Fire and Ice, Sugar and Spice

Chapter Fifteen-Mundane

"Eggs, milk, bread, shredded cheddar chee-" Akilina interrupts me.

"Oh, damn! I don't have anything to pay with!" She exclaims, pulling into the parking lot and turning around.

"Hold on, doll. I do." I assure her quickly and she slams on the brake, jerking us both around. I frown. "I'm definitely driving back." She rolls her eyes at me and parks properly. Liya turns towards me and her eyebrows pop up. Grinning, I pull a credit card out of my pocket. I hold it up for her to look at and see her lips twitch.

"Does that say Tony on it?" She asks. I nod, handing it to her.

"I pick-pocket him every once and a while when he's acting like an ass. Victoria has tried to get me to stop," I shrug. "but Sam and I have a bet about when Tony will notice. I'm not losing." I explain. Liya's shaking her head at me, but smiling too.

"Nice. That kind of makes you an ass though." She opens the door and jumps out, gesturing for me to out my gloves on. Good thing it's already getting chilly so my outfit isn't so outlandish. I get out too and we shut the doors simultaneously. I meet her on her side as she locks the door.

"Yeah, but I'm your ass. Wait..." I wince at how that sounded, but relish in the loud sound of Akilina laughing. Light, airy, and pretty much full of sunshine, it makes me grin like a clown.

"How about we leave it at you have a great ass?" She asks teasingly after turning towards the store. I hum in agreement. She shivers slightly even though the sun is high in the sky. Throwing an arm around her shoulders, we start walking towards the store. "Okay, you have the list?" She asks. I hold it up and she nods. "And I have Tony's card, so we're good. Now, I hate shopping. I'm not a browser. I get what I need and leave. Ready?" She asks, making it sound like a mission. I squeeze her shoulders lightly and grab a cart when we pass one.

"I think you need to relax, sugar." Her lips turn up a little at the endearment as we continue walking side by side. Quickly I sneak a kiss onto her cheek. "If you climb in the cart I'll push you around." I tell her playfully. She laughs lightly, but shakes her head at me.

"I'll pass. List?" Liya holds out her hand for it. Instead of handing it to her, I tug her between me and the bar on the cart. "James." She stresses my name and drags it out in annoyance. We both keep walking with her hands on the cart and my hands over hers.

"Come on, doll. I don't get to be out like this." I nuzzle my face in her hair and hear her sigh in resignation.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Just remember we're here for a purpose." She gives in. I smile and kiss her hair.

"Okay." I unravel the crumpled paper so we can both see it. "Eggs are first. Where are the eggs?" I question, looking around.

"Not here. This is the vegetable section." She turns us to the left and we walk all the way to the other side of the store. There are a couple other people here and they glance at us, but most smile at us. It's incredible what a haircut and a pretty girl will do for a guy. "Eggs." Liya says and points. I reluctantly let go of her to grab them and put them in the cart. Liya shakes her head at me with a small smile on her lips.

"What?" I ask as she picks up the eggs and puts them in a little basket higher up.

"You can't put the eggs down there, babe. They'll get crushed by all the other food." She explains with laughter in her voice. I nod, that makes sense. I grab a normal looking loaf of bread and put it with the eggs as we continue to move on. Our shopping mostly consists of Akilina pointing to things and me getting them and putting them in the cart, but I find myself having a lot of fun. Just getting Liya to laugh so much makes me happy.

"What the hell is with all these prices?" I murmur to myself for probably the fifteenth time.

"Oh, my goodness, James. If you say that one more time..." Liya trails off as she moves forward to pay. The lady at the register laughs though.

"I know, honey. My grandfather used to say the same thing every time he went to the store." She smiles and makes friendly conversation. She has no clue who I am.

"He doesn't get out much, so I thought getting him to come to the store with me would be a good idea. I didn't know he'd freak out about every single thing." Liya teases me lightheartedly.

"Oh? You two been on vacation or something?" The woman asks as she bags the last of our stuff. Liya signs and I notice the woman is so busy talking she isn't paying attention to the name. Damn, Liya's a genius.

"Actually, we're both soldiers." I look over at her in surprise. She pulls out her dog tags and gestures to my neck to see mine. I move around her and start reloading the cart with the bagged groceries, minding the eggs and bread.

"Oh, honey." The woman puts a hand over her heart. "Thank you for your service. Both of you. God, you're so young too." I finish putting the last bag in the cart and look back to see the woman hugging Akilina, tight. Liya looks at me with a tender smile on her face as she hugs the woman back. When they detach from one another she turns to me, arms wide open. Before I can move I'm also wrapped in the short woman's arms. Gently, I hug her back with my right arm as Akilina covers her mouth to stop from laughing at my face. "Sorry for holding both of you up!" The woman scurries back around to the register and hands Liya the receipt. "Have a good day." She chirps happily.

"You too." Liya responds and links her arm with mine, pulling me out of the store with the cart. I remain silent until we get to the car. "Hey, you alright?" She asks as we load the back of the truck full of groceries. We finish and she comes closer to me, her hand on the cart so it doesn't roll away. I shake my head and rub my scruffy jaw.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...I haven't been thanked for my service since the forties." I run a hand through my hair, still unused to the length.

"You deserve to be thanked, James. You gave everything for your country." She runs her hand up my left arm, then cradles my face. Without thinking, I lean into her hand, making her smile. "That's who you are; an American soldier who served his country. Yes, you were captured, yes, some mistakes were made, and yes people died. You'd be surprised how many soldiers have gone through that, although your case is different." She runs her thumb across my cheek as I stare into her glowing eyes. "And all that's okay. All of it. One day, the world will see that. Alright?" She asks, her eyes tender and firm.

"Alright." I answer simply. Liya reaches up and kisses me gently, then puts my hand on the cart and smirks.

"Good. Now put that cart away would you? I'm sure everyone is dying from hunger back at the house." She moves behind me and pats my ass before hopping into the truck. Shaking my head, I do as she asks. When I turn around to go back to the truck I stop for a minute. I stare at the truck, thinking of her words and how damn lucky I am. My eyes widen as I stare at the truck, coming to a realization. Oh shit, I'm in love with her.