102
I open my eyes wide in shock, and it takes me only a few seconds to react, turning immediately to the bully who took the bottle from me.
"Hey, that's my wine!" I shout in annoyance and as I look at the brazen person, I almost take back my words for the handsome man in front of me.
"I saw it first," is the response from the young man with brown hair and light brown eyes.
"No, I saw it first," I retorted, snapping back to reality." Give me back my bottle."
"Of course not, it's mine," he blurts out.
"I won't say it again, give it to me now," I demand, about to kick this asshole in the balls.
"Sorry miss, I took it first, so you'll have to get another one," says the very cheeky one.
"But there are no others!" I exclaim with my face turning red. "I took it first, and you snatched it out of my hands, you bully."
"As I told you, I saw it first, so if you'll excuse me I'll leave," he retorts, turning around to get out of there.
"Juliette?" I hear them say behind me, so I stop in my tracks and without dropping the bottle, I turn around. "What are you doing?"
Chloé looks at me with a puzzled expression.
"Trying to take away the bottle of wine that I," I say, emphasizing that last word," I saw first and this man took from me."
"That's not true," counters the shoplifter in front of me, frowning.
"Of course it is!" I retorted.
"Juliette, let's go, we're running late and we can buy it somewhere else," Chloé says.
"That's just what I was telling you."
"Of course not," I flatly deny. "He stole my wine and he's going to give it back to me."
"I didn't steal anything from her!" he blurts out with a gesture of indignation.
"Apart from thief, liar!" I yell at him.
"That 's not true."
"Yes it is," I assert.
"Juliette," I hear my friend call back to me. "Put that thing down and let's go."
"No, Chloé."
"Julie...," she exclaims, denoting impatience. "Trust me, we have to go."
"Chloé, let go of me!" I retort, kicking for her to let go. "Chloé!
I struggle in vain, because we are getting farther away from the man who has kept my bottle of wine.
"Chloé!"
"Calm down, Juliette."
"Let go of me now!" I demand, but my friend ignores my words and leads me along with him to the box while all the people watch us.
"You let him take my wine!" I demand, once we reach the cashier's station where our cart is.
"Is that all you'll take, Miss?" the girl asks Chloé.
"Yes, sorry for the wait, we didn't find the other stuff we were looking for," she replies to her, ignoring me flatly.
"Chloé!" I call out to her again.
"Stop acting like a little girl, Julie," she says seriously.
"Here's your purchase," the cashier speaks, getting our attention.
"Thank you very much." She takes the credit card to put it in her wallet and then clips the bags, heading for the exit.
I walk behind her, with the most disgusted expression on my face. I can't believe I allowed my bottle of wine to be taken from me.
"I can't believe you did that just for a wine," Chloé comments.
"It was my wine, not 'just a wine.'"
"We might as well have gone to a liquor store like we will now, instead of you getting into a fight over it."
"For the record, I wasn't fighting, I was merely complaining to that idiot for snatching the bottle from me," I made it clear.
We finally made it to a liquor store, and for lack of one, we bought two bottles of grape wine. The finest and most delicious grape wine ever created.
Much better than the one snatched from me by the shoplifter in the supermarket.
"Chloé, do you think we'll have time to go to the jewelry store?"
"What for?" she questions.
"It's just that I want to buy Sophie a present. It will be her birthday soon and since I won't be able to be with her, I'd like you to take it to her for me."
"I think for Sophie there would be no better gift other than her sister being there on her birthday."
"You know I can't go back, Chloé," I sighed. "Besides, I already talked to her and she understood perfectly."
"Okay, let's go. There's half an hour left before it's twelve, let's hope they haven't closed."
I nod before we set off in search of a jewelry store that is still open.
We walk all over the shopping area, trying to find an open store, but to our bad luck, it looks like everything has closed.
"Damn, everything is already closed," I complain.
"Wait," I hear Chloé say. "I think that one is still open, come on."
She points me to a jewelry store that has all the lights on.
We both run until we get there, and as we get closer, we notice on the sign that it hasn't closed yet, thank heaven.
"Good evening, ladies," one of the employees greets us, welcoming us.
"Good evening," we reply, and I head towards one of the counters where I see some beautiful bracelets on display that immediately catch my attention.
I detail the bracelets, which appear to be made of gold, and I like each one better than the other. I have no idea how I will be able to decide and we don't even have much time.
"Good evening, miss," I hear a male voice say and as I look in front of me, I find an elegant gentleman. "Would you like me to show you a piece?"
"Could you show me those two bracelets, please?" I ask, indicating the ones I liked the most.
"Of course," he replies, pulling them off the glass counter.