Save Me - Lex, Shopping
1256 Words
“Well, if you are still here for dinner, I will have to go to the store. Would you like to come with me?”
“Now?” he asks.
“Are you afraid of running into anyone?”
“Yeah, a little bit.”
“How about we go into Dublin or Upper Arlington to shop.”
“You don’t mind?”
“It’s not like we’re on a time crunch here, Bry,” I roll my eyes at him.
“Let me go change. I’ll be right back.”
When I come back into the room, I notice that he’s still sitting at my computer. “Are you reading my personal e-mails? That’s not very nice.” I make a tsk-tsk sound.
He looks up. “Hunh? No, I’m watching more videos of bouts and learning about the fine art of roller derby. Man, you guys are rough out there,” he shakes his head, putting down my laptop.
“You still want to come along?”
He nods. “So where are we going?”
“Whole foods in Upper Arlington for starters.”
—I totally embarrass him at the stores that we go to. I run down the aisles, jump on the cart to make it go fast and talk about the differences between tampons versus pads during heavy flow days. He actually walked away from that conversation.
I grab what I need from that aisle and go find him standing in front of the lobster tank. I pull the cart up behind him, step beside him linking my arm with his and putting my chin on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” I whisper. “Did I embarrass you?”
He turns his head to look at my face. “It’s ok. It’s kind of funny now that I think about it.”
His warm, minty breath tickles my nose.
“So, you’re not mad?”
He smiles and shakes his head no. “I was just thinking.”
“About lobsters?” My eyes narrow at him.
He chuckles. “No, I’m allergic to seafood. He faces the tank and nods towards them, “I just feel bad for them, you know?”
‘Is something wrong?” I lift my head off up to shoulder.
He turns to face me but doesn’t say anything. Please let him kiss me. He stares into my eyes and I can feel myself leaning towards him.
‘Do you want to hear about our specials?”
We jump part. The deli attendant laughs.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. You guys make a cute couple,” says the older gentleman.
Bryan blushes.
I laugh and say, “Thanks.”
I link my arm around his and we head towards the cart.
“I need lunch meat.”
We finish up at the stores and head back to my apartment. I noticed that he keeps checking his cell phone. He looks so sad.
“Hey, I know what we can do tonight.”
He immediately looks up and says, “What? Jello wrestling?”
“Maybe next time,” I smile. “How about a Bourne movie marathon?”
“Really? You mean, watch them back to back?”
“You’ve never had a movie marathon?”
He shakes his head no.
“We need snacks for this.”
I pull into the convenience store parking lot. “C’mon.” I tug on his shirt.
We grab Funyons, a twelve pack of beer, hostess cupcakes, Mike n’ Ikes, popcorn and Skittles.
“Are you twelve?” He asks, following me to the next aisle.
“If you’re going to do a thing, you gotta do it right. Movie marathons are all about snacks, man.”
I gesture over to the soda, “Grab some Dew please and whatever you want.”
“Twelve pack?”
I shrug.
He pulls out his wallet as we get to the counter.
“I got this Bry.”
He frowns.
“I can help pay.”
“It’s my treat to you. Please?”
He studies my face for a moment and then nods.
“Score two to Lex,” I sing out loud.
“Score two?” He says, with a puzzled look.
“Um, nothing.” Whoops!
“No, what? What are you keeping score of?”
I don’t say anything as I pay the attendant who is watching our interaction. I smile up at the guy. He’s kind of tall with a nice smile and a pierced eyebrow.
“He your boyfriend?” The guy asks, gesturing to Bryan.
“What?” Bryan stops cold and looks at the guy.
I smile, “No, we’re next door neighbors.”
The guys smile gets bigger.
“Oh? So, are you single?”
I look over at Bryan and he looks angry.
Whatever.
“Can you grab these, Bry?”
He looks at me for a moment and picks up the beer and soda.
The attendant gives me a receipt with my change, his phone number is written on the receipt. “See you around,” he gives me a smirk.
“Maybe.” I smile back and grab our stuff. Bryan has already stalked off.
“What’s your deal?” I ask when we load everything into the trunk.
“Nothing.”
He runs his fingers through his hair.
I shut the trunk with more force than necessary and head to the driver’s seat. He gets in and doesn’t say anything. The drive to the apartment is awkwardly quiet.
I pull into my parking spot and take the keys out of the ignition, neither of us making a move to get out of the car.
“Bryan?”
He looks up at me, his face unreadable.
“What’s wrong, Bryan?”
“I’m…I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“About?”
He doesn’t say anything but I notice that his gaze flickers to my lips again and his expression softens. He looks into my eyes again and reaches up to cup my cheek.
“I’m sorry for being an ass. I’m just…”
“Upset about Stacey? I get it.”
His thumb that was caressing my cheek suddenly stops and he removes his hand.
“Yeah.”
“Ok, let’s go have dinner and watch Bourne kick some ass.” I smile at him.
He nods and gives me a slight smile.
I make chicken breasts on the Foreman Grill. While he makes up a salad, I heat up crescent rolls. It’s a simple, quick dinner so that we can start our movie marathon.
We talk about growing up around Columbus, him going to college at Ohio University. He’s in the process of getting his Masters; he’s actually three classes shy of getting it. He’s an only child, his parents divorced almost ten years ago, like my parents. Only his dad died in a car accident about two years after the divorce. My mom is still hanging around doing god knows what with whomever. Once my dad divorced her, after he caught her cheating, she decided to go for a much younger man. Or men, actually. I try not to talk to her more than necessary. It’s not that I don’t love my mom, I do. She just makes bad choices and expects everyone to be ok with it. I just can’t do that. I may dress a little odd, for some people…but I would never deliberately hurt someone like that.
- Writer
