Where: some grocery store
With: @nepcnthes Sev
Maria was standing in an aisle of canned vegetables and cooking oil, a blue basket resting on her hip while her mind half drifted elsewhere. She was comparing the labels with a pinched brow. English was easier to speak than read it was and she already struggled with the later.
The grocery store was humming with ordinary bustle—fluorescent lights, loud, protesting cart wheels, and the beeping of cash registers as items were scanned. The store was quite full yet still comforting in a sense of familiarity
Then she caught the sight of a man in her peripheral.
First came recognition. It was instant, before logic could begin to move like cogs in her head. Blue eyes that were beyond recognizable, dark hair, longer than what most men in Rome would have bother with, framed his squared jaw as if it had never exactly cared to know how to behave.
For a moment, time seemed to slow. The aisle became strangely blurred as she stared. Memories from Rome seemed to raise uninvited in her chest;large stone buildings, long evenings, the way time had once seemed different, though equally demanding. It felt impossible to see him here, surrounded by shelves of neatly organized cardboard boxes and price tags— in a place that faintly smelled of produce and bread. Her knuckles turned white around the handle of her basket, only for a moment.
She told herself that she must have been mistaken. People resembled one another all the time. Didn’t they? The memory was vivid, tracing the lines of his face as if she’d find an inconsistency there. But then he turned his head toward her and she confirmed her suspicions. His profile was even more striking to the memory. A year ceased to be a year, time creasing like pages in a book; forcing the space in between two stories to disappear until they blended into one.
Her breath left her in a surprised huff. Confusion was the firstto bloom, then a careful warmth crept up behind it. She remembered late dinners, intriguing conversations, a walk that lasted through a golden sunsets. She remembered having his attention for those few hours. She remembered enjoying it.
rue, he had been older, but she had never seen why it would matter. With him, she had felt seen, heard. That was all that mattered to maria. Their lives had been busy though, misaligned, and passing the others without blame. No end, just the closing of a door that was distance doing what it did best.
She found herself standing there longer than she intended, watching him as though his face would contourt into that of someone else—like if she closed her eyes for just an instant she’d open them to the realization she was wrong. The logical course of action would have been to continue with her list and let the moment go unnoticed. But she had already drifted so far into thought over it that she simply had to know, either confirm or deny.
Maria repositioned the basket again and tucked her hair behind her ear. She walked much faster than she intended to. The closer she got the more her determination grew. No matter what it was—chance, or simple insanity—it was enough to propel her forward.
She came to a stop at a appropriate distance,the pinch between her eyebrows still present, disbelief painting her features.
"Sev?" The named rolled if she were verifying that that it belonged to the man in front of her. There was a heart beat of silence, and then a very slight, disbelieving smile.