Trust Me

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Mrs. Tibbits once told me that grocery shopping calms your nerves, which was exactly what I needed to do after the "Luke incident".

"Feeling down muffin? Well I got the fruitiest idea for you! When I was young and in looooveee, and a boy broke my heart, I just went grocery shopping, and all my little troubles were gone! I'll be happy to lend you my car!" she told me excitedly in her little sing-song voice, offering me an actual muffin.

Weird how whenever she called me a certain type of food, and then actually offered me the thing she called me 10 seconds earlier. Ha.

I was extremely grateful for her generosity however, because I did know how to drive. That's only because of the people I watched though. Trust me, you can see everything from a sidewalk.

As much as I wanted to take that muffin though, I didn't, because another lesson my mother had taught me was to never except food from anyone. "Don't take food from anyone." were her exact words. "You never know where it could've been, or what could've been done to it." I nodded in agreement, like I always did.

Even though I didn't take Mrs. Tibbit's muffin though, I did take her advice.

And I did something I've never done in my entire life.

I went grocery shopping.

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"DAMN THIS STORE!" I yelled angrily while shopping for the first time. I was going through different cans of tomato sauce, for a future dinner I had planned to make (as Mrs. Tibbits had suggested). But I couldn't choose. There were 30 different cans of tomato sauce! I mean couldn't the store just sell one certain damn can of sauce!! That'd make my life just a tad easier. DAMN IT!

Ok...so during my little temper tantrum, I experienced something I hadn't before.

A little thing called embarrassment.

Yeah, everyone was staring at me, the girl who never went shopping in her life, and was now yelling at tomato sauce cans. Go figure.

I sighed, and picked a random can, rolling my cart along to the next few hours.

Was it just me, or did shopping actually make me MORE stressed?

I pretty much had everything I needed, so I made my way to the check out counters to pay. I was pretty sure I still had a decent amount of money on me. That reminded me, I needed a job. Fast. My mother has always supplied the money in my life, so I've never actually earned it myself. Just another thing to add to my Things I would rather not do list.

I was thinking about how much I hated the store, when I saw the HELP WANTED sign on the check out counter. As the teenage cashier began to scan my items, I realized this may be the only job I was qualified for....maintaining the fact that I wasn't taught at an actual school. More like homeschooled without the home, or the books, or tests, or grades. My mother would just teach me random things as we strolled through life, quizzing me randomly.

"You can never be more prepared. That's why I teach you these things, Laura. Who knows, maybe some day you'll be quized by someone wealthy, with big prizes. That would come in handy wouldn't it Laura?" she had told me with a smile. Again, I nodded and smiled back. I wasn't much of a talker.

"Do you think I'd be qualified for a job here?" I asked the guy at the counter.

"How old are you 16?" he asked, focused on my items.

"15." I said, cautiously.

"Well sure." he said looking up at me. He smiled, raking his eyes from my feet to my face. "We could use pretty girls like you here at QuickStop. I'll be here too." he said, winking.

Was this dude hitting on me?

"Uh. Okay. Thanks?" I said, sounding more as if I was asking a question.

Jeez was I in creeperland.

"All finished. That'll be $39.87." he said, still smiling. I gave him the money, eager to get the hell outta that place.

"See ya around, sweet cheeks." he said, winking again.

Sweet cheeks?

"Definitely hitting on me." I told myself as I walked back to the car with the cart full of groceries.

Welcome to creeperland Laura!!

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When I arrived at the apartment, I thanked Mrs. Tibbits gratefully, and brought my groceries back up to my room.

It was surprising how much a trip to the grocery store could tire you out.

But it definitely did the trick, realizing that I wasn't as upset as I was before.

Tiredly, I opened my door and walked in, unaware what was going on inside the apartment.

I looked up, shocked. I was so surprised I dropped all of the bags of groceries I was carrying in my hands.

"Luke??"