convenience

I wasn't supposed to be here; it was actually the last place I wanted to be at 10 PM on a Friday night. But Mother Nature seemed to have other plans, as aunt flow visited a little earlier than expected. The bell above the door jingled as I walked into the 24 hour convenience store down the street from my apartment. Greeted by dim lighting and tired faces I began to walk to the aisle that I had already committed to memory when I got my job here three weeks ago.

"Hey, whatcha doing back?" Wyatt, one of my coworkers, and, arguably my best friend asked. This man is the only reason I survive long shifts.

"Well, my period decided to come ea-" he stopped me with his hand in my face before I could finish, shaking his head.

Before I could rant about men and their irrational fear of menstruation, another wave of cramps hit me. Groaning, I took a seat in the middle of the store, clutching my stomach.

"It can't be that bad, I mean haven't you gotten 'it' every month since, like, 6th grade?" He asked, obviously not sympathetic towards people with uteri.

“5th grade, actually," I answered through groans. "And yes," I grabbed his arm, "it is that bad," I said, lifting my body up with little help of my uneducated friend. "Anyway, I came here for supplies."

I headed towards the "feminine products" section that was close to where I was, sending Wyatt to grab me a Kit Kat bar and some tylenol. After we had everything gathered I got in line to pay for my items. The store was mostly empty, with the exception of the man in line behind me and a group of teenagers looking at condoms.

"That'll be $10.67 miss, would you like a bag?" He asked. I rolled my eyes at his spiel and nodded, looking in my purse for money. It took me a minute, being a broke college student I didn't exactly have a ton of money lying around. I pulled out a few crumpled bills, totaling $9.

"Shit I'm a little short," I said to Wyatt with pleading eyes. His expression wasn't very forgiving as he was just as poor as I was.

“Sorry Care, I guess you'll have to put that candy bar back," he said, not understanding how much I needed it.

"I can't! It's an essential, especially during my time of neeeeeed!" I whined.

"Here," came a voice from behind me. I looked back to see, and I'm gonna be honest here, the hottest man I think I had ever seen. In the second I looked at him, I noticed a few of his striking features. Curly brown hair that seemed effortlessly styled, and gorgeous dark brown eyes. His eyebrows were drawn together as he focused on his brown leather wallet. While I was observing him he slid 2 extra dollars to Wyatt.

"Thank you so much! You just saved my life," I said in relief, making eye contact with the beautiful stranger.

He offered a smile and shook his head. "Not a problem, darling." He said.

This was the first time I noticed his British accent, and holy shit, I never would've thought that someone calling me "darling" would make me melt the way it just had. His voice was soft and nonchalant, as if he performed kind acts to strangers regularly. Boy, did it get my heart pumping.

It was only then did I realize I had been staring. I coughed and grabbed my bag from Wyatt. I turned back to the stranger.

"Is there any way I can pay you back? You really helped me out," I basically pleaded.

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing," he answered with a shy smile.

"Well, again, thank you so much..." I paused, waiting for a name.

“Oh! Uh, it’s Tom.”

“Thank you, Tom. I’m Caroline” I smiled then turned back to Wyatt.

"What time is your shift over?" I asked, hoping sometime soon.

"Uh," he looked at his phone, "in about 10 minutes," he replied, pushing his glasses up from the brim of his nose.

"Okay, text me when you get home. I have the early shift tomorrow, so hurry," I said, smiling at him and the stranger once more, offering a wave.

I turned around and pushed on the door that had obviously said pull, then, realizing my mistake, I shook my head and pulled open the door, and stepped outside into the cool air. I took a deep breath before continuing the walk down the block to my apartment. Making my way up the 3 flights of stairs I checked my phone, seeing a text from Wyatt.

Okay. Was it just me or did I witness the beginning of a love story?

I laughed to myself. Before I responded I unlocked my door and took care of, well, business. I then sat on my couch and thought of a reply.

I wish. Although not many love stories start over menstruation

After taking the medicine and settling in on my bed with my Kit Kat bar, I switched the TV to Friends reruns and continued my conversation with Wyatt, seeing a missed call from him. I decided to call him back and he picked up after the first ring.

"Okay you won't believe this," he said, out of breath.

"What, are you okay?" I questioned, slightly worried.

"I'm fine. And so was that guy! Guess what," he said, not giving me time to think of a witty answer. "That guy, Tom, I think his name was, well we started talking," he said, his voice slowly picking up.

"Don't tell me. He fell in love with you at first sight and you're running away to England?" I asked.

“Ha ha. That was so funny," he replied sarcastically. "I never should've come out to you, you know. Just because part of me likes men doesn't mean every guy I see I fall in love with," he said, and I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Although, I could see myself running away to England with him. Anyway, I was talking to him, about you, actually," he said.

"Holy shit really?!" I almost yelled.

"Let me finish! So I was like 'sorry she can be a bit much' and he was like 'don't apologize I liked it' and I was like 'yeah she's okay I guess' and so the next thing you know I may or may not have given him your number," he said, speeding up with each word.

"He said he liked it?!" I said with surprise.

"I was paraphrasing, Caroline. But essentially, yeah. He seemed into you."

"Did he ask for my number?"

"Well, I may have, uh, forcefully put it into his phone? But he wasn't mad about it. He was, ah what's the word? Amused! He was amused. Maybe he actually likes me? We did brush hands for a second there..." He said with excitement in his voice.

"To be honest he'd probably take you over me. But hey, give me a head start and later you can make your move," I said, not 100% kidding. We continued our conversation, going off about different topics before saying our goodbyes. Tucking myself into bed, I let the tv and thoughts of a certain someone lull me to sleep.