"Hey, I couldn't find the type of butter that was on the list so I-"

Felix pauses. As he looks down the aisle, he notices that Athena is nowhere to be seen. He scans the lane but sees no sign of Athena, only the abandoned cart. A few customers give him odd looks, after all, the boy had just been speaking to himself before, but Felix gave no regard to them. He backs up out of the aisle and looks down each row carefully, searching intently for the girl he'd come shopping with.

"Where did she go?" He mumbled to himself. 

While looking around, Felix spots two women (who happened to be the gossipers) standing by the exit of the store. Since there was nowhere else for Athena to disappear to than outside of the actual building, Felix decides to ask them if they've seen her. As he approaches them, he runs over what he'll say several times, making sure he's got all the words right.

"Excuse me," Felix starts with a nervous blush.

The ladies turn to look at him and smile brightly when noticing the boy. This was a natural occurrence for Felix as nobody could ignore his charms.

"Yes, what is it you need?" one of them asks.

"I was, uh, wondering if you've.... Seen a girl pass by here? With curly hair, a pink hoodie, and black leggings?"

Instantly, they realize who he's talking about. The other lady frowns, asking, "I might've seen her. Have you?"

Her partner-in-crime shrugs. "I think I saw her run out of here but who really knows."

Felix eyes them. Why were they acting so strange when talking about her? Instead of questioning it, Felix simply thanks them and runs out of the store.

a/n

hey y'all's! how are you liking the story?

i just wanted to thank you for the 220 reads we have! like, can you believe?

also, i want to thank the 3 new subcribers this story has aquired! i love you guys so much, thank you for subcribing! i hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

anyways, that's all i really wanted to say so i guess this is it.

see ya later!

~tallproud