One Week

Chapter 9

I ran and got a shopping cart as Ender locked the doors. Of course the only one left was one with a trippy wheel. We walked through the large Costco door and received the coupons they give you. Ender pushed the cart as we walked down to the photo area.

"Maybe we should get some Chex-mix." I said, pointing at the cereal isle, Ender looked at me and shook his head. I made a fake sulking face as we kept walking.

"But what if we need popsicles?" I said. "Or icecream."

"Keep your eye on the prize Lyric." Ender replied. "But after the picture finding then maybe."

"Okay let's go." I said, just excited to get ice cream later. We walked up to the photo area and looked at all the frames.

"Lyric look at this one." Ender chuckled holding up a frame with "Love" written in bubble letters on the top, with heart studded edges. There was a fake picture of a couple kissing in the middle. I giggled and grabbed it from his hands, staring at it more intently.

"Should we get this one?" I ask, putting it in the cart. "Let's get our picture on."

The photo clerk let us in right away. "Do you want a green screen or just a close up?" she asked. I glanced at Ender and he answered.

"We'll just get a close up please." The clerk pointed us into the photo booth. "Oh can we not have the flash on please, my... wife has epilepsy and I'd rather not risk it." Ender said before we went in. My face immediately went red, I honestly didn't think he cared. The clerk gave us a weird look but obliged, we got into the booth and got settled. I straightened out my hair and got ready, Ender put his arm around me and I couldn't help but flinch so removed it awkwardly. The clerk counted down from three and we smiled big as the shutter clicked. I then turned my head to look at Ender and found him staring back at me, I smiled slightly and then the shutter went off again. We got out of the booth and handed the clerk the picture frame for her to immediately put the picture in there. We only had to wait a few minutes before the picture frame was handed back to us and Ender payed.

"Thanks Ender this is amazing!" I exclaimed pointing at our smiling faces. "You look so funny!" Ender didn't say much as we left the store. We made it all the way into the truck without Ender saying anything.

"You okay Ender?" I asked, before he could turn the key in the ignition.

"Yeah, I was just thinking." Ender answered, not looking me in the eyes.

"What about?" I asked, my voice softening.

"I want you to know that I'm sorry about what happened with your seizures. I know it was stupid of me to show you that video even still there was a warning on it. I was stupid and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry about your parents and what I said about them." Ender said finally meeting my eyes.

"I forgive you. I already hated you for a long time as it is so I guess it's about time. Anyways where to now?"

"Wanna just head back home?" Ender asked, giving me a tired look.

"Sure." I said, I could tell he didn't have a good sleep last night. I leaned my head against the window as we drove all the way back to the apartment. The lights were all off as we walked inside, sadly the air conditioner hadn't turned on yet so I opened up the sliding door to our deck. Ender made no noise as he flopped onto the bed and turned over. I didn't really know what was wrong so I just kind of stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. I tried to get to my side of the bed without disturbing Ender which is really hard because there is no space for me to actually get in. Which meant that I had to crawl over without touching him. I kicked off my shoes and attempted to somewhat straddle over him with ninja-like skill. I was failing horribly and accidently kneed him in the gut while trying to crawl. He grunted and his eyes opened.

"You suck at being stealthy Lyric." Ender said, his voice more teasing then annoyed. I grinned slightly.

"Well I'm not exactly a power ranger am I Ender Williams." I said matter-of-factly.

"You are correct, but I'm trying to sleep, at least be more courteous."

"I'd rather not, I was trying okay." I said, trying to ignore the hotness of cheeks as I realized I was still somewhat straddling him. My left leg was all the way on the other side of the bed and my right one was between his legs. I was still in a hunched over position due to my lack of ninja skills, my hair was lining the side of my face and was dragging over his face. I crawled the rest of the way over, careful to not hit his stomach again.