New Player In Town

4

No luck finding kitchenware at the general store. It specialized in fresh goods. So, despite what happened last time, you headed over to Joja Mart.

The same man and lady were working the front. Ignoring the man's attempt to recruit you to "join joja and thrive", you peered down the aisles looking for kitchenware. Towards one end of the store you found it; pots, pans, oven mitts, knives, you name it.

As you head over, you nearly bump someone. They had four giant boxes in their arms, piled way past the point of being able to see.

"Woah," you say, steering clear of them. They catch the corner of the shelf and the top two boxes start sliding.

"Shit," they say. You recognized the gruff voice from the asshole before. Without thinking, you grabbed the two boxes before they could slide fully off.

"Here, don't want these falling," you say, determined not to get on his bad side this time.

"I don't need your help," he walks off without even looking at you, leaving you standing there with two big ass boxes you had no idea what to do with. So, you followed him.

"I'm not really sure what's in them, but I'm pretty sure catching them was better than letting them hit the floor."

"Why are you following me," he looks at you like you're crazy.

"I'm help- uh.. I'm assisting you." You bounce the boxes in your arms. "Remember? The stuff you dropped?"

He sighs. "Just leave them on the floor."

"Nope." You follow him into another aisle and he stops at the jellies and peanut butter.

"There, you helped. Boost your ego enough?" He drops his boxes and grabs yours.

"If that's what you want to call it, then sure." You cross your arms.

He stares at you blankly. "What do you want now."

You narrow your eyes at him. Being straightforward with him would probably be best, but you wanted to try one last time. "Where's the orange juice?"

There was that look again. Like you were the dumbest ant in the world.

"Are you fucking stup-" he pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales with the weight of the world. "Follow me," he says exasperatedly.

He leads you to the milk section and lazily point at all the different juices a few feet away. "Wow, we found the treasure trove. Are you done now? Or do you want me to give you a tour of the whole store." His biting sarcasm stung.

"Okay, what the fuck did I do?" You were at your wits end with this man. "Why do you hate me so much?"

He lets out a laugh but it was cruel and mocking. "How entitled are you? You think this is personal? I don't even know your name and I don't care. If you're going to get offended, don't talk to me in the first place."

You cross your arms and glare at him. "Fine."

"Fucking finally." He walks off as quickly as possible, almost as if you were some deadly disease.

"Christ, what the fuck is his problem," you mutter to yourself as you grab a carton of orange juice and march your way back to the kitchenware. You grabbed what you needed and got the hell out of there. One thing was for sure, the prices here were cheaper.

Since you had wasted so much time on your little detour, it was already time to meet up with Sam. You headed straight over to the saloon instead of dropping off your things at home. Inside it was quite nice. It smelled of beer and a hint of puke, but light music played from the jukebox in the corner. More people were here than you had expected. A girl with ginger hair braided over one shoulder sat at a table by herself towards the left, several people were seated at the bar, and Robin and Demetrius were dancing their hearts out like the cute couple they were.