Mallflower

Chapter 2

Megan enters the food court area of the mall. The outer walls had various food vendors, restaurants, and even a vending machine area. She opts to get a combo meal from one of the fast food restaurants and brings it to the busy sounding food court common area. The sounds of different conversations from the other food patrons created a constant dull roar in the background. The smells from the various foods offered from the different area created a plethora of aroma that would entice anybody to try a different type of food, each on a different day.

Megan sits at one of the tables in the center of the food court and looks at the "meal" that she bought. She couldn't believe that she was going to eat the cheaply made gut rot but when you eat on a budget of a pauper you can't afford the real stuff sometimes. She takes a bite, looks at her sandwich's contents suspiciously, puts down the sandwich, and opts for just the fries only.

She starts to scan the area as she eats, looking at on food vendor then another. Her eyes stop at the pretzel shop where she sees the blonde from earlier. She notices more details of the blonde as she greets customers at the counter. Her smile, the blue eyes, the way she even twirls her hair when there were no customers to be waited on. She noticed that the blonde's eyes were also scanning the area as well and that she averted her eyes before the blonde made eye contact with her.

She tried to keep her attention to anything than this blonde. Megan began looking at the other food vendor storefronts, the other customers around her, and even the occasional little child that runs from the parent. She then realizes it is of no use, her eyes keep wandering to the blonde's location. She heavily sighs, gets up from the table with her tray, and places it on the nearest rack, which happened to be close to the pretzel place, and the blonde who worked there.

The blonde's eyes light up when she sees Megan. She smiles with a joyful feeling that just makes the situation seem so lighthearted. She even waves ecstatically at Megan, who in turn waves back with a more subdued reaction.

Megan wanted to do more than just wave, but she couldn't think how, in fact, she was going to do it. She wanted to ask about the reaction to the rose, her personal life, her likes, and dislikes, everything. But she just lacked the courage to do so. Megan made a quick retreat to her store from the food court, kicking her self for being a coward the whole way.

"C'mon girl get it together!" she thought to herself, "It's not like you want to date her...do you?"

Megan shook her head of the thought, she never considered dating anyone, much less another woman. She never really had the time, nor patience, to deal with other people's quirks when she didn't want to deal with her own. She didn't want to deal with the hassle of juggling a relationship and store ownership at the same time.

But yet, there is this blonde woman, whom she didn't even know her name, that seems to invade her thoughts even though they just met briefly. She didn't want to get involved, but yet, she felt just drawn to her. To her, it seemed like a deceptively simple puzzle that gets more complex the more you look at it. 

Megan stops at the front of her shop, looks back at the food court, wondering if she should go back. She hears a familiar voice that snaps her out from her inner thoughts.

"Hey boss, are you ok out there?" asks Nancy, the ever faithful employee.

Megan snaps her attention to Nancy, nods, and enters the shop to aid nancy with customers the rest of the workday.

The workday ends without incident. Megan bids Nancy goodbye and that she did a good job today as always. She heads out of the mall's main entrance as it was getting dark. The parking lot light had everything well illuminated. As Megan exited she spots the blonde standing at the curbside. Megan pauses for a moment, thinking maybe, just maybe she should talk to her. She almost turned away but decided to soldier on to the blonde.

"Waiting for someone?" Megan asked.

The blonde turned with a surprised expression but ended up smiling at the sight of Megan.

"Yeah, my stupid boyfriend, he was supposed to pick me up but so far he is a no show," she replied.

Boyfriend! Megan's heart sank for a moment upon hearing of the word. But she was not to be deterred, she was at least follow through in finding out what she wants to know at least.

"My names is Megan," she said as she puts forth her hand.

"Lisa," was the blonde's reply as she took Megan's hand.

"If you like, I could wait with you until your boyfriend shows up if that's ok?" Megan offered.

Lisa looks around, began nodding as if she was in thought, and replies, "Yes, that would be nice, thanks."

The silence of the night was occasionally interrupted by the sound of a passing car as the two women stood to wait at the curb.

"Can I ask you a question, if it's not too personal?" Megan inquired.

"Sure ask away," Lisa responded.

"Why did you react the way you did to the rose?" asks Megan.

Lisa looks at Megan, then she looks away, and answered, "Its a little personal..."

Megan hurriedly said," Its ok I didn't mean to offend, just curious that's all, In fact, you can come by anytime you want a rose, I insist on it."

Lisa began to say something when they heard a car's stereo system. A red car pulls up and stops where Lisa was standing. She hurriedly enters the car as it begins to drive slowly off. Megan could see that the pair was starting to argue, more accurately, he was yelling, she was crying.

Megan crossed her arms at her stomach as she worriedly watches the car leave, and then makes her way to her own car.