Broken Locks

Walmart is my version of Hell

It seemed like forever, waiting for him at the car, what was taking him so long, I had no idea. When Jack finally came through the last of the tall grass, across the parking lot, sporting a bright red bump on his forehead, it was almost easy to forgive him for making me wait. Almost.

"Took you long enough, I had to stand out here in the sun waiting 'cause I didn't have the keys, and honestly I'm not too enthused to get back into the car with you and your maniac driving." I rambled on. Why was I rambling? I'm not one of those people that run their mouth just because.

Jack kept quiet, maybe I went too far headbutting him, but he should be lucky I didn't kick him harder. Anyway, he's done way worse to me! Hello! He threw my clothes out the window!

"I need new clothes, are we going to the mall next?" I ask him as I put my seatbelt on, I don't wanna die with this guy. He stays silent for a small while and his driving still hasn't improved. When he finally speaks were parked in the parking lot of.... Walmart! The literal hell on earth. Seriously if you asked me to describe what I'd imagine hell to be like, I would say it's standing in line at Walmart with terrible customer service and no AC in the state of Arizona. 

"We're here, we don't have time to waste so let's get what you need and get out."

I stare at Jack wide eyed and mouth agape as he climbs out of the car. 

"What are you doing sitting there?"

"I'm getting clothes at... Walmart." I wrinkle my nose.

"Yeah, all you need is plain T-shirts and Jeans. You don't need to get name brand if you're just gonna get it dirty while we work."

"Yeah but Walmart? Why not say... Target?" I offer up the possibility of a different store.

"Whats wrong with Walmart?" He asks confused.

"Walmart is literally hell on earth, duh!"

Jacks patience wears thin and he closes his door heading toward the entrance of the store, leaving me with no choice but to follow. I hurry to catch up to him, making a point to pout the whole way.

Heading to the women's section he goes straight for the plain shirts. "What size?"

"Uhm, dunno I don't shop cheap clothes." 

He purses his lips in a thin line, clearly getting fed up with my newfound sense of attitude, and manages to stun me when he strikes back. "Okay XXL it is, that ought to fit you." With that he shoots me this dazzling smile I've never seen before, I can now see how he could be a con artist, with that charm turned on full power and directed straight at you, you just feel the need to cooperate.

"No! Agh, fine! I wear a Medium at best, but if I cooperate I get to pick my colors." I start negotiating a deal with him, there is no way I'm wearing all black!

"If you cooperate? You have to cooperate, you don't really have a choice in the matter."

"I don't have a choice? Fine, but I can make this trip absolutely miserable for you. I'd call that control, what do you think?" I've made my mind up, he won't win this battle. Wow, if I win this one this will be my second win against him today, I'm on a roll.

"Fine." He grumbles. "Cooperate and make this trip snappy, you can only get dark colors though, like the dark red, dark green or black."

"Okay fine." I look at the three color options he's given me the red is more of a deep maroon, and the green is almost like an emerald color. "What about the blue?" I push the issue a little further.

"Blue is on the brighter side of the color spectrum so no."

I huff. I guess I'll do the emerald color and black. I grab three emerald and three black, all in a medium. Moving onto the pants I grab dark blue and black jegging material jeans in size 5. I turn to Jack.

"Uhm, I still get my old bag back right?"

"Nope." He says as he looks around, almost like he's looking for someone.

What the heck, all he says is nope?

"Excuse me? What do you mean by nope? I can't go without my underwear and bras, they were expensive too!"

He abruptly looks up at me a little shocked, but he quickly hides it. Clearing his throat he speaks. "I guess that will be the exception." He makes eye contact with me his eyes conveying his point."The only exception, you are not to wear any of those clothes in the bag, only what we got today. Am I clear?" 

I nod and stay silent, I don't know what has really come over me, it's almost like I got overly confident when we were sparring back at the complex. I need to dial it back a bit. This isn't me

I follow Jack silently to the cash register where he pays for my clothes and we leave. Or try to leave anyway. 

"Woah, hey Vivianna." A voice calls out.

Embarrassed someone caught me at Walmart getting clothes I try to walk off, It probably isn't me anyway, it could be some other Vivianna, they didn't necessarily call me Vee.

"Vee, hey shocked to see you here." The voice sounds right by my side now, I recognize that voice now. Noah, of course it would be Noah!

"Huh?" I fake confusion like I didn't just hear him calling my name twice. "Oh, hi Noah!

"You seem lost in your thoughts a lot Vee, I said hi the other day at school and you didn't even notice." His smiling face morphs into concern and worry. "Are you doing okay? I heard about Mari, how's she doing?" 

"Fine, I guess. She can't really confirm that though, you know being in a coma and all." I sort of mumble the words.

A hand clasps mine, intertwining our fingers, his hand comforting and warm. "Hey babe, is someone bugging you?"

I look at our clasped hands in shock then look up at Jack, whose fake concern seems so very real. 

"What, no this is a Noah, he goes to school with us." I turn to Noah with a smile that I hope doesn't look strained. "Noah, this is Jack, one of the transfer students."

"And her boyfriend," Jack adds with that dazzling smile I got a glimpse of earlier. "Nice to meet you, Noah." He shakes Noah's hand then turns to me. "We should get going Vee, otherwise we'll be late."

"Oh, yeah, our date. Sorry Noah, maybe we could talk some other time?" 

"Yeah, of course, no problem!" He smiles, but it almost looks strained, it's not one of Noah's true smiles.

With that we part ways, Jack holds my hand till we get to the car where he abruptly drops it, making my hand feel cold now.

"What was that?" I say quietly, still stunned. Probably due to the over exposure to Jack's charm, it seems it could leave some nasty side effects.

"An escape plan and I guess another small glimpse of what we do. If we find ourselves in a sticky situation, we work with what we've got and charm our way out."

"Oh."

"Let's go home and eat." Jack says, we both get in the car and drive out of hell.

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I back baby! And maybe a little high on the sass level, I really did have to dial it down a bit. Hah, but it feels good to be back after so long! I even almost forgot my characters names!

So in celebration let's all hit that little golden star, let's type something into the comments section, hit the share button, and let's all hit that winning follow button!!

(Facebook: BearmyHeart.JGC -> Twitter: cjamie12 -> Email: jcoopwatty@gmail.com)

Happy to be back,

Julia Cooper