Fever Dream

Chapter 6

The next afternoon, Karen got off work early, anxious to spend some time with Mike. Despite having spent the whole day worrying about him, and despite feeling guilty for being afraid that something might happen while he was away, she was eager to see him again.

As soon as she stepped outside the apartment complex, she was greeted by an unfamiliar face.

"Excuse me, miss, but are you Karen Williams?"

"Yes, that's me," she answered.

"My name's David. I'm a friend of Mr. Landon's. I'm supposed to pick him up so we can go shopping for groceries for dinner."

"Mr. Landon?"

"Yes, Mr. Landon. Are you coming?"

"No, I'll wait for him here. I can come too, if you'd like. I don't mind waiting for him. I haven' t had lunch yet anyways."

David smiled brightly at her words and nodded quickly, leading the way into the car park.

"Thanks so much! This place is super nice, and I bet that you and Michael would get along great!"

"Uh, yeah, maybe," she said slowly, "he probably likes food a lot."

"It's true. I've been working here ever since I moved in."

"Wow, really? Where did you move from?"

"New York."

"How far away is New York?"

"About fifteen minutes away by train."

"Wow, fifteen minutes!"

"Heh, yeah. I' m used to driving a car all the time. You never know where you're gonna end up someday."

"I' m sure that you'll be alright wherever you end up going. You seem like a very nice person."

"Thank you, miss. Now let's hurry up and find my boss."

After parking their car in front of the supermarket, Karen and David began searching for the right aisle while conversing happily.

"Do you think we'll be able to find everything that Mr. Landon asked us to buy?"

"Well, it's definitely possible to buy things we don't usually have."

Karen glanced at him curiously.

"Why don't we buy something special for dinner tonight?"

"What do you mean? Something special?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna cook for him."

"That's really sweet of you. Thank you."

Karen smiled shyly in return.

"Anytime. Anyways, we finally found it! Come on, let's get this over with."

Karen followed David to the checkout counter as they waited for their items to be scanned. When they were done, David picked up the bags and led her towards a small table in the corner of the shop.

"Have a seat, miss. I'll be right back."

When she returned with a large bag filled with fruits, vegetables and meat, Karen felt quite nervous. She didn't want to disappoint Mr. Landon. She hoped that he would like the things she bought for him. After taking a seat and opening one of the packages of food to begin eating, she looked up and watched as David took a few steps backwards.

"Something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

"Nothing's wrong. I was just...surprised, that's all. You don't usually go out of your way for anyone. Well, apart from me."

Karen blushed deeply.

"Um, I just wanted to thank you for helping me when I needed it. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been there for me."

"Don't mention it. It was nice meeting you. Here's hoping that we can meet again sometime soon."

"Me too. Thanks so much for today. We should hang out again some time."

"Of course! Have a good rest of your weekend."

"You too."

As soon as Karen left the store, she immediately pulled out her phone, and pressed the contact number that she'd memorised months ago.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Karen. What's up? Did you find everything okay?"

"Yea, I did. Everything went great. I've got loads of stuff to take home now. Do you want to come and help me carry them?"

"Sure. Is there anything in particular you want me to grab?"

"Just whatever you can carry. I guess I' m going to try to eat them all later."

"Oh, definitely. I'm already starving, though. And we still have to get the ice cream. It'll probably take us longer than expected. Oh, and I' m bringing pizza too. If you wanna stay and watch a movie instead of getting ice cream, I can bring the DVDs there."

"I'd love to, but I also kind of want to spend time alone with you. So, how about I bring them here?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Okay. I' ll be there in half an hour or so. See ya then!"

"Bye! Bye!"