𝔪𝔞𝔡𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔪𝔢

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫

 i'm only up when you're not down.

Tyler coughed. Jacey looked over her book to see if he was alright. It was Monday afternoon, and Tyler had fallen ill after their night of dancing in the rain. Jacey was surprised the roles weren't reversed. "See. That's what happens when you dance in the rain, then go into your freezing cold house," she told him, teasing.

"Ha. Ha. Ha!" He faked a laugh as he rubbed her bare leg. They were laying opposite ways on his couch. He was watching TV. She was trying to get some studying done. She was off from school for the next few days, so that seniors could prepare for their final exams. She was happy for the school year to be coming to a close and for graduation to be fast approaching. She smiled at him before she went back to reading one of the last few chapters of "The Scarlet Letter." He glanced at her and couldn't help but think about all the times he would go into the grocery store just to catch a glimpse of her. Now she was taking care of him while he was sick. "Remember all those times I came into the store for random things?"

Jacey put down her book again to look at him. She was kind of tired of reading anyway. Her eyes were beginning to hurt a bit, and she hadn't said more than a few words to him since she had been at his place. "Yes. You were like stalking me."

When the doors opened, Jacey leaned on the counter as she usually did. As a cashier, she was supposed to greet customers as they walked in, but Jacey hardly ever did. She didn't even look up to see who entered until a slightly familiar voice spoke, "Hey."

She looked up and over to the direction of where the voice came from and instantly smiled, "Hey!" She replied, thinking in her head that her 'hey' was too excited. It was the guy from the day before.

"Do you guys sell NyQuil?" The guy asked, walking a bit closer to Jacey.

"Yeah, partied too hard the other night?" Jacey questioned, attempting small talk.

"My dad's out of town, and my mom is sick, so I'm picking her up a few things." Jacey felt terrible after hearing that and pointed toward the medicine aisle.

"Thanks," the guy said and walked away. Jacey sighed and shook her head. "Really, Jacey?" She said out loud to herself.

The guy came back with both arms filled with groceries. Jacey didn't understand why he never used a basket. He emptied his arms onto the conveyor belt, and Jacey rang up his items, noticing everything he had gotten: four cans of soup, organic chicken broth, crackers, orange juice (the good kind), and a DayQuil/NyQuil combo pack. "I need your ID," Jacey said due to the register asking for age verification for the combo pack of medicine.

"Really...for what?" The guy asked. "Kids use this stuff to get high, so age verification is needed," Jacey said holding the meds. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, opened it, and removed his license. He handed it to Jacey, "Here you go," he said with a friendly smile.

Jacey looked at the license and felt a bit stalkerish because she looked at all his information. She read his full name, Tyler Alexander Barlow; she noticed he lived in town not too far from her, and then finally his birthday. She typed in 09/09/1987 and handed the license back to him. "Here you go, Mr. Barlow," she said after noticing the almost six-year age difference.

"Call me Tyler," he said, laughing a bit, then looking at her name tag. "Jacey, that's an interesting name," he said as she handed him his bags.