Beautifully Burned

Chapter One : Old habits live

MASE

Four times I blinked, but my body still wouldn't settle. The frames looked like knives stuck in dungeons that were about to chop the pale ceiling. I felt the liquid inside my body shifting from one part to the other, the alcohol trembling in fatigue. The bitter taste satisfied me every time, and I didn't care if I was going to throw up soon.

***

It's always cold in Washington. Whether or not I thought about it, it had been a place I found to let off steam. The summer heat came in one shot, but it felt endless. Life couldn't have gotten any better after attending tons of parties, and nailing ladies whose names I didn't even know. It was filled with fast cars and commixed winnings, shameless nights of real fun and anxiety combined.

I grabbed enough bottles of beer for the week and headed to the shortest checkout line in Colls without further thought. Luckily, there was an old man chatting up the cashier with a smile, and he was almost leaving. Just before I could take a step closer, a woman overtook my place in line, trying to unload her cart where my drinks where supposed to land. Instead, the beer hit my toes and rolled far away. One of her shoelaces was untied, her hair waved down her shoulders and I was immediately thrown at her cutting me. I eyed her back before looking at the cashier, who was obviously surprised too, because she saw how annoying the woman's action was. Clearly, I was first, and obviously she didn't care. And because of her I had a swollen toe. Just great.

A voice was telling me that she didn't know the gravity of her actions. My temper wasn't abuzz unless it'd been pressed. I only wanted her to look in my direction because that's what most women craved for these years. They craved for charm, any gesture that made their walls rupture and sink without further instructions.

All it needed was a little lie to hook them, even if I didn't believe it myself.

I was going to give it to her but when I opened my mouth, she shifted and her eyes caught mine. Her face was a paragon of virtue, but her blue eyes were marred with something else- something that only she would be able to reveal, and not easily. My thoughts were brought to a stop in an instant as she moved her head onto my shoe. What the hell? Her clothes didn't give much pleasure to my eyes, no statement to show.

Her lips weren't ablaze in red lipstick or sparkling in gloss, but they were pure. She was saying something, opening and closing her mouth consistently, but I didn't care. She mumbled a few more times.

"Hey!" She repeated for the third time, I guess.
"Oh, hey!" I said plainly. Where did that come from?
"Can you please pass..." She motioned, both arms hugging Doritos. I could only look at her. "That to me?" I mentally kicked myself back to reality and checked where her finger pointed. My eyes grew wider at the pack of whatever that is women used whenever they needed it. It was an inch away from my foot. "Hey!" she yelped again. "Can you pass it, please? I don't have much time." This woman was maddening. I picked it up and gave it to her, but I didn't say anything. I became a cat who just stayed there... waiting. Damn it. "Thank you," she said, but she didn't smile at all. No way she meant that.

"Are you new in town?" the cashier asked. She simply replied with eye contact.
"Where from?" With the way she dressed, I'm guessing she'd traveled quite far.

"A few hours from here." Hmmm. She was in a hurry moving both hands to quickly shove some food inside the shopping bag. Before the cashier could even give her the receipt, she quickly walked away, forgetting her change too. I guess she wasn't stealing, just really in a hurry.