated by the inexperienced weekend staff. And not one piece of eye candy in sight! Leona sighed as she unenthusiastically loaded her items onto the conveyor belt to be scanned by the spotty, greasy haired teenager on the check out. Her nice dress had gone to waste after all.
Finally, she had finished the shopping and headed back out of town and down the road home, her plastic carrier bags stuffed with Brenda's specific 'brand only' shopping list - easy to request when she wasn't the one paying. The old bag was as scabby as her deadbeat son whom she regrettably called a husband. She hoped she choked on her god-damn organic cucumber! The moment that thought crossed her mind, life gave her another kick in the teeth as the bag split open and all her shopping slopped out sending a few tins and other items rolling into the narrow country road.
"For fuck's sake," she muttered, the silver lining being able to curse without Brenda's disapproving head shaking and her telling her that she had a mouth like a sewer.
As soon as she made a dash out to grab it, the sound of a powerful car engine and blaring cheesy 90s dance music sounded from around the corner, going flat out by the sounds.
"Great, gonna be roadkill to some raving boy racer," she thought bitterly as the red Audi TT hurtled toward her.
The brakes slammed on in the nick of time, screeching to a halt inches away from her.
"Need a hand sexy?" the driver asked getting out of the car.
Leona recognised the deep, eloquent, middle class voice immediately even after twenty years. It belonged to someone who was etched onto her mind forever.
"Yes I'd love one... long time no see."
She had not seen Theodore Chandler since he left Sixth Form.
He was three years her senior (a lot in school years), all her classmates had warned her to stay away from him but not for the age gap - he had a reputation for being weird and crazy and was always causing trouble. However she found his quirky, crude sense of humour refreshing - he wasn't afraid to be himself no matter what the judgemental kids at school said about him; he was brave enough to be openly bisexual in a environment full of bullies. And Leona had always been the type of girl who saw the big red button saying 'do not press' but couldn't resist the urge. They'd met having a cheeky smoke around the back of the science block, shared a kiss, which led to a few gropes and blow-jobs between lessons, but nothing more than that. Theo was not the relationship type of guy, she knew the score and that he was seeing other people. After he finished school, he left to study business at Uni and they had fallen out of touch - there were no mobiles or social media back then!
He looked good as a teenager but had refined greatly with age, like a fine wine. He'd always been well off too but now even more so, judging by his flashy car and shiny silver suit. It mirrored his personality perfectly, loud and not for everyone but still they were forced to notice him.
Leona caught herself watching him bend over to pick up the rogue groceries, and checking out his super hot ass; clearly he worked out. Then she silently scolded herself for thinking like a randy teenager, then realised that she desperately needed to get laid... preferably by someone like Theo.
"I've seen bigger," he winked as he handed her back a rogue cucumber. His cheeky sense of humour had stayed the same.
"Thanks," she smiled, feeling her face heat up, worried that somehow he knew what she was thinking.
