That following week was hell for her.

 

To Elle, music was her whole world. She always had one earbud in, even in idle moments. It brought her treacherous world some peace.

 

She was unable to listen to music while going throughout her daily life because it had been stolen from her. By a long legged weirdo. Though he had caused her no harm, she was still full of anxiety from her last encounter. Thankfully she could put it off for now.

 

However, she was also not looking forward to facing Chan again on Tuesday.

 

Her morning class that they shared only met once a week, so for that she was also thankful.

 

A few days had passed since she last went to school. She figured if she was at the school there would be a chance of her running into him, so she had skipped most of her classes.

 

It was Saturday morning and she was lying in bed. Watching as the sun crept in the folds of her windows blinds. Moments like this also brought her much peace, even though she was very deprived of sleep.

 

For Elle, things that kept her sane were her habits. Though the habits weren't the best for her, they helped her function to the most normal she could be. One of these is staying up listening to music all night.

 

That is also how she found herself staring at the ceiling at 4am on a Saturday morning, playing it through her phones speaker softy so that the rest of her house could remain undisturbed.

 

She heard a banging on her door, she knew what it was, and she just simply turned over to face the door. Keeping quiet.

 

It was her mom, they lived together in a small apartment on the far side of town, around 25 minutes from her University.

 

Her mom was a hardworking businesswoman, and though she made do for their family, they weren’t the best well off. And their relationship was not the best either. They were strained out from years of tossing and turning. Because of this, they barely sat down and talked. However, they at least acknowledged each other's existence.

 

The knock was to signify that “I’m going, I’ll be back later.” Her mom’s commute was quite long, so she was always leaving this early in the morning.

 

Unexpectedly, her mother slowly opened the door and faced Elle. With a neutral look she simply left a piece of paper upon her desk. Neatly written and folded up. With that she nodded at her and her mother left to start her long day.

 

With that notion, she turned back towards the window and wrapped herself up in the covers. Dreading for the days to pass already.

 

Around noon, Elle finally woke up to see what the clean written note her mother had left her said.

 

“Groceries” it said in bold at the top.

 

Further down the list it had bullet points of certain things that she would be instructed to buy today. She dreaded leaving the house without her comforting pair of headphones on. However, it was something she had to do today. She wasn’t one to put up a fight.

 

Around an hour passed from her initially getting up, she had been doing random things around the house to prepare herself for her day. Eating breakfast, watching a little TV, just easygoing things to psyche one's mind up before leaving a safe space.

 

She finally got her keys ready and threw on her old tattered oversized coat. Boy did she adore this thing, it covered her arms completely like she liked, oversizing at the ends to give a bit of hiding room for her hands. Of course it wasn’t dirty, however it did look run down a bit, it's brown patches had faded a bit to grey, and the tags were missing towards the bottom. She wrapped herself in a scarf as well, it was starting to get a bit frigid these days, plus the scarf was the perfect way to hide her face as well.

 

With that, she was off.

 

The drive to the grocery store took about 15 minutes, and before she knew it she was already there. Daydreaming while driving was also a comforting thing for her, so long drives were good, great even.

 

She quickly gathered her list and a cart and began to go through the aisles, picking up everything listed by her mother.

 

She got to the cereal aisle, where she was looking for Raisin Bran for her mother. However, when she passed by Reese's Puffs, a twinkle in her eye started to form. Of course however, it just had to be on the top shelf.

 

She looked around, no one was in sight. Now was her chance. She went on her tippy toes and tried jumping for it. Of course, it wasn’t enough. She barely grazed the bottom of the box, making it wobble before falling on its side. This made it even harder for her to go and grab it. She then tried climbing up one of the shelves to reach it, though this technique was unstable, it gave her more room to reach.

 

Unfortunately, her balance was not the best, and she fell back down onto her feet in defeat.

 

She looked back up and saw a hand reaching up over her to get the box of cereal she had been climbing for, and it then handed it to her.

 

Her eyes brightened up as she looked towards her savior with a huge smile. However, who it was made it fade almost instantly.

 

“Hey Shrimpy.” A familiar tall face said with a grin. She immediately froze and started backing up, planning an escape from this hell-like situation she had been placed in.

 

“W-wait!” He said worriedly as he saw her starting to walk off. “Please come back? I have something of yours.”

 

She looked towards the ground, her face already turning a bright pink color. “Why are you even here.” She said softly.

 

“I actually work here.” He said grinning and pointing towards his vest. It was a bright red vest that signified that he was part of this lousy grocery corporation. “Surprising right? The job itself is lame but I get to do a lot of cool stuff because of it!”

 

Surprisingly, this situation she was thrown in started to hurt less and less. He was just doing his job, she wasn’t here to hurt him, and he wasn’t here to hurt her. However, if she would have played this over in her head before, it would have gone much differently.

 

“I’m sorry.” She said bluntly. Taking all of the courage in her body with her and looking up at him. “I’m sorry that I pushed you the other day, I don’t know what I was thinking.” She then glued her face back down to his shoes. “A-as you can tell I’m not the most… outgoing person…”

 

“That’s an understatement!” He chuckled with his famous room filling deep voice.

 

“Haha..yeah…” She said, trying to hold back the slight grin she had on her face.

 

“Well, I’m glad you pushed me.” He nudged her side, making her step back once again in slight fear.

 

“Oh sorry, I won’t touch.” He said while laughing again.

 

“Why is that?” She questioned, her voice creeping back to a normal stage where she could level with someone.

“Because now…” He went on, “you owe me.” He said with a grin.

 

She then gulped and looked back up at him. His face was full of that creepy grin again, though it was hard to look at, it was growing on her a bit. Maybe she could even call it endearing.

 

“And what is it that I owe you.” She motioned back, almost instantly.

 

“Food.”

 

She felt her anxiety suddenly raise again.

 

“We’re going to go get something to eat after I get out of work today. I’m here for another 3 hours, but when I get out, I’m going to wait for you at the cafe down the road from here.”

 

“Do I have to?” She glanced towards the side, almost making eye contact at this point.

 

“It’s mandatory!!” He said, almost whining. “And…”

 

“You have to tell me your name, or else I’ll just keep calling you Shrimpy forever.”

 

She let out a small laugh at that point, feeling a little more comfortable with her surroundings.

 

“I don’t think I’d be okay with that.” She chuckled.

 

“Oh? Well I’m sure fine with it!” He said, nudging her shoulder yet again.

 

Only this time she didn’t step back, she just laughed again and accepted it. What was coming over her? She thought to herself. She usually is never like this right away around others. It was like him being around instead of nervousness brought her peace and comfort. That feeling she very much enjoyed.

 

“Maybe… I’ll think about it.” She said, covering her face while she laughed a little more.

 

His eyes widened with his ever growing smile, and his face turned the slightest bit of pink.

 

“Great I’ll see you then!” He exclaimed.

 

This idiot is already jumping to the conclusion that I decided to go, she thought.

 

She looked around once more, nodded and then waved to him while pushing her cart off.

 

With the might of a thousands suns she then pushed all of her anxiety up towards where she called out yet again from the other side of the aisle.
 

“ALSO!! MY NAMES ELLE!”