Shattered (Lauren/You)

Chapter 1

(Your POV)

Shit. I'm never going to get this done in time. I look down at my watch. One hour before I have to pick up Sammy, and I still have 4 more stores to stop in. 

I'm currently speed walking through the mall, trying to get all of this Christmas shopping done. I finally got a day off of work and there's less than a month left until Christmas, so it's now or never to check off everything on this list.

Passing a bench, I accidentally hit it with one of the 5 bags I'm carrying and it rips. Shit flies everywhere within a 10-foot radius of where I'm standing. 

"Fuck!" I yell out and quickly try to pick everything up and shove it into the other 4 bags I still have.

Then I notice broken pieces of ceramic. "No no no no no." Tears start welling up in my eyes as I turn the ornament over in my hands and see that it is indeed, shattered. 

Through my blurry vision, I try to put all of the big pieces back together into the heart shape to make out the picture on it. It's of my dad, stepmother, older brother – Matt, baby sister – Samantha, and me. On the back of the ornament it says "We Love You" in my dad's hand writing, and directly under that "We'll Always Love You" in my stepmother's handwriting.

It's the gift that I was the most happy about getting Sammy, but now look at it. It's ruined. I can't hold back any more tears, as they start streaming down my face. My body starts to shake as I'm holding in sobs, trying not to attract any more attention to myself since I'm kneeling on the ground in the middle of the mall.

"Hey, are you okay?" I hear someone whisper while I feel a hand start rubbing circles on my back. I nod, because I don't trust my voice right now and a stranger doesn't need me to tell them that I'm really not okay when they're just trying to be polite. "Okay well come on. Sit on the bench for a minute."

They grab my hand to make me stand up and lead me right over to the goddamn bench that just caused this mess. I still haven't looked up from the ground. It's bad enough that someone is even talking to me while I'm breaking down right now, I don't need them to see my face too. I sit down and they turn back around to pick the pieces off the ground. I only look up now to notice that the stranger is a girl wearing a sweatshirt and yoga pants with a baseball cap and sunglasses making it hard to really see her face. She looks up and smiles at me, so I try my best to return the gesture.

She empties a small bag that she was carrying into her purse, and uses the bag to hold the ornament pieces before handing me the bag and sitting next to me. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that" I croak out. My voice always sounds horrible whenever I've been crying.

"It's really no problem, don't mention it." I turn my head to see that she's giving me a sympathetic smile. "Do you want to talk about it? I've been told that I'm a good listener and advice giver, I'm willing to do either one that you need."

I muster up a smile before letting out a breath and looking back toward the ground. "Well, basically I'm just super stressed out right now about everything. I've been trying to keep myself together, but I guess just the buildup of everything eventually lead to what you just saw. A pathetic 22 year old breaking down in the middle of the mall. I'm supposed to be strong right now, but it's just so hard ya know?" She gently grabs my hand and gives it a soft squeeze. 

I literally have no idea why I'm telling this to a complete stranger, but I can't stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

"My dad and stepmother passed away about six months ago, and since me and my brother were 21 and 24 they named us as legal guardians of our now 5 year old sister in their will. I kinda had to grow up fast since it wasn't in my original plan to be taking care of a toddler right after graduating college, but we moved into their house and got jobs. Obviously we're both completely terrified that we're not gonna raise her the way they wanted or the way she should be since we both don't have experience having kids. That's probably the hardest part of all of this, that the outcome of someone's life and who they'll be as a person is all in your hands. We love her so much, so we're doing the best we can, but who knows if it's good enough." I sniffle and shake my head.

"But it's Sammy's first Christmas without either of her parents, so I wanted to make it perfect. I figured that if at least she knows that Santa is still looking out for her, that she'll feel better. I have the only day I could get off from work today, so I'm trying to get more than everything on her wish list. This," I hold up the small plastic bag, "was my favorite gift to buy. Me and Matty planned it out so that we can put it on the tree every Christmas and it'll be like they're there with us. But now I ruined it and I only have about 45 minutes to either go back to get a new one or try to get as much other gifts as I can. I never really realized how time consuming it would be to buy all this shit, but I have to leave soon to go pick Sammy up from after-school-daycare. So basically I fucked up my plan of a perfect Christmas."

I look back at her to see her wiping tears from under her sunglasses. "I'm so sorry for your loss." She says and squeezes my hand again. "But the fact that you're so caught up on trying to take care of her right and that you're going through all of this trouble for the holiday means that you are doing well. I'd be more worried if you didn't care so much about all of it. I bet you're an awesome big sister." She smiles at me again.

"Thanks. I don't really know why I told you all of that. You probably have better places to be than sitting here listening to some stranger's sob story. I'm sorry for interrupting your shopping you didn't have to stay, but thank you for listening I really needed that." I say to her.

"I would have left if I really didn't want to be here. I'm just glad that I could help in any way." She reaches over and pulls me into a tight hug. I instantly feel the tension leave my body as I hug her back. "So," she says while pulling away, "how much more do you have to get?"

I reach into my purse and pull out 4 envelopes, each labeled with the name of a different store. "I wrote lists for each store I needed to go to." 

She takes the envelopes from me and opens them revealing a paper and cash in each. She reads each list before putting them back. She then takes out her phone and spends a little bit of time typing and reading something on the screen before locking it.

"Okay, I have an idea. I'm here with four of my friends and they're more than happy to help you out with these." She lifts the envelopes in the air. I give her a puzzled look. "They can go to these stores and get everything you need while we go back to get you a new ornament. It's a win-win situation and I won't take no for an answer."

I laugh, but once I realize that she's not joking I stop and raise my eyebrows. "You're serious?" She nods. "No offense but I don't even know your name and you want to give my money and my little sister's Christmas list to your friends to buy the gifts for me. That's a little crazy, don't you think?"

"Hi, I'm Lauren. It's nice to meet you." She sticks out her hand for me to shake. I hesitantly take it in my own.

"Y/N." I reply.

She smiles. "Okay, now we know each other's names." She reaches into her purse and pulls out her wallet. She then opens my purse and puts her wallet in there. "Here, take this. It has all of my money, credit cards, and personal information in there. It would be pretty stupid of me to scam you if you know exactly who I am and where I live. Now, come on we have to get back to that ornament place to get you a new one. I'll just be one second."

Lauren stands up and walks over to a man standing at the opposite end of the bench that I didn't even notice was standing there. She hands him the envelopes and whispers something in his ear causing him to look at me and then nod. 

She comes back and picks my bags off the ground and holds her hand out to me. "Let's go slow poke, we don't have all day."

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A/N

This is my first ever story and I don't really know if anyone will even read this, but I just had this idea for a story and figured that I should give it a shot. I already have a few chapters typed up and have some ideas of where this story could go.

If anyone is reading this by any chance, please let me know what you think because i don't know.

WC:1603