To Catch a Sunset

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The sun is bright hurling through  her window. But that's not what wakes Ally. The sound of a neighbor's lawn mower. She sits straight up and a streak of panic fills her. Saturday is her day to do house and yard work. It was her day to catch up on laundry and all household chores. She liked to get all of it done early so she could enjoy her weekend. She was relieved to see it was only 7:30am. She slowly got out of bed, her head pounding louder and louder the more she moved. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She gasped, smoothing out her hair. She couldn't  help but think of what her mother would say. Something along the lines of; "A lady should always look her best Allison." She shook the cold memory out of her head. Letting the memories of the night before fill her mind. She started to get more and more terrified of what she might've said and what she might've done. She shook those thoughts away too and set off to get her day started.

It took about an hour to finish cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen. She then started a load of laundry and headed to the garage to get the lawnmower. She had on a large over sized hat and dark  sunglasses. She was hoping she didn't see Marcus. He was the last person she wanted to see today. After finishing the lawn she showered and got ready to go into town. As she was driving to the home-improvement store she was going over her list of items in her head.  She parks her car and quickly writes down everything before she forgets. She is feeling very sluggish, but Saturday is her errand day.  She always leaves Sundays open for absolutely nothing. She recalls her grandfather always telling her. "When you work hard all week. Sunday is your day to do whatever you want." She smiled at the memory of his voice. She walks toward the wallpaper and paint section. She hears a familiar voice and shudders at the thought of seeing anyone she knows.  Just then she sees Marcus, he is being short with a sales associate. The last thing she wants to do is see him today. She tries to make a quick getaway before he sees her, too late,  their eyes meet. Not wanting to be rude, she walks toward him. He is trying to get the worker to leave him alone. Ally can tell she is making him uncomfortable, so she intervenes.

"Hey, there you are, I've been looking all over for you." She says as she looks at him as if to say ok play along. The worker says

"Do you guys need my help?" Ally smiled and said

"No" and showed her the list. "We got it from here." Ally says with a forced smile. Her head is still pounding! He smiles at her,

"You didn't have to do that he says." The red from his cheeks slowly fading.

"I know, but I felt after last night I owed you one." She said with a smile. They stared at one another for far too long. Both feeling a strong surge, Ally felt he was looking right through her. Marcus could hardly breath. He was memorized by her. "Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves." She laughed, she stuck out her hand and said "Hi, I'm Allison, you can call me Ally everyone does."  He shook her hand and replied.

 "I'm Marcus, you can call me Mark, nice to meet you." He gave her a sweet sincere smile, letting his guard down.

"So what are we buying today?" She asks as she looks toward the shelf full of window blinds.

"Well, I need window treatments, and I have no idea what I'm doing." He says with a sigh.

"Ok, well do you have a color scheme?" She asks, he pulls out a paint swatch.

"This is color of the walls." He explains, he then tells her about the color of his furniture and general colors of the house. She shows him what she would do, she then tells him about a great place to get drapes and other household things.

"It's just down the street, if you would like I could show you." She suggests, he agrees and they make their way out of the store and to their cars. Ally puts all her purchases in her car. Mark walks up to her.

"So how are we gonna do this?" he asks. She shrugs her shoulders,

"Wanna follow me?" she asks. He fidgets with his shirt, struggling to make eye contact with her. He had this overwhelming need to be alone with her. He took his opportunity.

"No, ride with me?" He says quickly, before losing the urge. She hesitates briefly before agreeing. Once in his car, she directs him towards the store. He is strangely comfortable with her, someone he just met a few days earlier. He was a very guarded man, never letting too many people close. He was this way for a reason, years of practice taught him to be careful who you trust. But for some reason this woman possessed a calm quality he found comforting. She was oddly at ease riding with this perfect stranger. She generally didn't trust people especially men not this soon. As they drove along they would catch each other taking quick glimpses, making brief eye contact. She found him intoxicating, yet she would never show it. As they reached their destination there seemed to be an awkward silence so she tried making casual conversation. He tried his best to not seem too shy or too rude. He was well aware how we came off to people, how he could make people feel uncomfortable. He opened the door to the store for her and followed her as she led the way. She picked out four or five different curtains for him to choose from. He is totally impressed, her choices totally suit him. He makes his choice and they are on their way back to her car.

"So, do you have any family nearby?" She randomly asks, struggling to make conversation. He cautiously eases into the conversation. Not sure why, but he just begins to reveal himself to her.

"No, all my family is back on the east coast, I'm from Virginia." He paused due to the expression on Ally's face. She playfully hits his arm.

"Get outta here, I'm from Virginia too!" she exclaims. He can't help but laugh at her reaction. They talk about where they grew up. Turns out they were only a few hours apart. They talked about some of the things they missed about the east coast. He couldn't help but think how refreshing she was. She had this beautiful shoulder length hair, it was a dark blonde with streaks of gold speckled throughout. She had these beautiful, mesmerizing green eyes. He was so lost in her he dropped all defenses.

"Well here we are," he says as they arrive at her car. She smiles and nods as she begins to open the door.

"Ok so if you need any help with the decorating, you know where I live." She said with a smile. He paused, not sure how to answer. He wanted her company as much as possible. But he didn't want to seem creepy.

"Sure if you're not busy." he said in a soft tone. She smiled and said

"Well I can, but I must eat first." They laughed, Ally was a small framed girl, but she had an appetite of 5 men! "Seriously I love to eat!" She said with conviction, they decide on a place she suggest. Marcus follows her in his car. While they waited for their food they talk about their lives. What they did for a living he was an engineer he worked for a tech company out here in California. He began to just talk about his life and his mother and his father and his brother and sister and just talked about things he didn't usually tell people. He found himself strangely at ease with her he felt safe, secure. They enjoyed their lunch and when they were done they return to their homes. When she entered his home she was quite surprised how homey it felt how normal she laughed to herself he just seemed so frigid and rude just a few days ago and today he's just a normal guy. Today they are friends. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.