sweet tea. -tkam

groceries.

-3rd pov-

    Holding a small basket in the bend of her arm, daisy Mae walked slowly around the small grocery store.
    Her blue eyes scanned the shelves and isles, but her mind was occupied with something different.

-daisys pov-

It was settled, I didn't love him, I had decided. If love was such a mental thing, I figured, with convincing I could change my feeling.
     And all I had to do was decide I had no feelings. There was an overwhelming amount of reasons why I had decided not to feel for him, some main ones being the undeniable truth that it was unrequited.
     Everyone unspokenly understood that he wasn't doing to date again after the loss of his wife, if he was going to, we all felt he would have done so by now, especially having two children without a mother.
       Beyond that, I was only me, and, I was 27. Furthermore, I didn't know what love was, how could I assure I wasn't going to be hurt?
     I felt so safe with him, and I felt like he would  hurt me, but I haven't had good luck following off of feelings, as I thought Elton had loved me.
      Another point was...a little stupid. That point being that people would judge me even more, and the hateful words I get would extend to him and his children.
     I knew his family, and the townsfolk would not approve, Wether for age or a disliking of me.
      He was already scrutinized for taking the case he did, and raising his children how he does without traditional gender roles, and he didn't need to be involved in another taboo all because of me and my stupid feelings.
      It felt selfish to feel for him like that, knowing that I would only be a horrible burden to both him and his family by doing so.
     But, luckily, I had decided to simply not feel that way any longer. I stood on my tippy toes to try and reach a can pretty high up on the shelf, jumping a bit.
      I knocked it off, but failed to catch it...with my hands at least. The can fell on my head and I let out a gasp, holding my head as it stung in pain.
      The commotion must have been a little more disruptive than I thought, as when I opened my eyes, I saw a few staring back at me. I went to stand up, but was suddenly pulled to my feet by a large hand on my arm.
     I quickly turned around to see a man standing in front of me.
      He had neatly slicked brown hair, blue eyes, and pointy facial features. He was dressed in a day suit, and had an ambiguous smirk on his face.

"Are you alright little lady?" He asked, his voice sounding somewhat amused as he handed me the can

I must have been staring at him wide-eyed for a while before I spoke, because he looked at me  like something was off about me.

"Yes, yeah I am, thank you sir" I finally responded, my head still hurting.

"Mm...clumsy are we?"

I laughed nervously, embarassed.

"Yea...I try not to be"

"Not hard enough it seems" he said.

I felt a pang of embarrassment in my stomach, I wasn't quite sure what he meant in saying that, but it made me feel a little ashamed.

"You're Daisy Mae, from South Carolina" he stated simply, moving on from the remark, making me believe he didn't mean to hurt my feelings.

I looked at him curiously, as I had never seen the man before, much less met him, and somehow he knew me.

"...have..we met before?" I said, feeling a rush of panic as I worried I had forgotten him.

He chuckled.

"No, but miss daisy Mae your name comes up plenty frequently in conversation around here lately."

I had met so few people in maycomb, and felt a little concern for what they might know about me, but I supposed it wasn't too odd, as it was such a slow and small town, not much was new since my arrival, and I guess getting a new resident was something to talk about.

"Really? I've hardly gotta speak with most people"

His smirk creeped further along his face, and he chuckled again, this time however, it was deeper, and from the throat.

"Oh, the way your name is mentioned, they don't need to know a thing about you, we can all see you."

    His cryptic words have me chills, and though I didn't understand what that could mean, I didn't feel good about it already.
    My stomach turned a bit and something in me told me to run, but my manners told me to stay, he hadn't been mean...

"My name is Christopher, or, Chris."

I paused for a second, hesitating to continue.

"nice to meet you, sir"

"Likewise" he said with a mischievous grin.