Campbell's (Chris Collins)

Stocked Up

"But I want this one."

From the moment those words had escaped Chris's lips, the two shared a brief moment of silent gazes — which had been ruined by the sound of Chris's phone ringing. Realizing that she hadn't hung up from another attempt of calling Chris, Naomi released her grip on the can to cancel the call on her phone before pocketing it once more.

"You didn't even give me a chance to answer." said Chris gently, returning the can of soup back on the shelf.

Naomi searched for words to properly reply; but the only mechanism she'd found was to turn away from Chris by shifting her eyes away. And the very same mechanism felt familiar to Chris — he knew her too well not to know what it meant; it meant she was afraid.

And in truth, Naomi had been; she had to admit she was past the point of being terrified and no words would be able to describe it. She feared looking up and finding someone who made her happy — but knowing that this could be the part where all that changed. At this very moment, she could care less if it rained lizards or worms — for what she feared most stood before her.

"Scared?" said Chris, gently interrupting the silence

"T-terrified." replied Naomi, swallowing hard.

"What's so scary?"

"The answer to the question I'm about to ask." taking a deep breath, Naomi looked up at Chris — her heart racing, "Christian... is it game over?"

She knew that perhaps, it wasn't the best time for video game references, but in the case that she was defeated, at least it wasn't too harsh.

Slightly overwhelmed with the question, Chris had only managed to look lovingly at Naomi, realizing that his feeling of displacement in her life were of no use to begin with because she'd set a place for him important enough for her to fear losing him.

As he noticed Naomi blink a tear or two, he gently brought a hand to cup her face and carefully swipe the tear away without breaking his gaze.

"I know I blew it... several times, actually." he said, shuffling his feet forward and moving closer, "But I was kinda hoping I at least had one life left... because I don't wanna lose this game... I don't wanna lose you."

"Even if the other player's pretty terrible? And sometimes, it seems like more of a one player game than two?" replied Naomi, her face now in Chris's hands — which made her resist the urge to cry even more.

He only smiled gently and nodded.

"Even if the other player can be a sore loser and... an—" continued Naomi, tears freely flowing. Chris let one hand away from her face a moment and retrieved a piece of tissue from his own travel sized pack in his pocket.

"Listen to me." he replied, wiping Naomi's tears gently, "This time last year, I was convinced that I'd chosen the best partner to play this game with. The game's a little harder this time around, but I'm not convinced otherwise because there's no one else I'd rather have on my team than you. So don't go convincing me otherwise, okay?"

Cracking a smile, Naomi gave a gentle nod before surrendering into Chris's arms and the two engulfing themselves in a rather lengthy hug. Apologies were said, explanations were given and the two decided to formally reconcile. Vowing never to let petty arguments like insecurity and jealousy overtake their relationship again.

"Hey, Jimmy Neutron in the blue jacket and girl Oscar the Grouch" Zoey said over the mic, reiterating the nicknames she'd called them the day they met.

Still wrapped in each other's arms, the two turned to face Zoey, who stood by the counter with a wide smile on her face,

"Happy Anniversary."