Whose Fault? (Editing)

Chapter Two ✔

The two of us walked up to a check out line and waited a few minutes. When it was our turn, Eli started placing items down. I grabbed half of them and waited for him to be finished, still lost in my thoughts. I watched as he turned to grab something else from the cart and as his brows furrowed in confusion before looking up towards me. He glanced down at the items I was holding in my hands, then back up to my face. He gave me an expectant look, but not understanding what he wanted from me, I just asked, "what?"

"Put the things down," he told me.

What? I can't let him pay for all of it! "No way, Eli. I can pay for half of it," I insisted without really thinking about what the repercussions could be. Wait, I just argued with him. Shit, he's going to be so pissed. While that was likely true, I couldn't let him pay for all of it. It would just be something else he could hold over my head and that wasn't something I needed.

"Put it down, Wren. I'll pay for it." He said, sternly. I knew it. Without another thought, I hurriedly put the items down for the cashier to scan.

"Put it down, damn it!" He screamed before slapping me across the face. I brought my hands up to my face in an attempt to calm the sting from where he hit me, and in the process dropped the bag of groceries on the ground. Fruit rolled across the floor and milk splattered everywhere and was pouring out from where the carton had broken. He huffed in frustration and when I looked back up at him, his hands were grasping his hair and he was taking two steps back and forth, pacing. Before I knew it, he turned back towards me. His fist flew at the center of my face. I hadn't even had time to react to being punched before he was yelling again. "Not like that you dumb bitch! God damn, you're so lucky you have me to help you learn from your mistakes." He angrily stomped into our bedroom, "clean that fucking mess up."

I shuddered at the memory and tried to pretend nothing happened. The cashier looked at me, worriedly but I smiled in her direction and she looked down, finishing scanning the items. I glanced over at Eli, who was staring at me with a concerned look on his face. He must have recognized the confused look on my face because he just shook his head and took his card out to pay. He gathered the bags in one hand after completing the transaction and we started heading back to his car.

There was a part of me that was scared to get in the car with him, not knowing what he would do when it was just the two of us in a small space alone. But I shook my head, trying to rid myself of those thoughts. I had to go with him to get back to my car, so I could go to work. I didn't have a choice unless I wanted to dish out forty dollars to pay for an Uber. So choosing my wallet over my sanity, I opened the door and sat myself in the passenger seat of the car.

The ride was quiet, the only exception was the radio that played quietly in the background. For several minutes my body was tense, anticipating some kind of repercussion for my actions in the store. Only that never came.

"Are you alright?" Eli asked me, as we slowed for a red light. When I looked over at him, he was looking over me worriedly.

I took a deep breath and tried my damnedest to speak with a steady voice, "yeah, why? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said. "It's just, you...you seemed scared and you kind of froze. Are you sure you're okay?" He asked me, reaching his arm out. I flinched as he got close to me, out of habit. Eli quickly moved away and looked as though I had just revealed something to him, yet confused him even more.

"Yes," I told him, both ignoring what had just happened and trying to convince the both of us that I was okay. While this wasn't what I expected from the car ride back to his place, it wasn't ideal either. I didn't know how to explain it. I couldn't explain it. He would probably be offended at the very least, pissed off at the worst. So there was no point. Even still I tried to come up with something that would talk me out of it and settle his worries. "I'm just very independent and am used to paying for everything myself or splitting costs evenly so it threw me off." Lie, lie, lie.