Home is With You

Fourteen

Lance leads us to the second room on the left. The walls were a baby blue and there was a small bed in the corner. A small desk stood on the opposite wall with an old lamp. There were many posters and his walls on his wall of many things. It ranges of space jokes, football players, baseball posters, pictures of him as a baby, pictures of his siblings when they were toddlers, and more. There was a large bookshelf that was full of trophies and signed baseballs and footballs. A small card that says something in Spanish. 

"Just place your shit somewhere, but we'll all sleep in the living room later on tonight. For now, are you boys hungry?" Lance rests his hands on his hips. 

"Why? What do you have in mind?" Pidge asks as he rests his bag down.

"I was thinking we can kick off this sleepover by baking something. Hunk, you must know something we can make." Lance flashes a smile at Hunk.

"We can make homemade chocolate-chip cookies!" Hunk's eyes brighten and he jumps a little. 

"Or we can make brownies and cookies mixed." Pidge smiles. 

I felt like an odd outcast. I didn't know how to bake any of these things and my mind was running blank on ideas. I'm just glad they aren't picking me and asking me what I'd want to bake. I'd just stand awkwardly and not know what to say. 

"How would you do that?" Lance tilts his head. 

"Well, first-" Hunk begins. He goes on a ramble on how you make brownies and cookies into one thing and it doesn't sound too bad. It sounds kind of sweet and really unhealthy but I think that's the goal. Lance seems to like the idea and excited to try it. 

When Hunk was done explaining, we all head back downstairs and find something we may need to make the brownie cookies. I manage to find some flour and sugar under his cabinets. Pidge finds some eggs and butter. Besides that, we didn't have anything. Lance breathes out of his nose. 

"Well, we got to go to the store and find everything. Hunk, can you make a list? Keith and I will go and you guys will protect the house." Lance stares at all of our materials. I feel my heart skip a beat when he calls my name. I pull my sleeves down over my hands sheepishly and I step closer to Lance. 

"You have to go to the supermarket, not the gas station for these things, Lance." Hunk finds a pen on the counter and clicks it. He finds a clean sheet of paper and begins to write a list. 

"Yeah yeah I know." Lance waves his hand and smiles. 

"Last time you went to the gas station and bought expired butter. We were sick for days, Lance." Pidge jabs at Lance. Lance sends him a small glare. Hunk finishes writing the list and gives it to Lance. 

"Alright, let's go, Keith." Lance wraps an arm around me and we leave his house. "Do you want to walk or should we take the car?" Lance asks me. 

"I mean, we already left without the keys, so..." Lance stares at me, realizing I was right. He narrows his eyes and nods. 

"Smart." He points his silly finger gun at me and we continue to walk. 

Walking with Lance was always the best thing ever. It was always so relaxing and he always cracks dumb jokes. He always takes my hand or grabs me in some way when he thinks of something that's most likely super dumb. Lance makes me so unbelievably happy but so unbelievably upset at the same time. 

We walk for a few blocks, it takes us a nice fifteen minutes to arrive at the supermarket. It was more crowded than usual, I guess it's because people have time to go out and shop and aren't too busy with work or school. 

We walk inside. The first thing we see is rows and rows of fruits and vegetables, stacked. Some were displayed on the wall instead of being in the middle of the room. Lance glances at the list, seeing if we need anything from this section. "Here, do you want to be my grabber?" Lance asks as he reads the list.

"Grabber?" I narrow my eyes and look at him. He looks back at me. 

"You know...like grabbing the things and putting it in the cart. Not...not like...you know?" His face suddenly flushes and he looks away. "You know what I mean." He coughs.

"Um...sure," I say. I didn't understand why his face was red, but I just assumed it was something dumb. 

I grab a cart and we begin walking, slowly. Lance goes over the list in his head and looks around. "We need chocolate chips...should that be in the baking section?" He asks and looks at me. I just shrug.

We head over to the baking section. It was mostly just rows and rows of odd sprinkles and baking utensils. Lance stares at the utensils and glances at the list. "Do you think we'll need this?" He points to a spatula looking utensil. I shrug again. 

"What does it say on the list?" I peak at the list. "Brownie mix, a tin, butter, baking soda, baking powder-"

"What's the difference?" Lance looks at me with a worried expression. 

"I don't have a clue." I look back at him. He sighs and looks at the list. "Just grab whatever seems needed," I suggest. 

"What if we don't need it?" Lance says begins to search for some of the things on the list.

"Whatever. You can use it for something else." I begin to also search, only finding a tin and the brownie mix. 

It took us a long time to find all the proper materials, mostly because Lance was unsure if it was good enough or we tried to figure out what the thing actually was. Lance double checks that we have everything before we head to the checkout. A kind old woman begins to check out our stuff and back our supplies into a large, brown bag. 

"How are you boys doing today?" She asks as she fixes her glasses and swipes our cooking supplies.

"Great. How are you?" Lance smiles as he digs in his coat for money.

"Wonderful, dear! Are you buying these because of the storm?" She asks as she makes sure she swiped our chocolate chips. 

"Storm?" I pitch in, confused.

"Yes, dear. There's a big winter storm coming by nighttime. They say not to go out and make sure you have supplies in case power shuts off." She explains. "Oh, my mother remembers the time when light bulbs weren't even made." She chuckles softly. "I remember when we didn't need to worry about electricity or our oil. Good times. It was 1899." She goes on. Lance and I look at each other with strange looks. She goes on and ends her ramble with a dry chuckle. "Your total is 20 dollars and fifty cents, dear." She looks towards Lance.

"Here you go." Lance hands her a couple of five dollar bills. 

"Want to know something amazing, too, boys?" She asks with a sigh. She begins to count our money. "Can I have fifty cents, too, please?" She asks before she begins with another story. Lance sticks his hand back in his pocket and begins to count his change. "When I was your age...my, it was...1905." She looks up to remember. "In 1905, you would be burned alive if you were a homosexual." She continues to look up. 

Both of us stopped for a moment and looked at her. I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head. Lance clears his throat and continues to count. "What...what do you mean?" I breathe out, awkwardly. I feel my face go pale and heart drop a little.

"I mean that I'm happy to see you boys so...open, yes. To see you boys so open and happy and out. I believe it is wrong to kill someone over something like that and I am happy to see you guys fighting for your rights." She explains herself. 

"Oh, no, we're not-"

"I'm glad you're with us, miss. Here you go." Lance hands her the fifty cents and smiles. "Let's go, babe." Lance looks at me and smiles. I feel my face heat up and my stomach drop. My hands get sweaty and my legs go weak. 

I put the cart away as Lance holds the bags. As soon as we leave the store I shove him softly. "I hate you so much." I groan and hide my burning red face in my palms. He laughs at what he thought was me being embarrassed. It was only partly true, I was embarrassed, but I was mostly in love. 

"Shut up, you love me." He bites his lip softly and shoves me. "Now hold one of these bags." He hands me one of the bags and I hold it, grumbling.