Consensual Robbing

Chapter 2-Safeway

The sounds of the automatic sliding doors whirring to life made the college delinquent smile with anticipation as he finally entered the much awaited grocery store. Despite his long journey being dull and slightly depressing; it was all worth it at this point. The man beamed with this newfound joy; his mission accomplished.
Whenever Adam was in a good mood, it was something to be praised. Most of the time he kept to himself. The only time he would talk is if something bothered him, or if he was pissed off. He wasn't always that way, but the reality of the cold and cruel world stuck to him like a bad kindergarten arts-and-crafts project.

At some points, Adam couldn't help but feel that memory come back into his mind of a stranger helping him up outside just moments ago. His fear of touch went away over the course of his high school year, but that's another story for another day.
Desire that, he still felt gross and shuddered slightly as it kept popping into his mind, his body trying to revert back to that all too familiar dark and anxious point in his life.
He walked through the mildly bustling store, making his way to grab a cart then gather the items he needs.
Since he moved to Denver for college, going to the store didn't feel like how it used to. Adam grew up in a relatively small town, only limited to a small handful of businesses; two of them being grocery stores. Anytime he went with his mother, he would dissociate and all the isles would blur in his vision as his brain stayed silent. It was these moments where he truly felt like there wasn't anything to distract him. These moments would quickly become interrupted as he would unexpectedly zapped himself back into reality, everything focusing in quickly. The sensory visuals causing his eyes to dart, twist, and turn. He would remind himself that he needed to breathe, and when that happened he would inadvertently send himself into a panic attack. His heart would race, the beats and thumps catching in his throat as he dug into the nail beds of his thumbs, slowly carving out layers of dead skin and living tissue. The anxiety would only stop once he stepped outside of the store; feeling like he could finally breathe again and not feel the walls of the store closing in on him.

It was a lot better for him now as an adult, only having moments every now and then where he would need to step out for a brief moment, then after the storm settled would he go back in and finish what he started. In this case today he started the harrowing task of picking out the perfect cheeses for his homemade baked mac and cheese.

Ever since he left for college, Adam engrossed himself more and more into cooking and the culinary arts. He would create delicious pastries, breads, and divine comfort foods. His favorite thing to make had always been Mac and cheese, but now that he was grown and out of the house he kept tweaking and improving upon his original recipe, and today he was going to try some new cheeses in the mix.

"Brie.. brie... where the hell is the Brie-8.00 is outrageous for not even a quarter of a wheel!" The man exclaimed to himself, crouching down slightly and hunching his shoulders back so that he could look closely and inquisitively at the overpriced dairy product. "This shit isn't even organic-little bitch." He grumbled as he scanned the rest of the display for other cheeses, hoping to find what he needed at a somewhat decent cost.

"I think it's quite ridiculous too. Considering you can get a whole wheel of Kirkland brand Brie at Costco for only 20 bucks." Adam breathed in, not realizing someone had listened to him rambled to himself. His cheeks felt warm as they turned a bright shade of red, embarrassment making his body flush with anxious energy. He swallowed and grunted in response, nodding his head in agreement, not wanting to look at or further engage with the stranger. As he stayed crouched and silent, he finally heard the sound of footsteps making their way past him and to another part of the store. Once he felt like the cheese monger was no longer in earshot, he let out a choked back breath, rubbing the back of his neck to distract him from how unexpectedly anxious this simple grocery visit was becoming.