Where You Belong

You Have Your Uses

*Several Days Later*

"You really didn't have to come with me." Lexi sighed, pushing the shopping cart down the freezer aisle of the supermarket. Law walked beside her with his hands in his pokets, grinning.

"I was intrigued by Shachi-ya and Penguin-ya's description of this grocery store, so naturally I wanted to investigate it myself. This was the perfect opportunity."

She snorted, stopping in front of the frozen pizzas. "Right. The perfect opportunity to annoy me. Thanks." She rolled her eyes, taking hold of the handle to the freezer door, picking out two boxes of pizza and putting them in the cart.

What she didn't tell him, however, was that deep down she was immensely grateful the pirate had offered to join her. Seeing as Lexi never knew where she could possibly bump into Cooper, it was nerve-wracking and stressful, and simply conjuring up what might happen if she did actually run into him somewhere by herself was paralyzing. A shiver ran down her spine, but thanks to the cold of the freezer, she could play it off as being sold.

"I'm sure a part of you enjoys it." He retorted, and she laughed.

"Oh, yes. Insult me more. I love the emotional pain." Law raised a brow at the sarcasm dripping in her voice, but only shook his head.

They stopped by several other aisles, Law looking all around him at the fascinating things that Lexi's world had that his didn't. The engineers had perhaps played up the marvel of it all, but to see the differences in their worlds was still interesting to him.

Deciding that what they had in the cart would be enough for the week, Lexi directed them to the nearest check out station, settling herself behind an older gentleman who was in the middle of placing boxes of cat litter onto the conveyor belt.

Waiting patiently for the cashier to ring him up, she began unloading the cart onto the black belt, placing a divider between their purchases.

"Will you go get a couple of sodas? I'm thirsty. You can grab one too if you want." She pointed to a small mini fridge on the aisle over, and Law gave one more glance before nodding, heading off in that direction.

The older man took his purchases and walked away. The cashier, a redheaded girl who looked only a few years older than herself, turned her attention back over to Lexi, her expression lax and slightly annoyed.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"Yeah, thanks." Taking the hint that she didn't really want to talk any further than that, Lexi didn't extend on the conversation and allowed the woman to ring up her items. Her eyes wandering, Lexi spotted a pile of coupons previous customers had used, which made her remember.

"Oh, I think we got a coupon in the mail. It was buy one get one free for the canned goods." She said, digging in her purse for the slip of paper. "One sec. I swear I brought it with me."

"I can't apply a coupon unless you have it with you." Her bored tone droned, continuing to scan items across the laser. Sighing, Lexi leaned against the wall. Then, she spotted a stack of the very same coupons she'd mentioned, perfectly aligned and unused.

"Well, what about those ones right there? Aren't they for customers?" Above the stack read a sign that said 'Take us!'

The redhead, Marissa, judging by her name tag, glanced over at the sign and sighed. "It's only for premium members, those with rewards cards. Do you have one?"

"No." She admitted, and the redhead shrugged.

"Then you can't use them."

"Oh." Lexi pursed her lips, surveying what she was purchasing. Half of her cart had been canned food products from the same company the coupon was for. If her cashier had been any nicer, maybe she could have been allowed to use one.