Borderlines

Chapter 2

Emma didn't know what to expect when she exchanged numbers with Ryan. He didn't seem like a shady person. He didn't seem like he had bad intentions, but still, Emma didn't think he would text her and she still couldn't remember him, so she did what everyone who can't remember someone from high school would do: she pulled out the year books. Every year, he was always a few people away from her in the line of students since Ryan's last name is Smith. She remembered little things, like how freshman year he pulled on her curly red hair to see how long her hair was when it was stretched out.

She went to sleep that night exhausted; Blake hit his stomach against her coffee table, which resulted in lots of tears and a bandaid to stop any possible bleeding throughout the night. She kept thinking about Ryan at that party a few doors down and how he'd probably completely forgotten about their exchange in the elevator by now. She could hear the music playing; the loud bass drum echoing throughout the halls. She knew it would be a long night and that her nephews would wake her up every few hours just to tell her that they needed to go potty.

She awoke around 6 am the next morning, and at first she panicked because at first she thought she had to work, but she doesn't have work until this afternoon. She wanted to go back to sleep, to make the most of not having to work in the morning, but that was a little tricky when her nephews were in the other room laughing or fighting over a toy truck. She made pancakes with chocolate chips for breakfast because she knew her sister didn't like them to have chocolate so early in the morning, and a few hours later, after endless episodes of SpongeBob and singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, her nephews left, and she settled back into the silence that always followed their absence. It was one filled with picking up their toys and and washing the sheets they had slept on. She practically dedicated her house to them; she still had their favorite toys and movies and books tucked away to be out of the way, but if a stranger came over she knew they would think she probably had kids.

Emma went to work that day kind of sad and she didn't know why. She had nothing to be sad about. She had a fine job and electricity and roof over her head. She knew she didn't have anything to feel sad about, but still, she just was.

"Maybe I'm just tired," she thought to herself as she yawned. She tucked her bag away at her feet and began to wait for customers to come to her check out line. She thought about Ryan and how he'll probably never call her. Maybe that's what she wanted: a friend. Someone to call when she was having problems. Sure, she had Stephanie, but Stephanie is her sister.

She pulled her hair back and told herself to stop thinking about Ryan and everything else that felt like a problem but wasn't actually a problem.

The store was quiet, and it was almost time to hang the Closed sign, when in walked Ryan, except Emma didn't know he was there. He headed to the chip aisle to get a bag of Cheetos and then went to Emma's checkout line.

Not a word was exchanged between the two of them, and Emma couldn't help but wonder why he came to the store just for a bag of Cheetos. Usually people plan to get one thing and then leave with other things besides what they planned to buy.

"Your total is three dollars and thirty-one cents." She told him, finally looking up at him. He was already staring at her and a moment later she looked away.

"Keep the change." He handed her a twenty dollar bill and she handed him his bag of Cheetos.

"Why'd you come here?" She heard herself ask. All she meant to do was give him his receipt for the chips.