Never Again

Chapter 13: Conversations

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It had been a couple of days since Keira had spent her day with Sebastian at the lake. She had gone back to her favourite place several times, but Sebastian had never been there. Of course she didn't expect him to be there every time, but a feeling in her stomach told her she was somehow disappointed that he hadn't been there. Maybe he hadn't felt the need to clear his head or maybe he had gone at a different time during the day. She quickly put the last items on her shopping list and folded the piece of paper to put it into her pocket. She had to stop thinking about Sebastian, she told herself. It had been nice having a conversation with someone she could actually see, instead of talking on the phone with her friends, but that didn't mean she had to confuse Sebastian with her friends. She put the money her mother left on the table for the shopping into her wallet and grabbed her bag that was hanging on the back of her chair.

The supermarket was busier than normal and she had difficulties with manoeuvring the shopping cart without slamming into people. She didn't mind doing the shopping, she even asked her parents to let her do it, so she could improve her German. It was the only time she could practise speaking German and she now knew most of the stuff her parents had written on the shopping list. She had even thought about taking German lessons when she got back home, because it would be a shame to not take up the chance to be able to speak another language.

She glanced down at her list and made her way over to the cheese section. Without caring she threw something like eight different cheeses into the cart and already thought about an excuse to tell her parents. They thought she had a cheese obsession and when she looked at the cheeses in her cart she kind of had to agree with them. She sniggered, she didn't care. Next on her list was the chocolate powder and if she had a cheese obsession, her mother had a hot chocolate obsession. While trying to find the right aisle, she had already crashed her cart into a small boy, an old lady and an employee from the shop. She cursed at herself and had apologised profusely to her victims. When she finally found the right aisle she remembered the chocolate powder was on the highest shelve and out of her reach. She sighed and cursed again. This time trying a few German curses, because since a few days she was now able to curse in German.

Across the aisle someone cursing loudly grabbed Sebastian's attention. He turned around and a corner of his mouth lifted. He recognised the girl and was quickly brought back to the time they had first met. He remembered it well, because they had been stood in the exact same aisle at the exact same place. He had noticed a girl having difficulties grabbing the right product and she had looked like she needed some help. She had looked rather shy when he had handed her the chocolate powder and when he had gotten close up to her had spotted that she was looking tired and even a bit neglected. The hair that framed her still pretty face had been looking ruffled, like she didn't care how it looked. He had felt a bit sorry for her and he had felt the same when they had met on the streets a couple of days later. She hadn't looked much better then and she didn't really seem to like human interactions. However, he had now found out that you just had to take time to make her feel comfortable enough to speak. The last time they had met at the lake she had looked somewhat better, her hair had been combed and she had been smiling a lot more. It had suited her, it accentuated her facial features and it also had made her look less fragile.

He strolled in Keira's direction and grabbed the chocolate powder for her once again. 'I didn't know you speak German?' he said in German. They had always spoken English, because he had assumed she didn't speak German. So he was kind of surprised to hear her use German, but it was also kind of endearing.

Her eyes widened when she spotted him and she took the chocolate powder from him to put it into her cart. 'Just a bit,' she answered in German, before turning back to English. 'Thanks for helping me again, I must really look incompetent to you.'