Vernon 0.2

Though, I wanted to confront the imbecile , I wasn't expecting someone to actually do it. The lady bagged her things, left the store while cursing under her breath and complained about never coming again.

The cashier profusely apologized to us and the lady behind me who had just queued after the commotion ended. Finally, it was my turn to pay and I rushed to the bus stop just to witness it leaving. I tried to hail at the driver to no avail. Another half an hour of waiting in this weather felt like hell.

"Sorry you missed it," a familiar voice came from behind an advertisement board.

"What?" I asked, trying to figure out who it was.

"The bus. If I had said something sooner you wouldn't have missed it," a tall figure appeared and sat on one of the benches.

"Oh, it's you. Yeah, it's fine though. Thanks for saying anything at all," I sat a few seats away from him.

"Yeah, what a drag," he sighed and whipped out his phone from his black denim jacket.

I didn't know if I should continue the conversation, thank him more, talk about the encounter again, or make small talks. And now it was too late to even say anything or break the prolonged silence without making it weird or awkward. So, I put on my airpods and scrolled through my Instagram to pass the time.

By the time my bus had arrived, Taylor texted me and said that she was already on her way to the house with Zack. Great, now both of my housemates had a guy at the house. Way to make the baking session more awkward. Before I got in the bus, I wanted to politely thank and bid the stranger goodbye. But he seemed to be so focused on his phone, I kind of felt bad for distracting him.

"Thanks again!" I cupped my hand and waved at him.

He looked up at me with weird expression on his face, but nothing was uttered. So, I dashed inside to find an empty window seat. I settled my groceries next to me before zoning out throughout my journey home.

"Hey! Wait up!" the stranger ran in as the driver closed the bus doors.

He tapped his card and apologized to the driver before making his way to the back of the bus. He was panting and threw a heavy looking plastic bag on the ground beside his feet. I didn't think he saw me, so I didn't make the effort to make my existence known.

We coincidentally needed to board on the same bus although he had a delayed reaction towards its arrival. It didn't seem to be worth making the effort to try and befriend him either. He wasn't showing any interest of being decently polite if it hadn't concerned him.

I pondered over his fashion sense the whole ride home. Something about the way he dressed himself stood out to me. Though he wasn't typically friendly, I could still appreciate his choice of clothing.

The distressed black denim jacket and pants highlighted the cotton grey shirt that he tucked in. I approved of the layering of different types of chain necklaces too. It matched well with his ashy brown hair. He presented himself better than most guys in my class during a presentation day.

I stood up and walked to the door as the bus stopped in front of my complex. The wind had gotten stronger and I still had a few houses up the street to hike. I could feel my toque slipping off my head as I faced the breeze head on.

Just as I was about to grab it, the wind had blown it out of my reach and unto the street behind me. To my surprise, the stranger had gotten out of the bus and was few feet behind me. I didn't hear anyone following me off the bus and I had been walking for quite a distance from the bus stop. He was still excessively focused on his phone that he barely noticed the toque.

"Um…" I turned to reach for my toque as he eyed me with the same odd expression with a combination of shock and annoyance.

He bent down and grabbed the toque that had landed on his foot. He walked up to me and handed it back to me as his faced relaxed.

"Oh, thanks," I thanked him before recognizing his face. "It's you again. Do you live around here too?"

"No," he said with a blank expression and went back to his phone.

"Okay..." I uttered and upped my pace.

What was that about? Was he just following me? He didn't even live around here, maybe he was really good at acting dumb. I texted Lily and told her to open the front door. My strategy was to make my roommate open the door and call for me.

It might scare the stranger away if he had intended to hurt or stalk me. He looked exceptionally convincing that he had meant no harm and genuinely had his own agenda. At least I had never met a kidnapper who carried what looked like Betty Crocker's grocery bag.

At last, I saw Zack's red Honda Civic on our driveway. Another reason why I had asked Lily to open the door for me was because I mistakenly took the wrong bag to work and forgot my keys in my other bag. I ran up the steps and rang the bell.

No sound. I called her phone, hoping she would pick up and open the door. It was getting colder and I could see the stranger's reflection on one of the windows. I gathered the courage to call him out for following me and turned to him; still on his phone, looking at his surroundings warily.

"Why are you fol– "

"Zelda!" Lily opened the door behind me.

The stranger looked up from the screen and made eye contact with me for the first time. It was as if he was oblivious to my presence the entire walk home. It was almost baffling enough to be laughable. I shot him a look of disgust and walked inside, closing the door behind me.

"Can you lock the door? That creep followed me home all the way from work," I sighed with relief and walk to the kitchen for a glass of water.

"Um… Zee? That was Cathy's brother. I invited him over to help us and celebrate his sister's birthday tonight," the concern on her face told me that I had made a huge oopsie.