A while back The Write Practice shared a post with scene prompts in several parts. I used a random number generator to choose each part of the prompt. Here is the result.
It was a normal Saturday afternoon for Sara Lanning, which meant she was at the nearby grocery store. She browsed the produce, considering what she wanted to eat for the next week.
Gala apples, or braeburn? she wondered. She grabbed a bag and opened it while she debated. I’ll get gala, she decided, grabbing four of them.
As she turned away from the display, she momentarily froze. Just across the way, by the tangerines, was a tall stocky blonde man. He looked perfect.
I should get some tangerines, clementines, or oranges, she thought. She twisted the bag of apples closed and set it in her cart. She steered her cart in that direction.
Mr. Perfect glanced up and met her eyes for a moment, then looked back at the fruit.
She was almost to where he stood when the lights flickered once, twice, three times, then went out. Sara furrowed her eyebrows. It wasn’t raining as far as she knew. She didn’t hear thunder or see lightning.
“Everyone, please leave your carts and proceed to the nearest exit!” an associate yelled. Other workers were doing the same and ushering everyone out of the store.
Sara did as asked, abandoning her cart. To leave, she had to walk past the citrus display she had been heading for.
Maybe I’ll run into him outside, she thought hopefully. She walked faster, hoping to catch up.
The only light comes from the windows around the edge of the store, and Sara knocks into something and falls. Right next to Mr. Perfect. He looks down through the near-darkness.
“Need a hand?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she takes the stranger’s hand and lets him help her to her feet. “Thanks.”
“No problem. What did you trip on?” he asked.
Sara flushed and laughed, “I think I tripped over myself. It’s hard to see with the lights off.” She couldn’t see his face and he didn’t answer.
They made it out of the grocery store and he started to head for his car. Sara stood waiting for a moment, unsure of what to do.
This is my chance, she thought suddenly. I might never see him again! “Hey, wait!” she called.
He turned and looked at her. “What?”
“Do you–” she froze. What am I doing? I just met him!
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m Sara,” she said, offering her hand.
“I’m Mike,” he said, shaking her hand.
“Do you want to hang out sometime?” she blurted.
He seemed caught off guard, having opened his mouth right as she started talking. Then he smiled. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
Sara smiled back. “Sorry I interrupted you.” She dug in her purse for a piece of paper and scribbled down her number. “Here, text me sometime and we can figure it out.”
“Okay.” He walked over to his car and drove away.
After he was gone, Sara asked an employee if the store was going to reopen. It turned out they weren’t, so she went somewhere else. At that same store, she saw Mike again. He was talking with a friend and didn’t notice her.
“I was over at the grocery store across town and this random girl asked me out,” he said.
“Was she hot?”
Mike snorted, “Pfft, no.”
“So what’d you do?”
“She gave me her number so I took it but I threw it away.”
Sara felt tears rush to her eyes. She ran out of the store to her car, crying.
Alex Wright 