𝙘hapter 𝙛orty-𝙛ive
❛⠀the boy and the girl⠀❜
in a warm denim jacket, the sleeves tugged over the palms of her hands, ROISIN was idling by the frozen food section of walmart, trying to decide between a pepperoni pizza or a bbq medley. axel had told her to get whatever she needed, whatever she wanted, but she could only assume that he had a budget and she wanted to stick within those constraints. which meant one pizza, instead of two.
painted nails tapping on her bottom lip, she frowned at the enticing pictures on the front of the boxes, reaching for one until she switched last second, grazing her fingers over the other. fighting back an uncertain groan, she changed her stance so her hands were resting in her pockets, fiddling with the keys in the light denim. it wasn't uncommon for the girl to be painfully indecisive, but that didn't mean that she ever got used to it.
roisin, just before she turned to find axel down another aisle, heard her name being called from the opposite direction. in seeing a young girl, no older than twelve, she knew that she was being approached by a fan and couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips.
"rose? littlerose?" she asked timidly, iphone in shaking hands.
leaning down to her height, the woman smiled warmly. "that's me. what's your name, sweetheart?"
"a-amelia. i'm a really huge fan."
"well, hi, amelia!" roisin was cheerful and welcoming, trying to make her feel less anxious. it seemed to work, as the girl finally made eye-contact. "it's lovely to meet you. would you like a picture?"
"yes! yes, please."
"it would be my pleasure." lowering her head and smiling into the camera, head beside the other girl's, roisin noticed her take a few pictures before lowering the device.
amelia, who was shaking considerably less but still held an aura of adorable nervousness, turned back to the woman. "i-i have a question. but you don't have to answer it!"
"what is it?" she prompted kindly.
"are you and-and corpse husband dating?"
dismissing the rudeness of the prying question as a simple oversight of a young, excitable child, roisin only took one glance at the girl to know she meant no harm. so, with a sly wink, she replied, "that's for me to know, and for you to find out, honey. you have a good night, now, okay?"
"yeah! yeah, thank you, rose. thanks!" she giddly skipped back to her mother, who gave a small wave and a smile before having their picture shoved in her face. the whole exchange made roisin miss her family even more: more accurately, the only family she spoke to. her brother.
with a smile still on her face, amelia and her mother rounding the corner, the brunette picked the bbq medley pizza without any sort of hesitation, wanting to tell her boyfriend about the adorable conversation. however, before she could even take two steps across the linolium, axel was speeding up behind her - as if he planned on taking out her legs with the cart.
gasping, roisin hopped out of the way and flung out a hand to stop the deadly item in its tracks, throwing the pizza into the cart and stopping the man who had a wide, contagious grin on his lips. "jesus, axel. are you trying to kill me?"
"i wasn't actually going to crash into you." he smirked, towering over her, "unless you didn't move out of the way. then i would have."
"ha-ha. someone's a jokester, today."
"what can i say? it's been a good day." good enough to almost forget about the secret she was keeping. he kept that thought to himself, but the smile he wore faltered for a second as he searched her chocolate eyes. what for, he was unsure. maybe a sign that she wasn't lying to him, that she wasn't possibly cheating on him.
when she pushed herself onto her tip-toes, brushing her lips against his in a warm, content kiss, he was convinced that he was overthinking. she would never do that to him - not when her gaze held the infatuation of a million love stories. "it has been a good day. you know what made it even better?"
"what?" he leant his back against the freezer door, one hand on the cart as the other snaked around her waist.
"i just got recognised for the first time in over a year."
"in over a year?" he rose an eyebrow, then scoffed at himself. "obviously. my stupid ass- i didn't realise it had been so long. the girl seemed sweet, though. i'm assuming it went well?"
"you saw?" at his small nod and proud smile, she continued, "it did go well. she was such a sweetheart- amelia. that's her name. she asked whether we were dating."
"what? she's, like, eleven!"
"i know! but, i mean, she was harmless and really, really sweet."
"... what did you say?"
"that's for me to know, and for you to find out."
corpse pulled her closer, whining, "tell me?"
"i did- sweetheart, that's what i said." she laughed, pushing away from him.
"oh." axel laughed, too, standing up straight as his cheeks turned a cute shade of pink. "my bad."
"come on." roisin tugged on the end of the cart, leading them forwards.
anyone seeing the two from an outside perspective would clearly observe the mountains of adoration they had for each other, not just from the light-hearted chatter and lingering touches, but also from the way they watched each other. the eyes were the windows to the soul. and their souls clearly longed for each other.
roisin and axel bickered like an old married couple, but they loved like the sparks of romance were still spewing embers in their hearts. it was a beautiful thing to see: a girl in light denim prancing around the boy in black and silver. and if you looked closer, you would see the ink lining the girl's skin, the darkness from within that seeped out through hand-drawn art. you would hear the lightness of a million angels in the boy's laugh. you would realise that two people had never been so perfect for each other.
illuminated by the streetlights in the parking lot, filtering bags into the trunk, the boy and the girl stood in comfortable silence. the gunshot-like shout of the door closing was the only noise cutting through the polite breeze. taking a look around the empty lot, roisin was startled by axel's hand cupping her elbow and felt her heart speed up, especially as he lowered his head to hers. they kissed and it felt like home.
"you ever thought about having kids?" he asked, suddenly. she was so taken aback that her head smacked against the black metal of the car.
"what a question for a fucking saturday night, axel." she stated nervously.
"i just saw how you were with the fan- with amelia. i just didn't know if... if you wanted kids." as if her nervousness rubbed off on him, he placed a cold hand on the growing warmth along the back of his neck.
"one day, yeah. i'd like kids." roisin admitted with a shrug. "are we at that point in our relationship where we talk about this sort of thing?"
"i think we can talk about whatever we want to talk about, rosie."
"you're right. you're right." she nodded, weaving her hands around the back of his neck as he let his hands fall to her waist. "since i finally have permission to talk about whatever i want to talk about, i wanted to say that i'm happy that i'm here. with you. i'm happy that we live together and that you're my boyfriend. i'm happy with you."
"is that all?" he joked. immediately after, the girl was wriggling from his grasp. he only held her tighter. "i'm kidding. i'm kidding- baby, you know i feel the same way. i wouldn't change anything about this." maybe he would change the secrets and the clear obscuring of... something. again, he kept that to himself. he pushed that mean voice to the back of his head and replaced it with her giddy laughter. replaced it with the three words that lingered on his tongue, clamped down by his teeth.
little did he know, she was desperate to say the same.
and there was a shadowy silhouette a few cars down who almost caught the words falling from his mouth like a waterfall, phone in hand, too excited about the invasion of privacy they had partaken in.