"The streets look busier than usual."
Rose muttered as she looked around; Clara nodded her head as she sat beside her; Sam rolled his eyes as he drove on the highway. As it was the holiday season, people were continuing to pour inside the big town like Newton from all over rural Kansas.
"I feel like a cab driver."
Sam muttered, but the girls didn't seem to mind a handsome cab driver. The white Range Rover was entering Newton with a smooth pace; they could see lots of high-rise buildings in the distance as they went down the highway.
"How about we grab a pizza first?"
Sam suddenly asked, when he saw Dillon's Grocery Store on the map, which was just beside 'OJ's Pizza Cafe,' and he wanted to go and check what the hell that #306 ticket was, and if he would win something.
"Pizza? That sounds not bad; I thought we would eat after reaching the mall."
Clara suddenly jumped on the offer; she felt a little hungry, and Sam usually doesn't say or suggest food stuff. Rose also looked interested hearing about pizza, although she felt full.
"Alright, I heard this place does have a nice pizza from a customer today; let's check it out."
Sam didn't wait for them to change their decision; he instantly put the blinkers on. Rose and Clara were a bit surprised, but they didn't mind. Rose turned the stereo on, and Clara started to sing with her in the back. Sam's mind was mostly on the road, and his expectations were a bit high from the system.
The white Range Rover stopped in front of the 'OJ's Pizza Cafe.' Sam smiled, seeing Dillon's Grocery Store was just around the corner. The girls laughed and jumped out of the car while Sam turned the stereo off, and as it was a busy street, he had to park the car in front of another store.
"Hey, you guys go and have a look at the menu; I'll be back after parking the car."
Rolling down the window Sam said, seeing them nod their heads, he pushed the car ahead because he had almost frozen up the road with cars honking behind him.
Parking the car was a bit of a hassle for him because he was used to having lots of space, but here it felt crammed, and there were lots of people in the street. Also, the car was expensive, so he had to be careful about it. He parked the car just across from Dillon's Grocery Store.
After locking and checking everything was good with the car, he pulled out his wallet; there were two hundred-dollar notes he got from Mr. Martin, and he had around fifty dollars in change.
It will take only five dollars to buy that specific ticket, but I can't buy one; I have to buy at least five to show how addicted I am to gambling and stuff.
Sam shoved his wallet in his coat's pocket, then, checking both sides, crossed the road. It was the first time he felt nervous entering a grocery store; even he can't believe what he was about to do.
Entering the shop, the first thing he noticed was how cold it was. The heater was there, although his hands were sweating, but he felt a weird chill inside. He was not doing something wrong, but it felt wrong for some reason.
Guess never cheating in life also has its drawbacks.
From childhood, Sam found those academic books very easy; if it were not for his mom, he would've graduated from high school early. She wanted him to enjoy his life rather than taking it hard and working at an early age.
Entering the shop, he first looked at the counter where the lottery tickets are, then naturally he looked ahead and went to the refrigerator and grabbed a small soda bottle and came to the counter to pay.
"Total $4.99, cash or card?"
The employee on the counter was not even glancing at Sam, but when he did, he had to look up because Sam was 180 cm.
"Cash, Are those tickets? Do you have $5 ones?"
Sam casually pulled out his wallet and looked at the employee in his eyes; his face was stoic, and after dropping a $10 bill, he casually opened the soda bottle. He acted chill.
"Yeah, we got Lucky Star this time around; those are $5 worth. Do you want one?"
As the employee got the $10 bill, he asked casually, Teenagers buy lottery tickets a lot. He also bought a lot when he was a teen. Everyone thinks they are the main character at this age, but life slowly but surely fucks them up.
"Yeah, I have a number in mind; it's like a horoscope thing. Like, give me from 30301 to 30306 if possible."
Sam took a sip from the soda bottle and nodded when he heard there were $5 worth available, then pulled out two more $10 bills for it. The employee went toward the ticket rack, and after checking every ticket, he saw there was no ticket number higher than 999.
"I am sorry. It starts with three digits; I can get you like 301 to 306."
The employee came back soon and reported, and Sam nodded his head like, "Yeah, he can take those." The employee went back again to grab the tickets, and as Sam waited for the employee, two people came behind him to pay at the counter.
Both of them were taller than Sam, and they were wearing black biker leather jackets with an American flag bandana on their heads. They also had long grey beards and looked intimidating.
Sam didn't feel shit because he has seen worse types of people coming into his stores; he stood there calmly, and they were also chill. At that moment, the employee came back with five scratchers in his hand.
"Here, from 301 to 306."
Sam grabbed those and stood aside; he pulled out a coin from his wallet and started to scratch right there. He wanted to look like an eager teen.
"Hey, Kid, wasting money on those scratchers? Those are bogus; 50 grand max price. I have never seen anyone winning shit other than another scratcher."
One of the tall old guys commented on seeing Sam; he understood Sam was from around here like him, so he commented in a similar accent.
"Well, yeah, me too. I just want to see myself winning."
Sam replied with a smile; if it was a city kid, he would get nervous talking with an angry-looking man like this, who could potentially have a gun with him, but Sam was chill about it; his reply made both old men chuckle.