Nothing was what was happening earlier that day, before I met him. Well to be honest nothing had been happening for over 2 years. Then suddenly, he walked in and everything seemed to change. But first let me start from the beginning, the day that "nothing" was happening.

  It was a Wednesday, hump day, they call it. How oddly appropriate since that's about all there was to do in this town. Being the smallest town in South Carolina boasted one gas station, five stop lights, a Mom and Pop grocery store, coffee shop/bookstore and a family diner. With all the rain that had been down pouring for weeks in this sleepy town, it was even more uneventful than usual. Hump day or not.

  I was working at the Chic Boutique, the one and only local women's boutique store. It is about the only thing semi-modern and what some would call a "fashion" store in this God forsaken town. I hate to bash my childhood town but it just wasn't the same as when I grew up here. Now that I was practically the only one left in my family to still live here, it just hadn't felt like home.

  Chic boutique was more than just clothing and accessories. The owner which is my aunt Claudia, was the only family I had left here. She has an obsession with buying nichey cat items. That corner of the store resembled a cult following, those who follow the "cat." It's a way of life, I hear. Well, What I can hear over the meows and purrs that haunt my dreams.

  Staring at the cultic cat corner reminds me of why working here for minimum wage just isn't cutting it. I hate to be a downer but $9.00 an hour feels even more depressing with about 40 ceramic cats' eyes' staring at me. I've been working here for 2 years now, trying to work on my writing. The lack of foot track and the undesirable 90's style fashion we sold, made it a perfect place I could "work" while still working on my writing. While all my other friends "got out of dodge" as soon as graduation. It's not that I couldn't have gone to college it just never felt like the path for me.

  Writing is the world I belong to, my escape from this crazy life. I want to be free to write what came to me, not write what a professor wanted me to write. But working all day on my writing and not coming up with anything more than I had the day before, left me feeling anxious.Maybe this town had no inspiration to give.

  The doorbell chimed and rain blew in as the door opened. I closed my notebook and laid my pen to rest after many hours of trying to find a plot twist that I could stick with.

"Hey there." Said an unfamiliar voice as I swiveled my chair around from behind the checkout desk.

  I could tell you about all most every person in this town because there is about a whole 200 of us. There is even less men here than women. Needless to say it did pique my interest, when I heard a man's voice younger than someone who could get the senior citizens discount at the diner. What I recall to this day was how sincere his voice sounded and just enough southern drawl that I found it charming.

"Hey." I said as I instinctively blew a few ashy brown curls away from my face. My untamed curls always did have a mind of their own and old habits were hard to break. I really should get it cut soon. I've really been putting myself to the back burner lately, my writing had consumed me. Just then I realized deep in thought that he was staring at me, had he asked me a question?

"Well?" He said, this time sounding kinda snippy, if you ask me.

"Well..." I said with probably the most dumbest look on my face. I really should pay more attention when people are talking.

"Well ...I was told you have the most vast collection of cat memorabilia here in the deep south." he said looking for confirmation.

"What, Really?" I said kinda confused and a little embarrassed. Wow..those eyes.

  Waiting for my response, I felt as if he was noticing my face getting redder by the minute. I was usually pretty good at reading people but he left me stumped.

"Um...well I think we have a decent selection of cat...um...memorabilia.." Glancing up meeting his hazels, as I was saying the word "memorabilia", probably for the first time in my life using that word to describe the army of cat knick- knacks. I saw a faint curl at the edge of his lips as his eyes seemed to glisten.

"Oh my God, seriously are you kidding me?" My face was beet red now.

"No not really, just giving ya a hard time. But I could use an umbrella. Do you have any?" He smiled playfully. "The general store was already closed when I came into town and it's raining like cats and dogs out there. No pun intended guys." He said as he winked towards the cat collection to his right.

"Funny you should ask. I do have one left." This time I was the one trying to stay into character.

  I laid a bright pink umbrella with cat faces all over it on the counter. "No pun intended." I said as I punched in the total on the register, before he had time to respond.

  "$49.95," Feeling quite pleased with myself.

"Worth every penny." He said now peering into my eyes, as he paid for probably the most expensive, ugly umbrella known to man.

I felt his eyes linger a moment longer.

"Time will tell." I teased back.

  I glanced out the fogged store window front to see the rain had stopped. The sun, as if on queue, was peeking through the clouds. I hadn't seen the sun in weeks. To be honest I hadn't been myself for even longer than that. But after my run in with him, I couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope that the old Lacey was somewhere deep inside me still.

  That night curled up with my fuzzy blanket, I played the day's events over in my head recalling our conversation. Every word he said, the looks he gave me, the way he carried himself with such a laid-back confidence. Laying in my bed I wondered how a complete stranger could have such an impact even though I spent only a handful of minutes with him. Was it just my desperation to feel love and connection with someone again? I tried so hard to keep that side of me hidden from the world. But inside I felt as if I was drowning, and it wasn't from all this rain.

  Most of the conversation was just flirty banter but I still couldn't shake the feeling that there was more said between us that wasn't spoken aloud. Those moments sparked a new-found fire inside of me. That night I wrote more on my story than I have in months. I finally settled on a plot twist. It was so ironic since my life had seemed to take a twist itself. A smile came across my face as I laid my head down to rest. A deep exhale escaped my lips, something I must have been holding in for a long time.

This was the first day more than nothing happened.

***Thanks for reading, it means so much to me! Please vote and comment!What are you thinking of Lacey and Seth so far?***