Oranges & Roses

Flowers Are Magic

Chapter Thirteen

“How do you feel about power bars?”

“Probably the same way you feel about peeing sitting down.”

“I’ve actually done that and it wasn’t too bad but point taken.” He put the box of nastiness back on the shelf. “Granola?”

Granola I could do. I was about tired of power bars thanks to college. “Now you’re talking.”

When Rey told me we’d be making a pit stop before traveling to our final destination, I wasn’t too upset. Since I didn’t give him many options I was expecting a hotel or something akin to that. I probably should’ve been worried when we stopped off at a Wal-Mart and he started to toss non-perishables into the cart along with a sleeping bag and a deck of cards. But I remained painfully oblivious.

He didn’t get much more in the snack food aisle. I never spent much time in this particular part of the store. I wasn’t really allowed to have this type of stuff so I avoided it as much as possible. Some of it looked really yummy and I didn’t want the temptation. Rey went down the juice aisle next and without asking me, plucked a bottle of cranberry juice, no sugar added, and dropped it into the cart.

“I know you’re not getting that for me.”

Rey looked over his shoulder, an eyebrow cocked high. He was guiding the cart from the end while I was steering from the front even though he obviously didn’t need me to. I could probably stand on that little bar that made up the bottom of the basket and he wouldn’t notice or care. “The world doesn’t revolve around you, Oranges. I have to eat and drink too, you know. You’ll be lucky if I buy you water at this point.”

“That’s so nice of you but I’ll have you know that I can buy my own groceries.”

“You sure know how to insult people without actually meaning to.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, dear Oranges, that you have to learn the difference between a joke, sarcasm, a compliment, and an insult.”

He grabbed a jug of water and tossed it into the basket, then proceeded to steer the cart back towards the front of the store. Not too surprisingly there weren’t many people around, mostly just store employees. There was this one guy buffing the floor with those really big earmuffs on and a few others stocking the shelves. None of them paid us much attention which was nice.

Telling him how much of a conceded asshole would’ve made me sound like a broken record so I let that silly statement of his go. I knew the difference between all of those things but being short with him now would’ve had no point to it. Besides, I had something else to say when we stopped by a familiar section in the produce aisle. My eyes rolled on their own accord as he picked one up and checked the color.

“Why do you like oranges so much?”

“I told you.” He smelled and squeezed one. The sight was actually a little hot, not that I would admit that out loud. “I grew up by orange groves.”

“So that part was real?”

He stiffened for a moment before putting the selected fruit into the thin plastic bag. “Yes but I would prefer you wait to start the ‘real or no real’ until we get where we’re going.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because this isn’t the place I want to have that particular discussion.”

“Paranoid much?”