"Okay, my friend," Sav said as we walked down one of the main aisle at Walmart. "Do you know what all you need?"
"Uh..." I stared at the sign hanging on the upcoming aisle that read baby. "Everything, I guess?"
Sav looked over her shoulder at me before smiling and rolling her eyes. "Good thinking."
I huffed. "I already told you that I don't know what I'm doing. That's why I asked you to help me."
She didn't reply, just turned down the aisle.
With a sigh, I followed after her.
Considering the size of Walmart, there really wasn't much down the baby aisle. I already had a few things that my parents had given to Kaybree, trying to somehow make up for the distance they had forced between them. But considering Kaybree's condition and how my parents had been acting recently, those few gifts really weren't much. Just a crib and a couple of baby bottles.
Staring at all the products, I at least knew of a few things I would need to buy. Diapers were definitely needed. Clothes. I guess... formula...
I groaned. "This is weird."
Sav glanced at me with an innocent smirk.
"I wasn't expecting to have to do this for... like, years! I'm not even married!" I could hear the panic in my voice and though it was embarrassing, it seemed like I couldn't calm down. This was like trying to find my way through an obstacle course in the dark.
"Okay, first of all, calm down." She stared at me until I took a deep breath. "Second, I get it. But that's why I'm here. I've got you, Kason. Don't worry about it. We'll take it one step at a time."
I nodded slowly, regaining my head. "Right. You're right. I'm sorry."
She just shook her head with a slight smile before getting to business. "So how about we divide and conquer? I can just tell you some basics that you can go get while I look at clothes?"
"Okay. That sounds easy enough."
"No existential crises about that?"
I sent her a weak scowl, making her crack a smile.
After assigning me with a few items I needed to pick out and making sure that I wasn't going to have another panic attack from it, she turned off the aisle and went to the kids clothes section to find a few outfits for Abby. I was glad she had volunteered in that department because that probably would not have turned out well if I chose.
After gathering some packages of diapers, some wet wipes, a can of formula, a baby monitor, and a few other essentials that I hadn't even thought about, Sav returned with a cart full of onesies and beanies and headbands.
"I thought we would need a cart," she said, tapping me in the leg with the end of the basket.
"Yeah, you're probably right." I dropped all of my stuff, relieved to have my hands and arms back again.
"Alright, so what do we have left..." Sav said almost to herself as she scanned the items I had added to our haul.
Thirty minutes later, we were at a self-checkout station with more baby supplies than I knew existed. It only made me feel even less prepared.
"Planning on going home or heading back to the hospital?" Sav asked casually as she scanned a jumbo package of diapers.
I blinked, just now thinking about it. I wanted to go back and make sure that if there was any new news on Abby, I would be able to hear about it first thing. But at the same time, my sister was still adjusting to being back home again and I didn't want to leave her.
Sav must have understood my hesitation because as she scanned a little grey onesie, she casually said, "I could stay at the hospital."
I paused in handing her another item. "But... don't you already spend enough time there? And you have your classes."
She didn't look at me as she replied, "Sure. But I wouldn't mind staying."
"Really?"
Finally, she stopped checking out and rested her hands on her hips. "I can study just as easily at the hospital as I can back at my dorm. It's no big deal."
I honestly couldn't believe it. Not that it wasn't like her to offer, but it was a big thing to ask of her, especially since she already had so much on her plate and we barely knew each other.
But her words on the roof from several days ago replayed in my mind, I like helping people. If this is what she wanted then how could I pass up the opportunity?
Tentatively, I nodded. "Okay... And you could call me if anything happened?"
The corner of her lip twitched as she transferred bags back to the cart. "Well that'd be kind of hard considering I probably don't have the lung capacity to yell at you all the way from the hospital."
I furrowed my brow. "What..." But then I realized. "Oh, you don't have my number."
She sent me her gapped tooth smile over her shoulder, a smile that was starting to become familiar to me.
"I can give it to you."
She faced me and nodded resolutely. "Sounds like a plan."
Aftering paying the ridiculous price of all the items combined, we climbed back into my Mercedes. I started the ignition, but hesitated in taking off. "So..."
Sav glanced at me. "So?"
I sighed. "Do you mind if I head to my apartment and drop this stuff off before taking you back to the hospital?"
She smirked. "Kason. We barely know each other."
I clenched my jaw nervously. "I-"
She burst into laughter, shoving my arm. "I'm joking."
I released my jaw and took a breath, though I still felt tension from embarrassment riddling my chest. "Right. Sorry. Normally I pick up on those. It's just been a long week."
She sobered, giving me a serious nod. "Yeah, I know." She didn't add.
I turned out on the street, a silence settling in the car. Unable to stand it for too long, I turned on the radio. Though it was quiet, it at least was a little bit of noise to help my thoughts not be too overwhelmingly loud.
Sav pulled out her phone and I glanced over periodically, a little too curious for my own good. I noticed her scrolling through a bunch of words, but I couldn't tell what they were saying.
"What are you reading?" I asked, trying to sound perfectly natural.
She looked up at me before back down at her phone. "Just an article that my brother sent me."
"Oh."
It was quiet for a moment except for the music I had turned on. After a long few seconds like this, Sav looked at me again, smirking. "I can tell you're dying to know about what."
I chuckled slightly. "Maybe."
"Mhm," she responded with a smile. She turned her phone off and went on to clarify, "My brother loves facts and evidence and the absolute truth. He's actually studying to be a lawyer. So anytime he finds an article that he agrees with, he'll send it to me and have me play devil's advocate, asking him the hard questions so that he can practice."
"Cool. And that article was about...?"
Sav leaned back a little farther in her chair. "If the historical evidence of Jesus's resurrection was strong enough to prove anything."
I let these words marinate in my mind for a second. If that was something that her brother agreed with, did she? And if she did, then that meant she was a Christian. And that meant she was like Ella...
Eventually, I conjured up, "And how's your argument going?"
"Horrible. My brother always wins."
This produced a small laugh from me. "What? You can't put up a good argument? I seriously doubt that."
"Oh, no. I can. But he just puts up a better one. He does have the correct side so it's easier for him to win."
I nodded, turning on my left turn signal. She sounded like she agreed with her brother about that article. But what did that mean?
I pulled off the street and parked parallel in a spot. I was a little crooked but I didn't really have the energy to fix it. Turning off the ignition, I gestured out the window at the tall apartment building. "Welcome to mi casa."
"You mean mi apartamento?"
I looked at her curiously. "You speak Spanish?"
"Not really. But I know enough that I can correct people. You should see the array of reactions I get. It's great."
She climbed out of the car before I could reply. I shook my head. She was one odd duck.
Sav was waiting at the front revolving door of the apartment building when I caught up with her with the several bags of supplies. She took a few from me even though I was perfectly able to carry them on my own, but I didn't say anything when she shoved through the door, acting completely casual like she was the one that lived here. I tried to look as nonchalant as she did, but it still felt weird. Besides family, I had never had anyone but Rico and Mora over to my apartment. It just seemed a little uncomfortable for me.
But we were already here and it really wasn't that big of a deal. I just needed to suck it up and not think about it.
We loaded up the elevator and I pressed the button to head up to the fourth floor. The elevator lazily ascended as a silence settled between us.
But Sav easily found a way to break it. "When do you think you'll start going back to classes?"
I glanced at her as the old elevator shuttered slightly. I turned to look back at the door. "I'm not sure... I guess once I'm sure Abigail is stable and can..." I trailed off, something finally hitting me. I cringed. "Wow."
"What?"
I shook my head. "I just realized how weird it's going to be to take her with me on campus. Because I can't exactly leave her here..."
Sav cracked a smile. "Yeah, you'll be able to get all the girls now."
I chuckled but tried to act offended as the elevator doors finally opened to the fourth floor. "What? Are you saying that I couldn't get girls before?"
Sav walked out, her only answer a stupid smirk over her shoulder.
"Hey!"
She laughed. "I'm just saying that now you've got the cuteness factor going for you."
I caught up with her. "Excuse me, I think I'm pretty cute."
She narrowed her eyes at me and tilted her head back and forth. "Eh. You could be better."
I scoffed. "Ow."
Again, she laughed boisterously. "I'm just joking. You're not horrible on the eyes."
"So what I'm hearing is," I said smugly as I stepped in front of apartment 414, mine, "you think I'm good looking."
"Now I didn't say that."
I chuckled, pulling out my key and unlocking the door.
When I threw open the door to my dark apartment, the rest of our teasing conversation dropped. Sav peered in curiously as I flipped the switch on the wall and the fluorescent lights revealed the front section of my humble abode.
Luckily, I normally kept pretty tighty so there wasn't any trash or clothes to embarrass me. But for some reason I still scanned around to make sure there wasn't anything weird that might catch Sav's eye and make things awkward. Like what, I don't know. But this was different for me and maybe I was a little nervous.
I played it cool, though, simply placing all the bags on the kitchen counter. "You can just set the rest on the couch or something. I can go through them later."
She dropped the few bags she was holding on the small navy blue sofa that sat in front of my hammy down coffee table.
"If you need help later setting anything up before Abby's release, just text me."
I blinked a couple times. "Really?"
She met my gaze. "Yeah, sure. This is a lot of stuff. I doubt you can do it all by yourself."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "That almost sounds like a challenge."
She rolled her eyes, though her mouth twitched with a smile. "It wasn't. It was an offer. But if you don't want my help, I don't care."
I opened my mouth to reply but hesitated, not wanting to sound too eager to accept. Because I knew I would definitely need help since I was pretty clueless. She grinned, seeing right through me.
"Yeah, I'll let you know if I need help," I settled on saying.
She nodded with a smirk. "Sounds good." Then she started toward the door.
Though I had been nervous for her to be here, I was kind of disappointed that we were heading back to the hospital so soon. I had actually enjoyed doing stuff with her. Her sarcastic yet generous personality was like a breath of fresh air in the drowning events of the past week.
We still had the car ride back at least.
When we climbed back in my Mercedes, I turned on the ignition and waited to pull back into traffic.
Once I had thoroughly merged, Sav suddenly said, "Can I have your phone?"
I eyed her. "Why?"
"Because I'm going to hack it so that all your information is transferred to my phone."
Despite her straight face, I realized she was being sarcastic. "Yes, you can have it to exchange our numbers," I replied, clueing in.
"Way to answer your own question, buddy," she teased, swiping it out of my hand as I held it out to her.
"I know. I'm just that smart."
She stuck her tongue out at me, and I snorted with a shake of my head.
"What's your password?"
"Guess."
"I'm going to lock you out of your phone," she protested.
"Just guess twice and then I'll tell you."
She gave an exasperated sigh and then stared at the numbers on the screen, like she could find the answer hidden in them somewhere. After a long moment of contemplation, she tried a sequence.
It opened.
"No way! How did you guess that first try?"
Sav just gave me a look. "You really should have made it something harder. Kaybree's birthday? Really?"
I gave her a bewildered look. "How do you even know her birthday?"
"I've been working in the machine lab, entering info. I had to update your sister's file into the system no less than thirty times this week. If I see it enough times, it just sticks in my brain."
I didn't want to admit that that was slightly impressive. "Fine. Maybe I'll just have to change it now."
"If you didn't want me to know, why'd you have me guess?"
I shrugged. "I didn't think you'd actually figure it out."
"Thank you for the big vote of confidence."
"You're very welcome."
She huffed but smiled as she looked down at the screen and pulled up my contacts.
She finished entering both of our numbers into the other's phone as I pulled up to the hospital.
She looked out the front windshield and unbuckled her seat belt. Laying my phone on the consul, she shoved her own into her back pocket and started to get out.
But I caught her before she could make it too far. "Hey, Sav?"
She stuck her head back in, raising her brows.
"Thanks," I said with a nod.
She smiled easily. "It's what I do, Kason. I already told you that."
I nodded. "Right."
"See you around. I'll text you if I find anything out about Abby."
I nodded in gratitude. She went to close the door but one more thing nagged at the back of my mind and I had to stop her again. "Sav."
"Yes?" she responded, seemingly slightly exasperated though she was still smiling slightly like it was mostly in jest.
I thought about my words for a moment before I spit it out. "About that article... Are you a Christian?"
She looked at me for a moment, before her smile turned almost soft in a way I had never seen before. Her brown eyes gleamed behind the lenses of her glasses. Though she didn't really seem worried about it, she curiously asked, "Will that change your opinion of me?"
"No."
The corner of her mouth lifted. "Then, yeah. Yeah, I am."
I nodded slowly before sending her a slight lopsided smile back. "Cool."
She looked at me for a moment longer before releasing a slow, casual chuckle. With a shake of her head, she looked back up and said, "Bye."
"Bye."
Then she closed the door, leaving me alone to try and figure her out.
A/N Ah I just love this chapter! I love how they are starting to get comfortable around each other and become friends! Their teasing is fun to write too XD What about y'all? What did you think? Any thoughts about Sav being Christian?! Leave all your beautiful comments here! ----->