When we reach the doors of the market, I turn to grab a cart. There's no way we'll be able to carry everything in our arms. Not when we're shopping for ten people. I pull the cart out from the end of the line and turn to enter the supermarket. I take in my surroundings. It's not jam packed with people, but it's not exactly empty either. I turn to my left to ask Annika what kind of snacks she wants and find that she and Luke are both gone.
"Guess it's just us," I hear from my left. I turn to look at Soren and silently nod. "What d'you need first?"
"Right, uh..." I look around the supermarket and spot the fruit section. "I'll, just, um, start there," I stutter. I roll the cart over and try my hardest not to hit anything. The endeavor is not successful thanks to my lack of coordination and i end up hitting nearly every stand on my way over. Soren follows me to the fruit and begins inspecting bananas.
"Incoming!" I turn to see Soren pretending to throw a bunch of bananas at me. I flinch automatically before laughing at myself. Soren puts the bunch back and starts examining oranges instead. I look down at the bananas and try to figure out which ones look the best when a memory flutters into mind. I made Noah banana bread on our one year anniversary. He hated when bananas got speckled (even though those are the best tasting bananas) so I used to take the speckled bananas and make bread for us to eat instead. After the first year, it kind of became our tradition for any big event. Birthdays, cousin's weddings, holidays, graduations... do people make break-up banana bread, too? That's a pretty big event, one might say. I laugh bitterly to myself.
"Hey, you okay?" Soren's voice snaps me out of my memories. I turn away and wipe a small tear that I hope he doesn't notice before turning back with a big smile.
"Yeah. Fine. We better hurry before I start getting hangry phone calls from everyone," I say. I reach in my bag to check my phone before remembering my spastic morning. Never mind on the calls, I guess.
"We were, uh, interrupted before. I just wanna make sure you know how sorry I am. Not to drag it out or anything, but... I'm sorry," he says. The more Soren apologizes, the more I feel like insisting he has nothing to apologize for. It's sweet of him to try, though. I pick up an apple and twirl it to look for any bruises or mold.
"Seriously, it's ok. I—" At that moment, the apple slips from my hand and bounces onto the ground. I reach down to get it but Soren gets there first. He picks it up off the ground and rubs it against his shorts in an attempt to clean it. We both stand at the same time and I suddenly notice how close he is. How pretty his lips look. How did I not notice them last night? It's like late-night-me was hardly looking. And they're right there.
"Not sure if you still want this one," he says quietly. I can feel his breath on my face and the warmth from his body radiates towards me. The small space between us feels electric, like it could burn a piece of bread if you threw it between us. I take the apple from his hand slowly and place it back on the stack without looking away from his eyes.
"I want it."
Something primal takes over me and I press my lips against his. My arms reach up and wrap around his neck, my fingers tangling into his hair. Soren kisses me back like he's in the Sahara desert and I'm a fresh glass of water. He moves and parts my lips with his and I feel his hands explore my back. Everything feels warm and light for a moment
and—
"Ahem."
I tear myself from Soren like a bandaid and find myself face to face with an old lady. She has a smile on her face and mischief in her eyes. She's clearly amused.
"Mind if I get past you two?"
"Not at all," I say and wipe at my cheeks while backing away, as if I can brush off my deep blush. I lean into the apple stack while Soren leans into the banana stack behind him. The little lady pushes her cart between us and makes her way down the aisle. I can barely look at her face in my current state of embarrassment, so i focus on taming my hair with my hands instead.
"Have a nice day," she says to me as she passes by. Her smile is so contagious that I have no choice but to smile back. It's contagious.
"You too, ma'am," Soren replies.
I wait for her to disappear farther into the grocery store before meeting Soren's eye. For a moment, we just stare at each other in shock in amazement. Then we both laugh. The past few minutes—no, scratch that, days— have felt so absurd that there's nothing else we can do. Eventually, Annika and Luke come searching for us to bring the basket over to the frozen food isle so they can stock up.
"What's so funny," Annika asks.
"Nothing, i just can't stop laughing," I say between giggles. I take a deep breath and pull myself together. I must look insane.
"Huh," Annika says with a shrug. "Oh, did you get enough apples? Tess keeps eating them all." The mentioning of apples is enough to set me and Soren off again. We keep laughing until I'm sure I'll have a six pack in the morning because how much my stomach aches. What a strange range of emotions i've gone through today, and it's still morning. I reach towards the apples, making sure to get an abundance of them. Apples have never been my favorite fruit, but I think that might've just changed.
YOU ARE READING
The Beach House
Romance--completed- Mariella looks forward to going to the beach house every single year. She's gone with her friends for as long as she can remember. The same people, the same house, the same summer feeling. But this year something's different: her boyfri...
