Same day as The Prologue- July, 2020
Thumping our fists against the table, Otis and I call "rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"
Otis has his hand balled into a fist while I had my fore and middle fingers stuck out.
I groaned, "I went last time, why do I have to go again?"
"You know the rules, best out of three and loser gets groceries."
Grumbling I continue to oppose, "that doesn't mean I like them. Why can't we get that rule annulled?"
Shrugging, Otis grabbed a banana from the pile of fruits on our table, "stop moping and get to it. I'm going to record 'Will They Won't They' today so if you feel like it, wander the aisles a bit."
That meant that Otis wants me out of the apartment for as long as I can manage before being considered a loiterer.
Sighing, I swipe my wallet and apartment key off the table and stuffed them into the pockets of my board shorts. These days my current outfit of a plain navy muscle top, basic board shorts, and my trust matching navy mask was the nicest I dressed.
Running my hands through my hair I shook it out, I needed a haircut but do not trust Otis to do it. I'll leave him with my life and everything in it except my hair.
So I'll work with it being long enough to scoop into a baby bun if I wanted to.
The walk to the grocery store is uneventful, but it's full of sticky July air and people watching their steps.
Seattle is a beautiful city, truly. It's filled to the brim with beautiful people, all of them carry around their own story and lesson and life. It's beautiful how much a person, story, lesson, and life can impact someone.
Seattle's local grocery store is typical of a grocery store, there's nothing grand or spectacular about it, it's a grocery store in Seattle.
Pulling out my wallet and inside of it the grocery list, I sanitize the cart and embark on my journey through the store.
Thankfully, Otis's marksmanship is better than mine, so I can actually read the items written on the lined paper.
"Granola Bars
Monster
Fish sticks
Bread
Peanut butter
Toaster Waffles
Coffee beans
Creamer
Cheez-its
Tortilla chips
Orange juice
Bananas
Gala apples"
Starting with the energy drink, I carefully set the box of six in my cart, hoping not to break or dent anything so I don't have to repeat the process.
I make my way to the breakfast aisle next. The honey and oat granola bars are amazing when you're cranking out your final points for your debate speeches the night- more like three hours- before.
Setting three boxes into my cart I scribbled the item off my list before shoving the list and small pencil into the front pocket of my shorts.
Looking up and down the aisle, I meet eyes with a seriously stunning girl.
Her blonde hair flowed over her shoulders beautifully messy and slightly frizzy from the humidity. Her dark brown eyes drew me in and almost didn't let go. At the sight of the seemingly hand drawn portrait of a cute dog on her light blue face mask (that was over her nose!).
I couldn't help but smile goofily at both the energy she had and the mask.
Thankfully, she smiled back and I couldn't find it within myself to talk to her or 'shoot my shot' as Otis calls it, which is odd because I'm normally pretty smooth with flirting. Quarantine must have taken a larger toll on me than I thought.
I tried to will her with my eyes to follow me or find me again later when I'll hopefully have the courage made up, and embarked the opposite way up the aisle and to the cracker and chip aisle.
Blue bag, blue bag, blue bag. I'm looking for the blue bag with the corn cob wearing a poncho.
I'm painfully aware that it's an insensitive logo, but they were the cheapest and honestly tastiest tortilla chips that Otis and I have agreed on.
So blue bag, corn, poncho, $1.08.
Blue bag, corn, poncho $1- There it is.
I swear, every time I come here they're in a different order.
Quickly working my way down the grocery list, I cross off Tortilla chips and Cheez-it's seeing as I'm just down the aisle.
This time when I shove them back into my pocket I nearly stab myself because when I look down the aisle There She Is.
Of course she's there. That's how the universe works, it's like we're in a cheesy movie or bad book, and she's standing in front of the Cheez-its with her cart full of the same type of granola bars and a box of cheerios, carefully looking at the tags and flavors, carefully inspecting the boxes and-
Oh no she's looking at me.
I'm standing part way down the aisle staring at this pretty girl, probably looking creepy with my arms out like this and hair long. She must think I'm a predator or something. And I'm still looking at her aren't I?
I am. Yep, I definitely am.
"Can I help you?"
Wow, her voice is as pretty as she is.
I want to tell her, 'I'm not a predator, I just respect you and want to give you your space and also social distance because science is real and I'm not one of those people and also you're pretty and I just need the Cheez-its.'
The only part of that that remained was the ending, "you're standing in front of the Cheez-its."
She stood, almost embarrassed and realizing before responding a small but relaxed, "oh, right. Sorry about that."
And before I could tell her that it's okay and that I love white cheddar cheez-its too, she pushed her cart away in a panic.
"Okay. Nice going Brody," I muttered to myself, shaking my head and grabbing a different box of non-dented Cheez-its.
It'd be creepy to get the dented box just because she touched it. That I know. And so I don't.
Following my well crafter routine, I go to the next aisle in search of coffee beans for Otis's homemade cold brew. I really lucked out when coffee shops closed, I live with a barista.
Except in the coffee aisle she was there, too, looking at the plenty of bags, brands, colors, and roast types.
This time I'm looking for a white and green bag, I can't remember the brand name for the life of me, but I'll know it once I see it.
I'm not seeing it, moving my head, stepping side to side, bending down slightly. I'm looking hard for this bag of coffee grounds, I'm searching for these beans. Even with my back turned to her I can't forget her.
Focusing on trying to find this bag of coffee beans I continue to move to the side, surveying all the bags trying to find the right shade of green on the white with the name I can't remember right now.
My arm touches something.
Not a cart or shelf, it's not cold like metal.
What could I be touching? Turning my head I meet eyes once more with Mystery girl. If this were a normal situation in a normal time we'd probably be able to feel each other's breath.
We're not in a normal situation in a normal time, we're in a grocery store in 2020 so we both shoot up so we're standing again.
Then she runs into me, like she turns into my chest, bumps into me, and looks up at me while I hold her to make sure she doesn't fall.
As cheesy as it may be, it feels like we're in our own little bubble where we've known each other for ever and I get to pet the dog on her mask and eat Cheez-its with her.
I put on cologne this morning, right?
Seemingly stable and standing upright, she quickly separated from me, her warm glowing presence growing further away. I knew what I had to do and we met eyes once again from the safety of two shopping carts away.
"Sorry!" She apologized. It was a mutual fault. I think she knows that, though.
"I'm sorry, too. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," she nodded and confirmed more surely the second time. Almost like she was saying it on instinct the first time and truth the second, "I'm alright. Are you? It sounded like you knocked into something."
"Oh, that, yeah I'm all good, promise. I mostly just bumped into you." That was smooth, go me, I think I'm back in it.
"Yeah, you did. It's okay though, I was just looking for my favorite coffee brand."
Could it be we have the same taste in granola, cheez-its, and coffee? "Me too! What brand? Maybe we can help each other look."
She smiled and nodded, "I'm looking for Fitol's? It's in a-"
"White and green bag. Yeah, I'm looking for that too."
"No way, really?"
I hummed in excited agreement as we both turned and continued talking and searching, "yeah, it's my roommate and I's favorites. We drink it almost religiously."
"Us too, she's an artist and I'm a writer so there are a lot of late nights," she agreed.
"You write? That's so cool, do you do more journalling or creative writing?"
"Creative writing. I'm working on my novel's manuscript and it's nowhere near where I would have liked it to be, but we are in a pandemic so I give myself some slack." We both chuckled at that.
A few moments of comfortable silence pass as we continue scouring the shelves for a few bags of coffee beans. Seattle is known for it's use of the beans, but why does that mean there has to be so many different bags of them.
"It's like every time I start to think I remember where everything is they move it again," I joke.
She gasped lightly, "I was thinking that exact same thing. It's so inconvenient!"
"Exactly. I just want to get in, get my coffee and cheez-its and go home."
"Yes! Go home, eat the new cheez-its, pet my dog, take a nap probably."
"That sounds like a dream. Is your dog the same one as on your mask?" I turned my head to look at her.
Nodding, she told me, "yep! That's my puppy Willow. She's one already, it's crazy."
"She's adorable and her name makes her even cuter, even on a mask drawing. Did your roommate draw it for you?"
"Yeah, how'd you know that?"
"You mentioned that she was an artist earlier when we were talking about your novel. What's it about, anyways?"
Her eyes practically glowed that's how excited and passionate she was to talk about it, "it's called Eighteen and it's about this teen girl whose twin brother died the year before and so she's left with all their friends and the new bad boy the summer before college and they just hang out, have a bunch of midnight shenanigans, fall in love a bit. I came up with the concept ages ago but I didn't start developing it until February when I needed it for school."
"That sounds really good, I'm excited to see it in the window of every book store with a huge New York Times Best Seller sticker on it once it's done."
"Well when that happens you'll have to wake me up because I ought to be sleeping and dreaming."
"Hopefully next to me."
I smirked, I think she could feel it even if she couldn't see it under my mask.
Before we could talk anymore, my eyes fell on a small white bag with bold green lettering on it at the very bottom of the shelf.
"Here it is!"
I quickly grabbed three bags for me and set them in my cart, "do you want me to toss them or do you want me to move and let you get them?"
"Let's live a little, toss 'em," she laughed and shook her head.
"How many do you want?"
"Four, please!"
I nodded and began to gently toss them into her opened palms.
We both chuckled when she missed the second bag and it bumped into her chest.
"I'm a writer not an athlete, ok sleeveless boy?"
"Sleeveless boy? Is that my new nickname?"
"It's gonna have to be, hope you like it, Sleeveless Boy."
"My new favorite, in fact."
We stood, looking at each other, smiling and enjoying the vibe we created in the coffee aisle today.
"So, what else do you have on your list?"
"Uhm," she pulled a list out of the purse sitting in the child space of her cart, "fruit snacks, lemonade mix, ranch, eggs, milk, creamer, chicken nuggets, salad mix, apples, tooth paste, and Willow treats."
"Lead the way m'lady."
"I will, thank you."
After she started pushing her cart she turned and looked at me over her shoulder, "I hope this all isn't too far out of your way. What's your list looking like?"
"Good question," I laughed, "I need to get yet some fish sticks, waffles, creamer, orange juice, peanut butter, bread, bananas, and apples."
Nodding, she turned into the dressing and sauce isles, "so you know what I do, what about you? What's your life goal?"
"Life goal is probably to eat the most granola bars ever recorded in the hours before a debate, but what I do is I'm going for political science at Seattle U. I was supposed to have an internship working for the governor in April but it was cancelled and his intern is ghosting me."
"That's cool, not that the governor's office is dodging your emails, but that you're into politics enough to go to school for it."
"I want to help people, and making the laws that protect them is probably the best that I can do."
"Respectable. I dream on paper."
"Writing is hard, though. Take it from me, I barely passed creative writing my senior year of high school, it was a schedule stuffer and wow it was so hard!"
We continued making our way through the aisles of the grocery store, grabbing our items, staying six feet away, reading her beautiful brown eyes.
It felt like no time passed as we talked about everything. Things we've seen, like vines and TikToks. We got to know each other and the accompanying best friend and roommate.
By far this was the best trip to the grocery store that I've ever had.
So we had all of our groceries in our carts and our laughs died down as we approached the register. Thankfully the cashiers were quick today, so we stayed in the same line and continued our conversation about the weirdest things we've had our professors say.
"He said that to a student?"
"Yep!" She laughed, "the poor kid just sat there before he told him that it wasn't his vape, it was the girl next to hers."
The two of us dissolved into laughter once more as the line workers did their job and she was asked about her payment and receipt.
Continuing the process, this time it was me who was being checked out by the attendant.
"You know what I just realized?" I asked as the bagger was putting the last bag of Fitol's into a bag and handing it to me.
"What?" She asked, though before I could tell her her phone started ringing from her bag. Her brows furrowed as she muttered something along the lines of "sorry" and "ringer on only for emergencies."
I stood patiently in the hall of the grocery store while she took a few steps away, the bags swinging from the crook of her elbow as she raised her hand and phone to her ear.
Not bothering to listen or eavesdrop, I glanced around the store and the time on the clock. It's been nearly two hours since I arrived here. A normal trip to the store takes maybe an hour to get everything and start heading back home.
I guess I got distracted talking to her.
Eventually she turned around and spoke so quick and abruptly that I almost didn't hear what she said at all, "I have to go there's an emergency with Willow I'm so sorry Sleeveless Boy you're going to have to hold that thought."
She quickly turned and started speed walking out the door. With one hand she ripped her hand drawn blue face mask off her face to shove into her purse and opened the front door of a waiting white Jeep SUV.
The cloth mask never made it into her purse, however, and I watched as it fluttered to the ground.
Too quickly to tell, or more accurately ask, her, she was already in the vehicle with the door practically slammed closed and drove away.
Leaning forward quickly, I picked the mask off the cement sidewalk and called out to her in a pathetic last ditch attempt, "wait! I didn't get your name! Or your number!"
She was too far gone to hear me, or to answer.
"Will They Won't They" is by Jeremy Shada! The link for the lyric video is in the media. Most of Otis's songs will be from Jeremy or different artists with the same vibe.
Eighteen is actually a different fic I have but have barely started with, it's still mine though so it's included in the no stealing!
If you liked it show some love!! Have a great week, see you all next time! <3 Maddie