Fighting Life

Chapter Eight

The rest of the week did not go too badly, though there were things with work that came up and she was not too keen about it, Tana kept going, kept pushing through and was glad when the weekend came. She knew having two days to herself meant she had time to refocus her mind and reset for another week in the office. One thing she knew though, was that while she had the weekend to herself, Tana needed to get herself some food for the house. She had put it off long enough and was very low on milk bread and some other items now.

Also wanting to look for an upcoming friends birthday gift, Tana decided she would make her way to the closest multi story shops near her. While she had the basics in a few of the nearby suburbs to her, going to Westfield Tee Tree Plaza was better. They not only had the basics, like Target, BigW and Kmart, along with Coles and Woolworths, they also had other smaller shops. Places for clothing, places for makeup and jewellery, accessories and more. They had novelty stores and other stores spotted around the centre. It was a massive shopping centre and Tana liked it, even if it got busy during the days.

It was going to be her friend Steph's birthday, who was a girl that liked many things and had many things, so sometimes she was hard to choose for. That was why Tana spent most of the first part of her day looking around at everything first. Steph still lived at home, while she worked and helped her parents out. They were a tight family and it was amazing the way they all supported each other. Knowing this though, Tana knew they was no point in buying Steph anything to do with homewares and such. It was not required and so while she may have popped into a store or two for homewares, it was more for herself and to see if there was anything on special that she could get.

As Tana found herself down on the lower level, looking around in the shop called Zing, she was contemplating getting something for Steph from there. Knowing her friend, she knew either a figurine of some sort would work well as a gift, or some funky merchandise for something she liked. Tana was standing before a wall of items, looking, thinking and wondering which of them she should pick out. She made a small move, to step to the right further to get a closer look at one of the figurines, however, she stopped, realising somebody was there and she had almost near run into them.

"Oh... I am sorry." She spoke honestly.
"All good." They responded.

At the same time, even though they had spoken, the two looked at each other, and the expression of surprise was on both of their faces. Tana felt the tips of her ears go hot a little and knew they had gone red, as the surprise wore off and she was looking at a smile instead.

"Fancy running into you here." Dr Jason White spoke.
"Almost literally." She mumbled.
"True true." He replied.

They fell silent, an awkward encounter and they both turned and looked back at the wall of figurines. Tana was silent, crossing her left arm over her chest slightly, hand resting on the upper of her right arm. She stole a sideways glance at Doctor Jason White and then back again, knowing that something needed to be said, but not sure what. She hardly knew the guy, even if she was meant to have been really good friends with him as kids. A time in her life that she did not remember. Jason on the other hand, was better at speaking then she was and broke that silence between them.

"So, you into collecting things as well?" he asked curiously.
"I no... I mean, well, I like this stuff, but I do not collect it." She explained. "I am here, to pick out a gift for a friend, it will be her birthday soon."
"Ohhh, tough one. I am no good with gift getting." Jason claimed. "I feel like I fail hard at it, I try to be meaningful, but I feel I lack some quality in understanding what people need and like at times."
"Money for an experience is always a good way to go, or a voucher for something." Tana offered.
"Maybe so... I guess I will keep that one in mind." Jason grinned.