Effortless

Thirteen

I checked my watch, it was 12:00 PM. I needed to get to Ricky's house. Him, Bella, Kailey, and I were going to play board games.

"Thanks." I thanked the cashier who nodded at me in response.

I then left the gas station with two bags in my hand. Emerson forced me to the store to get her some candy because apparently I was her errand boy. Luckily the gas station was only a five minute walk from my house and I had something else that I wanted to buy.

One thing I had always loved about that particular gas station is that they never ID'd. I went there pretty often, so I recognized the three cashiers that would work there. They knew me as well and had no problem selling to me. The gas station wasn't the only place I bought from, it was just the place that was the closest so I went more often.

The bottles inside of the bag clanked against each other as I was walking. However, when I was passing by the ice machine in front of the building, my eyes fell on the one person that I never wanted to see, yet kept seeing more of.

"Alright, now I'm totally convinced you're stalking me." I said, my tone dull.

"What are you doing here?" Javier asked me as he stood in front of me with his arms folded. Beside him was his girlfriend, Diane. She stood next to him with her hands on her hips, looking at me with judgment. My tolerance of her had been steadily decreasing as the time went by.

I looked between the both of them as I answered. "Getting snacks."

"Oh, same." Javier said.

Then there was an awkward moment of silence between us. The three of us stood there, unknowing of what to say. I didn't know why I was still standing there. I had nothing that I wanted to say to Javier or his girlfriend.

"What's in the bag?" Diane asked me. Though, I believe she already knew what was in the bag because of the way she was staring at it.

"Snacks." I replied dryly.

Diane shook her head and stared with dismay. "That doesn't look like only snacks."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Was she actually being serious? I was not the very first underage teenager in the world to purchase alcohol, and I was definitely not the last. Besides, I didn't need this girl's judgmental looks. I got enough of that from other people.

I could have denied it and reiterated that it was only snacks. The bag wasn't see-through so she was making assumptions based on the noises coming from said bag. However, I couldn't find it in myself to care enough to correct her. She should have taken it upon herself to stop being so nosy.

Diane continued, "It's illegal and wrong for you to have that. Honestly, I would have thought you of all people wouldn't partake in such activities. You're really smart, Elias, so how could you drink that –let alone buy it?"

"Sorry, when?" I asked her, confusion evident on my face.

Diane began to look confused as well as Javier. She interlocked hands with her boyfriend. "When what?"

"Did I ask? For your opinion, I mean."

The confusion fell off of Diane's face and turned into annoyance. She then sighed and looked at her boyfriend probably hoping he would back her up. Javier, however, looked like he was stifling a laugh. When his girlfriend gave him a stern look, he straightened up.

"Don't succumb to bad habits like everyone else. " Diane said softly but the judgment and mild disgust was still in her voice. "Let's go, Javier."

This interaction made me feel justified in not liking her. I didn't feel as though I was just hating her for no good reason. What I did in my free time had nothing to do with Diane. Just because she was a goody-two-shoes that did nothing wrong did not mean I had to be like that. That was my justified reason for not liking her, because she was judging me for something that she knew absolutely nothing about. That was my only reason for not liking her. It definitely was not because of anything else.