Falling in the Dark | ✓

14 | Feet-ings

As I'm walking through the aisles of the cozy campus grocery store, I start to crave fruit soda suddenly and quite desperately. So I abandon my search for candy and head to the cold drinks section. I scan the contents of the freezer, squinting against the too-bright lights that line the insides. There are eight different varieties of fruit soda and it's a time-consuming process to outweigh each brand's pros and cons. Finally, I pick a small plastic bottle of grape soda with neon purple packaging. The bottle is so cold that my fingers begin to grow numb as soon as I wrap my hand around it.

Shutting the glass door of the freezer, I walk back to the aisle filled with a dizzying array of sweet treats. The colorful plastic packs are arranged so meticulously that it looks like a strange optical illusion from a distance. I pick a small bag of Skittles and take my things up to the short-haired girl at the counter who looks the same age as me. She has three metal piercings in each ear and a shiny ring on her left eyebrow. I touch the end of my bare earlobe self-consciously.

"Hi," I say to her, placing the soda and candy on the counter. Red, green and yellow fairy lights line the walls behind the counter, the wire looping around the back of the computer.

"Hi." She smiles back, billing the two items with a casual ease that comes with practice. The collar of her white polo shirt is sticking up unevenly.

I pull the square wallet out of my pocket and pay before opening the soda and taking big, thirsty swigs. At first, the drink is sweet and cold, the fizz tickling the roof of my mouth. But a moment later, a brain freeze kicks in.

"Whoa, slow down there," the girl says, staring at me from behind the counter. "Are you all right?"

"Not really," I mumble, grabbing onto the counter unsteadily.

A big gust of wind whooshes into the store as the door — a few feet to the right of the counter — is pushed open. Astrid walks in, her arm draped casually over the shoulder of a girl I don't recognize.

"Oh, hey!" Astrid grins when her eyes sweep the store before landing on me. The girl standing next to her smiles at me and the cashier politely. She's strikingly beautiful with her dark skin and high ponytail that reaches past the small of her back. Strands of her incredibly long hair are interspersed with purple and blue streaks.

"Hey," I smile at both of them, but my vision is still unfocused.

"This is Karah!" Astrid announces happily to me and the cashier who smiles awkwardly.

The four of us spend the next few minutes trying to simultaneously introduce ourselves to one another which results in a lot of commotion. I can hear the sound of my laughter above the others', unusually high-pitched and edgy. Stupid grape soda.

Finally, Karah walks further into the store to find something as Astrid leads me towards the personal care section. She grabs my elbow and leans towards me conspiratorially.

"That's her," she says to me, beaming. "The one I told you about!"

"Oh!" I exclaim as understanding dawns on me. I lower my voice to match Astrid's whisper. "She seems really nice! You like her, huh?"

"Yeah, I do." Two spots of pink appear on her high cheekbones as she smiles. She's looking away from me, at the rows of shampoos and conditioners on the shelves. Her long-sleeved, shiny silver top makes her skin appear as though she's sprayed herself with glitter.

"Someone's in love," I sing-song, carefully keeping my voice low.

"Shut up," she grins. I laugh as she picks up a baby pink shampoo bottle and swats my arm with it.

"But hey, speaking of love . . ." Astrid turns to me, her eyes filled with curiosity.

I feel myself tensing up in anticipation of her question. The inside of my mouth still feels cold and tastes like artificial grapes.