He first saw her in the grocery store.
She was just another girl at first. Her oversized charcoal-coloured hoodie hung low over her jeans, hiding her shape, and the hood itself hid her hair. There wasn't much to look at, and he'd assumed he could ignore her.
But as Lawrence stood there with a can of tomato sauce in each hand, trying to decide between them by reading both their labels, her manner sparked his interest. She barely seemed to notice the world around her as she tiptoed along the aisle full of kichen utensils, peering at ladles and pans as though each held some fascinating secret. She touched a few, gently, but didn't pick them up. The long sleeves of her sweater fell back each time she did, revealing her unpainted nails. They were perfectly filed into short, perfect ovals, and buffed to a healthy shine.
She takes good care of herself, and hides it.
He tried to go back to the tomato sauce, but couldn't help stealing glances. What might she be looking for? Or did she come in just to enjoy the shop like a gallery?
She tapped a whisk, causing it to spin partway around, and her eyes sparkled along with it.
The sauce hardly seemed to matter anymore. He set one can down, and put the other in his basket. But he couldn't stay here, staring at this girl. However entrancing she might be.
And so, Lawrence took his basket up to the register, grabbing eggs along the way, and checked out without ever saying hello.
~~~
There was a yell from outside. A man's voice.
"BITCH YOU OWE ME!"
Lawrence looked up, searching for the source of the yell as he exited the store, and ran straight into the back of someone who'd stopped just past the doorway, right in front of him. They should have known better than to stop there.
"Hey watch--" he started.
But it was
her
he'd bumped into. The girl from the store.
He tried to blurt out an apology, but she wasn't paying attention to him at all. She was frozen in place, staring at the source of the yelling. A man--an obviously drunk man--was trying to drag a woman out of the back seat of a car.
The sun had just set, but the sidewalk was lit up brightly by the store's outdoor floodlamps. You'd have to be drunk to cause this kind of scene
here
, of all places.
As the woman tried to scramble back inside, the drunk grabbed her leg with one hand, reaching the other hand up under her skirt.
The woman shrieked and tried to kick him. Her shoe fell off.
He'd grabbed the crotch of her panties, and was pulling hard, causing the sides of the underwear to dig into her thighs as they dragged down.
The woman shrieked and kicked, and the panties moved lower, binding her legs together below the knees. More vulnerable than before.
"Help! HELP!!"
But he was already between her legs, bunching up her shirt with one fist and undoing his fly with the other. His thick, short penis was reddened and only halfway erect. He fumbled with it, then jammed it awkwardly against the woman's ass crack.
"HEY. GET OUT OF HERE." Lawrence stepped around the girl with the hoodie. He wasn't an intimidating figure, but his voice was, when he wanted it to be.
"Fuck. What."
The drunk turned around partway, stumbling and trying to catch himself on the woman's leg. But she was already scrambling away, through the car, kicking off her remaining shoe and warped panties so they wouldn't entangle her. In a moment she was through the other door, covering herself with her skirt and taking off barefoot into the night.
The man fell, then yelled as he got up and saw her gone.
"BITCH OWES ME MONEY"
"Look where you are, idiot."
But the drunk was beyond reason, and already chasing after the woman in the skirt. No matter though, since there was no chance of him catching up. She was already long gone when he clipped his shoulder on a lamppost on the far side of the street. He swayed as he got up, hollering ahead of him.
~~~
Lawrence turned his attention back to the girl in the hoodie.
She was still frozen in place, staring at the car. Her face was partially illuminated under her hood, and he could see a little of her soft features and rounded eyes, though he wasn't sure of their colour. They seemed to reflect the red from the store signage. He couldn't read her expression at all.
"Are you alright?"
She startled when he spoke, and looked down at herself. In one hand she held a bus pass. She'd probably been about to head to the nearby stop to go home.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm okay."
He gestured at the bus pass. "Can I give you a ride? You must be shaken up."
She pursed her lips nervously, but nodded. Her gaze kept returning to the parked car with both its back doors still flung wide open. The woman's shoe was still there on the back seat; the other on the sidewalk.
He gestured to his car, and she followed. When he looked back to check on her, her head was turned again, focused on the spot where the woman in the skirt had been just minutes ago.
He opened the door for her quietly, then settled into the driver's seat, waiting for her to put her seatbelt on. There was a faint smell of oranges, and he wondered if she'd purchased some. They must be in the pocket of her hoodie, if she had.
"Um. South of here, by the park with the big statue."
"I know the one. That's not far at all." He pulled out into the quiet street, then turned left onto the main broad avenue, lined with trees. It felt quieter in the car. Peaceful. He glanced over at her, hoping he wasn't making her more nervous after the scene she'd just witnessed.
Her hands were in her lap, curling anxiously. Her breathing faster through her parted lips. She'd pulled her hood back, revealing long, light-coloured hair, slightly tousled from being hidden away. She wore no obvious makeup. He guessed that she was probably in her mid-twenties.
"It should be a left at the light down there, right?"
"Uh. Yeah."
He glanced down at her hands again, and noticed how tightly her thighs were pressed together, and how they squirmed.
She was aroused, he realised.
Heavily aroused. She must be confused by it.
Could it be? Could she be--
He stopped at the red, then made the turn.
No.
He must be seeing what he wanted to see.
He couldn't risk being wrong.
...But what if he wasn't?
"Right here." She gestured ahead.
"The coffee shop?"
"Yeah. I'm close to home, and my friend works there. Um. Can I get you a hot chocolate? It's the least I can do and, uh. I'd like to calm down. I think."
"Sure. That sounds nice."
~~~
It was cozy in the cafe. The girl caught someone's eye and put up two fingers.
She must drink a lot of hot chocolate here
.
"I'm Lawrence, by the way."
"Oh, Joy." She paused and frowned. "I mean, my name is Joy. I wasn't being sarcastic."
There was an awkward pause, until a young guy dropped off two mugs of cocoa.
Joy pulled her sweater sleeves down almost to her fingertips, then grasped the mug with both mitted hands, smiling and breathing in the steam. In her own little world again, for a moment.
