Dark Explorations

“You’re like my fucking mother.”

I stared at Sofia in deadpan silence. She gave me an equally intense glare.

“When was the last time you bought jeans, Sofia?”

She broke the stare and looked into blank space to think of her answer. Her confidence slowly left her face as she realized she couldn’t answer that question. The target women’s section was luckily empty on the Tuesday afternoon other than a few older women who weren’t close enough to hear our argument. I was pushing around a cart with groceries, a couple plain t-shirts, socks, and underwear. Sofia met my expectations of not being a very passionate shopper. She picked cotton and dri-fit t-shirts and athletic bras and underwear to wear underneath. I was a little surprised by her lack of concern with having me around when buying the more personal items. I didn’t ask her why or else sound like a pervert who she should be concerned with. I did take a note that her bra size was a D, something which her typical heavy hoodies and jackets made seem smaller.

Our current argument began with us finishing up with selecting pants. She chose a few sweat pants and then moved towards the jeans. I hadn’t questioned her choice to not try on anything due to her previous choices. It's easy to know what you wear in unisex clothing sizes. Sofia and I were close, she was two inches taller and far more muscular but equally lean. Jeans were different though and needed to fit just right with specific measurements. Sofia had attempted to simply eyeball it and move on, a tactic which I knew from experience wouldn’t work. I had stopped her and told her to try it on and not waste money and time if they don’t fit. That now leaves us with our current predicament. Sofia looked back towards me with an answer after a few seconds.

“My current pair were fine and they looked like this.”

She raised a finger pointedly, using drastic movement as a substitute for good arguments.

“One: you can’t trust every brand sizes them the same and jeans look deceptive. Two: those were stolen weren’t they and thus already worked in?”

Her finger drooped down and her expression was shocked and annoyed. I could see her teeth grinding in displeasure behind her frustrated look that bordered on pouting. She threw her hands up into the air exasperated.

“Fine! Whatever, I’ll try them on.”

She began walking away in a random direction and I held back a sigh. Sofia was stubborn and I was starting to realize this twenty-six year old woman was about as mature as the sixteen year old who ran away from home. I didn’t like being compared to a woman who beats her children but I could see why Sofia made the accusation. Sofia had been in control of her life for the last decade and acted like a lost boy from Peter Pan. She must have been daydreaming about this when she killed her mother that night. I started to wonder why she was even listening to me if that was the case as we located the changing rooms.

Sofia grabbed the jeans from the clothing cart and stormed off into one of the changing rooms. I set my cart against a wall and leaned against it and finally let out that frustrated sigh. There was another man waiting as well. He seemed my age or possibly a little younger, a senior in college at the latest. He made eye contact with me after my exhausted noise and seemed to chuckle to himself. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and he just smiled at me before speaking.

“Is your girlfriend putting you through the ringer?”

I was taken aback from his statement and felt myself recoil in shock. It suddenly occurred to me that people might be assuming that with Sofia and I being around the same age. With the amount of bickering I would prefer siblings as a hypothesis, but I guess we don’t exactly look alike. I shook my head at him and found myself chuckling as well with that mental shock.

“Oh no, not at all. She’s a… an acquaintance I guess. Just helping her out as she moves into town.”

He gave a knowing look and nodded as I spoke. I quickly shook my head and my expression must have looked like a hostage asking for help, though that would be accurate, because he seemed taken aback and genuinely shocked.

“It’s not like that. Trust me, I’m not trying to date her. That’s the exact last thing on my mind right now. I’m just trying to survive her.”

He blinked a few times, a bit shocked by my statement before raising his hands defensively.

“My bad dude, you just both had that dark and brooding kind of look. Seemed to be a good match.”

I didn’t even respond to that comment. I looked down and pinched the bridge of my nose and decided to cut off this unnecessary communication. I didn’t have to explain myself to a stranger, especially one blind enough to ship us. If only he knew she killed three guys just like him last night, I’m sure his tone would shift. He gave this awkward apologetic smile and luckily before he could say anything else one of the changing rooms opened. Exiting was a blonde college-aged girl in a cute crop top and a pair of jean shorts. She held a few pieces of clothing from hangers and skipped over to her boyfriend.

“I gotta make a few swaps. baby.”

“What? I don’t get to see?”

“I’ll show you the ones that fit, come on!”

She wrapped her arm around his and they walked off to anywhere else. I found myself unintentionally staring at the young blonde woman’s ass swaying in her jean shorts in a way clearly meant for her boyfriend. I felt a small ping in my chest of loneliness. I wasn’t exactly trying to date and felt fine being single. Still, seeing a happy couple makes you reconsider that fact. Maybe when this is all over I’ll find a girl who I can vibe with. One which enjoys discussing true crime as well.

“Ahem!”

I jumped from the sudden voice and realized that I had been caught staring at another girl’s ass. I quickly looked over to the familiar tomboyish voice of Sofia. She gave me a judging look and folded her arms unhappily. I tried to say something, but it only came out as a mumble and a chuckle of guilty admittance. I smiled awkwardly and tried to make eye contact and failed as Sofia rolled her eyes. She motioned to her legs in an overproduced gesture.

“As you can see, they fit.”

She folded her arms in an unhappy glare at me. She then just sat there and waited. She was right, they did fit really well. They were a good pair of jeans, no holes or other unnecessary features. If she were to ever fall down in a fight, there was little chance of ripping them or scrapping her skin. They also clung to her shape extremely well and frankly looked amazing. Her well toned thighs and glute muscles looked outstanding and would cause many girls to go green with envy. I looked back to her as she waited expectantly.

“So?”

“Um yeah, you were right, they fit. But, you didn’t have to show me. You could have just told me.”

Sofia had a windfall of emotions. First she was confused and raised an eyebrow. Second she realized something and eyes grew wide with shock and she tried to say something. Third she stopped herself and her pale face began to light up red with embarrassment. Fourth her teeth clenched and she made a growling sound as she looked down at the ground and balled her hands into fist in anger. She concluded this scene by stomping her way back to the changing and slamming the door behind her and yelling out to me.

“Fuck you!”

I was speechless at the display. What the hell did I do? She didn’t stay long and walked out in her previous black sweat pants and tossed the jeans into the shopping cart. She didn’t say a word to me and only stomped off towards the front so we could make our purchases and leave. We pulled into an empty cash register line and as I began unloading the items to be scanned while Sofia began digging in her sweat pants pockets. She pulled out a small plastic baggy with numerous credit cards inside. She opened it and grabbed a random one; a small red card. She held it up to the payment machine until it clicked. The teenage girl behind the cash register eyed Sofia and I suspiciously as she watched the process occur. For my part, I was equally confused. The teenage employee looked down at her cash register and made a pained expression as she looked back up to Sofia and I.

“Um… the card was declined.”

Sofia rolled her eyes and snapped the card in half before flinging it into a trash can. She reached into the baggy again and grabbed a blue card this time. She scanned it again and a beep sound came from the machine. The cashier looked up at her and gave a nod.

“It worked now.”

She bagged up the items and tried to avoid making eye contact with Sofia and I the whole time. I knew nothing would come of this, but the entire process felt strange. I grabbed the bags and left Target with Sofia walking alongside me. Once we were out of range from the store, I decided to ask.

“Are those stolen?”

Sofia looked over and gave a sly smirk.

“Duh, what idiot has this many to their name?”

We reached my truck and I unlocked the doors for us to hop in. I turned on the ignition and buckled myself as Sofia did not. I placed the items in the backseat and began to pull out of the parking lot.

“So you just take those after you kill someone?”

She nodded and pulled out the baggy from her pocket and shook it, almost mockingly.

“Yep, dead people tend to forget to turn off their cards for a while after they die. Makes identity theft pretty easy.”

I found myself shaking my head, but also smiling. I had to admit it was a genius tactic. With her infohazard present, she was immune from the obvious reproduction to such a tactic. I pulled onto the main road and began to head back to the apartment. With the errands finished, it was time to return to business.