CenTARGETal Force (Alex From Target Fanfic)

Chapter 1 (Meeting Alex)

It's five o'clock in the afternoon and the Texas August heat is penetrating through our moving van as we speed down the freeway. My father is a Mary Kay associate and apparently being a Mary Kay associate means moving a lot, which means the rest of the family moves a lot. My mom doesn't like moving, but being a woman living in the 21st century, she has to make her husband happy. I'm the oldest of the East family; somehow my parents decided that baby making was fun, so I also have a brother named Aiden East who just turned 12.

"Mom, look a Target sign," I point at the signature red target of the Target Corporation on the side of the freeway. "Let's make a detour there for my tampons."

"Okay, we're almost at our new home anyway, so might as well stop there and pick up some food for tonight." My mom agrees as she swerves the van and takes the exit.

"I don't like that word, 'tampons'" Aiden complains from beside me.

"Tampons, tampons, tampons," I reply just to piss him off. "Periods, vaginas, pads, menstruating."

"Enough!" My father shouts from the passenger seat. "Aiden, stop being grossed out by normal body functions. Ginny, we're here, go get your tampons and don't forget to pick up something for us to eat just for tonight."

I hop out of the van because each time I hop out of vans, I feel like I'm on a mission to kidnap someone. When I don't hop out of the van, I feel like a suburban mom with 6 kids.

I walk in the air conditioned store and headed straight to the tampon aisle. But the problem is, I can't find it. This Target is much bigger than the one we have back home, and it'd take me quite some time to walk every corner of it.

"Can I help you with something?" A voice says behind me.

Just by his voice, I know he's the one. He's the one for me, he's exactly what I've been looking for, he's a Target worker! I turn around to realize that it was an overweight woman in a red shirt smiling at me. Okay, she's a girl, but whatever, she can still help me.

"Yes, where can I get tampons? I'm surfing the Red Sea, if you know what I mean." I say to her.

"Honey, I haven't had my period since 1998, when they took out my uterus. But you can find tampons at aisle 7." The woman points at the general direction of aisle 7 and walks away.

I hurry to aisle 7, only to find a cute guy restocking the tampons. He looks up from a box of U by Kotex regular and our eyes meet. He has the classic pre-puberty Justin Bieber hair, jawlines that can cut hospital wristbands, and a smile that can end world hunger.

He smiles at me with that gentle sunshine smile and speaks softly "Can I help you?"

This beautiful creature before me can speak! O how I love evolution! I can picture our lives together now! We will fall in love and he will propose to me on our 4th anniversary. We will be out on a picnic, but it's not really a picnic, it's our engagement party. He will blindfold me and drive me to some remote place, just when I think he's about to murder me, he takes away the blindfold and gets down on one knee and propose to me. I, of course, will say yes and the clapping and crying surrounding me makes me realize that we weren't alone. He invited both of out family and I can see tears gleaming in my mother's eyes as she just witnessed her little girl getting engaged. About a year later, we will have a nice wedding at a church just right on the outskirts of Houston then we will embark on our honeymoon in Vegas. After one night of being husband and wife, I will tell him that I'm pregnant and we use the money from my dowry to settle down at a nice house in New Mexico. I will work two jobs to support him through law school while taking care of our baby while he works hard to become a lawyer. As his lawyer career is beginning to take off, we've already had 2 more kids and named them after the Ninja Turtles. He makes more money as a lawyer and I cater to his every needs when he gets home. We were happy for a while, content too. As our kids grow up, I realized that I never achieved my dream as being a successful singer because I was too busy taking care of my family. I watch bitterly as my husband becomes more successful and my kids express their desire of following in their father's footsteps. I begin to have mid-life crisis and blame my husband for my failures. This will eventually drive us apart and we have to file for divorce, but not before telling the kids that it's not their fault. I will then use the money I got from the divorce and move to Hollywood to chase my dream. After several years of hard work, I finally got a record deal at the age of 50. Then I become the new Susan Boyle and never look back at my old life.

"Seriously, can I help you?" His voice brings me back to reality.

"Yes, of course, I need your advice." I reply. "Which brand of tampon should I get? This brand can absorb a lot, but it gets really uncomfortable after a while. This brand is so comfortable, but it's not absorbent."

"Personally, I prefer Playtex Sport. They're both absorbent and comfortable." He pauses. "So I've heard."

And in that moment I'm in love.

"Thanks.." I pause to read his name tag. "Alex... you saved me from 5 hours of constantly worrying about my period, you're the best!"

I take my tampons and walk away smiling. He passed the test. Playtex Sport is my favorite brand , and so is his. We are so meant to be.