Lingering

"Oh, hey, you two. You're..." One of the staff checked his watch, "one minute early." Luna was never late to work; Carlos had one or two days a month where he'd arrive a little late, whether it be he got up late, he got distracted or another reason nobody expected. The two were usually there on time, and that was what mattered to the staff.

"Mornin'," Carlos responded with a look as if to question whether there was a problem with his arrival, earning a smug reply back from the staff member.

"Good morning, all!" Luna was already off to hug one of her female staff friends, who sat in the corner of the main room, not bothering to say to any of the others.

Carlos began to instruct everyone. "Right, today we're gonna start operating on Act 4 and acting it out, okay?" Warehouse 10 was the central warehouse and contained most of the administrative workrooms, design studios, recording booths, set planners and everything else that wasn't filming in them. Warehouse 2, left of 10, housed all the filming equipment, the sets for directing on and the locker rooms. Warehouse 4 was quite empty, with nothing in use there; it was just for storage and experimenting.

Some of the staff headed for the design studio; others for the recording booths, while Carlos, Luna, and some other senior workers strolled into Workroom 10A.

The team sat around the table, seven pairs of eager eyes focused on a world of their mess - papers, scripts, pencils, and many more random items.

"So, we're gonna run over Act 4's script today, and get to acting it after the lunch break, right?" said one of the staff as he took out a pencil from the pot, already beginning to take notes.

"Y-Yeah, I think so!" Luna and some other members followed suit, taking pencils and creative materials.

The time on the clock on the workroom read 7:00 by the time they had begun, and before they knew it: it read 8:30. Minutes turned to hours, and their edits were slowly piling up on the pages. It was like a sea of ink had washed over the table from their minds.

＊＊＊＊

"When is lunch break?" one of the staff groaned, turning to the clock. It read 12:25, which meant that the lunch break was in 5 minutes. Some people don't have patience.

"Four minutes now. Final touches, people!" Carlos was furiously scribbling, wanting to get the last bits of his edit down on the script.

Three minutes. The group were already packing up (bar Luna) and ready to leave. He wasn't, though. He did some more scribbling.

Two minutes. End of the page was in sight, he thought. He just had to get there.

One minute. Carlos' hands ached from writing for so long: they only split up the session for beverages and small discussion points.

Thirty seconds. And done!

"Right, lunch break. You've got 40 minutes, and I'll see you all then." The producer dismissed everyone with his aching hand, packing away his items and leaving the room.

It seemed that, with some of her female colleagues, Luna had left already. So Carlos was by himself. The man walked over to the lockers and grabbed his wallet, coat, hat, and phone before exiting through the warehouse door. Some of the staff stayed behind because they brought lunch and ate it in the staff room, but it was generally an empty warehouse for about 40 minutes.

'OPEN' changed to 'LOCK' when the warehouse door shut behind him, the coolness of the large room slowly disbanding into the summer air as Carlos strolled out of the alleyway. Today he didn't make anything for lunch, so he pulled out his wallet and made his way to the express mart on the street.

He wasn't even through the automatic doors, yet he could already feel the air conditioning coming from inside the store. He sensed the delicious foods, of fruits, vegetables, meats, sweets, juices, and some guy with a covering on their nose and mouth.

Wait..what? Why was this person wearing that inside a supermarket? Were they hiding their identity? He thought to himself for a bit, unfortunately losing track of the person only a few seconds later.

Carlos rid himself of his hat and browsed the aisles in a hunt for anything he fancied. After a bit of searching, he'd grabbed a sandwich and a pot of salad, but he didn't have anything sweet. Maybe he'd get something from the bakery. His fingers lingered over the crisp packets until his hungry consciousness told him to move away, and did as it told him.

Around the aisles, there were other shoppers with full trolleys, some with children either tagging (or cruising) along. Crying children, Carlos' least favourite sound.

Ah, there it was. A large brown sign, barely visible above the top of the shelf, but Carlos saw it without even needing to turn the corner. His final stop through the supermarket.

One step. Two steps. Three st---

The world tilted 90° as he turned the corner, a flash of light and suddenly: he was sideways.

Sideways with someone below him.

"Ow.." said the thing below.

Carlos needed a moment to think, but he couldn't. He pushed himself off the person below him, but not before getting a good look at him.

The man was a few inches shorter than him, standing at around 5'10. Lying, rather. He wore a covering on his face and a cap, obviously trying to mask his identity.

Before Carlos had any more time to process anything, the man spoke. "Sorry. We both weren't looking, uh, could you help me with the bags? You dropped your things too."

"Yeah, sure. Sorry about that." The two tried to seem as calm as they could since everyone was staring, but it wasn't calm at all. Awkwardness lingered in the air as the two picked up their shopping and continued with what they were doing beforehand.

Carlos grabbed some sushi from one of the other aisles, rather than opting for the bakery. That was not where he wanted to be anymore.

Any more standing around and I think I would've died of embarrassment, he thought. Nevertheless, he charged onward to the tills and paid for his shopping, swiftly leaving afterwards. He didn't want to spend any more time there than he needed to.

＊＊＊＊

The automatic doors shut behind him as he emerged from the store into the sunlight with his bag. Lunch was his; now he just had to decide where he wanted to enjoy it.

Taking a short walk down the road, Carlos led himself to a small green park, little benches and bushes dotted inside the fenced area. There was a bronze statue situated on a pedestal near the west fence, enclosed with berry bushes and a small gate allowing further inspection of the memorial.

"Hm. I'll grab a bench and eat there, I guess." Carlos let out a low mumble as he walked inside the park, his eyes set on one of the benches. He took out the sandwich he bought and set his bag down on the floor. His eyes lit up as he saw his favourite once again ─ the BLT.

One bite. Two bites. Three bites.

The sandwich was gone. Unlike Luna, who practically nibbled on her food, Carlos almost gulped it down. Even the sushi and salad pot he bought were gone moments later.

Now, he had two options. Stay for a bit until his lunch break was over or go back early to the warehouse and wait. That seemed like the best option, as he had nothing else to be doing out here. However, he wanted some time to think first.

Who was that person he met in the store? Why were they hiding behind the hat and face covering? Why'd he ended up on top of him?

It didn't matter. Carlos didn't have anything to go by other than the eyes. The only thing he had to do now was to make his return to the warehouse.

So he did. Past the shop once more, round the corner and the lock was in sight. 'OPEN' appeared once he authenticated, the door allowed Carlos into the warehouse again, where...

It seemed Luna was waiting for him.

"Hey, Carlos!" There it was again, her trademark smile.

"Luna. Hey there."

"We still have a little time before we start, do you wanna go sit in the break room?" She gestured to the break room as she spoke.

"Uh, sure. Let's go." He followed her hands and set off for the break room, wondering why Luna was back so early.

They took seats opposite each other in the break room.

"So, what'd you get up to this break, Carlos?"

"Well... I was getting my lunch from the store because I forgot to make some. I wasn't looking where I was going and walked into someone. Then we fell over."

"You both did? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, although I'm a little shaken. I looked at him before I got up off him-"

"O-Oh, you fell on top of him?"

"Yeah, th-" Carlos went a little red. "That's not important. Anyway, he was wearing a hat and face covering. I think he was trying to hide who he was."

"But why would he do that?"

"He just... didn't want people to know, I guess." There was a small pause before Carlos spoke again.

"What did you get up to?"

"Uh, I went to grab sushi for lunch with some of the staff."

"Oh, cool. I had sushi too, along with a BLT and a salad pot." Awkwardness lingered in the air as they ran out of things to discuss.

Carlos pulled out his phone and checked the time - obviously wondering when lunch break would end. 01:08.

"Better return to the warehouse now."

"Yes, let's go! I can't wait to start filming!" The two tucked in their chairs and left the room as it was. Alone.