Falling For My Shoe Stealer // l.t.

Shoe Stealer

Chapter 3:

Jessica's POV:

I strolled carelessly into the food court and sat at a table. I tilted back in my chair and just smiled. I was away from that horrible job that was absolutely pointless for me to suffer through. "Hello," a small voice announced, and something poked me. I opened my eyes to find the little girl who bought Twinkle Toes earlier.

"Hi," I smiled at her.

I studied over her face came to a realization. Her eyes were full of tears, and her mouth was quivering. She was shaking furiously, and small sobs escaped her throat.

"Oh, what's wrong?" I asked her. I picked her up and sat her in my lap. I smoothed her curly blonde hair out of her tear-stained face.

"I c-can't find m-my mommy and d-daddy!" she cried into my shoulder. I rubbed soothing circles onto her back and looked around. Sure enough, her parents weren't in sight.

"Hey, how about we go look for them!" I smiled at her and pulled her from my soaked sweatshirt. I didn't mind though.

"Where a-are they?" she whimpered, still sobbing. I thought over the situation for a second. I need to take her mind off the situation. Good thing I am fairly good at distracting.

"Hey, what if we go on a scavenger hunt for them?" I wiped some stray tears away. Excitement filled her face, and she nodded.

"My name is Daisy!" she weakly giggled.

"My name is Jessica," I told her and poked her nose again. "Let's go off on our hunt shall we?" I stood and held her on my hip.

First, we checked through the west side of the mall. We searched through every store and called out her parents' names, which she told me are Mark and Natasha. "Let's go that way!" Daisy giggled and pointed off to some more shops in the east wing. I successfully convinced her this was a game.

"Okay, let's gooooo!" I yelled and ran off, unleashing the inner child in me. I'm pretty sure I was having just as much fun running around as she was.

"Mark! Natasha!" I shouted and checked through the first store. No luck. "Let's go see if they're in the next one," I whispered to Daisy, and she poked my cheek once again. I was about to walk into the next store when I noticed a commotion.

A woman, tall with blonde hair was sitting on a bench. Her face was buried into her hands as she sobbed. A man stood next to her, talking to some security guards. I inspected both of them, trying to figure out where I've seen them before. My eyes scanned over them then stopped at the man's shoes. Green Converse high tops. Those were Daisy's parents.

"I spy your mommy and daddy," I announced to the little girl in my arms.

"Yay, we win! Where are they?!" she shouted, looking around. I set her on the ground and squatted next to her.

"Over there," I said and pointed to her parents.

She squealed and ran in their direction. "MOMMY! DADDY!" she laughed. I walked close behind her.

Her mother's head snapped in our direction before sprinting towards us. She sobbed and scooped the little girl in her arms. "Daisy! Where were you?!" she cried.

"I was with Jessica! We were having a scavenger hunt to find you!" Daisy giggled. Her mother looked at me with a confused face. I gave her a 'tell you later' look, and she nodded warily. Great, now she's thinking I may have kidnapped her kid.

Daisy's father approached and took the little girl from his wife's arms. He was obviously sobbing, too. Her mother turned back to me and embraced me in a hug. I was shocked at first, but comfortingly hugged her back.

"Thank you," she whispered in my ear.

"No problem," I pulled away and smiled at her.

"What did she mean by scavenger hunt?" she questioned me.

"Oh, she was crying, and I didn't want her to be scared that she was lost. So, I made her think it was a game," I explained to her.

She nodded and smiled at me again. "What can I do to repay you?" she asked me. I glanced over at Daisy, and she danced in front of me.

"Just take care of Daisy," I told her. And with that, I left the reunited family and decided to exit the mall. Or at least... tried to.

On my way out, I passed the food court. Kate spotted and hopped her counter to dash over to me. "Jessica! I heard what happened. Care to explain?" she panted.

"Sure, but aren't you supposed to be working?" I pointed out.

Her eyes opened as wide as they could go. "SHIT! Come on!" she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the Smoothie Shack.

I jumped behind the counter with her and took a seat on a stool. "So, what happened, babe?" she asked me while making a customer's smoothie.

"This fucktard got me fired by stealing my shoe," I told her.

"What's a fucktard?"

"I don't know. It's just an insult, but it embodies my feelings towards him perfectly!"

She snickered, and I proceeded to recount the whole story from when Justin called (who I told her he was just a normal cousin) to when she interrupted me. "Wow, your life is fucking awesome," Kate laughed. I glared at her then heard a strong accent calling my name.

"Jessica?" someone asked. I sat with my back to the counter, so I stared up at Kate with quizzical eyes. She stood next to me and whispered, "Grey hoodie, sunglasses, needs to shave, and brown hair."

She perfectly described the guy who stole my shoe. "Shoe stealer," I muttered back. She nodded and went to take more customers orders.

"Jessica," his voice called out again. Who does he think he is? What should I say? There's no hiding now, or is there? In a last ditch-effort, I pulled some of my hair into a mustache and faced him. "What? No Jessica here!" I spoke in a weird accent and ran into the back of the Smoothie Shack.

He kept calling my name, but that was replaced with a different noise. Screaming? Screaming girls to be exact. Everywhere, teenage girls were shrieking. I couldn't make out what they were saying. I escaped the back door of the shack and made my way towards my car. Ugh, I needed to get home and to my bed. Fast.