Sheldon Cooper Imagines (The Big Bang Theory)

Jealous? (Angst then Fluff)

Request for Walking_djZzz248

Warnings: Some angst

Summary: A grocery store employee is friendly with Y/N, which makes Sheldon jealous 

Word Count: 1,026

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes, 40 seconds

"Sheldon just put it in the cart." 

"Just a moment." 

I rolled my eyes, glancing around the grocery store. We were blocking the aisle and a suburban mom was raging to another about it. Still, Sheldon examined the salt. "Sheldon. It's fine." 

He abruptly put it back on the shelf. "No. Not enough sodium. " 

"How can it not have enough sodium? It's salt." 

My boyfriend put it back on the shelf and grabbed another container of salt, reading the label. He nodded and put it in the cart. "That will do." 

I grabbed Sheldon's hand before he could wander off and pushed the cart to the next aisle. "Okay. Now, if you're done getting experiment ingredients, can we get back to the grocery list of things we actually need?" I teased. 

He nodded. "Cereal is next on the list." 

I looked up at the shelves and swiped some Frosted Flakes, tossing them in the cart. "Which ones do you want?" 

Sheldon pointed at a box with cheerios in the shape of trains on the front. 

I raised a brow. "Really?" 

"I like trains." He grabbed it and put it in the cart. We moved on, gathering milk, bread, snacks, and some canned soup.

I stood in the sauce aisle, looking for spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight. Sheldon came back from the noodle aisle, putting the box of noodles in the cart. I surveyed the sauces. "Hey, Sheldon, what was that one sauce your mom used on her spaghetti? The one she made at Christmas?" 

"That one." He grabbed the glass jar off the shelf, but it slipped through his hands and shattered on the floor. Red sauce flew everywhere, including on me. I gasped, frozen. Sheldon looked at me, eyes wide. "Sorry!" 

I sighed. "It's okay. I... uh..." I wasn't sure what to do. 

An employee turned down the aisle and smiled. He was very handsome- tousled brown hair, green eyes, and his sleeves were rolled to his elbows. "I heard a crash, is everything alright?" 

I gestured to the sauce. "Sorry about that." Sheldon was standing beside me, eyes down and burning red. "It was my fault. I grabbed the jar and it just slipped right out of my hands." 

The employee smiled. "No worries, I'll go get some paper towels. Be right back." 

He turned and hurried off. 

Sheldon smiled at me meekly. "Thank you." 

"Of course, Shelly. I know you get embarrassed about stuff like that." I stepped forward and gave him a quick kiss. 

The employee returned with a roll of paper towels and a plastic bag. "I'm back." 

"Thanks. Here, let me help." I took some paper towels and began cleaning up the sauce. 

Sheldon followed my example, and so did the employee, whose tag said, "Max."

We finished cleaning up the sauce when Max tossed the last paper towel into the bag. 

"All done," he said, then stopped. "Actually, wait." 

He stepped close to me and used the paper towel to slowly wipe some sauce from my cheek. 

"You had a little something." 

I smiled. "Thanks." 

He smiled in return. "No problem." 

Sheldon took my hand and lightly tugged me back. I stepped back on instinct and got another jar of sauce, setting it carefully in the cart. 

"Sorry again for breaking the sauce," I said to Max. 

"Not a problem. I'll even cover it." 

"What? No, you don't have to-" 

"I want to." 

I wasn't sure what to say. "Wow, thanks!" 

"We have to go," Sheldon said loudly, "We have that... the thing to get to, remember?" 

I wasn't sure why Sheldon was trying to get us to leave, but I went along with it, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable or upset. "Yeah, right. Bye, Max." 

He waved as Sheldon and I walked off to the register, pulling up to register two. We loaded things onto the conveyer belt for the cashier to scan. The machine beeped as our items were scanned. 

She finally looked up from her work. "That'll be $71.52." 

Sheldon passed her the credit card, which she scanned. The receipt printed and she tore it off, handing it to us. "Have a good day." 

We carried our bags out to my car and put them in the trunk, then hurried to get in the car so we could go back home. After all, we wouldn't want the ice cream to melt. 

The car ride was strangely quiet. Normally, Sheldon would be bubbling about his experiment and telling me all about the physics of it, but he was quiet. 

"Shelly," I began, turning a corner, "Are you okay? You've been really quiet." 

He crossed his arms. "Fine." 

"Come on. What is it?" 

There was another moment of silence before he answered, "Max." 

"Max? What about him?" 

"He was flirting with you. Even I could see that." 

I looked over at him sadly. "Honey, you couldn't think that I liked him. Right?" 

He didn't answer. 

"Oh, Sheldon, never! I love you, okay? I love you so, so much. You are kind and smart and interesting... You're the person I love. Not Max or any other person out in the world. You." 

He looked up, smiling, but trying to fight it. "Really?" 

"Really." 

I pulled the car up along the block, parallel parking and getting out. We got the groceries and headed inside, winding up the stairs since the elevator was still broken. Finally, we reached our floor and our front door. Sheldon unlocked it and headed inside, me behind him. Putting the groceries away went quickly, so we were off the hook with chores for the day. 

I smiled, picking up the salt container. "Sheldon?" 

He turned around from putting the butter in the fridge. "Yes?" 

"How about that experiment?" 

He grinned, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard. "You're going to think it's so cool! You can make salt crystals emit light through triboluminescence! It can make a blue spark that comes from the friction in the breakage of molecules making electrical potential..." 

I listened to him ramble on about the experiment as he started and smiled to myself. That was my Sheldon.