Red Strings | The Group Chat x Reader

Chapter 9 | Grocery Shopping With Nick

I point the camera back to Nick as his eyebrows shoot up, "that's a little too much for my liking, but you must be worth it to be asking for $100 an hour. We'll see, my people will be in contact with your people," he winks at me quickly and I burst out laughing, him joining me.

"I'll be expecting good news." I record the area again before turning back to Nick after a minute, "is there anything I should be recording?"

"Nah, you can record me and I'll just do an intro, then we can shut it off until we get there." I nod in response, "Alright, what are we doing today?" He asks, confusing me.

"Huh? You literally had the idea."

He laughs at me, "bro, you gotta play along, it's a part of the intro."

"My bad," I answer sarcastically with an eye roll. "We're going to the grocery store to get some stuff to make a nice, healthy meal," I make a gag sound after I say healthy.

Nick chuckles, "yes, and I'm joined by a... friend of mine behind the camera, Y/n," he speaks to the audience this time, pausing before saying friend.

I bring my hand to the front of the camera and give it a thumbs up, then I do a small wave. "Hi, that's me."

I shut off the camera like he said and he lets me have the aux, which kind of surprises me. I get a little self conscious in my music, but I put something on that I hope he might like. I smile when I see him start to tap his fingers on the steering wheel, beating along with the song. After a few more songs, we make it to the grocery store.

I start the camera back up as Nick talks, "what else are we thinking of getting?"

"Ooo, can we make brownies?"

Nick rolls his eyes, but still smiles, "defeats the purpose of being healthy, but yeah sure."

"Okay, but we also need ice cream to go on the brownies."

"How about we get whatever you can fit in this basket," he grabs a small handheld grocery store basket when we walk by them.

"Hell yeah! But you have to carry the basket, I'm on camera duty, remember?" I stick my tongue out hun and give him a cheeky smile, waving the camera slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he rolls his eyes, but his smile is undeniable.

As we're starting our walk deeper into the grocery store, I feel a small tug of my hand. Of course, it's that pesky little string. I situate the camera into one hand and let my other hand be guided straight into Nick's. We smile at each other and both look down, our fingers locking together. I feel the tips of my ears burn slightly and I clear my throat.

"So, what all do we need?" I ask Nick.

"Well, cauliflower, cream cheese, butter, chicken breast, brownie mix, ice cream, milk, and whatever else you'd like." He smiles down at me and I feel the blush spread from my ears to my cheeks.

Nicks just smiling at me, but we almost pass by the produce, so I break our hands apart and point, "cauliflower!"

Nick quickly fixes his composure and follows me, and he grabs a few heads of cauliflower. We start to banter a bit more as we walk along and pick up the other ingredients that we need. Nick did say that whatever I wanted would be purchased as long as it fit in the basket, but it was way more fun to record myself secretly throwing small things into the basket when he wasn't paying attention. Some things he would notice if they were on top of the pile, and he'd give a confused look or give me a knowing look. I'd just shrug it off and laugh. There were a few times where I tried to secretly record myself putting things into his basketball shorts pocket, or the hood of his hoodie, but only one attempt was successful with chapstick.

"Alright, your right to get anything you want has been revoked," Nick declares as he pulls out a buzz ball from his hood.

"Whaaaaaaat?" I whine.

"Yes, missy. You heard me," he scolds me like a child and we laugh.

"At least keep the brownies?"

"As long as you return and take out every useless item that you put in here," he stands in front of me and holds the basket wide open.

I groan, but comply regardless, turning the camera off and putting it to the side. I really want those brownies. I'm holding all of the items from the basket in my hand, but the chapstick is still in his pocket. Whether it's the string or this sudden burst of confidence - I don't know, but I step a little closer to him, reach into his shorts pocket, and pull out the chapstick.

"Almost forgot this," I whisper and smirk at his slightly shocked face.

I watch him gulp, blink a few times, and then clear his throat. "I think we got everything, we can check out after you put that all away."

"Alright slowpoke, let's go!"

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