Tomato Stand

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I'm taking care of my grandma's tomato stand for the week since she's kinda sick. And having it be winter makes it a lot easier to get all the tomatoes sold by diner time too. To tell the truth this job was a lot of fun to do. I get to know more people and since it's winter brake, I can pass the time quicker.

An old man walked up to the stand, snow floating around him, "how much for five?" I smile happily at the polite elderly man, "it will only cost 2.60. Today we're having the price lowered a bit." The man nodded slowly in understanding then picked out five ripe tomatoes and handed them to me. He took out his wallet and took out 2.65. "Oh," I began, "it's only 2.60. You don't need to pay the extra five cents." The man smiled and nodded slowly then took my hand into his old cripple ones.

The touch of his cold, fragile fingers made me feel as if the tiniest thing will make them brake. Slowly he placed the extra five cents into my hand and closed them firmly. "This is for being so kind to an elderly man like myself," shakily he let go of my warm hands and started to walk away. Seeing his frail fingers gripping onto the bag made me worry. I was about to ask him if he needed help carrying his bags when a guy my age gently patted the elderly man on the shoulder and asked him something. The older man nodded and said something and handed him his bag in return. I smiled at seeing how kind he was for carrying the old man's bags.

My eyes watched them as they walked away in the opposite direction talking. 'I'm so glad that there are still nice people around' I told myself as I relooked the kind man's profile in my head. He had dark hair and lovely golden like eyes that sparkled with the falling snow. 'I wonder if I'll see him again,' I asked myself as I stared up at the cloudy sky. That's when a woman walked to my stand as well and bought some tomatoes.

The day went on as usual. A person comes and buys tomatoes then leaves. Sometimes one of the elderly people come to buy tomatoes and talks to me about their life. Their stories always seem to fascinate me. How some of them were around during WWII and other wars. One of the older ladies told me that her son died from a bombing when she was in Poland. Remembering this made her cry and seeing her cry made me cry as well. So the both of us were a crying mess. I'm glad that she feels better now though.

~Next Day~

Again I'm working my grandma's stand. Different people came today, as always, so I wasn't able to say "it's nice to see you again ma'am/sir". Mostly elderly men and women buy from this small stand because of the prices. But today, a younger man decided to buy.

Said man walked up to me with a very red face. I got worried that maybe he was sick, since it was winter, so I placed my warm hand on his already warm forehead. The man's eyes widened and his face became a darker red. "Sir, you're really hot," I stated in a polite voice, "are you sick?" He backed away from my hand and lowered his head. Without buying a thing, he ran off in the direction in which he first came. I frowned slightly, "I wonder what's wrong with him?" That's when I realized that it was the kind gentleman who helped the elderly man with his bags.

The day's at its end and I'm closing up shop. I still couldn't stop thinking about what his name is and if he was sick. 'I really hope he isn't, he's really nice and-' my thought was interrupted by a sudden tapping on my shoulder. I turn around to see my grandma smiling happily behind me. "Grandma, you should be in bed!" I stated in a kind of worried tone, "your still sick!" She laughed and made a muscle with one of her arms as the other supported her shoulder, "I'm perfectly fine _____. This old lady isn't going to just have her life pass her by." A smile crept onto my face as I placed the last empty crate of tomatoes on the cleared table. Grandma placed her hand on top of the crates and looked at me with a smile, "I'll finish up here, so why don't you find that boy from earlier." A blush burned my cheeks, "G-Grandma!" She let out a hearty laugh and pet my hair. "I know you've been worried sick about that fella ever since this morning," she kissed my forehead gently, "now go get him and bring him back for dinner, K." Still blushing, I nod and hug her, "thanks Grandma." As I spun around snow flew up from the ground and filled the air, "be back soon!" I waved a hand back to her as I ran down the sidewalk in search of the kind boy.

My feet skidded across the icy sidewalks as more snow fell from the grey skys. 'Where is he?' I ask myself, my speed subsiding. Eventually my legs get very weak and I stop for a rest in front of a restaurant. The bench was covered in a thin layer of snow, so I whipped it away with my coat sleeve to prepare my place to sit. When I sat down I breathed rapidly and laid my head back in the seat. 'Where can he be?' Suddenly the door from the restaurant opened. Loud yelling and swearing filled the peaceful night as two men came out and kept pointing fingers. I jerked my head to see who they were, but one of the men went back inside and left the other male out to freeze.

After staring for a while I recognized the man. My eyes widdened and my heart skipped a beat. It was the man from earlier, the one I've been searching for this whole time. "That bastardo!" he began, "who does he think he is telling me, Lovino, what to do " The man turned to walk down the street. Quickly I stood up and ran over to him, grabbing his sleeve, "um, excuse m-" He snapped his body so it was facing me, a very aggravated expression on his face, "what the hell do you want!" I released the grip on his sleeve and backed away a bit. He examined my body and face then his eyes widened, "I-I'm sorry-" I bowed quickly at him, "please forgive me, I-I have to go." Without a second word I ran back the way I came.

'W-why was he so mean?' tears filled up in my eyes. 'I-I didn't do anything to him a-and... A-and...' the warm tears that formed in my eyes finally fell down and warmed my cold cheeks. I saw a tree and ran to it and sat under its tall branches. 'I've never had anyone be mad at me before, I never knew how much it hurt.' My head rested on my legs that I brought to my chest. The tears froze when they landed on my jacket sleeves. A sudden pounding in my chest caused me to clench it in pain, "why does this hurt me so much? Why won't the pain just go away."

Suddenly an arm was wrapped around me. I gasped and felt a warm feel fill my body. "I-I'm so sorry bella ragazza. I didn't mean to say what I said. A-actually..." the person holding me to their chest gently pushed me away so he could see my face. It was the man from earlier, Lovino. His face was red again, but more than it was at the stand. Before I could say a thing his lips were pressed gently against mine. I felt pure bliss fill my body and a warmth soothe my once aching heart. It was pounding out of my chest, but not in a painful way like earlier, but in a joyous and loving way.

Slowly he released his lips from mine and looked shyly at my face, "ti amo bella. Ti amo motlo." I blush and hug him around the neck and cry. "W-what's the matter bella?" he said in a panicky voice. I grip onto the back of his jacket and continue to cry, "I-I just... I-I just th-thought that... Y-you were m-mad at m-me." I could feel his face heat up more as he wrapped his arms around me, "I would never get mad at such a beautiful ragazza like you." Lovino moved me so that I was seated on his lap and facing him. He wiped my tears with his index finger and thumb as I smiled into his touch. When he was about to move his hand from my cheek I held it in place and looked into his sparkling eyes, "can... Can you say it again?" He arched one of his eyebrows, "say what again?" I blushed and looked down at his unzipped jacket, "t-ti amo..." He smirked and cupped my face with both of his hands, "ti amo." Once again his lips met mine, but this time I kissed back. I loved every second of it. How he pressed his lips against mine and how he pulled me closer to his warm chest made my heart race.

He pulled away to gain breath and looked into my eyes. I looked into his and smiled, "ti amo Lovino." He hugged me as he smiled lovingly at my joyous face. I was in love with someone I met at a tomato stand.

[Extended Ending]

The three of us sat at the table and ate the food Grandma prepared. We talked and joked around with each other freely. Grandma put down her fork, which had a tomato slice on it, and looked at us, "so when am I expecting kids?" Lovino spit the water he was drinking in a random direction and coughed. I dropped my fork, that I was about to put in my mouth, and blushed. Grandma laughed at both of our reactions, "oh, and if you two are planing on 'having fun' anytime soon, make sure that you keep it quiet." I blushed a dark shade of red as Lovino continued to choke on water, "G-GRANDMA!" She laughed even harder this time and couldn't seem to stop. Even though that was very embarrassing, it was a lot of fun.

~~~~~~~~

I modeled Grandma's personality after mine because it seemed more fun that way. The tomato stand just came to mind after watching a movie about the Great Depression and all the people selling apples, but this time period isn't during that time just so you know.

It was kinda long but it was fun writing it ^-^ I hope you liked it! I'll try and write more but since now my school decided to do a Science Fair it's going to take a while :P

Thanks for reading it till the end!!

Hasta la pasta!!

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