Pan

Costco: The Most Romantic Place on Earth [6]

After eating the coffee cake and cleaning up the dishes, a shared chore between the two, Elenora jumps onto their couch.

She grabs the remote and heads over to Netflix. There was no specific show she was looking for, but she had no doubt she could find something. It was Netflix. It had everything.

"Nuh-uh," Kate says, grabbing the remote and turning off the TV. "Did you forget the conversation we had earlier? About Costco? We still need to go shopping."

Elenora pouts. "Why can't we go later?" She whines. "My feet hurt."

Kate rolls her eyes. "And here I thought that I was the one who hated Costco. Come on, it's now or never and I want to get this over with."

Sighing, Elenora gets up. Her shoes were placed neatly next to the couch - Kate had a highly enforced rule about not having shoes on the furniture - and puts them on.

"Onwards?" Kate asks.

Elenora nods. "Onwards."

The two skip down the stairs, a dangerous skill they had mastered after living in the same apartment for the past two years now.

On the way to Costco, Kate gets a text from her aunt Sarah. Skimming it, she groans and throws her phone into the backseat. "Gross." She mutters, turning her head to the window. "She's going to the party and she's looking forward to seeing me."

"That's good!" Elenora says, looking over at her sulking best friend. When Kate didn't turn around, she knew there was something else going on. "But it isn't because..?"

"Because she's expecting me to go with a boy!" Kate throws her hands up. "I guess that she just expects me to change my mind and start dating guys. What an absolute fuc-"

"Hey!" Elenora interrupts. They both had a history using stronger language than necessary and they both tried to stop multiple times but had little to no luck so they were trying to catch each other. "I know, she's stuck in her old ways and maybe she'll never change. You don't have to worry about making her happy, your happiness comes first."

She sighs. "I know," she mutters. "but it...it still hurts."

Elenora places her hand down between the two. Kate turns ever so slightly and looks down at the hand. With a pained smile, she places her hand over Elenora's.

"I know it does but you know what, screw Sarah. Go to the party with a girl, just to spite her. I mean, that's just a part of growing up. A little adventure, a little rebellion."

Kate snorts back a laugh. "Stop it, I'm supposed to be wallowing in my own pity."

As the two pull into the parking lot, looking for a spot to park, Elenora shakes her head, as if coming from a daze.

"You know," she says, "I can't remember most of the drive here..."

"Oh, that's just because the author was too lazy to write about us driving and needed a time skip." Kate chirps.

Elenora stares at her blankly. "Excuse me, qu'est ce que le f-"

"Costco time!" Kate says, jumping out of the car. She skips over to a cart corral, grabbing one, and skipping back to Elenora. "You ready, frienderino?"

"Yeah, sure," Elenora mutters, still confused by what Kate had said earlier.

The pair heads inside, Elenora showing her Costco card as a secret agent would. Kate laughs and playfully kicks her.

"First on the list?" Elenora inquires.

Kate looks down at her shopping list on her phone. "First thing, cheese. Maybe when we're there we can grab some lunch meats, too." Elenora nods as the two begin making their way down the isles.