Once Mary had turned a corner, she quickly looked for an alley or somewhere she could turn into further, just in case her Mum opted to follow her. About 30 seconds down the road she found a wide alley that provided another route to the town center, and a short way down there was a bench Mary sat on.
She quickly put her bag in her lap and rummaged inside again, this time finding the lighter with ease, but couldn't find her cigarettes. After essentially dumping out the entire contents of her bag, they still hadn't appeared. Mary was a little worried about what had happened to them, but was even more worried about how much she was craving it and had no current way to satisfy herself.
The closest place that she knew would sell them was a small supermarket on the town high street. Alternatively, the store she bought them at yesterday was roughly a ten minute walk away. Mary opted for the supermarket. A few minutes later and she approached the till, trying to project some amount of confidence into this interaction.
"Hey, could I get two packs of Richmond please" Mary last minute opted for two packs, just on the chance she would lose or use one before she got a chance to buy more. She reached into her bag and looked for her purse, not clocking that the cashier was scanning her.
"You got ID first love?" The little old lady had made her judgment, and it was not in Mary's favour.
"No I left it in my car, but I'm fuckin' 21, I haven't been IDd in months" Mary spat out. She couldn't believe she was being so suddenly rude to a member of staff, but she couldn't help it. Her words defaulted to lies and aggression.
'No ID, no sale I'm afraid" the cashier said firmly, doubling down. Mary knew she should probably walk away. But couldn't.
"Are you fucking serious? I've been buying fags from here for years and this is the first time in ages someone has fucking asked. So I've gotta walk back to my fucking car right now just to prove to you I'm allowed to buy them? What a fuckin joke" Mary kicked off, raising her voice. A number of people were watching her now, including the security guard who was already walking over.
"Sorry miss but we're gonna need you to leave" he politely requested, placing a hand on Mary's shoulder to guide her towards the exit.
"Don't you fucking touch me!" Mary snapped at him, pulling her body away from his touch and turning to face him.
"How old do you think I am?" Mary asked.
The security guard shrugged.
"Sixteen?" He replied.
"I'm flattered mate, but I'm 21 and I just wanna buy some fuckin fags" Mary complained.
"Sorry ma'am but you'll just need to come back with ID, Challenge 25 is store policy"
Mary gave up, and stormed out towards the entrance.
"Fuckin cunts!" She shouted behind her before she walked through the doorway.
Stood outside, Mary was unsure what her next step was, but she knew she needed a smoke more than she'd needed one so far. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and pulled up the messages with Marcus.
'hey im free now, where r u?' she typed out and sent. She knew he would have some she could bum.
In the meantime, Mary was checking out everyone that walked past, seeing if anyone was smoking and looked like they could be convinced to give her one. Mary picked out another young girl, stood outside a beauty and cosmetic store in her uniform. Mary approached her, the girl clocking her a little in advance and smiling towards her.
"Hey I'm sorry to bother you. But I don't suppose you have a spare fag I could have please?" Mary asked as politely as she could muster. The girl smiled at her.
"Sure" she replied, putting her own cigarette between her lips so she could go through her bag. She pulled out a pack of Mayfair, took a cigarette out and handed it to Mary, who quickly lit up, triple pumping it before taking it from her mouth and exhaling.
"Wow, you look like you needed that" the girl observed. Mary, mid inhale, nodded.
"Let me guess, not quite old enough to buy your own yet, and the shops are ID-ing today? I know that feeling well. I only turned 18 4 months ago so I'm well aware of the feeling of asking a stranger for one" the girl laughed.
"Yea, the fuckin store down the road just turned me away" Mary laughed.
"Let me guess, the short old woman with the glasses? She got me a few times too"
The pair chuckled together.
"I'm Emma by the way, nice to meet you" she said, smiling at Mary.
"Mary, and thanks for this by the way, I really needed it" she replied gesturing towards the cigarette in her hand.
"You're welcome, and actually, do you want to just take the rest of the pack? I think there's only a few left in there anyway, but it'll help tide you over and I've got another pack anyway"
"Oh my god seriously? That would be amazing thanks" Mary said excitedly.
Emma went into her bag and pulled the pack out, handing it over to Mary.
"Anyway I gotta head back inside, I'm just on a quick smoke break" Emma explained, turning to head back.
"Oh ok, well thanks again!" Mary shouted after her.
"No worries, and good luck finding more!" Emma replied.
Mary opened the pack to find four left, and suddenly felt relieved that she had more.