Procrastinators on Stage (Chris Kendall/crabstickz fanfic) *unedited*

Part 28- I Don't Like Public Embarrassment (I Can't Even 1)

Chris’ definition of going to get lunch was apparently me going off to the shops with a list of food that everyone wanted whilst Chris, Adam, Rhys and Steve continued to work. And by work, I mean playing with the green screen.

The sandwiches section of M&S was cold compared to the warmth of the outside world just a few metres away. I leant towards this chill and loved the change in temperature. Some may say that I loved the cold so because it resembled dead things, of dark and decay, and that related to my cold heart and dead soul, but I honestly just enjoyed the mild thrill of a lower temperature on occasion. I liked warming up after spending hours out in the cold during the day. A day just spent outside in the cold rather than cooped up inside doing my set design would have been nice. But here I was, spending the day inside…again.

“Please place item in the bagging area.”

“I told you last time; it’s already in the bagging area.”

The self-service machine beeped. “Please place item in the bagging area.”

“I told you this wouldn’t work,” another voice spluttered. “Let me try.”

Another beep. “Please place item in the bagging area.”

“I hate you for doing this to me.”

“What?”

“I was talking to the machine! Of course…”

I stopped listening in on this row between two people and a self-service machine to look round at them from over my shoulder. A blonde woman with pink ends to her hair and a tall, admittedly pretty, man with a Spiderman badge on his bag were both glaring at one machine in particular whilst they tried to transfer a pot of pasta over the scanner.

Familiarity grew in my mind as I attempted to conspicuously survey them. I’m observant, not a stalker, mind.

I hastily grabbed the few lunch orders, snacks and drinks that I’d been asked to get, before shoving those items into my basket and making my way towards the self-service checkout opposite to the one these two people were using.

I’m not a stalker, I’m not a stalker, I’m not a stalker, I kept assuring myself as I effortlessly scanned my items through the checkout. In fact, I couldn’t be a stalker when I knew who these people were, right? From what I could tell, this was Jack and Louise (aka Jack Howard and SprinkleOfGlitter) who’d be two of the special guests for ‘I Can’t Even’ this week. On the other hand, I didn’t think that there was a way to introduce myself to them without sounding like a stalker seeing as I’d been watching them for the past five minutes.

I tugged at my purse to retrieve it from my all-too-small coat pocket. With some effort, I managed to fish the purse out and proceeded to open it up to get my money out. Much to my dismay, in the process of tugging my purse from my pocket, the zip which went across the top of the little pocket of loose change had opened. This meant that when I obliviously folded my purse out to get a twenty pound note, all of the coins in my purse fell to the floor in a rushed clatter, just as the shop seemed to run into a period of silence.

My toes curled in my shoes as my whole body bent in on itself out of sheer embarrassment. I slowly lowered myself down to gather up the scattering of coins and shove them back into my purse, my hand darting back and forth between the various coins and my pocket. I had way too many coins on me.

With my cheeks feeling uncomfortably warm, I emptied the coins from my pockets into the self-service machine’s tray, where the coins were taken away from me on a tiny conveyer belt. I snuck a glance up towards Jack and Louise only to find that they’d looked up at me as well. The three of us hastily looked back down again.