Her voice drifted into my ears despite my focus - an important mission and not achieving complete mission-success would probably end badly for me. I didn't turn or acknowledge the voice initially. I maintained mission-focus.
Then..."mmm, your house is going to smell so good." The voice again. Closer now, like right next to me close, so I turned towards the source. The woman.
A strange thing to say?
I was tasked with an important air and linen freshener mission by my girlfriend; it's perilous failing these missions.
I was in the supermarket aisle trying to remember what I was supposed to get thinking, damn, I should have written it down as she'd suggested, and having trouble deciding which of the several thousand options to select.
Vanilla velvet and orchid. Was that it? Was this even the right brand? Am I in the right supermarket? Why was I trusted with this mission of such great importance? All questions running through my mind.
She was attractive, about fifteen years my junior - the girl in the supermarket - and yet I couldn't get past what I thought was a rather strange comment to me, a stranger. I looked for a name badge thinking she was a shop worker being friendly and nope, just a five foot five inch, brunette with lovely eyes, dressed in activewear - the zip crop top zipped pleasingly low...but no, I had to focus on the mission so I saw none of that. Well, I saw it all but tried not to. I wasn't trying very hard of course. Yes I was. (No I wasn't).
I didn't know what to say. Out of practice? Probably.
I smiled and nodded clumsily in agreement and said, "yes, I think so. You've had vanilla and velvet orchid experience?"
Thinking back, it was stupid thing to say but I'd panicked and blurted it out. Couldn't take it back.
She smiled and said, "not particularly, I love vanilla though." The smile stayed, slight head-tilt to left and a single eyebrow lifted, she leaned forward almost too little to notice...but I didn't notice any of that - I was mission focused.
I nodded dumbly, "me too." and made to move off. I had to get out of there before her cleavage distracted me from my mission.
I contemplated asking if I was getting the right one but didn't - she'd not have known and it was only me making excuses to look at her some more. I don't know how I resisted but I did. Instead, I smiled again, made a remark in farewell to which she smiled and replied and off I went never looking back. (Ok, I looked back and damn those activewear pants were tight as was what they contained within them.)
When I got home I presented what turned out to be exactly the right fragrance and brand; I felt good having chosen the right one under the intense pressure that girl in the supermarket had put me under, those partially unzipped boobs and strange comments!
I wonder, was that a strange thing for her to say? Do people these days go up to complete strangers making remarks about what items they're purchasing in the supermarket? Why refer to my house smelling nice, did she want to come over? Was there mischief afoot? Was I being targeted in some federal police sting and she was deemed the right person to hook me in? Was she just being chatty and friendly? Is that what people do in today's society? (Not really I think.)
I keep pretty much to myself when I'm out and about drawing as little attention to myself as possible and the only people I engage with are those I need to engage with. What do you think? Have you ever had a random person engage you in a shop like this? Have you ever done it to someone else? What do you think, just being friendly or was it slightly strange? Comment below with your own experiences or generally if you like.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own