Getting Hitched Fiction - Fresh Start

By Lucy Meredith

Feeling the repetitive boredom of serving customers, Sam felt her shift would never end. 

“Wake up Sam, almost home time love,” Bella, one of her fellow workers at the newsagency, called out to her.

Sam tried to look alive, rubbing her eyes, and grabbing a new piece of gum to chew.

Nearly home time, well that would’ve been good news normally, but today she really didn’t feel like going home to face the fury of her boyfriend Brian and resume the fight they’d started last night.

Lately there seemed to be quite a few fights between them.  Brian was such a straight, clean-cut guy, all smooth face and expensive aftershave.  At first she found this attractive, he was dependable and easy to read.  Her life was so chaotic; she was a whirlwind of creativity and spur of the moment adventures.  Living life like this had been fun throughout uni, but afterwards she’d begun to burn out and stress about surviving in the real world.  Brian’s stability had seemed like an attractive offer then, giving her life a steady flow of sense and purpose.  Now she was beginning to see fault lines in the theory that opposites attract.  He was forever picking on her quirks, making her feel unwanted like the long forgotten fruit in the bottom of her old school backpack.

Thinking about all this, tears heavy with frustration welled in Sam’s eyes and she roughly wiped them away as a customer approached the counter.

“Hello, how are you today?” Sam asked the man, urging a false cheeriness back into her voice.

No reply.  Boy, people could be so rude.  Sam looked down at the magazine the guy was buying.  Working at a newsagency, she believed you could tell a lot about a person by the magazines they read.  The cover displayed images of expensive cars and good-looking women, things obviously beyond reach of this scruffy, obnoxious man.  Keep dreaming pal, she thought to herself as the guy left the store.

“Sammy, check that one out,” called out Veronica, another co-worker. 

Sammy spun round just in time to make eye contact with one very red-faced guy.  She was horrified, looking away immediately.  All the other girls started laughing.  Looking back, Sam spotted the sly smile on the guy’s face and knew he was enjoying the attention.  The girls she worked with were a cheeky bunch, often pointing out guys passing by who they liked the look of.  Some of the whispered comments once the men were out of earshot were worse than what Sam imagined was said at a construction site!

Sam giggled along with them, never really taking much notice of the men, muscles and false bravado didn’t do much for her.  Usually the guys she found attractive were a little offbeat.  A bit like the guy who was walking into the store right then.

Framed by a messy mop of soft blonde hair, the guy who caught Sam’s attention every time he came in had huge brown eyes and a quirkiness she loved.  He always wore mismatched clothes in colours and patterns that really shouldn’t go together but somehow on him did.

Strolling casually down towards the back of the store, the guy glanced at Sam as he passed.  Like a dummy she just stared and then smiled too late once his back was already to her.  A coloured tattoo crept suggestively out from the edge of his shirtsleeve as he reached out to grab a magazine.  She leant over the counter, squinting, trying to make out the shape.  Tattoos had always fascinated her, their edgy vibrancy and daring leap of self-expression.  She’d thought about getting one herself, something tiny and meaningful.  But Brian had told her not to be ridiculous, berating her once again for never wanting to fit in.

Sam didn’t know if any of the other girls had noticed this guy yet, they’d certainly never said anything about him.  He fascinated her, coming in to buy an array of different magazines each week, from film and art to surfing and tattoo magazines, the guy’s taste was eclectic, like hers.  Brian however had only a single, standing subscription to one magazine.

“What about him?” Sam asked, suddenly swept up in the moment.

“Where, where?”  Like a pack of schoolgirls, they all looked around eagerly.

“That guy, in the sports aisle,” Sam said, already beginning to regret speaking up.

“That guy!”  Said Veronica.  “Sammy, he’s a bit odd looking don’t you think?”

Reading something of amusement in the magazine, the guy let a broad and beaming smile transform his face.

Sam blushed, “I think he’s cute, in a quirky sort of way.”

“Well he does have a killer smile,” Veronica said.

Just then, the guy decided on a magazine and approached the counter.  All the girls started making an embarrassing fuss. “Let Sam serve this one!”  Sam’s skin began to prickle and she felt beads of sweat arise from her pores like tiny needles of embarrassment.

“How are you?” She managed to blurt out.

The guy just smiled calmly and replied, “Good thank you.”  He was always quiet yet polite, and the way his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose and the self-conscious way he would prop them back up was charming.

Sam felt flushed and raced through the rest of the sale without speaking.  Shoving his magazine into a bag, she held it out to him and took a deep breath.

“See you next time,” she said.

Smiling, the guy took the bag from her and as he did, his finger brushed against hers.

“Looking forward to it,” he said. 

Once he was gone, the ladies swirled around Sam, their perfume and questions flooding her.

“What’s all this about then,” asked Jane.  “What’s going on with you and Brian?”

Sam shook her head at the mention of Brian’s name and proceeded to tell the girls about the trouble they were having.

“I’m just so bored with it all,” she said.

She told them how she found Brian a bit dull and how he never wanted to try new things, in fact he criticised her for wanting to.

“Like the other night,” she went on.  “We were trying to decide where to go for dinner and I suggested sushi.”

“Yum, I love that stuff,” said Jane.

“I know, but Brian just screwed up his face and told me I was weird.  We’ve been arguing ever since.”

As Sam was spilling all this out, the guy she’d just served reemerged on the other side of the counter.  It took everything Sam had not to cry out - how much of that had he heard?

“Sorry, I forgot to grab these before,” he said, handing over a collection of paint tubes.

Seeing how humiliated Sam was, Bella jumped in.  “I’ll take this love, it’s home time for you anyway.”

Sam nearly fainted with relief.  As she slipped out the back all she could think was - a painter, how perfect!  Grabbing her bag from the cupboard, she envisioned his apartment, all magic and chaos.  She pictured magazines and books strew around, with canvas paintings in varying states of completion adding complexity and beauty to the room.  For a fleeting second, she entertained the idea of her, sitting on the floor in the middle of all this, content and happy for once.

As she was about to leave, Bella charged into the back room.  She held something in her hand and her face sang of a secret pleasure. 

“Sam, look what he left for you,” Bella said, handing Sam a tiny, folded slip of paper.

Unfolding the paper with care, Sam found herself smiling as she looked down at an intricate drawing of herself.  The words ‘Be true to yourself’ were drawn in perfect cursive under the portrait.

“Bella, they’re just like the others.  It is him!” Sam said, excitement edging into her voice.

Over the last few weeks, Sam had found similar little drawings hidden around the store.  A high-school kid had left behind the first one, she thought, but the more she found the less she thought the drawings were left there by accident.  She began to volunteer to tidy the shelves in the hope of finding one of these little treasures.  The pictures were detailed and different, unlike any artwork she’d ever seen.  Suspicious of where they came from, she began to watch carefully, and although she’d never caught him, she had thought it was the guy she liked leaving them.  Unsure if they were intended for her or not, she collected them all the same, hiding them away in a box at home.

“It’s a bit odd Sam, leaving drawings to get your attention,” Bella said.

Sam’s face sunk, hurt.

“Oh no Sammy, I mean it’s weird but kind of wonderful,” Bella said.
 
Brightening, Sam said, “He just dances to a different drum, like me.”

The following day when Sam returned to work, the girls knew straight away that something had happened.  Sam’s face looked shrunken and sad, her eyes puffy from tears and a sleepless night. 

“Sam, what’s wrong honey?”

Sam rubbed her eyes and moved over to the girls.

“Last night when I got home, I was unpacking my bag and the drawing fell out.  Anyway, Brian found it and asked me what it was.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Well, I told him about the guy and he just blew up.  He dumped me,” Sam said, then let the tears come.

The girls all gathered around her, patting her back and hushing her cries.

“He said this guy sounded like a weirdo and that was perfect for me and that I’d always been wrong for him anyway,” Sam spoke between sobs. 

She was just so tired and had been with Brian for so long it was hard to face anything else.  But deep down she had known this was going to happen and she just needed to calm down and accept it.

Throughout the day, Sam slowly cheered up and began to feel normal again.  She actually began to feel better than normal, freer and filled with light knowing her life was opening up to fresh opportunities where she could finally be herself.

Around lunchtime, Sam looked up from the forms she was filling in to see the guy from yesterday staring up at her.  He had his hands behind his back, hiding something.  Despite everything, Sam couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over her face and a deep, jittery joy she hadn’t felt in years spring to the surface.

“I thought you might like to try something different for lunch,” the guy said.

From behind his back he revealed a fresh packet of sushi.  Sam shook her head in happy amazement. 

“I would love to try something different,” she said.

***

© Lucy Meredith 2008

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