Word Count: 387
You would pretend not to see him, feign great surprise if he dared call your bluff. You know how that happens; you catch a glimpse of someone you don’t want to see as you’re standing in line at the register. They’re not looking your way so you’re safe but curiosity is so strong and the years are so long that you must, you must take a chance again.
He’s a bit beefier, his hair cut quite short. He’s wearing a plaid flannel shirt. Yes, it’s a Saturday but still…
Your glance caught a blonde woman behind him. No one you recognized and you don’t even know if she belongs to him. I mean, if they’re together or just randomly standing nearby. You look down, your hands searching your purse for your wallet, but your eyes are edging back to where he is standing. May be standing with her.
They’re talking! They must be together. He’s laughing at something she said. Most likely some dumb remark about the long lines and waiting, or the fat woman in front of them, or the unbearable brat behind them who keeps kicking the carriage.
She’s pretty in a different sort of way but you still don’t see the attraction. He said he liked redheads, like you. He called you “Red.” Is his pet name for her, “Yellow?”
You look away quickly, pretending to scan the whole store. As if you were looking for someone, someone special who would be standing here next to you laughing and talking about brilliant things you would say. Someone who’s so intelligent and lofty that his mind doesn’t remember that he ran out of shaving cream only this morning and had to run back while you stayed in line.
You’re each at the registers, two lines apart. You rush the girl cashing you out. You want to be first to walk past him, pretending you never saw them at all. He’ll be startled. He’ll stare. She will ask him what’s wrong and he’ll sigh and think to himself what a fool he had been to have left you but he won’t tell her that.
Your timing, as usual, is off and you nearly collide. He looks into your eyes, smiles and says, “Excuse me,” and you know that he doesn’t remember at all who you are.
