LAW OF ATTRACTION

CHAPTER 2 : "WE'VE MET AT THE CONDOMS' SECTION"

"Give me the list. I'll go and get what's left while you wait here. It will save us time!" I suggest to my Mom later that day, after school, at the supermarket.

"Thank you. Here, there are only one or two things to get." She gives me the list, and I leave her there after throwing one last glance at the poor gawking fishes on the counter and the long line of people staring at them.

I walk quickly through the sections of the supermarket, barely noticing the products displayed on the shelves. I make my way easily to the section I'm looking for. I grab the kleenex in the middle of rows of make-up products, which I don't even glance at because I rarely use them, and I try to decode the last hieroglyphs of the list. My Mom has a lot of skills, but calligraphy is definitely not one of them! 

I'm so focused on trying to decode my Mom's writing that I don't see the sign 'Slippery floor', and next thing I know I'm slipping and plowing into someone, dragging him down with me. We both end up on the floor, me on him, and my face inches away from his face, a perfect face, strong jaw, luscious lips, eyes... ALEX CARTER!! I quickly pull away, my face heating up.

"Sorry, my bad, I..." I lose my words as I glance around and see a multitude of colorful rectangular boxes and multicolor little square packages all over the floor. I may be inexperienced in this matter, yet I don't need to look closer to know exactly what it is: condoms. All the blood rushes to my face in a burning turmoil, and I hear him chuckle over the loud hammerings of my heart. This triggers my survival instinct, and I try to get up, but I slip up again. I only end up redder as more boxes of condoms fall on us. I'm paralyzed, and there is only one thing left: I wish the floor would open up and swallow me all right now.

"YOU!! AGAIN!!"

This is not an earth-quake, yet my heart is quaking as hard. The disaster is a middle-aged woman showing up on the other side of the aisle. She's wearing a suit jacket in the bright red and blue colors of the store, so I guess she's a manager or something like this. She seems furious, and I can clearly see her eyes shooting lightning bolts behind her glasses.

"Enough is enough!! GET OUT OF THE STORE NOW OR I CALL THE POLICE!!" Two big security guys show up beside her, as if to prove her words.

I look at Alex Carter who seems totally unfazed; it's impossible to know what he is thinking. While, me, red as a beet, I'm oozing embarrassment and nervousness as I stammer my excuses, bringing the woman's lightning bolts on me too, "I-It's n-not his fault... I-I slipped on the slippery floor and–"

"I don't want your excuses! You BOTH get out of the store!!" She nods with an imperious lift of her chin to the security guys to 'escort' us.

This is the first time something like that happens to me. I'm left speechless and scared. I want to explain, yet I can't find my voice, and it seems useless anyway. So I hurry to get out with one security guy beside me, as if I was a dangerous criminal. While out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Alex taking his sweet time, unimpressed.

We're each 'escorted' to a different entrance, and I'm thankful for that because I don't have to face THE bad boy after I've embarrassed myself and got him into trouble.

Standing near our car, I text my Mom to let her know where I am, and I feel eyes on me. When I look up, I see a group of guys leaving, and among them, one figure I recognize instantly with dark jeans a strong back wrapped in black leather: Alex Carter.

"What happened?!" my Mom asks me as soon as she joins me on the parking lot.