...a stranger.
"Oh, sorry!" he overreacted, about shutting the door off when I quickly stopped him. He probably didn't know I was inside. The incompetent salesman probably didn't tell him I was in.
As soon as I exited the washroom, I ran out of the convenience store. It was strange how Jessica didn't come to check on me, and one surprising thing was how I couldn't find our van outside.
Where are they? I looked around, but the road was empty. Thus, I went back into the convenience store and asked the salesman if he has any idea where the van headed to.
"I don't know what you are talking about, van?" he dubiously glanced at me. That was actually weird, for him to deny knowing the van that parked close to his store earlier.
"You know what, forget it!" I rolled my eyes and left the store.
The only thing left for me to do now was, head back to Cornfield and call Jessica through her mother's phone. But heading back to Cornfield on foot won't be easy considering the distance. And there were no moving vehicles around, it was a county anyways.
Goddammit. I muttered a curse and began walking home. Why would Jessica leave me here? I wondered. And Shirley, I thought we were friends already? Gosh! I deadpanned.
While walking home, I kept thinking about the conversation I had with Shirley. She was obviously in love with Fred, and he was probably in love with her too. But no one can tell, I mean what if it was just infatuation or just...
My thought was cut short when a car horned from behind. I turned and found out it was the classic convertible I saw earlier parked close to the convenience store.
I waited patiently until the car reached where I was. "Hello!" The driver pulled over by the road side and walked out of the car. It was the same guy that rescued me in the washroom earlier.
"Hey" I said, trying to be polite.
"Where are you headed to?" he asked.
"Cornfield" I responded.
"Well, I'm heading there too. Mind if I give you a lift?" he said, giving me a befitting smile. He was good-looking actually, but smiling made him more handsome. I somehow liked how deep his dimples were.
"Hmm, okay" I said pretending as if I wasn't really comfortable meanwhile deep down I was damn eager to land my ass in his car.
"Aha!" he joyfully expressed before walking over to the passenger door and opening it for me.
"Thank you" I said and walked over to the door.
"There you go, Miss" he said the moment stepped into the car. He then shut the door and walked around the driver's side and stormed into the vehicle.
As soon as the cars began moving, he asked what happened and why I was trekking to Cornfield. "Did you missed the bus?" he asked.
"It wasn't a bus, it was a van. I was with my... cousin and her friends, they left me in the convenience store" I replied.
"Oh, wow, they abandoned you?"
"Well, sort of" I huffed.
"Sorry about that, I guess they don't want to celebrate the festival with you. But don't worry, you can stay with me. I will take you home when the festival is over" he said not knowing I wasn't from the Mainland.
"I... I am actually from Cornfield, my aunt lives there" I apprised him.
"Huh?" he uttered surprised.
"Yes"
"Oh, but what were you guys doing back there?" he asked.
"My cousin wants to invite some of her friends for the festival, she urged me to escort her to the Mainland" I replied.
"Oh, now I get it. But why would she abandon you? Did you tried calling her?"
"I left my phone in the van" I deadpanned.
"Shit, that's sad" he said and pulled his phone from his pocket, "Here," he extended it to me, "call her through your phone"
"Hmm, okay. Thank you" I collected the phone and dialed my contact.
"Hello, Laura isn't around. Mind calling later?" Jessica said the moment she picked the call,
"Hey Jessica, it's me. Laura. Where are you guys? I've been looking for you since, you guys left me in the convenience store, why?" I queried.
"It's Laura" I heard her said in the background, perhaps to her friends before clearing her throat, "Oh, Laura! Sorry we drove off without notifying you, we actually went to pick up Vivian and Jack"
"You guys left me!" I groaned.
"No Laura, it wasn't intentional. Plus I told that salesman to tell you we would be back soon, didn't he do that?"
"He didn't. He's so incompetent!"
"Yeah... I will make it up to you, Laura. Where are you now? We are already on our way back"
"I am on my way home too, someone-" I glanced at the guy, "saw me by the road and decided to give me a lift home"
"Oh, that's cool. Let's meet in Cornfield then. Your phone is safe with me" she said.
"Good!" I muttered and ended the call. "Thanks" I handed his phone back to him,
"You are welcome" he kept it on the dashboard. "So tell me," he continued, "did you grow up here?"
"No, why?"
"Just curious. You don't look like a county girl" he glanced at me, "You look like someone that grew up in the city"
His words nearly made me laugh, so funny! How can someone tell the difference between a county person and someone that grew up in the city?
"How do I look like?"
"You look... extremely beautiful, fresh, amazing, should I continue?" he sarcastically asked.
"You don't have to, but I am a county girl now. So I don't look any different from other county girls"
"Right?" he wrinkled a brow at me.
"Yeah!"
"If you say so" he huffed, "By the way, what brought you here?" he asked. He was basically interested in knowing more about me, but why should I throw my biography to a stranger?
