Smile

2

I stared ahead as I watched a tall man run from around the corner, the brightest smile on his face and a blonde woman chasing after him. One of her shoes was in her hand and each step she took was slightly off balance but the man ran as if he was having the time of his life. As if this was his first moment of freedom.

"Come back!" She shouted, her pretty features curling up in frustration.

I planned to ignore them, she had it under control right? Its none of your business, Cel.

Well it wasn't my business until he ran right into me.

I grunted as I laid on my back, the air knocked through my chest and out my mouth as the surprisingly heavy man let out soft and pained moans on top of me. This was the peak of discomfort.

"What is wrong with you!" I watched as the blonde girl stood above us. She grunted as she tried to pull on his shoulder and get him off of me, her grip still tight on what is revealed to be a black pump."I wouldn't have let you have another one if I'd known you were such a lightweight!"

I sighed before pushing him on his back and standing up.

"Im so sorry."  She smiled as I dusted my clothes off. Her blonde loosely curled hair fell in front of her face as she stared down at the man who looked as if he was sleeping. "I don't even know him...I just wanted-" she glanced up at me, a hesitant smile brushed over her lips that told me her intentions couldn't be that great or at least—weren't pure.

"Do you need help?" I deadpanned while still slightly out of breath.

She stood up straight and laughed sweetly. "No. I'll fig-" her phone rang loudly before she quickly answered. She turned away from me as she spoke in the softest and most irritated voice id ever heard.

I contemplated walking off and leaving them be but I don't really think she's got this. He was heavy but there wouldn't be any reason a perfectly sober person couldn't pick him up. Her intentions also seemed a bit off which wasn't helping my decision.

"I have to go." She shouted, my eyes flickering between her and the man on the ground as she was already half way down the avenue, both shoes in hand and the only thing left of her being the man and her echoing footsteps of her naked feet agains the brick. "Get him home safe! Thanks!"

I pushed my eyebrows together as I watched her disappear down The Avenue.

This is my sign never to close again.

I racked my brain to try and figure out what I should do. His long body laid limp on the cold brick, a sloppy smile still resting on his lips.

"K-Kai?" I stuttered, unsure of whether that's what his name was. "Where do you live?"

"Home." He mumbled with a drunken giggle following. "I live at home." He slightly slurred, his eyeballs rolling around his head.

My eyes mimicked his in a much more put together way and slightly rolled as I took a few steps away from him. I wanted to abandon him like I did my mother but I wasn't sure he deserved it and I'm not sure I could handle the possible guilt I'd feel later.

"Where's your phone?"

No response. Not even a heavy breath, just nothing.

I bent down beside him, my eyes running over his body as I tried to think of a way to look for his phone without unintentionally assaulting him. My hands hesitantly reached for what I thought could be his phone from the outline in his pocket.

Please don't be a penis. Please don't be a penis-

My hands made contact with the shape in his pocket and a breath of relief escaped my chest to find that it was, indeed, his phone. After removing it from his pocket and using his face to unlock it, I searched for a maps app that could tell me where his home location was.

After finding it, I figured out he lives dangerously close to me. So close that I could've run into him at some point during my many mile walk to work.

But where he lived, was on the opposite side of the rundown trailer park I live in. He lived in the neighborhood where most houses couldn't be bought for less than a million and the lowest price was just barely that. Sometimes I think that the neighborhoods were built so close together so that the trailer park folks had something to hope for and the rich had something to be grateful for.

"Do you want to take a cab, Kai? Do you have money?" I tapped his face in hopes of a response but again, nothing. "Ok. Get up, come on."

I held the man against my chest as I lifted him up, his body dragging under him as I tried to make him stand up. He was taller than me even at 5'10" so his legs just stayed under him slightly bent.

"F-" I glanced around me for a solution, something to lean him on at least. My eyes landed on a bench that was probably 4 yards away and sitting directly under a streetlight. I dragged him across the brick, the sound of his jeans providing an eerie, serial-killer-esque soundtrack for our oddly intimate moment.

What an amazing night this has been.