The Non-search

Chapter 1

"There she goes again, wearing nothing at all in a convenience store. I'm sure her mother is the same, since she clearly has nothing valuable to teach her daughter."

"Young girls nowadays. So disrespectful. It's a shame what this world has come to..."

I looked up out of curiosity, trying to see who the two middle aged women in front of me in the checkout queue were gossipping about. My eyes landed on long, mahogany legs, a derriere that probably visited the gym at least four times a week, and waist length jet black hair.

The shorts she wore were just long enough to cover about an inch of the back of her thighs, and with her height-almost 6 feet-it looked like all there was to see were legs. She turned from the door, where she'd just taken a trolley, and walked towards the aisles. That's when she really piqued my interest. Her face was bare of any makeup, lips glistening with what I assumed was lip gloss, and two dimples deep in her cheeks from the smile she was giving the lady at the door as she strolled away. She had on a black graphic t-shirt with a bright anime-type illustration of Ashley from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, saying, "I'm carefree. Free of cares." It was different, interesting. Her rich mahogany skin glowed every time the light hit it.

"Excuse me?" I heard the teller at my checkout point say and I took my eyes off the girl in the shorts, realising that I'd been staring at her so long, I hadn't noticed when the ladies in front of me had finished checking out their items.

"Oh, sorry about that." I said, taking a cereal box out of my basket and placing it on the till.

Minutes later, I sat in my Range getting ready to drive out when my eyes landed on the girl in the shorts again. This time she was headed towards the east end of the parking lot, her left hand holding a bag of whatever she'd just bought. My eyes followed her as she stopped at a black Audi Q7 and loaded her bag in the back. My eyes remained glued to her as she entered her car and drove out. Once I couldn't see her anymore, I shook my head, realising that I was giving so much of my attention to someone I'd never even met.

I didn't do these kinds of things. For reasons I hated to even think about, flirting, dating, hooking up, and anything else that fell into that category, were not in the cards for me at the moment. I shook my head and put my car into gear, trying to push away the memory of the girl in the shorts.

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