coasting - tommyinnit

2

sunday, july 10th, 2022; 12:01pm
4 days, 22 hours, and 59 minutes until flight home

"bread, pasta, tomatoes. bread, pasta, tomatoes," i repeated in my head as clara and i walked through the unfamiliar aisles of the grocery store called food lion. makayla had sent us to get some specific ingredients for what she was going to make for lunch.

we stood in the middle of the store, looking up at the big signs that described what each aisle contained. clara pointed at the sign that said "bread," so we walked in that direction.

"what kind of bread did she want again?" i asked, hoping she knew the answer.

"i think sourdough? at least i hope..." she trailed off.

we walked further into the aisle and found the section with the loaves of bread. we stood, staring at the hundreds of choices, overwhelmed. taking one loaf off the shelf, clara read the label and saw that it said "sourdough," so she took it, looking at the pricetag that was on the shelf.

"what's the sales tax here?" she asked.

"you ask that like i have any idea."

clara sighed and looked around, finding a pair of two boys that looked to be about our age. i recognized one of them as the boy that held open the door for me at the ice cream shop the night before.

"i'll ask them," she said.

"why don't we just look it up?"

"it's easier this way!" i tried to get her to stop, but she was already on her way over, so i reluctantly followed behind her. at least i knew one of them was polite.

"do either of you know what the sales tax is here?"

the two boys looked between each other, confused. the one that i didn't see last night was quite tall, and had fluffy blond hair and blue eyes. he was wearing a plain red t-shirt. "isn't that just part of the price on the label?" he asked, a british accent coming through in his words.

"of course you went to the british ones," i said quietly, knowing that the taxing system was different in england than it was in america.

"shut up," she replied back jokingly.

"is it not just part of the price?" the dark haired boy questioned again.

"no, uh, it's usually a certain percent of the price and it's added on at the checkout," i replied, trying to explain the tax system simply.

"well that's stupid," the blonde said, and his friend nodded in agreement.

clara pulled out her phone. "i'll look it up."

"so i take it you two aren't from here?" i asked, trying to fill up the time it would take clara to search google with small talk.

"no, we're on vacation with some of our friends," the shorter one answered.

"oh, cool, us too!"

"have you lot found any nice spots so far?" the blond boy asked.

"not yet," i responded. "we got here last night and we've only gone here and to an ice cream shop. thanks for holding the door open last night, by the way!" i said to the brown haired one. he smiled in return and nodded.