Out of Place

Grocery Bags

You sighed. Adult things were never your forte.

Making your own appointments, doing laundry, dishes, cleaning? Ugh, no thanks. Grocery shopping was always one of those adult things you never liked. But here you were at stupid Buy 4 Less because you're an adult and when you're an adult you're socially obligated to do adult things.

Little did you know that today would be a good day to do adult things, such as grocery shopping. Because if you didn't do an adult thing today you would have never met Steve Rogers.

It was a dry September evening in New York City's cheapest grocery store, Buy 4 Less. Earlier that morning you were left with nothing but those gross extra bread slices at the end of a loaf and some soy milk for breakfast, so you realized it was about time to go shopping, and not the fun kind either. You pushed your cart along the aisles picking up your regular needs of sustenance: granola, eggs, yogurt, nutella, until you made it to the fruits and veggies aisle. You walked over to a grate of avocados and tried to find the little plastic bags to put a few in.

"Ugh, I hate these bags." You thought to yourself. You've always had trouble opening them ever since you were a kid, and you've frequently had this fear that you wouldn't be able to open one and just end up no buying any fruits or veggies.

But nevertheless, you figured how to open one and you smiled to yourself proudly. But your pathetic sense of satisfied content ended quickly when you heard an awful amount of rustling from behind you and you turned around.

Behind you was a tall man with blonde hair next to the apples struggling to open a bag. You giggled a little, at least you weren't the only one.

The man looked up and you smiled back with empathy. "Oh gosh he's cute." You thought to yourself when he looked at you before blushing and quickly turning around. You made it around the fruits section with your things while sneaking quick glances at him every now and then. At first it was cute that he couldn't open it but now it was just embarrassing. People were starting to stare and you couldn't help but feel bad. You remembered when your friend from India first came to this country, she had trouble at grocery stores too because she was used to markets. You figured he must not be from here too.

You were typically a shy person, but something about this guy attracted you to him, and you wanted to find an excuse to talk to him, this was perfect. You rolled your cart over to him, and tried to ask as smoothly as possible: "Need any help with those?" While picking up a bag

The man smiled shyly and replied, "Please, if you don't mind. I'm really not used to these." He handed over the thin plastic bag.

Your smile brightened. He was polite and cute! "Well first, you were trying to open it upside down." You giggled a little as you flipped it over. You could see that he was blushing quite a bit.

"Oh no it's okay!" You said rather quickly." I do that all the time, these bags are my least favorite things about grocery shopping. The trick is to move it in between your fingers, so the two sides separate so that you can open it." He was looking very intently at you while you were explaining it to him.

He smiled widely as you handed the bag to him and he dropped his apples in. You noticed he had an American accent, which was strange because he seemed so out of place. "You not from here?" You asked but immediately regretted it. His face sort of fell and you realized it was probably a creepy question to ask.

But he shook his head and smiled sadly. "Haven't been here in a long time." He replied.

"That makes sense then." You thought to yourself.

"S-so," He stuttered. "How can I repay you with this act of kindness?" You could tell he was trying to be smooth, but it sounded kinda dorky, which made you laugh a little.

"How bout a cup of uh-coffee maybe?" You tried to play it cool, but on the inside you were jumping up and down. You weren't usually the one to be so forward, but something was different with this blond guy.

He grinned and said, "I guess it's a deal then." Which made you laugh nervously. You grabbed a sticky note and pen from your purse and began to write down your number on it.

"Here's my number, text me when you wanna get that cup of coffee." You said, as you began to walk off.

"Wait!" He said, and you turned around. "I never caught your name." You laughed. "How could you forget that? This is too cliche." You thought

You smiled and said "Y/N."

"Y/N." He said. "Nice to meet you, my name's Steve. Steve Rogers."

"I look forward to that cup of coffee, Steve." You said as you walked away from that perfect fruits and veggies aisle.