I knew I shouldn’t have posted it.
Nadine scrolls all the way down to the bottom of her feed and closes her profile. She opens up another browser and manually types in the address, not even sparing the Speed Dial boxes a single glance. She hits ‘Go’ and waits for the page to load. The page shows an error and she sneers. Nadine types the address again, slowly this time.
“Maupay,” Someone calls.
She looks up from her phone and scowls. “I’m right-fuckin’-here.” she spits out.
The man on the other side raises a single brow and places a crumpled one hundred peso bill on the counter. “Jeez, it’s the New Year and you’re already having a shitty day?” he says.
Nadine shoots him a dark look and snatches the money. “None of your business.” she replies back curtly. She pockets her phone and stands from her seat. “What do you need?”
“Jackpot.”
“You’re short 10 pesos, the price went up.” Nadine gets the box from a glass rack and hands it to him.
“Oh, here.”
He slaps the coins on the counter. Nadine slides them off the polished wooden counter with her hand and lets them tumble into her waiting palm.
“Can I borrow your lighter?” he asks, opening the box and taking out a stick.
Nadine looks him over. “What kind of smoker doesn’t bring his own lighter?” she says.
The man flashes him a yellowish grin. “None of your business.”
Nadine shrugs. “Hm, fair.” she says. She gives it to him and sits back down.
He slips the stick in between his lips and flicks the lighter on. The small flame kisses the tip of the rolled paper and catches. He flicks the lighter back off and places it on the counter in front of her. Nadine looks up into his eyes, now a bit shrouded by a thin veil of smoke.
A beat.
“You shouldn’t delete it, you look cute in it.” he says, and turns away.
The store door closes and Nadine finally unfreezes.
She doesn’t have time to go around the counter, and instead vaults over it, almost knocking the candy containers off in the process. She bursts out the door and starts to shoutー
But he’s not there.
Her eyes widen and she feels a chill crawl down her spine. She goes back inside and locks the door.
Nadine immediately goes back to the counter. She opens the cash register and her hands start to tremble.
The crumpled bill’s still there.
|Originally written: January 03, 2023
YOU ARE READING
Choice Cuts
Short StorySweetest Decay, Series 1 A collection of my short stories I first published in my writing blog, Sweet Decay.
