Linger (Camren)

Chapter 30: We Can Only Try

{Camila's POV}

"Thank you and have a nice night."  I said, mustering up every ounce of fake sincerity that I could, even though it physically hurt me to smile at the woman before me.

In actuality, I hope that lady has a shitty night. I hope she gets explosive diarrhea the second she walks out of this place. I hope she trips and falls down the stairs... and doesn't seriously hurt herself, but at least scrapes her knees on the way down.

Never in my life had I encountered a customer as rude and petty as her.

I told her nicely that I had to lock up because it was late and she was the last person in the music shop before closing.

"Umm... alright? But I'm already here. Can't you wait like 5 more minutes until I find something to buy? Or do you not want my money?"

No. bitch. I don't. I want to be in my bed, asleep. I thought to myself at the moment while I took in her condescending tone.

But being the decent person that I was, I allowed her a little bit more time to browse.

However, 5 minutes in her twisted little head apparently meant 20 minutes of randomly asking me for my opinion on certain artists and for recommendations. As if I gave a shit.

But again, being the decent person that I was, I gave her my opinions on each of the people she brought up and told her what I was listening to now.

"Wow, you have really terrible taste in music. Forget I asked."

It was at that point that I took the time to really look at this woman. She was a young looking girl, probably older than me, but not by much. She had her black hair tied in a tight, perfectly made bun. Her entire ensemble screamed, "Life sucks. Leave me alone."

So, I let it go for the time being because I wanted her to leave me alone as soon as possible.

When she finally picks out a record... one record.... I proceed to check her out as fast as I could. While doing so, I looked up and noticed her staring at me intently with dark eyes, as if I was some kind of riddle she was trying to figure out.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Nah, you just look familiar that's all. I noticed it from the second I walked in, but I couldn't quite figure out-"

The stranger let out some unearthly sound, presumably having come to an epiphany.

"You're Karla! I used to cheat off of you in Pre-Calc back in High School! Oh my god, thankfully you weren't dumb. You helped me finally get out of that hell hole of a school."

I still had no idea who this girl was.

"But woooowww! Apparently being good at math hasn't done shit for you because look where you are now."

Her laugh was everything that was wrong with this world. It truly hurt my soul.

The pleasure she found in demeaning me was insane. 

"Alright, welp! Sucks to be you. Chop chop though!  I got places to be, so give me my shit and let's keep it moving."

It was that precise moment that I wondered what my prison name would be. Aside from dealing with the food, I'm sure I could handle... how long of a sentence do you get for shoving a vinyl record down someone's throat?

Doing my breathing exercises like my therapist taught me, I ever so calmly handed her the bag, leading us to this very moment.

Satan takes-no snatches her bag from my hand.