A White Lie

Chapter 9: Hopping

Chapter Nine: Hopping            

“Zoey?”

“What?” I answered snappily, my eyes still glued to the screen. I carefully placed my cooked and chopped pieces of chicken into my hard taco shell and added the toppings before serving them to a customer and repeating the process all over again.

“We’re running out of some groceries, can you please go to the supermarket?” I ignored Cassandra and continued making tacos for the growing line of customers. It wasn’t until my laptop suddenly turned off that I snapped my head up to look at her.

“What did you do that for?” I yelled, annoyed that all my progress in the game was now lost.

“You’ve been playing that taco game for hours.” What? Hours? Reaching for my phone, I checked the time and my eyes widened in surprise as I realized Cassandra was right, I’ve actually been playing the game for hours. Oops.

“I was really bored okay,” I defended myself, causing Cassandra to roll her eyes at me.

“This is the fifth time I’m asking. Can you please buy go the supermarket and buy some groceries?” I groaned.

“Why me? It’s Saturday, why can’t you go instead?”

“Because you’re living at my condo for free and you owe me that much plus I really have to finish these designs,” she said and pouted. I sighed, she’s playing the guilt card again.

“Fine,” I agreed, begrudgingly. The pout immediately disappeared off Cassandra’s face as triumph replaced it. After she threw a list of things we need at me, she quickly left the room before I could say anything else. Reluctantly, I took off my comfortable pajamas and replaced them with a pair of denim shorts and a simple pink tank top. After throwing on a simple necklace to complete my outfit, I slid my phone, the grocery list, house keys and keycard as well as some cash into the pockets of my shorts before walking out. “I’m going now!” I yelled before locking the door behind me.

After waiting for the lift to come all the way up and bring me all the way down, I exited it and took a detour to the poolside. My face automatically lit up into a smile when I saw a few kids splashing each other in the pool. I was just about to walk away when I saw a familiar shade of blond hair.

“Zoey?”

“Jason?”

“Going for a swim?” he asked. I shook my head.

“I’m going to the supermarket. You?”

“I was planning to just sit by the pool to chill, but I’ll bring you to the supermarket. I need some groceries anyway.” My heart jumped a beat. He’s bringing me to the supermarket? Does that mean I’ll be having some more alone time with him?

“Are you sure?” He nodded and tugged my hand in the direction of the lift to the car park. After an awkward silence in the lift, I followed behind him as he led the way to his car. I wasn’t surprised when I saw how much his car stood out from the others beside it. Sure, they were BMWs and other expensive cars, but his car seemed to be the most expensive of all and I honestly had no doubt it was. After a few minutes of silence in the car, I turned on the radio. Fortunately, a catchy song was on and soon, I found myself loudly singing along.

“You’re a horrible singer,” Jason insensitively pointed out. I glared at him, which only earned myself a chuckle. The rest of the trip to the supermarket was filled with my shrill singing. I got bored after a few songs ended, but continued signing at the top of my voice just to annoy Jason.

Jason swiftly and professionally pulled into a tight, empty parking space, unlike Cassandra, who would’ve taken countless of tries. He put on a pair of aviators and killed the engine before gracefully sliding out of the car. I, however, was the exact opposite of graceful as I somehow stepped on a discarded can of coke and lost my balance, causing me to let out a shrill screech and grab onto the hood of his car to catch myself. Once I caught my balance, I looked around and when I noticed no one saw, I closed the door and hurriedly walked away from the car as normally as I could, shielding the shade of red on my cheeks with my hair. However, the loud, deep guffaws of laughter behind told me that my action wasn’t totally unseen.