Fairly Normal People

-Chapter Ten-

Only a couple of streets away was the an old supermarket that Andy always made an effort to shop at and unsurprisingly it reflected its surroundings in that on the outside it was unkempt and neglected, though the inside was kept spotless. The large sign that sat above the entrance spelled out 'Mosswater Supermarket' or most of it at least as a few letters had either stopped working or been deliberately broken over the years. Yet the sign still defiantly glowed into the fading twilight and declared itself 'Mo-swat-- Sup--mark--'. Andy had been a long time customer of theirs though he had not had any reason to stop by in the years since his apartment had grown a little emptier. Beth had a distinct bounce in every step as they made their way inside and her hands clutched at the jacket around her like she was constantly drawing it in tighter around her. A young man stood behind the counter and looked them up and down as they entered. Andy met eyes with him and they exchanged nods before the young man went back to staring at his magazine that lay on the counter in front of him. Andy grabbed a trolley as they passed by them and strode to catch back up to Beth.

"I didn't know about this place." Beth said.

"How could you? You live on the other side of the suburb." Andy said.

Beth spun around and stuck her tongue out at him and gave him a quick raspberry before she spun back around to keep scanning the shelves. Andy stopped by the milk and made sure to grab at least a litre of full cream and hi-lo as well as a small assortment of flavoured milks.

"Got milk?" Beth asked, her smile shone.

"Do now." Andy replied.

"What's it all for?" Beth asked, her expression puzzled. "Don't you live alone?"

"...Yeah. Technically." Andy replied thoughtfully.

"...Technically?"

"It's not really for me. It's for Lucille."

"Oh, Lucy. That young girl you came to the cafe with the other day?"

"Yeah, that's her."

A few moments of silences filled the air before one of them spoke again.

"She really likes milk." Andy clarified.

"Yeah I noticed." Beth responded with a nervous chuckle as she let another slightly uncomfortable silence raise the tension between them. "So... Is she your grand daughter? You guys were joking so much the other day I couldn't tell if you were being serious or not."

"No, what I told you was the truth. She's a street urchin, I mean a street kid, who tried to steal something from the store. She's not a bad kid, she just needed some guidance. I'm letting her use my spare room and I've got her working a couple hours at the shop for anything I can spare." Andy replied.

"Wow, Andy. Talk about a good samaritan over here." Beth said as she nudged him.

"Hm. As for the first thing I need to help her with is her language and not to run her mouth. She likes to tell awkward lies and thinks that means they're jokes. Her favourite, which you've experienced first hand, is insinuating that our situation is that my kindnesses are in exchange for sexual favours." Andy said with a frustrated sigh.

A short pause grew between them and Andy looked over to see Beth looking at him expectantly.

"It's not though is it?" Beth asked cautiously.

"Bethany." Andy said firmly. "Of course it's not."

"Sorry. I had to ask." Beth said back, her expression one of shame. "I'm really really sorry. I didn't mean to offend."

"I know, I know. I'm sure soon enough I'll find it funny too. It just seems to be the first thing that comes to everybody's mind and she plays right into it like it couldn't negatively impact my life at all. While the truth is the implications of it could bury me if the wrong people heard." Andy said. "I'm just trying to do the right thing, you know?"