Please Help, It Hurts

Of Course.

It was Saturday and Chloe realized, there was no food in the house. She went to her room to count out any money she had. 2 dollars, then 8 and finally she had 17 dollars to spend. It wasn't a lot but it was enough. 

She went into her mom's room to ask if she wanted anything, but she didn't get a response. She checked on her mom and left for the store.

She passed Luka's boat on the way but he wasn't there. Too bad, she was hoping to talk to him. The grocery store was only 10 minutes from her house, so she got there quickly.

She entered and got a shopping cart. The first thing she went to was the canned aisle. She picked up 2, 4 packs of tuna which were only a dollar each, and she got 3 jars of the cheapest pasta sauce. 

She used her phone to calculate so she did not go over budget. As she turned the aisle, she ran into Luka.

"oh, shi.."

"Hey Chloe, nice seeing you here," he said before she finished her sentence.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe asked, feeling stupid.

"Oh, my sister asked if I could come to buy her favorite chips and dip," Luka said holding his items.

"What about you?"

"I needed to come to buy food so my mom and I can eat." She said, not giving too much information.

She started walking and motioned for him to keep walking with her.

He followed and said, "Well since we're both here, could I help you shop?"

Chloe blushed and turned away. "Sure."

"Okay, so what do you need?" he asked.

"Pasta, milk, eggs, bread, toilet paper, and napkins."

"Cool so, I will get the bread, and you go get the milk and eggs, and we'll meet in the pasta aisle."

"Okay," Chloe replied, unsure.

She went and got the carton of eggs and milk and walked as fast as she could to the pasta aisle. When she got there, she noticed that Luka got exactly the bread she wanted. This surprised her but she shrugged it off.

"Here you go," he said, putting the bread in the cart.

"Which pasta do you need?" Luka asked.

Chloe walked down the aisle and found the same noodles she gets all the time.

"These," she said as she reached down to get the packet. She handed them to Luka and he gently put them in the cart. Finally, they walked to the napkin and toilet paper aisle.

Luka ran into the aisle and picked up the toilet paper pack, and said, "Heads up!"

To his surprise, Chloe caught the pack without even looking up.

"You tried it," she said while smirking.

Luka put his hands up in defeat and turned back around to find the paper towels, when he heard, "Heads up!"

He turned and the towels him square in the face. Chloe had thrown it a few seconds before she said 'Heads up' so it caught him off guard. It landed with an 'oof' and almost knocked Luka down.

Luka just shot Chloe a nasty look but she didn't even look at him.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll meet you outside," he replied.

-

Chloe finished paying for her items and went outside looking for Luka, but she didn't see him. She assumed that he left her there, alone.

"Of course." she figured that he decided to leave because she wasn't interesting enough.

As she nearly left, Luka comes from behind and says, "Hey, where you going?"

"OMG, you scared me! I thought you left," she said without breath.

"Of course not, my mother came to pick me up but I asked her if I could take you home and she said yes," he explained.

"Oh good, wait you want to take me home again?" Her eyes widened.

"Yes, that's if you would like me to." 

"Ok, we can walk together." She looked calm and collected, but she was internally screaming. So was Luka.

"Let me help you with that," he said while taking the toilet paper and bag with the milk and bread.

"Thanks, let's hurry so you can get back to your boat." She suggested.

"It's okay, I don't need to be home for an hour, so we have time."

-

"Where can I put the bread?" Luka asked.

"Oh, you see the sink? Put the bread in the cabinet above it."

When Luka and Chloe got to her home, she opened it and they went inside. He then started to help her put the groceries away in the empty cabinets. It only took a few minutes and they were done. 

Luka had about 45 minutes before he had to leave. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Luka asked.

"Well, we could...... I'm drawing a blank," She sheepishly said.

"I noticed you had a guitar, would you mind if I played something for you?" Luka smiled at her.

That guitar was the last thing her dad gave to her mom right before he...left. Since her mom never left her bed, she never got to play it.

She looked at him with sadness in her eyes but still said yes.

They sat on the couch and Luka took the guitar. He plucked the strings and noticed they were out of tune. Chloe just looked over his shoulder with tears in her eyes while he tuned the strings. 

He looked back at her and noticed the single tear on her cheek.

"Hey, are you okay?" as he wiped her tear.

"Oh, it's nothing it's j-just that.. that was my father-rs guitar." She burst into tears.

As soon as she let her cries out, Luka took her in her arms and held her. She cried and cried and each time, Luka squeezed her tighter. He knew that tight hugs always comforted her sister. so he knew how to react.

"Hey you can talk to me if you want, or you don't have to talk, it's fine."