Harassenger: Backseat Admirer ✔️

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

"There's nothing to eat in this whole house. Looks like it's time to go beach fishing." I was on my tippy toes, my head inside the top of the freezer looking for something to eat. I had a hunch Della made a swipe at everything unhealthy. At this point, I would eat out of the trash can if I spotted any food related products. Hell, I'll drink out of the ketchup bottle with how hungry I am.

Deciding it was worthless to look in the fridge anymore, I closed the doors halfway, coming face to face with Mick. Startled, I stumbled backward, but he caught my waist, planting a kiss on my cheek. I gasped, knowing his lips just didn't stumble upon me for no reason.

"Sorry, I thought I heard Della walking by." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's what you get for thinking. You don't have to kiss me every time she walks by. Couples don't kiss every five seconds." I acknowledged. I didn't mind his lips, oh, the contrary, but if he wanted me to keep our relationship platonic, he needed to back off.

"New couples do." He said, pretending to kiss me again, causing me to hit the back of the French doors of the fridge.

"But we aren't really a couple." I leaned in, whispering in case Della would actually walk in. Although, I'd probably hear her hooked heels clapping on the hardwood.

His hands caught both ends of my face, his thumbs stroking my hair just above my ears. His face moved forward as I watched his angular jaw twitch slightly.

"Don't you think I know that? If we were really a couple, I would have done kissed you much more by now, and Della probably knows that." A piece of his hair, that I hadn't noticed was a sunkissed strand of light brown, hit his forehead and unconciously, my hand moved upward to move it away. His hair was brown, cotton candy, soft and inviting. I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. Well, for food, at least.

"You're right; sorry I overreacted."

"It's okay." He hummed, finally moving away and giving me some space to pass.

"I'm going to the store for some food. Did you want anything?" I asked.

"Pick me up a microwavable pizza. Or two. Or three." He said, opening the fridge again and reaching for his water bottle that he conveniently filed with pop.

"Got it."

"Are you sure you want to go out right now? The weather is getting bad out there." As sunny as it had been on our vacation, the weather was taking a turn for the worst today. The wind was whipping the wind chimes into mayhem and I could see behind the curtains the silhouette of shaking leaves from the palm tree outside. The rain had just begun, but even so, it sounded as if there was a ballet class of little, tapping girls on the roof. There was no doubt the beach would be closed today, if the warning flags haven't gone up already.

"I'll only be a minute. Don't be scared without me." I smirked.

"I think I'll be fine. I'm more scared about being alone with Holt. He's so boring and he wants to...'hang out'...with me today." See, I knew Holt would eventually give in. Those two had the potential of being good friends.

"Well, good luck with that. Keep the snarky comments to yourself while I'm gone. Later."

It didn't take long for me to arrive go the nearest grocery store. There was a lot of people in the store, most likely on vacation as well and stuck inside. If you can't enjoy your vacation on the beach, you might as well smother yourself with food.

I unzipped my jacket once I entered a free aisle, trying to try the spot of water I had gotten from outside.

I hung my small shopping cart on the innerside of my arm, looking for the microwavable pizza Mick asked for. As I grabbed him a couple to last him for the rest of our time here, I grabbed myself one.

I closed the cooler door, only to see someone standing there next to me. Half expecting Mick to have followed me, I was ready to punch him on the arm for scaring me again.

Instead of seeing him, I saw my grandmother. I hadn't seen her in years, and the rumor mill going around in my family was that she had left the state, maybe even the country. Like my mother, she loved to travel so my hopes was that she had left to live with monkeys in Africa or maybe even to Europe to study the culture. Truth was, I didn't care where she was as long as it wasn't anywhere near me.

I couldn't explain the shock and anger at seeing her here in Destin, in a freaking super market. I hated her, and I don't use the term loosely. She had been nothing but a nuisance my entire life, calling me only on my birthdays and not coming when I needed her the most. After my dad died, things got rockier than Ben and Jerry's between us.

"Hello, dear." Dear. Only a loving grandmother should be able to use that term. Hell, she didn't even look like a grandmother. Her hair was dyed auburn, her eyes with more life than mine, and her body as fit as my mother's. She looked like she was going through a mid-life crisis, trying to dress in yoga pants and a tank top like she was my age.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I know you." Excuse me." I tried to pass her up, memories of what she did to me finding their way back.

"Natalie, dear. Please, please call me so we can get together so that I can explain what happened. I just want a chance to talk." What, now she wants to talk after ignoring me for so long?

"No."

"Please, please. My number I still the same. I can tell that you don't want to talk right now but please think about it. I'm in Destin for a few days for a school reunion, and I'll be waiting to hear from you." Was anyone even still alive for her school reunion?

Without answering, I hurriedly paid for the few groceries I managed to grab and left. I ran outside, streams of tears mixed with rain planting my face.