You and Me

Chapter 14: The Man In The Blue Vest

Lori’s POV

“Lori, are you ready yet?” my aunt called impatiently.  After we had breakfast, Aunt Cynthia registered me with an online school.  She didn’t want me to get behind on my studies, so she sent all of my paperwork to the best online school she could find. 

I really love my aunt.

But seeing as I had no supplies for school, we decided to take a trip to Wal-Mart.  Right after we had set our plans, I retreated to my room to get ready for our shopping trip, and she had been calling me for the past 10 minutes.

“Sheesh, I’m coming, I’m coming.  Hold your horses!” I exclaimed as I hurriedly exited my room.  I was dressed simply in short shorts and my new 5 Seconds of Summer t-shirt that I had gotten from their concert two nights ago.  I grabbed my shoes from the rack behind the door and was ready to go.  “Ready!” I said, in a sing-songy voice.

My aunt’s eyes narrowed upon looking at my shorts, but she thankfully didn’t say anything.  This is why I loved living with my aunt.  My dad wouldn’t have even let me wear anything this short.  He would have said, “You must be going to take a shower since you don’t have clothes on.  I’ll just wait here while you get dressed.”  Then, he’d eye my clothes meaningfully, and I would stomp all the way to my room to change. 

I really missed him.  I was still sad that my dad was gone.  But now that the pain had lessened, I could think back to all the great times I had with him. 

Aunt Cynthia snapped her fingers in front of my face and rolled her eyes.  “Seriously, Lori.  If you wanted to take a nap, you could have just told me,” she teased. 

“Ok, enough humor at my expense.  Let’s go!” I replied, wanting to change the subject.

And then we were off.

* * *

We decided to drive to the Wal-Mart, even though it was in walking distance.  The car ride had barely begun when Aunt Cynthia parked into a spot in front of the large store.  We walked inside quickly to get out of the heat and started browsing.

A few minutes and a full shopping cart later, I saw a figure in the distance that looked familiar.  That’s weird.  I barely know anyone in Atlanta.  How would I recognize someone here?

I walked closer to the man in the blue Wal-Mart vest.  His back was turned to me as I approached him, so I studied him from the back.

Messy blond hair.  Broad shoulders.  Shorts that showed off his tan legs.  Someone that I could recognize even in my sleep.

“Wes?” I called out to him.

He froze at the sound of my voice.  After a few moments, he slowly turned around to face me.  It was him.  What was he doing here? Did he work here?  Wasn’t he supposed to be at school?

After what seemed like an eternity of us staring at each other, he finally spoke. 

“Lori. Hey.  What are you doing here?” he asked.  The smile on his face flickered and a worried look replaced it when I didn’t answer.  I was still too shocked at seeing him here. 

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” I couldn’t help but ask. 

“Well, I work here,” he responded nervously.

“I can see that,” I deadpanned.  “Aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?”  I know I sounded like a suspicious girlfriend.  But I was curious.  And a little worried that he had lied to me.  Okay, a lot.