Field of Trust

Grocery Store Gossip

Maribelle walked into the corner store to pick up some sweet tea on her way to Grace's house for a movie night. Maribelle was in some dire need of girl talk time. Her parent's divorce just went through, and the hushed whispers are not staying behind closed doors anymore, everyone is talking about. Maribelle doesn't normally care about being the talk of the time, actually she's quite used to it being the star volleyball captain at her school and all, but this type of attention is getting annoying. She rounds the corner to the beverage cases to grab the tea when she hears muffled voices in one of the aisles over. She grabs out her drink and goes to snoop around. The closer she got the louder the voices were.

"I hear he's cheated on her SEVEN times in the past four years."

"I hear he has another family in the big city."

Maribelle immediately it was yet again another conversation about HER family. She walks down the aisle whistling, trying to draw as much attention to her as possible. The older ladies turn their heads to here and try to act as if they weren't just talking about her.

"Oh Maribelle! How are you sweetie? Training for volleyball season yet?" Mrs. Grover says.

"Hi Mrs. Grover, I'm well considering all the gossip about me in town." Maribelle smirks when she sees Mrs. Grover's face contort into regret. "But yes, I am training for volleyball season, I have a good feeling about this year. We're going to win the state championship."

"Glad to hear that, well, have a nice day and tell your mother I say hi."

Maribelle nods and waves goodbye to her; she barely gets out of the aisle before the quiet chatter starts again. She shakes her head and just sighs. She pays for her drink and climbs back into her truck. It's only a short time later that she arrives at Grace's house. She is met by her dog, Max, and a running Grace.

"Belly! I missed you." Immediately Maribelle is taken back by the force of Grace's hug.

"It's only been two days Gracie." She says as she chuckles at her friend's excitement.

"I've been so worried about you though Belly."

Maribelle bends down to pet Max who is rapidly wagging his tail patiently waiting to be pet.

"I'm fine, you know I am. I've been with Dustin lately. I'm just so annoyed with the talk being spread everywhere. In fact, just now as I was in the corner market Mrs. Grover and her friend were talking about the divorce."

"That bitch! She's even friends with your mom on the PTO."

Maribelle laughs at how defensive her friend gets of her mom. Grace and Belle grew up together, so Grace was just as much like her sister as her actual sister Scarlett is. The two of the rounds the dog up and head up the porch into the house. Maribelle greats her parent's as they rush up the stairs two at a time eager to get to girl talk. They round the corner as they hear Tanner, Grace's brother, yelling something at his TV about a videogame. Tanner is just a year younger than us so we are all pretty close. He is the quarterback for the football team and captain of the baseball team, Grace is a cheerleader and I am captain of the volleyball team so naturally we all run in the circle.

"Tanner! Shut up you'll never find a girlfriend if you keep it up with the video games!" Screams Grace from outside his closed door. Maribelle laughs and continues the journey to her room. Grace's room is simple but elegant. Wooden panels for walls, peach colored curtains and a huge bed. She has fairy lights streaming along the top of the walls and pictures hanging everywhere. Maribelle makes her way to the giant beanbag chair and plops in.

"So, Belly how is Dustin. You, Carter, him and I haven't hung out in a while?"

"We've been hanging out at my house a lot lately, not always in the mood to go out you know? It's like every corner I take there is someone talking about me or my family. I am sick of it, I can only be nice for so long, so he decided it might be better if we stayed in."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Why can't he defend you when y'all are out in public and that happens. Carter would do that for me?"

"Not sure, maybe he doesn't like conflict. I like hanging out at home now though, lots of time for other stuff since mom's always gone dealing with lawyers or at work."

Maribelle started to grin, and Grace let out a high-pitched yelp.

"Maribelle!" Grace screams as she tosses a throw pillow at me. I catch out while in a fit of laughter. Grace looks at me with a disapproving look which only sends me into more laughter.

"Maribelle! Do I have to come supervise the two of you when y'all are alone, because I will."

"Come on Gracie, lighten up a bit. I know you and Carter have fun too." I wink at her and her face turns bright red. I start to die laughing again causing my stomach to cramp.

"Not like the two of you though! You know I am waiting."

"What could you possibly be waiting for, the two of you have been together since Freshman year. That is three years ago, coming on four, Grace at some point throw the boy a poor bone, he loves you." As soon as Maribelle realized the innuendo she made she starts giggling harder, something she didn't know was possible. This is the point where a second pillow comes flying at my head, catching her off guard and knocking her back. Now Grace is joining in on the laughter.

"Fine, Belle, maybe soon. I just need to make sure I am ready."

After that Maribelle gives her a knowing smile and picks up her phone. She scrolls aimlessly through it checking everything she could possibly think of. This was how the two of them spent most of their time, they enjoyed mostly just the others company and sitting in the same room was enough. Grace turns on her speaker and begins to play Maribelle's homemade summer playlist. They spent many hours carefully selecting the best songs so that they would never have to use the skip button. The playlist consisted of Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and many more. Maribelle and Grace could not comprehend how some people did not like country music. Country music is the music of the people, it's good for the soul. It's only the start of the summer and Maribelle is already sick of it; she doesn't want to deal with everyone knowing the innermost details of her family dynamics. Maribelle is in need of a fun filled summer with her best friends and her boyfriend, no drama allowed.