In Five Years

Chapter 9

Maddie

Two days later, Tre is at my door at around six wearing expensive-looking jeans and a white button-down shirt that clings to his muscular chest.

"I thought this was a hang-out session," I say with a smug grin. "What is this?" I wave at his outfit.

"Is it a crime to want to look nice?"

"No, but we could have just met somewhere. You didn't have to pick me up."

"You're impossible." He shakes his head and glances back to his Audi that's parked in the driveway. "Ready to go?"

I follow him out to the car and roll my eyes when he insists on opening up the door for me. He's being such a gentleman, and it's not that I don't like it, it's just that I don't like how it's making me feel. I don't want to get attached to him, but he's making it hard.

"In case I forgot to mention..." He trails off and pulls out onto the road. "You look amazing."

"Well, I hope so. You didn't exactly tell me where we were going. I had no clue what to wear."

I picked out jeans and a light pink sweater. It wasn't much of anything, but Tre is staring at me like I'm wearing lingerie for crying out loud.

"What you're wearing is perfect," he says.

We continue driving for ten minutes or so, and in the distance, Superstitious Mountain comes into view, the sun setting perfectly on the horizon. I could stare at this view forever. I missed it back in Connecticut.

It's not until he pulls into a grocery store parking lot that I furrow my eyebrows together in confusion and turn to look at him. "What exactly are we doing?"

He gets a small grin on his face, and for whatever reason it makes me feel so warm inside. "Well, I thought we could hang out like you wanted to. Taking you out somewhere would be considered a date, but I figured we could stop here and get all of our favorite snacks and ingredients to make a delicious dinner, then watch a movie or something back at my place."

Oh god.

The warm feeling enters my chest again. It needs to stop. I can't get attached.

I can't.

"What?" He laughs as he continues to stare at me. "Is this too date-ish for you? It's a way for us to get to know each other. It's low key, not a lot of pressure, and—"

"Tre." I reach across the console and give his arm a tight squeeze. "This seems like fun. I like it."

The answer seems to please him enough, and once we're inside the store we talk about our favorite foods. We decide to make a stir fry since it's something both of us like. I grab the chicken and appreciate the way Tre analyzes almost five different peppers before he decides on one.

Next are the snacks, and while I'm more of a salty person, he's more into sweets. I grab three different bags of chips and find out that his favorite candy is gummy worms. Our cart is full of junk food by the time we head to the checkout.

As Tre loads our groceries into the car I find myself feeling happy. I haven't felt like this in a long time. From the pressures of school to losing connections with all of my friends, I seem to forget about that whenever I'm with him.

He won't let me carry any of the groceries inside when we get back to his fancy apartment. He looks ridiculous with twelve plastic bags dangling from his arms, letting out a huge sigh of relief once he hauls them onto his island.

"I could have helped," I say.

"I got it. It's fine," he replies, but I can tell he seems winded.

He grabs two cutting boards and some knives and lays them out on the counter, and then he takes the pack of chicken out of the plastic bag. "You can do the vegetables and I'll do the chicken?"