"Let's go!" My mom sang happily while picked herself up from her seat. She happy to go to the store, mostly because she got to shop. Even her hair was happy as her blonde locks bounced on her shoulders. I knew it was shopping time because they were down, shopping was so holy to my mother she had a ceremony where it included her hair to be down. That and making me cry but she doesn't like that part.
That was one of the very few things I disliked about her. She loved to shop for some reason. This wasn't some hobby she had, this was full on dedication. Sometimes she doesn't even buy anything, she just likes to shop. But one of the good things is that she knows my style though sometimes she acts like she doesn't and buys me a dress. Of course, those dresses get thrown into the back of my closet.
I'm sorry but there was no way I was going to ditch my oversized t-shirts and jeans. They covered everything to my liking. With dresses.... they showed too much.
"Come on Flora, get off of your ass. We need to get food." Damn her, she knows that I was running low on food.
"Can't you just go by yourself?" I whined, puffing my lower lip out. I was pulling out the works, giving mom puppy eyes. It wasn't that I didn't like shopping, it was just that I freaking hated it. I hated it so much mostly because there were people. Those people could start something and the little confidence I had would be dwindled down into a little pea.
"Flora Blue." She sharpened her tone. You know you're in deep shit when your parent uses your middle name. "You are going to the store with me." She placed her hands on her ample hips. That was another thing I got from her, hips. Because of her I just had to have an hour glass shaped body, I couldn't have something that was easy to hide.
My hand went up like a princess as I whined. Mom instantly grabbed it and with a grip of a monkey, she hoisted me up from our cream colored couch. "I hate shopping."
"It's going to be fun!" She clasped her hands together, thinking that the loud clap was going to change my mind. I was mentally giving her the middle finger, I loved her but still, she deserved the middle finger. She's just lucky that I needed food. If only I could find some way to harvest UV rays to a point where it becomes food in my body. That way, there would be no more stores for me.
*************
I say the best part about going to the store is that you're instantly blasted in the face with cool air as you walk through their doors. The heat was my enemy so the extra blast of coolness with the September air felt nice. It was sad that it was only September and that school was going to be in session for a while, at least it was getting colder. I nearly died from the summer heat. The strands of my hair that decided that they wanted to rebel and stay out of my ponytail floated with the breeze of the blast of air as mom and I walked into the store. I wasn't like my mother and didn't take part of her loose hair rituals, ponytails worked for me.
We were welcomed by the usual greeter of the store, an old man named Moe. Moe was what one would say: crazy. He had a milky eye do to the fact that he was caught up with some chemicals in his time in the war and his white scruffy hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in years. But hey, he was still a nice guy and I liked his scattered teeth. "Hey there Flora!" He waved, showing me a lot of his gums.
"Hi." I warmly waved back. I didn't mind his attention because he wasn't an asshole.
Mom and I continued down the isles. When we reached the vegetables, I became very selective. The cool celery bundle left little droplets of dew on my fingers. Throwing the celery into the cart, I caught a glimpse of something that made me stop in my tracks.
"Mom, we have to go." I hissed at her.
"Why sweetie?" She said, throwing in strawberries into the cart like some Disney princess. I don't think she even really liked strawberries, she just wanted to dance and pretend that everything was rainbows and sunshine. It was okay though because I ate them.
"Woman, will you lower your voice?" My voice came out once again as a harsh whisper.
"There's a guy from my school and we need to get out of here." I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I felt the familiar eyes on me.
My mom was taking too long to respond so I did what any socially awkward girl would do in that situation. I grasped my mother's silky sleeve into my hand and dragged her with her shopping cart. Though they were a little heavy, I managed to drag them to an isle full of baby food. There was no reason for them to be in that isle.
J something didn't seem like the type of guy to have anything to do with a baby.
"Game plan here mom." There was a chilly sweat on my forehead out of nervousness. Mom was also nervous looking. Her eyes bulged out while her mouth was wide open. "We need one."
"For what? Is there a monster here or something?"
"Actually.." I paused while looking at the tiled floor. "Yes." My eyes met with my mom's eyes once more before balling my fist into a ball. Though I only had one rough housing session with the punching bag, I was ready to fight if I had to.
It's not like J something had done something bad to me. He had done nothing except for noticing me that one time he smiled at me. Ever since I had been paranoid that his popular ass would somehow make me suffer. Okay, overreacting was one of my things, people have their own things like they laugh a lot or they cry, I overreact. But it was smart and it made sure that nothing bad would happen.
J something wasn't going to fuck up the school year for me.
"We can't just leave, Flora." Mom just had to say. It wasn't like I was going to force her to ditch the cart and make her speed off into the distance. That was crazy, I still had more food I had to get.
"We're going to be careful, low-key and keep away from anyone who looks like an asshole, okay?" Mom stood up straight and saluted before leaning over her cart and began to push it to the dairy isle.
My head went from side to side, scanning the yogurt area. So far, it was clear except for a granny who had knitting needles holding up her little white wispy bun on top of her head. She didn't look like the guy that I am positive that his name starts with J in the slightest. I was still cautious while walking up to the yogurt. While J-man was not there, there were other people.
I felt their weight of their eyes when I went up to get the lowest in fat yogurt. The weight was the worst feeling I had ever felt, and will always be. Something about thinking about how they were staring at me, looking at me, judging me, made my skin crawl. I turned back, holding my breath as I weaved through the people. Though I was expecting them to be looking at me with their nose crinkled, their eyes were actually concentrating on something else.
"Okay, I think that's it." I whispered to my mom while walking past more isles of the store.
"Wait." She stopped abruptly, nearly taking me out and making my ass fall to the ground.
"What?" I whined. If she thought she was going to go to the clothes section to get a shirt, I was going to kick her ass.
"We have to get water." She flung the cart around, once again, almost taking me out. My body moved with the cart and down the drink section of the store.
I crinkled my nose at the soda that surrounded us. The way that their colorful boxes that promoted ridiculous amounts of sugar and chemicals. I once was addicted to the sugary goodness until my dark world was opened up thanks to water. Ever since I hadn't had a sip of pop.
"Damn it." The curse came out from under my breath. I don't think there's anything wrong with being on the shorter side, hell, I didn't think that size mattered except for myself. But at that point, the universe just had to get another jab at me by making it that I could barely touch the top shelf. Normally, I wouldn't. I wouldn't go near the top shelf, but I had to. The last pack of water was on there.
Mom couldn't help, she was just as short as me.
My hands grasped into the air, trying anything to get a hold of the plastic that was wrapped around the bottles, but it didn't work. Since the isle was empty except for my mother and me, I took a large soda bottle and began to bang at the water with it. The pack began to shift, unfortunately, it shifted back and further away from me. I sighed, thinking about how I was going to have to drink from the tap or go to a different store.
"Need help?" A deep voice made the hair on the back of my hair stand straight up like a ghost was near. Slowly, I look up to see the green eyes I tried my best to stay away from. J something had a small smile on his thin lips, like the day that he wanted to fight with Thorin. It made me feel uneasy.
"Uh.."
"Yes, she does!" My mom just had to interrupt by just stating that I, in fact, needed his help. I didn't want it, but I did need it. He had the height while I didn't.
The smell of expensive cologne invaded my nostrils when he inched himself closer to me. Though the smell was nice, I wanted to hate it. It was bad if I liked anything about J something because well, he was J something. He was an asshole, I didn't really know him but I knew about him. Trust me, the girls in the bathroom gossiped about all of his adventures that I didn't want to know about. I could have written a book about the guy.
His long arms that shared the same shade of cocoa as the rest of him grabbed the water with ease. The designer tank top he was wearing allowed me to see that he was used to carrying things much heavier than the pack.
I felt like such a creep for staring at him.
But in my defense, it was hard not to. He was on the attractive spectrum, I had established that. Those who are, attention and that's what J something and Thorin did. They brought eyes to them.
"Thank you so much." I wanted to kill my mom. She should have known that those who are J something are the type that we don't talk to, associate with, zero contact. Not because he was some boy, but because he was that popular and dangerous. She was practically telling a demon that he was an angel.
"No problem." He smiled sweetly. "See you at school, Flora."
My surroundings went from the bright fluorescent lights and bright pops to nothing but black and purple swirls surrounding me. I leaned against something, it was probably the shelves but I didn't see them at that moment. All I saw was the swirls and fear.
He knew my name. He knew something that I made sure that wouldn't come out of any of my school mate's mouths. He knew I existed.
***************
"One trip or die?" I said in a hoarse voice. I was tired, it was a tiring day. Not only did I nearly collapse because of J something but also because the FACT THAT J SOMETHING KNEW MY NAME. He had leverage. J something could do something evil, I knew his kind. He could totally start a rumor about me and everyone would believe him. People at that school didn't know me, they knew him.
My mom nodded, taking a few bags of groceries and running into the house. I only the other hand, stood there and looked at the bags. The bags that basically ruined the rest of my student life. If only the food in them wasn't needed, then I could have stayed home. If I stayed home, no one would know my name.
"Need help?" I jumped and nearly screamed. Mostly because I was getting tired of hearing those words, especially when they were said in a deep Irish roll. There was a lump in my throat, or it was puke from nervousness. I think it was just a lump, though, I didn't feel the burn vomit would bring.
Taking a deep breath in, I swallowed the lump and gathered the groceries. "You can close the door, please." I tried not to make eye contact with Thorin just to get the idea that I didn't care about him. It was cold, but I didn't ask for him to talk to me.
"Let me take your groceries." His 'r's rolled.
"I got them." My voice became more solid.
I didn't know what his game plan was or what he wanted, but whatever it was, I wasn't going to be a part of it. What if this was some game between him and J something?
"Flora." He stepped in front of me. Again, the smell of nicotine was subtle, not too overbearing but it was still there. He smelled like fresh laundry once more, and this time, he was wearing a dark green shirt that made his more colorful tattoos pop. "I'm going to take those groceries from ya."
"Try me." I looked up into his black colored eyes. On top of them was a cut on the end of his dark eyebrows. His hands gently went onto my wrist, not with a tough grip but it was enough for me to not move my hands.
"How did you get that cut?" My brows furrowed in curiosity. Maybe he did actually fight that teacher.
"Someone didn't let me carry their groceries." He winked before wiggling the straps to the bags out of my hands and into his. His long legs moved quickly towards my door, making it nearly impossible for my stubby ones to catch up to him.
Mom, being the nice soul that she is, very overly nice soul, opened the door for him. Though she told me to stay away from him, she greeted him with a small smile. "Hi, you must be the neighbor's boy."
He gave her a charming smile. I'm talking not some smile you give your grandma, this was an all out smile that would have broken millions of hearts. "Hey ma'am, I'm Thorin. I would give ya a handshake , but.." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I have your groceries. Where shall I put them?"
Her mouth slightly twinged at the corners from her trying to not smile too much. Just one word out of his Irish mouth and she was in love. "On the table please." She smiled as he went inside of my door. MY DOOR. The door that protected me from the outside world, it also protected me out of Thorin. "I'm Kate by the way!"
Sorry but my mom was stupid. She basically just let a vampire into our house. Everyone knows that once you invite a vampire in, they can come in whenever they want!
Her head was craned out to watch as Thorin went into MY kitchen. Before she was caught she turned her head to me and began to fan herself.
I hate them.
HEYYY THANKS FOR READING! What do you think about J something? Do you think he's actually a good guy? How about when Thorin swooning Flora's mother? TOTAL BROWNIE POINTS! Anyway, remember:
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