Without A Clue

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Life could be so extraordinary, full of color, sounds and flavours. Then it kicked you right back into reality and bore you with tedious chores. Simply tasks, really, but put together they just took away all the time you might have used to do something far more interesting. Tasks such as paying bills, cleaning the toilet, doing the laundry, preparing food. And, of course, buying said food. When you’re a kid, you can relax knowing that someone else would do those things for you. When you lived on your own, you were forced to realise that not only those bills don’t pay themselves, but it’ll cost you more if you don’t hurry up. They were not in a reality where fridges came fully loaded with food and you just had to stand in front of your wardrobe to change of clothes.

Akeem hated going grocery shopping. His father might be a great chef and all but Akeem did not take on him, at least not about this. He picked up a cart and went through the various aisles. How was he supposed to know what he’d want to eat in two or three days? Milk, bread, butter... that sort of thing was easy to guess, but the rest? And it was not like he bothered to look up the prices and know what was on sale and interesting to buy now and not in a few days. Anyway, despite the town significantly growing over the past few years, Akeem couldn’t stop seeing Kalispell as a pond when he wanted to swim in an ocean.

Akeem still ended up with a few things in his cart. A bit of vegetables, some meat and cans and boxes of whatever he figured he might as well want during the week. Rice was good with a lot of stuff anyway. Plus a few of those meals you just had to toss in the oven and be done with it. It might look like a typical single man’s cart and that was exactly what it was. Except it needed one thing. He stopped to look at some beers. Now, he was more picky. A man must show where his priorities were.

He had the pack in hands and turned to put it in his cart when he stopped. “What?” A legitimate question, because his cart was not next to him where he left it. He looked around and saw it by someone a little further away. “Excuse me, but that’s my cart you took’” he pointed out, looking down. Yeah, he was pretty sure all that was his stuff, the ones he put there himself.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex never minded shopping. She hated day to day chores just as much as the next 22 year old recent college graduate still figuring out how to be an adult but shopping was something she could get behind. Forget that it was the whole spending money thing, Alex simply felt pretty comfortable being around people. She liked getting out and about the town. Even if she didn't meet anyone she knew or even really talk to anyone other than the clerk at the checkout counter, it remained something she looked forward to.

The diminutive young woman did have a problem with getting distracted by particularly flashy displays that could be found at the end of many aisle within the grocery store and no hope remained if they were giving out samples of food. Alex drifted away from her shopping cart, eyes wide as she went to partake in the little bits of cheese that were sitting, skewered with a toothpick, on a tray. Alex chatted briefly with the lady handing out the sample before nodding and making her way off to continue her shopping. The redhead wasn't even paying attention to the cart she grabbed before trundling off to go find whatever it was she'd already forgot she was looking for.

It took a few words of the voice talking to get Alex's attention. She stopped, her brow furrowing as she looked around as if the voice was disembodied before finally turning toward the source. Her head tilted curiously as she looked the much taller young man over. "What?" She said, blinking her large, expressive brown eyes a few times. She glanced over the basket she had started pushing and actually had to think for a long moment before she realized she hadn't put any of the items in the cart. "Oh!" She said sheepishly, backing away from the basket. "Sorry!" She popped one of the toothpick skewered cheese bits she'd swiped when the sample lady wasn't looking into her mouth. She thought a moment before holding out her last bit of cheese still on the toothpick toward the young man as a sort of peace offering. "Cheese?"

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

At least this time it was not some old woman he ended up having to deal with. Then again, he bet the grannies kept a tight hold of their cart because the young’uns would definitely try to steal it from them or just be a general pain in the ass like all young people did. He half expected a mother with kids running around her, distracting her, to have taking his cart. But it was a pretty young lady. In fact, she may well be younger than he was. She had a juvenile aspect about her and not just because of her small stature. Her eyes also helped the illusion she was barely out of adolescence. Big and expressive, it got only worse as she blinked at him. Akeem was this close of asking how come she did not let her parents do the grocery.

There was something kind of cute though about her. And Akeem had the feeling she may well be older than she looked. It was hard to tell these days. Teenagers wanted to look older and adults kept trying to appear younger. No one wanted to own their age.

Since this was now accepted that this happened to be his cart, he placed the beer he fetched in there with the few other things he put there before. He looked at her as she offered him cheese. She was lucky to be a girl, and a pretty one too. Always put Akeem in a forgiving mood. He reached his hand to take the toothpick from her. “Took it from the sample table? When I walked past her, she didn’t have any and was cutting some more.” Now, they should probably wonder where her cart was. Or more like she should. Because Akeem, quite frankly, couldn’t care less. But pretty girls also were lucky enough to have him be a tad more helpful towards them. “Want some help finding back your cart?”

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex smiled brightly as the offered cheese was accepted. There was a childlike gleam in her eyes as she watched the young man pluck the toothpick from her hand. She gave an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders, lifting her hands palms up in the process. "I took it when she wasn't looking." Alex admitted, almost as if that was something worthy of either praise or great derision. She always did try and live an adventurous life. Swiping cheese from an old lady offering samples in the store was just another way Alex lived on the edge.

When the talk turned back to her missing cart Alex nodded. Even if she couldn't find it she didn't think it'd be a big deal gathering her items again. She hadn't been in the store long and staying in from the cold, wet weather that was outside certainly sounded like a great idea to her. She let out a low grumble at the sudden warmth that caused a faint flush in her cheeks, a by product of her mutant power. Slowly she peeled off the heavy overcoat that had been covering the thin shirt underneath. She was careful not to wear too many layers when going out in case she needed to cool down quickly. The coat went over the handle of the stolen cart and hands went up to pull the bright pink, wool beanie from her head, setting long, crimson tendrils still damp from the rain outside free. She shook out her hair, a few stray strands clinging to the tan skin of her neck.

"Yes!" Alex said finally, turning her attention back to the tall, young man. "That'd be great!" Her nose scrunched up as she looking about the busy grocery store. "I think I had paper towels, Lucky Charms and one of those really big bags of Skittles..."

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Taking all the samples on a tray might not be something Akeem would do but he definitely understood the appeal in taking more than just one. You couldn’t when the person was watching though. They were protecting their little samples like the sky would fall down on their head if they let someone take more than one, two at most. If you liked it so much, you should buy it. The fact you may not like it enough to do so never came to their mind. Or that you wouldn’t be able to finish it before it turned green or blue or whatever color mold decided to have when it came to it. He nodded though when she told him that. That was all the reaction she would get. She was free to read approval or judgement in that simple gesture all she wanted.

Akeem didn't think the temperature in the store was warm enough to feel too hot with your coat on but others might disagree. When he saw her remove hers, he realised her clothes may be a bit thin for the season. He didn’t think much of it however. When you can find some man running in shorts while it was snowing outside, the fact some girl chose not to wear a sweater hardly surprised him. At least it gave him the privilege to look at her. And wonder once again whether he should have the right to stare like this or not.

She may have agreed this was not her cart but she was using it as though it still was. Akeem didn’t mind for now, as he just happened to suggest helping her out finding hers. He never asked himself who could live on paper towels, Lucky Charms and Skittles, but if he did, he’d have the answer right there. “Not in need of too much, are we?” He couldn’t help asking. He looked at his own cart, with the beer, the vegetables, the beef, the cans and the bread. That might look a little small but it sure looked more like that you’d need when doing the grocery. “Or you just started,” he added quickly as he looked around for a cart holding the items she mentioned.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex, for a moment, lost herself in the business of shedding the heavy outer layer she'd bundled up in for the trip to the store. She tucked the bright pink cap into the pocket of the coat and straightened out her shirt which proudly proclaimed the Golden State Warriors as 2015 NBA champions before gathering the coat up into her arms and giving a short nod of satisfaction. She hadn't been in the store long but she couldn't help the soft sight of relief that escaped upon being freed from the warm, winter clothing. Just the short amount of time she'd been inside had caused a faint, pink hue to touch her cheeks.

"I just started." She replied, frowning a little as she thought over what it was she was after. She spun around on her heel, head turning this way and that in order to see if she could remember where she'd left her cart. Alex had a habit of getting distracted and leaving her cart (among other things) and ultimately losing it. She didn't even want to think of how many times she had to start her shopping over again because some astute clerk had thought her cart was a stray and put her selected items back on the shelves.

"You look familiar." Alex blurted out much in the way a child would speak the first thought that popped into their mind. She spun around again, bright red tendrils whipping against her cheek as she did so, and looked up to Akeem with a scrutinizing gaze. In an instant her entire face lit up with recognition accompanied by a wide, dimpled smile and a bright gleam in her dark eyes. "You went to Bellefonte, didn't you?" She said, wagging a finger at the much taller young man. "I knew I knew you from somewhere!"

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

This girl was... unique? Akeem was trying to come with an adjective that wouldn’t sound too insulting but at the same time defined her. The pink cap, the red hair, the shirt, her whole attitude after stealing samples and accidently going away with his cart... unique seemed to be the only word to fit. Akeem was not sure if she looked old or acted young for her age. The way she was spinning around to locate her cart was also a little comical. Maybe it was that word that would fit her best. She had something that seemed right out of a cartoon. Something you thought was impossible in real life yet it was, since he had the proof right there.

The search was interrupted though as she decided to focus her attention on him. Now, that was something Akeem could always appreciate. But he tried to see where he might have seen her, hoping she wouldn’t then come out with something along the lines of ‘we met in a club and slept together. I have a son, he’s got your eyes, wanna see him?’ He was pretty sure he was careful every time but he knew that alcohol may tamper with your judgement, even his, and something like that was more than possible. He just hoped an entire bus full of kids would not one day turn up in front of his apartment complex and claim he’s their father.

So here was Akeem, torn between wanting to be recognized and preferring she mistook him for someone else. Until she mentioned the school. He would have sighed of relief if it wasn’t for the fact he didn’t want her to guess what came to his mind. “I did, but I graduated some time ago,” he admitted. He did sleep with a few girls from the school, even did it at the school, but he feared the previous outcome a lot less now. “I take it you went there too?”

[Alexandra Lawson]

"I did!" Alex said with a hasty nod. She seemed far too excited to have deciphered the great mystery of where her deja vu had originated. Even though she remembered seeing Akeem around the Academy she still didn't' have much going in terms of where, what he did, or who he'd hung out with. While Alex had hardly been a social butterfly while in school herself, she was, nonetheless, active in various groups, clubs and even a couple athletic teams. Most people who remembered her from high school and college did so because of the many years she spent as a member of the cheerleading squad.

Once again the diminutive redhead had fallen silent while she contemplated these things. After a moment she snapped back to reality and shook her head a bit. "Yeah. So." She frowned a little to herself, glancing down to her sneakered feet before lifting her gaze back up to the much taller man, peering at him in the same way a child would an adult. "What're you up to now?" She asked curiously.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

So this girl also went to Bellefonte. Funny, he did not seem to remember trying to flirt with her. Maybe she was too young back then. She did look like she should still be at school after all. Maybe not high school, but college. If she bothered to go to college at all. There was something rather youthful about her. Maybe it was her big eyes or her goofy smile. He couldn’t say. All he could say was that he was pretty certain he did not try to sleep with her.

Akeem didn’t seem to notice the silence much between them because he was also lost in thoughts. Most certainly very different thoughts than those coming to her mind but that was still enough to keep him occupied until she talked again. “I’m a lawyer. Well, legal advisor. And mediator. You know, the guy you go to when you want to settle without going to court,” he explained. His tone remained neutral and he did a good job to hide the fact he was not all too happy about this drop in his career. She didn’t need to know that. “How about you?” he asked in return. Hey, if she remembered him and asked him what he’d been doing since he graduated, he figured he earned the right to ask the same.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex's head tilted curiously to one side as Akeem started talking. She nodded slowly while he offered a few vague details about his work. The moment he mentioned the word 'lawyer' her eyes lit up. It didn't matter that he went on to elaborate his status as not quite a lawyer in the the traditional sense, Alex was impressed. She nodded thoughtfully at this new information. Her expression quickly grew subdued as she mulled something over in her mind. Slowly, almost as if she was attempting to be sly, she slipped a hand into her pocket and withdrew a crumpled pack of Skittles that was twisted at one end to keep the candies from spilling out.

"Do you, like, do divorces and stuff?" Alex asked, her eyes ticking upward to study Akeem as she deliberately plucked a single candy from the pack and brought it up to her lips. "Is that awkward? Are people usually mad at each other? Have you ever had a newly divorced lady hit on you?" Alex paused, thinking a moment before giving a shrug and adding. "Or a guy." After all, Alex wasn't one to judge. Unfortunately for Akeem, however, she wasn't done and she continued without missing a beat. "Or both." Her eyes widened then at that thought. "That would be weird, wouldn't it? What would you do if that happened?" Only the important questions were good enough for Alex.

When the conversation was directed toward herself, Alex issued a low 'eh' sound and gave an unimpressed shrug. Another Skittle made its way into her mouth as she contemplated her answer. "I..." She stretched out the sound for a second or two. "Uh..." She then pointed a finger over her should in some random direction. "I'm an office assistant at the Academy." She finally got out, her tone conveying an utter lack of pride in that. "Well... part time." She confessed. "I'm in a band-" She cut herself off, her nose scrunching up in distaste. "But that sounds super lame to say."

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Akeem didn't quite expect to see a light from her eyes at the mention of his job. This was a good job, respectable, steady, with a nice paycheck at the end, provided he worked enough... nothing to be ashamed of. But he noticed that when someone seemed so interested, even a pretty girl, it normally had more to do with them wanting to use that connection in the hope he wouldn’t charge them for a little advice as opposed to them thinking it made him the man they were looking for. Because lawyer apparently also meant that he was boring and/or crooked. Go figure out where they got that idea. Especially for the boring part.

And there it went. Divorce. He quickly looked at her hand. But if she wanted a divorce, surely she wouldn’t be wearing the ring anymore, right? “Sometimes. I try for the two parties to settle instead of having a trial so yeah, I get some divorces now and then.” Were there fights? Was he ever hit by a divorcee right after this? “If they go to a conciliator, it’s usually because they don’t want each to hire a lawyer so it’s not too bad. But sometimes, yes.” He preferred not to comment the flirting part, although he did try to hide a shudder at the thought a guy could hit on him. Akeem had no problem against gay guys, so long as they did not hit on him or did their things right in his face. When she brought out he could be hit by both, Akeem had a sudden reminiscence of another very strange girl whose mouth tended to blurt out words before she thought them. “Never happened. You weren’t blonde before, were you?” He suddenly feared being called Atreyu.

She seemed almost embarrassed to mention her job. “So you chose to go back to the Academy to work there,” he said, not adding anything to her word, merely stating the fact. Since all he wanted ever since he got in Bellefonte was to leave it, he couldn’t get why someone would want to work there. But it was true that Kalispell changed a lot since he first came here. “That depends how good is your band,” he objected. Truthfully, he found it a little lame. But he was also not against being nice to her about it in order for her to be nice to him in return.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex peered up at Akeem, her eyes bright as she listened to him speak. She watched him much like a child would listen to their hero talk of thwarting evil in the face of danger or something. She hung on every word. It was simply the way Alex was. Whatever happened to be right in front of her became the single most important thing at that moment regardless of how trivial or boring others may consider it. She gave a few understanding nods before issuing a long, low 'oooooh' in response. She may have been easily distracted but she could, at least, figure things out when they were explained.

The question about her hair caused Alex to give pause. Even though she'd never been blonde in her life she actually did stop and think about it. Her head tilted and her gaze drifted just off to the side, staring out into nothing as she contemplated her answer. Idly she popped another single Skittle into her mouth and carefully chewed before she gave a slow shake of her head. "No?" She replied, shifting her eyes back to Akeem. She spoke more like she was asking a question instead of offering an answer. She shook her head again, her confidence growing. "No." She repeated. "I was brunette before." Her brow then furrowed. "Uh... why?"

Instantly the quirky, energetic girl seemed to draw into herself at the talk of her band. Gone was the childlike wonderment she was looking around the grocery store with and in its place was a certain shyness. Alex dropped her gaze and busied herself for a couple moments with tucking the crumpled pack of Skittles back into her pocket. "Yeah, well, I mean..." She stammered a bit. "We're okay." She finally said with a sheepish shrug. "We're still feeling each other out. See, their old singer was dating the guitarist and when they broke up she left and their manager told my friend, Addie, who works for Dyer Records, and she kind of tricked me into auditioning for them and..." Alex trailed off then and frowned a bit to herself. "It's all boring, really." She said with a wave of her hand.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

It was actually refreshing to have a young woman hang onto his everyone word like this. He was still confident enough to claim that his good looks can achieve that anytime but he also remembered a time when he could make even the coldest of them notice him. With this one though, he barely had to do anything. She was just there, with bright eyes, listening to his every word like it had any importance. He had no idea this was the way she always happened to be. Had he seen her looking at a bag of carrots in the same way, maybe his ego would deflate quite a bit. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to suffer such a blow.

He asked her about her hair and the way she looked at him... it might not be exactly like that other weird girl, but he didn’t quite expected she’d look at him like that. She reminded him of a little bird. He was slightly relieved, even though he figured she was not that other weird girl he remembered. It was nice to have a confirmation. “You reminded me of someone I met before, that’s all,” he explained. He preferred not to say more on the subject, that may bring... not painful but certainly embarrassing memories.

Alex grew a little shy all of a sudden as they discussed her band. Was it false modesty or they really sucked? Akeem wasn’t good at false modesty. What was the point in that? He was normally overconfident. Then came a long explanation that may not be all that long but was said with barely any interruption between the words, making him bounce from one person dating but no longer dating another to another one with a manager and being tricked... “That sounds complicated,” he let out, already losing all interest in the matter thanks to that. “Well, next time you ever play, maybe I’ll have a listen and judge for myself.” He shrugged though, not sure this would happen. Because, why would he do that? Especially for a band that had so much drama going on and was apparently nothing above okay.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex had to pause and think this over for a few moments. Her brow furrowed as she glanced upward, her head tilting sideways as she began to wonder who, if anyone, she reminded herself of these days. It truly was a strange thing for Alex to contemplate, especially given that she was in the midst of a conversation taking place in the middle of a grocery store. her head slowly shook, though it was mostly to herself, and she shifted her focus back to Akeem. "Who?" She asked curiously. The social circles at Bellefonte weren't all that large, on second thought. "Maybe I know her."

A fierce round of nodding followed Akeem's tepid response. She wasn't ignorant to the way he had replied but Alex was used to it with her habit of over-explaining even the smallest of things in her life. It wasn't her fault she felt compelled to offer context and backstory. Her lips parted and she went to speak, probably to defend her artistic integrity but no words came out before she was overcome by a wave of nauseating dizziness. She took a step back, a hand coming up to press into her face while the other reached out to steady herself on Akeem's shopping cart. The cart rolled away at her touch, causing her to stumble along with it while uttering a sharp, breathless under her breath.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

The way she tilted her head, looked at him with her eyes both innocent yet with something almost vacant about them... yep, that sure reminded him of someone else. And led him to think this one was an air-head. Well, their whole encounter sort of convinced him of this but that just added to his first impression. She said she was working at Bellefonte but she barely looked old enough to have graduated from the place. He couldn’t see how his circle of friend back then could also have been hers. Then again, that weirdo had never been part of his ‘friends’. He wouldn’t even have admitted knowing her. So, of course, when she asked who that person was, Akeem could not help the small wince. “I can’t say I remember her name,” he confessed. He made sure to erase as much as he could of her from his memory. He sadly could not erase all of her but he at least managed to forget her name. It was a form of relief. “Can’t say I stayed in touch with her after graduation,” he added to justify himself. He was not all that sad about it though.

Akeem might never hear her sing. Or he might. It all depended what else was offered to him at that time. He would not exactly put it out like this to her, of course. She might have tried to be modest about her band, it was her band. She ought to have some pride in it, especially if she performed with it. He was ready to dismiss it though, and, by the same occasion, dismiss Alex and go back to what he meant to do here at the grocery store. But something about her had him pause and frown. He grabbed his cart as it rolled away, offering her some support since she was clinging onto it. She looked... well, he was not quite sure how she looked. Sick? “Hey, are you alright?” The last thing he wanted was for her to throw up on the things in his cart but since he did not pay for them yet, he did not care as much as if they really belonged to him. She did look sick though and he didn't want to see that so he was hoping she’d be fine. Or run straight to the restrooms. He looked up but the truth was that he had no idea where they were in that place.