Fatal Attractions

Chapter Five

     "So how was your last day of school, booger?" I asked as Ally slid into the backseat and buckled her seatbelt. She plopped her backpack down on the seat next to her and looked up at me.

     "It was okay. I drew a picture for my teacher," she said, and I smiled as I started driving.

     "Oh really? That's nice. Did you say goodbye to any of your friends?"

     "I don't have any," she answered, and my smile dropped. I didn't have too many friends at school, either, but I'm sure Ally had to have at least one friend.

     "Really? Not one, Ally?"

     She shook her head slowly and looked down. "Nope."

     Turning into the parking lot of the grocery store, I immediately found a parking spot in the front. I guess the last day of school wasn't popular to go grocery shopping.

     "Why are we here?" Ally asked, and I unbuckled my seatbelt.

     "Mom needs us to pick up some dinner for tonight. Come on, you can help me pick something out," I said, and slid out of the car, shutting the door behind me. Ally followed suit and we both made our way inside the grocery store. To my surprise, there really weren't any people at all. It was just one employee and a handful of other shoppers. I couldn't complain, though. The less people there were distracting me, the sooner I could get what I needed and go home.

     "I guess we should opt for something homemade instead of boxed," I said, walking over to the pasta isle.

     "Can we get spaghetti?" Ally asked, and I smirked.

     "Sure," I responded, reaching out for a box of angel hair pasta. "With meatballs?"

     "Yeah!"

     "Alright, alright," I laughed, placing the box of spaghetti in the basket. My phone suddenly began ringing and I grabbed it out of my pocket with my free hand and answered.

     "Hello?"

     "Are you on your way home yet? You're taking a little longer than you usually do." I let out a sigh and began walking with Ally over to the pasta sauces.

     "I'm still in the store. I got a little sidestracked earlier, sorry," I said, scanning through the shelf of different pasta sauces and picking out the kind we usually get.

     "Doing what? It's the last day of school, I can't think of anything that you could've needed to do," she said, and I heard Josh yelling something in the background, accompanied by a different male voice. Great. Josh had a friend over.

     "I made a new friend," I blurted, and I could almost hear her raise her eyebrows.

     "Oh... Well, that's great, Lena. You should have her come over," she said, and I bit my lip consciously.

     "It's a he, mom. And he was going to, but I guess he had other plans," I mumbled, and started heading over to the meat section for ground beef. I quickly found it and placed it in the basket.

     "Well that's too bad. I guess he'll miss out on my cooking. What are you picking up for dinner?" she asked, and I checked to make sure Ally was still behind me as I made my way over to the cash registers.

     "Spaghetii and meatballs. Homemade, though. Boxed meals are a disgrace," I noted, and heard her laugh on the other end.

     "Isn't that the truth? Alright, just be safe on your way home. You picked up Ally?" she asked, and I nodded my head before realizing she couldn't see me.