Little Moments

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When the alarm clock rang the next morning I couldn't help but attempt to ignore it — my body was on a student time clock, not ranching — but despite my best effort Siobhan was able to coax me out of the bed when breakfast arrived. The smell was simply too good to resist.

"When's your flight today?" I asked her as I dove into a plate of scrambled eggs.

"2pm, but I have to leave around 11."

I pressed the button on my iPhone to see that the time was now 9:20, which gave us a little over an hour together. Knowing Siobhan she was already packed and ready to go anyway.

"I'm already packed," she voiced my thoughts and I hid a smile.

"I figured. Want to go check out the stores downstairs before you leave?"

We agreed that we would and I did a quick trip to the bathroom where I pulled my hair into a high bun and layered some mascara onto my lashes, it made me look a lot more awake.  I walked out to find Siobhan already dressed and her overnight bag was placed by the door. She was the effective one in the family for sure.

There were a lot of brands that I'd both had and hadn't heard of when it came to the stores, but we ended up in H&M since this was more of a familiar territory for us.

"When are you going back to school?" Siobhan asked as she looked through a rack of statement shirts.

"Tomorrow. I'm covering that press conference for the school paper today." I pulled out a white over sized sweater, but quickly put it back as I didn't need another one of those. I was a sucker for big sweaters.

"So, they finally let you on there then?" 

"Mmm-no," I said absentmindedly. "But hopefully if I make a good enough job on this piece I might have a shot for one of the spots in the fall, except that celebrities aren't exactly considered high priority on the paper. I just think they thought it would be a nice edition to everything else."

"Well, they didn't ask you because they thought you couldn't do it. Work hard and you'll get there eventually," Siobhan said as she slowly made her way further into the store.

I continued to look through the racks by the entrance as I wondered if Siobhan was right. Would my best efforts eventually get me onto the paper? It would be a great experience for sure. 

I sighed and as I was picking out a few things to try on I saw a figure in my peripheral vision walking directly towards me. I discreetly looked over to see if he was actually headed my way. And indeed he was.

It took me a split second to recognize Tony Mason's face and I immediately bee lined for the dressing rooms, hoping he hadn't actually spotted me, that this was all just a coincidence. In that moment I was a little annoyed that running would make me look like an idiot and that I had to settle for a rather determined and fast walk instead.

I ducked behind a curtain and sighed in relief, hopefully I'd saved myself from a rather embarrassing encounter. I was perfectly happy with leaving last night's events just the way they were — I saw no need to put myself in a situation where I'd have to explain why I'd ditched him.

The curtain pulled aside slightly as a person slipped inside and I jumped.

"What is wrong with you?" I hissed at Tony as he crammed into the dressing room, it suddenly got a lot smaller in there.

"I wasn't the one who ran away."

"I didn't run, I walked." 

"Could've fooled me," he grinned. "Scheana, right?"