I pulled up at a movie store with my ex husband. I told him we should have gone back home first, because I had a buy one, get one free coupon. He said he didn't care, it was only a $2 rental anyway.
We went inside and I was standing at the counter while he looked around. I was waiting to talk to someone about a rental, but the woman was in conversation with a customer. She had blonde hair, kind of a big hairdo like a bouffant, and big glasses. She was sort of interrogating the woman in front of her, she was an older also. The movie case was on the counter and it was very large, like it had 3 vHS tapes in it. The woman behind the counter was asking about the movie, prying her for information about how much she knew about the movie. The customer was stumbling over her words, as if she hadn't watched the movie. The woman stared at her, narrowing her eyes and said "wasn't it interesting when they started going out and the fights they had?" The customer nervously laughed and said "um yea." She was then looking over her shoulder around the store.
The customer walked away and the woman said "so she wanted a refund on the full purchase price, but she didn't even watch the movie or return the popcorn." She rang up $6.42 on the register and laughed, shaking her head. I remember thinking, she still owed the customer a lot of money like another $45.
People were viewing the movies on small TV's that were set up at many stations around the store. It looked like computer stations on desks, all very close together. The desks were light colored wood with a laquer over them, so they were shiny, and they had a curve shape to them like an S.
I was walking through the store trying to find an empty place, but people were everywhere. I found one that was empty, but the desk was turned the wrong way and I couldn't reach the keyboard or monitor.
I found my ex husband in the store watching a movie. I poked him on the side, and he gave me a very angry look. I remembered thinking at that time, "he's so much different than the man I just dated. Why did I go back to him? My friends are going to really let me have it for this decision." My mind was racing about our relationship and all the times we fought. I thought of how it ended and I swore I would never be with him again. I thought about all the times I'd cried over him, as I stood there staring at him watching some movie and ignoring me. I thought I should end all contact with him before we got any further into it.
I started to look at the monitor next to him to watch a movie, but I couldn't remember the movie I wanted to watch. I wanted to see whatever movie the customer was talking about earlier, but I didn't know anything about it or the title. I walked back toward the counter, and found the same employee who interrogated the woman earlier walking by. I stopped her and asked generically if I could get a movie. She said "what movie?" She smiled at me, like I was some stupid girl. I said "you know that movie with that one guy, I can't remember his name. He got together with that woman, I can't remember her name either." She said "what is the name of it?" I said "I can't remember." She asked "what did the cover look like?" I thought it had two people, maybe in a wheat field, but I really wasn't sure. She asked if I wanted to preview something. I said yes.
I went and laid down on a bed that looked like a hospital bed on wheels, but with a big thick foam mattress. The mattress, sheets and the blanket were all cream colored like the wood in the store. I pulled the covers up and put some headphones on to listen.
My cell phone rang. When I looked at the number, I thought it was my ex husband looking for me. I answered it, and it was my friend's father. He was saying in the background to my friend "is it ok if I tell her where we are?" She mumbled something, then he said "we are at a furniture store and she wanted to know if you had to pay for delivery when you bought your bedroom set." I said "I did but they bring the furniture up one flight of stairs and put it together for you. They will even take apart your old set, so you don't have to worry about it." I envisioned the old set she had, and recalled the story she told me of how difficult it was to get it into her room. He was repeating what I said, then he said "but they won't deliver it to the second floor." I clarified "they will, in your house there is only one set of stairs. They will bring it up the one flight of stairs." The woman who worked at the video store was staring at me the movie case in her hand. It looked like she was waiting to talk to me. I started to feel rushed in my conversation. My friend said "well I can hoist it up into my bedroom window." I said "they deliver - aren't you listening to me? You don't have to take it through the window, they carried the boxes into my room and set it up. You would only have to move your current set out of the way." She said "Oh really? I don't think I'm ready for this right now, it's too much work." She seemed irritated and her father was trying to reason with her in the background. I said "I told you they deliver because I thought that would encourage you - not discourage you. I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying to you." She rushed off the phone.
The woman approached me with a video and I realized I hadn't been wearing my clothes anymore. I was naked under the blanket. I hurriedly tried to put them back on, while she was talking. I hoped no one would notice.
I heard my friend Jen's voice calling to me and when I looked over, there was a stairway leading up to another level where a kitchen was. She was putting away dinner she'd made and asked me if I wanted some corn. I said "no thanks" and when I turned back around, I was in her house, in the middle of the living room and laying on the same bed. She came over and said "I knew we shouldn't have made so much, I really don't like creamed corn. My father insisted that I make it because everyone usually eats it all." She was dumping a colander upside down, onto what looked like a bucket on the floor. I wondered why she didn't do that in the sink, then I woke up.
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