Chapter Text
Misty is smitten. Completely and utterly enraptured with Natalie. She sighs wistfully as she gently strokes the slightly fraying edges of her wallet. Sure, Misty might have accidentally left her purse in Natalie’s car, she might of thrown it to the floor when she was getting the pen and pad out to write her number, and it might have worked exactly as intended.
Despite what people tend to assume, Misty Quigley is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. You don’t pass medical school with flying colors by being a moron after all.
She didn’t get the perfect ending to her ‘losing the wallet’ scheme but Misty has certainly never turned her nose up at a challenge. This was going to be fun, this was going to be the most fun Misty has ever had, she was certain of it.
After all, Misty has never, ever, had someone go out of their way to buy her a drink, at least not without her planting the seeds of suggestion, setting them in motion to do so. But Natalie did, Natalie with her leather jacket, and her messy hair. Natalie with her dark eyes and darker eyeliner, all smudged like she couldn’t care less what people thought of her.
She’s so happy that her date ended up falling through, Chris wasn’t even really note worthy anyways. Sure, she was upset when he didn’t seem interested in gardening, and even more so when his trip to the “bathroom” was actually just an excuse to leave. She rolls her eyes. And yeah, maybe she should’ve seen it coming, it’s not the first time a man has pulled that stunt.
She sighs and makes her way over to the kitchen, chores won’t do themselves after all. “Hey, Caligula, my handsome boy. You like Natalie, don’t you? What did you think of her? I tried to get her to stay longer but I think I was already pushing my luck,” she puts the sponge down momentarily to offer him a treat, he takes it, “I hope the next time we meet she’ll be more willing to spend time with me.” No room for the idea that they wouldn’t meet again, Misty was positive that they would. Never been more sure of anything.
“I can’t believe I have her number Iggy! It’s taking everything in me not to text her. I must stay strong!” She stands taller, taking on a mighty pose, “she probably needs space, I get the feeling, we all need space sometimes, right? We can’t have her snapping and running away under the pressure. We can’t have that can we, sweet boy?” He makes a small noise and beams from the affection, well, in all the ways a bird can beam. Semantics.
It’ll be three weeks until they next see each other.
Natalie will assume it’s a random chance encounter, set up by the universe to fuck with her. Misty knows better. Because unbeknownst to Natalie, Misty has spent the last three weeks planning this chance encounter.
The moment Natalies car pulled out of her drive, Misty got to thinking, thinking lead to research, and research lead to scheming. It’s honestly a little problematic how easy it is to gather information from a first name, license plate, and phone number alone. Well, maybe it’s not actually easy, Misty might just be too good at things like… this. She shrugs, busying herself with seeming casual, waiting for Nat to notice she’s there.
Natalie Scatorccio is forty three years old, her father died when she was young, high school dropout, in and out of work, also in and out of rehab, three times according to her research. In and out of jail for petty charges, some being possession, others being assault. What a bad girl.
She mindlessly pushes her glasses further up her face despite not needing to, a habit that she doubts will ever go away.
Back to her thoughts, Nat lives in a motel not far from Misty’s own home, she’s lived there for three months. She has no social media, that was easy to figure out, especially considering Misty went to send a Facebook friend request, disappointed when no account came up.
Misty is standing down the frozen isle of a store, some chain. It was practically child’s play to figure out where Natalie frequents. And sure, she could have gone to any of the bars Natalie loves to spend her days in, but Misty isn’t stupid, she knows that Nat isn’t stupid either, Natalie would catch onto that.
Misty has never been particularly self conscious or disliked the way she presents, at least not since high school, but she knows her cat sweaters and plain blue jeans don’t exactly fit the typical person that spends their time in bars, especially bars that likely don’t have an up to date liquor license.
She puts some random items in her basket, careful to not put too many items in case she needs to go through the checkout in a hurry, but also conscious of the fact that if she buys too little this whole thing will all look like a set up, an excuse to hang out.
It definitely is.
Natalie doesn’t need to know that.
Just as she’s putting some nuts in her basket, some treats for her sweet boy, she catches Natalies eye. Misty always the actress, does her very best to appear just as shocked as she knows Nat probably feels. This is so exciting. She waves, Natalie doesn’t wave back, that’s okay, She doesn’t take it personally.
Natalie doesn’t look all too sure of what to do, does she pretend she doesn’t notice Misty or does she accept that they both know she has? Well Misty is more than obliged to offer her a helping hand with that, she’ll make the choice for the both of them. She actively slows herself down, approaching Natalie at a casual pace. We’ve just bumped into each other. Small world. She knew taking drama classes in school was her calling.
Natalie notices her approaching and instead of running away, turning tail and booking it out of the doors, she just sighs and faces Misty’s approaching form. The slightly buzzing yellow lights coat her in a tinted film. Even though she’s wearing the same style of clothes that she wore all those weeks ago, the setting they’re in now paints such a different picture. The bar shadowed Natalie’s features, her clothes and hair as dark as the aura she tries to exude. But now she’s here, almost out of place in such a generic public space, like seeing a goth sit on Santas lap. She’s still entirely beautiful, Misty thinks.
They’re only a few feet apart from each other now, Misty looking up to reach her eyes. “Hey Natalie!” She looks around the store. “Small world, huh? I didn’t think we’d bump into each other like this.” Natalie doesn’t even bother trying to fake a smile. Misty appreciates it, she enjoys Natalie’s ‘no bs’ attitude, makes it easier to read the situation.
No bother, she can still work with this. “I was just driving by and remembered that Caligula was running low on treats,” she makes a point to shimmy the basket, the nuts rattling as she does so, “so yeah, what about you? A snack haul? The basics?” She looks down at Natalie’s basket, noting the way literally none of its contents are remotely healthy.
Misty isn’t a health nut, don’t preach to the choir, or whatever it is, but as a nurse she can’t help but inwardly cringe at the marshmallows, cheap liquor, and the multiple bags or chips and other processed foods. Maybe one of these days she can invite her round for dinner, make a home cooked meal for her. Does she like Italian?
Deep in thought about what Natalie might like her to cook, she doesn’t catch the beginning of Natalies words. “- getting some stuff. Needed smokes.” Short and simple, at least she answered the question.
Of course she smokes, the smell of smoke evident on her, even now. She hopes that Natalie’s motel allows smoking, she doesn’t want her to get in trouble, not that she thinks Natalie cares a whole lot for authority and rules.
She smiles and readjusts her glasses, how can she make this last longer? It’s clear that this is where most people would say their polite goodbyes and move on with their day. Misty can see Natalie itchy for that scenario, jaw clenched.
She thinks and thinks, so many ideas but unsure if any of them would work. She definitely can’t go with dramatically falling and hoping Nat will pick up her groceries, doting on her, and making sure she gets home okay. Or better yet, she definitely can’t count on Natalie falling over and needing Misty’s expert hands to nurse her back to health.
It hits her suddenly, better than nothing.
“Oh! I have a coupon! Twenty percent off when you spend a certain amount on selected products. I don’t think my total comes to enough though.” She makes an effort to get the coupon out, she has coupons, sue her, this economy isn’t something to trifle with.
Natalie looks over the coupon in her hands. “Can’t you just pick up a few extra things?” And it’s a valid question, how does Misty talk herself out of this?
Hmmm, okay.
She responds like the answer is obvious, “Oh, I don’t want to be wasteful, I don’t need anything else,” and to finally get to the end goal of this conversation, “I know! You don’t have many items either, why don’t we just combine our purchase? It can even be on me if you like-“ Natalie is quick to shake her head, attempting to put her foot down.
Round one, fight!
“No, that’s okay.” Misty definitely hasn’t lost yet.
Misty is quick to shake her own head at the dismissal, “No, I insist, it’s no trouble. Money isn’t an issue at all, and I still definitely owe you for all you’ve done for me. This could be me finally paying you back!” And when Natalie doesn’t immediately refuse the idea, she knows she’s wearing her down. That was easier than she thought it would be, maybe she doesn’t wanna argue, or talk, or be here.
Well, Misty will take it either way.
As a last ditch effort to have control over the situation, that’s so sweet, Natalie offers, “The whiskey and cigs will be expensive. I’ll pay for those. They probably don’t fall under your coupon anyways.” She leaves no room for Misty to argue, she doesn’t need to, Misty’s just happy that her idea is actually working.
She nods her head, feeling the way her curls bob as she does so, “That’s a great idea! That’s perfectly fine with me. Are you done? Shall we go to checkout?” And if saying we didn’t make her a little giddy.
Misty and Natalie are going to checkout. The both of them. Together. Misty you’ve done it again.
Instead of answering, Natalie starts making her way to the front of the store.
All she wants to do is make conversation, she’s itching for it, but what would she even say? There are so many things she wants to ask, like, what does Natalie do for fun? Does she have a favourite animal? It could be cheetahs, maybe she just likes print. Is she from around here? Well, Misty already knows the answer to that is yes. Not that Natalie knows that she knows that.
Misty gets the impression that Natalie wouldn’t appreciate small talk. That’s fine, Misty can do that. But she also probably doesn’t want Misty to ask her personal questions either, not that Misty would, not yet at least. Guess she’ll have to enjoy the small victory in silence, the quiet is even nice if she convinces herself of it.
As agreed, they both begin putting their items on the conveyer belt, Natalie placing her Alcohol and ‘smokes’ separately. They might have nearly touched hands during the motions and Misty might be internally upset at the lost opportunity to feel Natalie’s hand on her own, even if she knows that it wouldn’t mean anything, it still would’ve been nice.
The cashier is probably in high school, young certainly. He’s either high, or wishes he was. Honestly, he might be wishing so doubly now that he’s seen the two juxtaposing characters he has to serve.
Misty loves the sweater she’s wearing, the cat print and color being the reason she purchased it, the shade of pink matches her socks perfectly.
Natalie is wearing an off shoulder band tee, Misty has never heard of them, she tells herself to look the name up later. Natalie is also wearing her signature leather jacket and some skinny black jeans, definitely a more casual outfit if Misty had to guess. Misty never knew she liked the punk get up like this. She never really gave it thought she supposes. Maybe she just likes Natalie regardless.
Back to the boy scanning their items, he seems to of have given up trying to figure out why the two of them were shopping together, giving in to the mindless hum of pushing individual items along to the bagging area, the meticulous beep would drive anyone insane after a few hours.
The total ends up being more than reasonable, Natalie watches as Misty pulls out the coupon and her card, Misty doesn’t know why she’s being watched but she won’t question it.
They both pay and make their way out of the store, Misty made an effort not to park her car too close, thinking that if she did Natalie would accuse her of recognising her car.
Some might say paranoia, she would say cautious.
She parked five cars away and now she’s wondering if that was a mistake, she has to walk to her own car, she can’t just stand around Natalie’s and make idle chat, I mean, she could try but something tells her that it won’t work.
Natalie all but dumps her stuff on the passenger seat, then pulls out a cigarette and lights up, leaning against the drivers side. Misty doesn’t consider herself a dramatic person most days but right in this moment, watching Natalie, the only word that comes to mind is ethereal. Natalie looks like she was made to smoke cigarettes, and while Misty hates the habit, she can definitely learn to love the view. She breathes in the smoke, it’s heavy and she’s reminded of the camping trips she took when she was a child.
She breathes in more despite the discomfort, the smoke has been in her mouth, around her lungs, it feels intimate.
Misty is openly staring, neither have said a word in over five minutes, maybe Natalie is waiting for her to get the hint and leave, that’s probably what she should be doing. She doesn’t want to leave, she wants to watch Natalie smoke the cigarette until it’s reduced to just the filter, until Natalie flicks it to the ground and Misty gets to watch as she stomps down on it. Littering is also not exactly on the list of things Misty likes but she wouldn’t comment on it if Natalie would just let her stay and watch.
Natalie isn’t even watching Misty, she’s engrossed with her cigarette, maybe even intentionally not looking her way. As long as she doesn’t tell her to leave she’s fine with being ignored.
The moment does eventually end and Misty has to face that the ‘chance’ meeting is over. She tries desperately to keep her features in check, no obvious signs of sadness allowed.
Natalie finally looks her over, “Thanks. For paying.” She easily goes back to the cigarette, taking a lazy drag, and flicking the ash to the ground like second nature.
Misty, resigned, but still pleased with the fruits of her labor, smiles. She purposefully stands a little straighter, “And thank you for giving me an excuse to use that coupon! It was lovely bumping into you! I guess I should be heading back though, I have to clean when I get back, and cook, and- sorry!” She cuts herself off, not wanting to irritate Natalie.
She goes for the glasses again, a self soothing motion. “Hope you enjoy the rest of your day! Bye bye, Natalie!” She waves, smiles, and heads back to her own car, ignoring the urge to turn around with every step.
Her mind playing out scenarios where she does turn around and jumps into Natalie’s arms, so strong as they catch her with ease and spin her around.
What pet names would Nat call her? She doesn’t seem the be the ‘Sweetie’ type. Maybe ‘babe’? Misty giggles at the idea of Natalie calling her something so cutesy.
She gets in the car, noting how Nat has already driven away. She sighs, turning the key to start the engine.
She cannot wait for next time.