Mannequins | completed

Thirteen

ON SUNDAY, I FINALLY found time to go grocery shopping. The grocery store was at the other end of the town, therefore it took me time to get there from my apartment. But I didn't really mind the long drive—as much as I sucked at driving, I couldn't deny that driving relaxed me.

Since this grocery store was the only one in town, it was always packed with people. Everyone grocery shopped here—no one bothered to drive to different towns to grocery shop. Surprisingly, the grocery store wasn't packed today.

I'd been grocery shopping for a while now, and my cart was half-filled already. Thank God I had saved up for grocery shopping and I had enough money to buy how much I wanted. I needed lots of goods.

I glanced at the carton of fresh milk in one hand and a carton of sterilized milk in the other, debating on what I should get, on what was the better option. Finally, I settled on the carton of fresh milk, placed it in the cart and put back the carton of sterilized milk back on the rack.

I bought items that didn't necessarily need to be refrigerated, because I still didn't have a refrigerator. I didn't know when exactly I was going to buy one. Refrigerators were expensive and it would take some time to save up for one.

I pushed the cart to the aisle where I could find Nutella. I had bread in the cart already, and all I needed was the spread. Maybe I could get peanut butter as well.

As I went to the aisle where the Nutella was, I saw a familiar blond head. Without thinking, I pushed the cart toward where the blond head was, only to see that it was Elliot, arranging the fruits on the rack.

I blinked. "Elliot? Is that you?"

Elliot—or at least who I assumed was Elliot—turned around to face me. "Lynn?"

I looked at Elliot, my eyes travelling down to the name tag on his shirt. Elliot Sivan, it read. "Are you working here?" I asked Elliot. We hadn't seen each other in a long time, and I didn't know that within that span of time, Elliot had started working. As a grocer, no less. It was so un-Elliot-like.

Elliot shrugged. "Yeah, I started working here two weeks ago," he informed me.

My parents must have been elated with this news. Elliot, their son who was the laziest ass in the face of the planet, was working. I couldn't say I wasn't happy with this news, either.

I let go of the cart and leaped towards Elliot, throwing my arms around his neck. "Oh my God, I am so proud of you!" I shrieked. "Mom and Dad must've been proud."

Elliot peeled my arms away from him, scrunching his nose in disgust. "Don't touch me," he said. "And, yeah. They were nearly as crazy as you when they found out. Nearly. You basically attacked me."

I glowered at him. "I did not attack you," I said flatly. "But seriously, Elliot. What—or who—motivated you to start working? This is so not you. Is it a girl?" I wagged my brows at him.

"Stop that. No, it's not a girl. I just realized that I needed to start doing something with my life."

I stopped wagging my brows. "I thought you'd never realize it." I smiled at him. I repeated, "I'm so proud of you."

Elliot rolled his eyes at me. "I need to get back at work," he said, going back to arranging the fruits on the rack. I must have distracted him from working, which I shouldn't have done. Elliot was finally working—I shouldn't distract him from doing a miracle.

"Okay, bye," I said, grinning, "I'll text you when I can!"

Elliot ignored me, being his usual rude self I was used to. Usually I wasn't as nice to Elliot as I was right now—it was a sibling thing to not be nice to each other unless you were having a moment with each other or unless it was necessary. However as embarrassing as it was to admit, I missed Elliot since we hadn't seen each other after I moved out. It also didn't help that I was proud of him, now that he was working.