Sunk into the plush chair in the dimly lit corner of the bookstore, Naomi stuck her headphones in and scrolled through her sister's social media, looking for any hint that something was off with her. After trying and failing, again and again, to get into her accounts, Naomi felt very much like she was on the outside looking in quietly, contemplating where the fuck her sister was and what she would do if she ever found out. The ever-present knot in her stomach tightened when her eyes briefly drifted upwards, and she caught a familiar silhouette- running to answers and running away from him.
Even now, when she was unable to peel her eyes away from his face, she couldn't come up with a reason as to why she left only that one night she woke up with the undeniable urge to run away- from him, from herself, from everything...and right into the feeble hope of some good news, redemption at finding out what happened to her sister. Ever since her sister had gone missing, Naomi had felt like a part of her she'd neglected been carved out. Nothing she had done since then had offered a moment of reprieve, not even when she thought and blindly hoped that it would.
Pulling one of her earbuds out, Naomi exhales, "Jess." She says his name a quiet exhale lost in the echo of the song still playing in her other ear. Twisting the engagement ring she'd moved to her right finger in a circle she didn't know where to start or what to say to him. She didn't want to be as daft as to ask him why he was here, or as vain as to assume it was for her. "Looking for anything in particular?" She asks and closes her phone and stacks a few books she'd been saving for purchase.
