A Chance Meeting

 Prologue: A Chance Meeting

On a warm spring morning in the desert town of Tempe, Arizona a short. young woman steps out of an all white Mercedes. The slight breeze in the air blows the bottom of her dress as well as her slightly longer than shoulder length blonde hair. It’s silently pushing her towards her goal. She steps forward and smiles, its warmth matching that of the rising sun. She walks across the parking lot, poised and perfect, her bright green eyes on the doors of today’s destination: the bookstore. She pulls open the heavy door and steps inside.

The calming scent of the books hits her nostrils at the same time the quiet atmosphere reaches her ears. Today is not a day for casual perusing though. She makes her way to the light novel section with great haste. Her desired purchase is the latest release in a mystery series. It’s early, the store having only opened less than 30 minutes ago, so there should be no problem with getting the book she wants. There’s no way someone already beat her to the punch. She races her finger across the spines of the lined up books, eyes quickly scanning the names for the book she’s looking for, having memorized its look on the store page long ago. Just as her finger is about to find its mark, a hand reaches out from just beyond her gaze and pulls out the very book the young woman was looking for.

“Oh! I’m sorry, were you looking for this book too?”

She’s quick to make conversation with whomever is also interested in the book. Perhaps even turn on the charm a bit. She tilts her head up slightly to get a better look at them and she realizes why she didn’t see them sooner: A young man with long unkempt hair, unshaven, and dressed all in black. Even his eyes are a deep, dark shade of brown. He has no physical presence either, basically a shadow.

“Ah, um, yeah.” He mutters his reply, glancing down at the woman.

She quickly glances at the books walling off the hole left on the bookcase. Dismay crosses her face as she realizes the book in the man’s hand is the only copy.

“Is that the only one?” She clutches her hands to her chest, trying to contain her disappointment at the reality of the situation.

“Uh, yeah, looks like it.”

He awkwardly responds, shuffling his feet as he stares down past her at the ground. He stares off for a moment, avoiding the woman’s gaze, before letting out a sigh.

“Screw it. Here. You can have it.”

“Are you sure?!” She lets out her excitement with a loud reply that causes some of the other patrons in the store to turn in their general direction.

“Yeah. Here.” He huffs and holds the book out to her. “I’ll just find something else. It won’t be better, but it’ll be good enough for now.”

He flashes an unexpected smile at her with his last comment. It’s wide, revealing a set of mismatched teeth, as well as a few gaps where teeth should be. The display makes her conscious of the reason she was so taken aback by him. His unruly appearance, slightly dirty clothes, worn down and missing teeth, total lack of a backbone and gloomy disposition; they all stand in stark contrast to her bright put together look. More than anything though, one thought ran through her head:

“He’s perfect.”

Mouth agape on account of her having been stunned into silence, she takes the book without a word. After what feels like an eternity, she blinks and returns to reality.

“Can I get your number?”

He narrows his eyes at her.

“Why? Are you crazy?”

She steps back, thrown off by his response.

“Why would you say such a thing?”

“I know what I look like. What would a girl that looks like a model want with me?”

“A model?!” She doesn’t know how to respond. She knows she’s pretty, but the unexpected compliment leaves her unsure how to respond. Especially when it’s not even meant as one. “I—I thought if I have your number I could give you the book after I’m done with it. I could also talk to you about it. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to talk about it with? …Was that wrong?”

The young man stiffens up, feeling on guard.

“You don’t need to do that, I can find another copy at a different store another day.”
“I want to!”

The young woman is being stubborn, digging in her heels against his protests. He sucks in air, frustration growing.

“Why?”

She can’t respond, she can’t tell him the real reason. Without waiting for a response, the man takes his index finger and digs it into his lips, yanking the side of his mouth to the side, exposing the gaps in his teeth.

“You can see, right? You’re not blind? What would someone like you want to do with someone missing teeth?”

She balls up her fists as memories flash through her mind. Painful memories, ones that both soften her features and toughen her resolve.

“A friend of mine is missing teeth, she suffers from bulimia, but I still love her.”

Her words cause the young man to take a step back this time. He relaxes his shoulders and looks at her, seeing the mix of emotions in her eyes. They swirl with sadness and determination. He can only guess what she’s witnessed her friend go through.

“I see. Is she doing better?”

“Yes.”

Her smile is soft and warm, like the weather outside. “She still struggles with it, she probably always will, but she is doing better.” Her gaze points downward as she recalls the progress her friend has made, reflecting on the journey she’s witnessed. She is once again oblivious to the young man. He’s mulling over his thoughts, a hand on his face. At last he decides what to do.

“Let me see your phone. I’ll give you my number.”

Her head jerks up as she realizes what he said. At first she can’t believe it. She beams as she hands him back the book to hold for her while she gets out her phone. They swap what they’re holding and she can’t keep her eyes off his slender fingers as they enter his info to her phone.

“You’re really fine with this?”

“Yeah. I can see how you care about your friend. Truthfully, that was the first time you seemed like a real person to me. Text me or don’t, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t sign me up to anything weird if you’re actually messing with me.” He shrugs his shoulders as he makes the joke, trying his best to lighten the mood. She giggles, ignoring the callous comment he made initially, instead choosing to focus on his quip. She takes her phone back and stares at the info entered into her phone.

“Everest!”

“Yeah, like the mountain. Doesn’t really fit, huh? I’m slim and short for a guy and not imposing at all.”

She giggles again, entertaining his gloomy self depreciation.

“I’m Zoey!” She beams before quickly tapping away at her phone. A second later Everest’s phone vibrates. “Texted you. Now it’s on you to text me.”

She sticks out her tongue; her teasing, taunting comment hitting its mark. Everest realizes the ball is firmly in his court now.

“Do you want to walk me to the register?”

She leans towards him while extending the invitation. Her friendliness is too bright and shiny for Everest who takes a step back once more while waving away the idea.

“You go ahead. I still need to find a book.” He pauses, unsure of how to end the conversation. “I’ll text you later. Maybe I’ll show you what I get.”

His sheepish response brings a smile to her face. She does a small curtsy and takes a step back as well.

“I’d like that. Bye, Everest.”

She waves and turns around, the end of her dress a whirl of fabric and light. She disappears out of the light novel section, leaving Everest to process everything that transpired. After some time thinking about it, he gives up, instead choosing to focus on finding a new novel. Once he does, he promptly buys it and goes home.

***

Back in her apartment, Zoey sits at her white counter top engrossed in her new book. She’s been seated here for some time now, shutting out the world. The past couple hours have been a whirlwind of emotions for her as the novel’s many twists and turns have pulled her along. The only thing that finally forces her back into reality is the growling of her stomach.

“Ok, Ok! I’ll make something to eat!”

She voices her grievance aloud to her all white surroundings as she shuts the book closed, a golden bookmark stuck between the pages. Her stomach has been growling at her, begging for food, for some time, but she had been refusing to put the book down until she finished the chapter she was on. Having reached its end at long last, she now rises and makes her way to her stainless steel fridge in her kitchen. She peers in at its contents and pulls out several ingredients setting them on the counter behind her. She sets to work making lunch, prepping the ingredients for a chicken salad. She runs around to the other side of the counter, grabbing her phone to start a timer for cooking the chicken. She starts a timer as she puts the chicken in the oven, after which she remembers something.

“Oh right, I can turn that off now!”

With a tap she turns off the do not disturb mode on her phone. Immediately the top of her phone screen becomes populated with several notifications. She swipes down, expanding them all. What she sees after clicking on one brings a smile to her face. It’s a photo from Everest of the book he ended up buying. It’s cover is of a group of adventurers in a forest, presumably some sort of fantasy novel. Zoey quickly types away on her phone, eager to talk to him.

“What a charming cover! I’m glad you found something!”

“There you are. It’s not a bad read. I started reading when I got home. Have you been doing the same all this time too?”

“Yeah! Sorry for not responding until now, I always put my phone on DND when I’m reading. I don’t want anyone disturbing my reading time!”

“Sounds like you take your reading time very seriously lol.”

“I do! Speaking of which can I tell you about it?”

“No dude, spoilers!”

Zoey giggles at Everest’s refusal. She figures she’ll just have to read even faster then so she can give him the book to read.

“Ok, my bad. When you read it, feel free to text me whenever there’s something you want to discuss, I’m dying to talk about it!”

“I can tell. I’ll be sure to do just that.”

A couple minutes pass while Zoey checks on her food before she finishes her cooking and sits back down to eat the salad she prepared. Before she does she checks her phone again. No new messages. Feeling miffed she huffs and sends another text to Everest.

“How’s the new book?”

She taps her fork impatiently against her bowl for nearly a minute until her phone dings. She picks it up immediately and quickly reads his response.

“Oh, it’s good. Uh, do you want me to tell you about it?”

“I’d love that! It’s fantasy, right?”

“Yeah, some isekai. It’s actually not too bad. So the setup is…”

He slowly sends texts to Zoey explaining the start of the story. Like pulling teeth, she thinks as she finally starts to dig into her salad. She keeps her focus on her phone as Everest’s texts bring a smile to her face and color to her cheeks. She responds throughout her meal, taking note that he’s gradually become much more talkative.

I wonder if he’d say this much in a phone call? Hmm, probably not. I’ll have to settle for this for now…

That thought leaves her feeling dissatisfied, but the ideas that fill her head of how to change this causes a wicked grin to appear on her face. All the joyous color that was present earlier is now gone and in its place is a villainous glow in her eyes. Like a predator staring down its prey, she envisions several scenarios she’d like to enact with the unsuspecting young man.