Beneath The Waves (bxb)

10. I Think You're Confused

"Hey, Park, you want some protein shakes? Gonna hit the gym now that you have some time off again?"

I grinned at his joke about me likely being fired as 'time off', but eh, it was a good idea. Shrugging, I replied with a "Yeah" as I grabbed a loaf of bread and some mustard and ketchup. With my insane work schedule and Jayson's odd hours, we hadn't really had much time to shop. Also, after Callem came, we literally didn't pay attention to what we were eating, and soon enough, the fridge was getting close to empty. He sauntered over to the deli counter and got a few pounds of turkey cold cuts and cheese while I fetched a gallon of milk after dropping the condiments and bread into the cart.

"Mmmm."

"Yeah yeah, you better not eat it all this time. I call at least half."

"You do that."

Jay stared for a moment but then just rolled his eyes and began pushing the cart toward the next aisle, the snack one. He tried to pass it on his way to anywhere else, but I grabbed the front and jerked it into the best place on earth.

"Park, you can pick two."

I looked at him like he'd just kicked a puppy and the puppy had been me.

"T-Two?"

"Yes. Two. Remember the last time I said 'pick what you want'?"

I pursed my lips and nudged the tip of my shoe against the tiled floor.

"Parker, being silent isn't going to change the fact that you bought so many cookies and chips last time that you took up all the space in the cabinets."

Drat.

"Okaaaay."

I turned toward the aisle and stared at all the amazingness I wouldn't be able to take home.

Choosing just two. That is a sin.

My gaze roved over the shelves as I stalked up and down the aisle, pouting silently.

"You have twenty seconds."

"Huh?"

Jay crossed his muscular arms over his chest and raised a brow.

"You've been prowling this aisle for five minutes. Just pick two, or I'll pick them for you."

"But."

"That's it, I'm picking."

I grabbed his right arm as he walked toward a shelf, trying to stop him so I could figure out what to choose. When he grabbed a package of Oreos, I relaxed a little, especially since they were the double-stuffed. Once those were tossed into the cart, he easily dragged me down the aisle before stopping again and reaching up to take down a big bag of Doritos. Cool Ranch, mmmm. Tossing those in the cart, he removed my hand from his bicep, aww, and grabbed my wrist to pull me out of snack heaven.

I groaned but let him pull me, because honestly, it wasn't often that I got the chance to openly stare at his butt since he was too busy pushing the cart with his other hand to notice. An image of Callem flashed into my head, making me almost feel guilty... but that made no sense. We weren't even the same species, and we didn't understand each other, it would never work.

"Hey, Parker?"

"Hm?"

"You can stop staring at my butt now."

Blinking, I quickly realized we were in the check-out line and blushed, grabbing random stuff from the cart to throw onto the counter, trying to look busy. I could hear Jay chuckling as he walked past me to pay.