• dynasty • | gnr | kiss | bon jovi |

•9•

I check the surrounding asiles five times to ensure myself that no one I know is here.

Three weeks out of the month, I am a happy and considerate person, more likely to but the emotions of others before my own. Unfortunately right now isn't those three weeks, and I am stuck with the embarrassing task of buying feminine products at the grocery store.

When I was eleven and first struck with the burden of monthly bleeding, my mother made it all seem like nothing. Just put a tampon in, take some advil and forget about it, right? She didn't tell me about the struggle that is actually procuring the tampon in the first place.

I always go at an odd time of the day, when I feel that no one will be there. Like Sunday morning, when everyone's at church. I also travel to a completely different part of New York City, so that no one rich or important will be there to see me. Then I buy an insane amount of Tampax, enough to last me three months or more.

I do one more sweep of the area with my eyes. There's nothing but an old lady digging through the discounted meat section, a sleepy old man standing by her side.

I plunge into the female aisle head first and swipe an armful of tampons, rushing to the end which should let me out near the checkout lane.

I obviously should've checked again before I just came right out in the open, because guess who happens to be coming out of aisle nine? I hold my breath and stop cold for a split second. I don't see his face, but the long curly hair and the black jeans are a dead give away.

I spin around on my heel and manage to duck right back into the feminine care aisle and instinctively drop the contents of my arms.

The boxes make an extremely loud noise when they hit the floor. I cringe and smack my forehead.

"What the hell...?" Stan's voice, dripping with the sound of New York flows into the aisle, and I hear footsteps growing nearer.

"God dang it!" I hiss and begin to kick the boxes away from my body. I spin around and the last moment and pretend not to see him. I figure running into him head first is better than letting him see me playing soccer with tampons.

"Woah there," Stan says as I take a step back and feign surprise at his presence.

"Stan? What are you doing here?"

He gives me an amused look. "My ma forced me, she says me an' Gino don't help her enough. I say that's bullshit, but whatever."

"Oh... uh... well shouldn't you be at church or something?"

He scoffs. "I'm Jewish."

I giggle. I should've known since his last name is 'Eisen'.

"Think you can fit a yarmulka over that giant mane of yours?"

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "Well I dunno, I never pray and I never had a bar mitzvah. Guess I missed out on all the fun, huh?"

I chuckle and look away, hoping he doesn't notice the boxes on the ground. He doesn't seem to, he just looks at me like he wants to say something, but doesn't know what. So that leaves us just standing there awkwardly, breathing and staring at each other.

"I wanted to let you know that I talked to Rose, and you got a ninety-five on that paper you wrote. I told you it really was amazing."

Stan's eyes brighten. "You're kiddin' me, aren't you?"

I shake my head and smile at him. "I'm really proud of you. You're coming along, and the work you're doing to pick up your grades is commendable. Don't stop, alright? Promise me?"