Life Long Learner

Looking over her shoulder, Kendall was surprised to find that the other woman was, in fact, speaking to her. She kept herself from letting out a scoff and offered a polite smile instead. Fine—polite was generous, but better than walking away like she would have done any other day. “You know, you might be able to do that yourself if you put a bottle or two down. I mean, honestly, do you really need that much?” With that, Kendall turned her attention to the bottles lining the shelves as she waited for her to move out of the aisle.

“I like to get all of my bottles at once. It makes it so that I don’t have to come by too often,” Tala said, doing what she could to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “Although it would be lovely to go out of my way to have more experiences like talking to you,” she added, accepting that being nice wasn’t in the cards for her today. Putting two of the bottles down, she grabbed her phone and slid it into her pocket. Picking back up the bottles she make sure to walk between the woman and the shelf she was looking at. 

“I’m just saying—it’s a lot. I’m just doing you a favour letting you know.” Kendall pretended to look over the expensive bottles for a few moments longer before settling on the cheapest one. It would do, but did she really have a choice? When she walked in front of the shelf, Kendall couldn’t help but let out a scoff. “Very mature. You could have said excuse me.”

“And you could have help with my phone, but I guess we are both a little inconsiderate,” Tala said, with sort of a shrug. It wasn’t all that easy to shrug when she had her hands full but the point was made either way. Unfortunately there was a line, so she couldn’t exactly be as in and out as she was hoping. The worst part was probably not being able to scroll through her phone while she waited in line. 

“I can grab it but I’m not sure you’re gonna fucking - get it back,” June replied - picking up the phone and looking at it, flipping it around and over. “Nice shit - wow.” Her eyes raised towards the amount of liquor Tala’d been holding. “This is fucking - peak sad cat lady gets obliviated in the comfort of her home to cope.” The first thing June had done with her fresh paycheck was replenish her beer supply - it was cheap, and she could hide the cans all around the apartment; less chance of her roommates stealing them. “Is it the kids at school? Are they bullying you?”

“I would appreciate getting it back, It probably won’t pawn for much since like 5 models have come out since I got it,” Tala said, fighting the desire to roll her eyes. After hearing her next comment, she wasn’t able to fight it anymore. “I am actually not much of a cat person, I just like to keep my liqour cabinet stocked so I don’t need to come to the store often,” she explained, even though she didn’t know why she was bothering. “Actually, I like the kids at school, it’s adults that make me prefer my weekend job.” 

she didn’t know what she was doing here, not really. darla didn’t do much drinking beyond the cheap liquor at the grocery store, or whatever her friends buy her at the bar. how she ended here was either out of pure luck, bordem, or both. browsing the aisles, the voice called out to her, causing  “um —” she shifts from leg to another, blinking once, twice. “do you need me to carry one of those for you? and your phone.” darla doesn’t want to come across like it’s an impossible ask, but the older seemed like she’d need help before the glass bottles slipped and shattered across the floor anyway. “i was on my way out.”

Staring blankly at the wall of wine, Forrest only came back to reality when someone’s voice cut into his train of thought. “Oh!” Automatically, he grabbed her phone - they were hesitant naturally, always second guessing some of the most innocent of actions. Sliding her phone into her pocket could have already been done, but of course he had to worry about seeming too touchy, too close for comfort. “Um, yeah, just - okay, slipping it in now,” he warned, placing her phone into her pocket with the gentlest of touch. A second later, Forrest cleared his throat. “I didn’t meant… to say it like that - I mean. Not that you didn’t know that.” Clearing his throat, Forrest turned his phone towards Tala suddenly, showing her a picture of the bottle of wine his mama sent him. “Do you know which section this would be in? I feel a bit blind, I’ve been looking for eons now.”

Tala watched the guy as he struggled with his words. She was actually pretty amused but it wouldn’t be easy to tell by her facial expressions. Her eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to back track, but at least she had her phone back. “Thank you for making that as uncomfortable as possible.” She was about to turn towards the register when he asked about the wine. “Um, yeah. That wine is over here,” she answered, before walking over to the area she got her own bottles from. “That one, three rows up, in the middle, with the purple label,” she said, not really able to point or gesture with the bottles in her hands. 

“Oh, yeah, sure. That definitely makes it better. Choosing not to have manners. Well done. What a great example you are for the next generation,” Cameron sarcastically said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. How can a woman who was only a few years younger than him still act like a teenager? “Why? Are you dying? Injured?” He asked, unimpressed with the question because he didn’t really care what people thought about him and the failure and disgrace that was his marriage and family life. His work at the hospital spoke for itself.

It’s been a long day and the last thing he wants is to sit in some bar with other people, especially when he was still worried about Anya on her hospital bed, and he had a full schedule at the hospital tomorrow. That was how he found himself at the liquor store, the need to just buy a bottle and go back home taking over. Huffing out an impatient sigh, he moved towards Tala, showing her a frown. “For someone running a school for young kids, you don’t even know how to say please? How are you supposed to be an example when you don’t even have basic manners?”

Looking over her shoulder, Kendall was surprised to find that the other woman was, in fact, speaking to her. She kept herself from letting out a scoff and offered a polite smile instead. Fine—polite was generous, but better than walking away like she would have done any other day. “You know, you might be able to do that yourself if you put a bottle or two down. I mean, honestly, do you really need that much?” With that, Kendall turned her attention to the bottles lining the shelves as she waited for her to move out of the aisle.

“I like to get all of my bottles at once. It makes it so that I don’t have to come by too often,” Tala said, doing what she could to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “Although it would be lovely to go out of my way to have more experiences like talking to you,” she added, accepting that being nice wasn’t in the cards for her today. Putting two of the bottles down, she grabbed her phone and slid it into her pocket. Picking back up the bottles she make sure to walk between the woman and the shelf she was looking at.