A Touch of Grace

[ chapter one: luck ]

Chapter 1: Luck

"Get out of the shopping cart, Leo!" I hissed as I tried to tip the cart in order to get my brother out.

"Why?" he asked while he sat in the cart, grabbing chips from the shelves and tossing them into the cart around him.

"Because we're going to get kicked out, that's why," I snapped.

"They can do that?" he asked stupidly.

"Yes they can do that, Leo," I barked as I stopped the cart, crossing my arms.

Groaning, my brother stood up and tried to jump out of the cart. As he lifted his leg, he lost his balance and fell, almost taking the cart down with him. I managed to keep the metal contraption upright as I continued strolling along the aisle, putting more chips and dip into the carriage. "What a great sister you are," he told me as he got up from the floor.

I just nodded as I grabbed two six packs of soda and dropped them in the cart, effectively annoying my twin brother. "You'd think that because this is your friend's surprise party that you'd be the one doing the shopping," I muttered.

"Hey, I'm paying for it," he reminded me with narrowed eyes. He walked alongside me, tapping away on his phone. "You're coming, right?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," I muttered.

"It'll be fun. Phoenix has the pool, and Avery's coming," my brother told me.

"Yeah, but I don't like swimming. And Avery's probably going to talk to guys," I grunted.

"You'll survive," my brother replied. I didn't bother to respond, mostly because I doubted his words.

As we reached the checkout, I sighed. "I forgot the nacho cheese; I'll be right back."

I left the line and jogged towards the chip aisle, scouring the shelves for nacho cheese. I saw it on the bottom shelf so I dropped to my hands and knees and reached for the back of the shelf, managing to grab the glass jar. As I went to sit back up, I felt something kick me in the side and I let out a gasp as the air was knocked out of me. I immediately looked at the person who tripped over me. I stared wide-eyed at the guy who lay sprawled on his stomach in the middle of the aisle, a loaf of bread a few feet away from his opened palm. He slowly began to get up, allowing his hands to lift him.

Breathlessly (mainly from his kick), I began to sit up. "I'm sorry about that, I didn't see you there," he began to apologize and I recognized his deep, velvety voice.

As I looked up from the unharmed can of nacho cheese, I saw my longtime crush, Aaron Washington, standing about a foot away from me. He had his arm outstretched as if trying to transfer his regret from himself to me through physical contact. It was then that I realized that his large brown eyes were staring down at me. The words on my tongue died and I began to stutter. "Are you okay?" he asked me.

"F-Fine, I, uh, I'm good, okay, great, fine, perfect. How are you? You're pretty— fell hard. I mean you fell pretty hard. That's what I meant. You okay? You just face prettied— I mean you face planted," I babbled.

He laughed and smiled at me. "I'm fine," he nodded. "How's your side? I must've kicked you when I fell. I'm sorry about that."

"Psh, yeah, I'm totally fine. I'm so fine- my ribcage has never been better. I'm so ready for gymnastic class. Not that I do gymnastics; I'm actually really inflexible. One time, I fell down the stairs trying to do a backbend and I was rushed to the emergency room. Good times—," he cut me off with a laugh. I'm pretty sure I was as red as a lobster.

"Gracelyn, right?" he asked me with furrowed eyebrows. I nodded my head quickly, surprised that he remembered me. I mean, he's on the football team with Leo and Phoenix, and I occasionally go to their games, so maybe he heard one of them talking to me. "I'm Aaron."