1994~Kai Parker

As If

   We flew down the road, and my stomach felt like it was bouncing up into my chest as we sped along. It was absolutely exhilarating, and I let out a tiny squeal as we rounded corners with lightning speed. I saw Kai glance over at me, a goofy smile plastered across his face, and he floored the car so that I was firmly pressed back into the seat by the sudden increase in speed. A yelp escaped my lips at the change, and Kai laughed a little at my surprise before he sharply turned into the grocery store parking lot, halting the car so hard that I practically got whiplash.

   "In record time, thank you very much." he said before he turned the car off and climbed out.

   "Well that's one way to put it," I remarked as I got out of the car, adrenaline from the ride still coursing through my veins.

Although I had been in this grocery store for what felt like a thousand times already, it was still unsettling to walk in and see no one, to be greeted only by rows and rows of empty registers and clear aisles.

   "Woah!" I cried out in surprise as I felt Kai come up behind me, grip me by my waist and lift me into one of the grocery carts with surprising strength.

I flopped down into it, shocked.

   "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

   He leaned down until he was by my ear and whispered, "You looked like you needed to loosen up a little."

As soon as he said this, he began to race the cart down the aisles at a frightening speed, and, unable to help it, I fell into a fit of giggles as we zipped around the abandoned grocery store.

   "Alright, grocery time! Grab as much as you can!"

I tried my best to snatch items off the shelves as we flew by- I managed to grab applesauce, some chips, a bunch of bananas, and finally, Jiffy Pop. As soon as we had gone through the whole store, Kai halted the cart abruptly and lifted me back out of it, setting me on the ground before he hopped in himself and patted the side of the cart.

   "Let's go!"

Oh Lord. I grasped the handlebar of the cart and began to push it, gaining speed as I built up momentum. Having been an avid athlete back home, I soon got into the rhythm of it and began to race the cart around the aisles like Kai had done to me. He grabbed a pack of Zima, several bags of pork rinds, Eggo waffles, apples, three jars of blackberry jam, two loaves of bread and a carton of milk. I stopped at the last aisle, breathless from laughter and the exertion of the endeavour, and Kai hopped back out of the cart, grinning from ear to ear at my amusement.

   "I am much better at this than you are." he said, gesturing to the items that he had managed to grab.

   "Well," I responded, trying to catch my breath, "a lot of those items are very Kai-specific. Like Zima? What the hell is that?

   "You've never heard of Zima?"

   "Nope."

   "Oh it's amazing. You need to try it when we get home."

I couldn't stop smiling as we carted the items out to the car and loaded them in; I hadn't had that much fun in a while. Leaving the cart on the sidewalk, Kai clambered into the driver's seat, looking up at me expectantly.

   "You're just going to leave the cart here?" I asked.

   "Well, Sloane, it's not like there's anyone else around."

   "I-I just can't leave it there. Just wait a second."

Kai rolled his eyes and shot me his stop being such a goody two-shoes look, and I brushed it off as I walked the cart back inside. Was it very rational? No, but it gave me a sense of normalcy, as if I hadn't completely abandoned conventional life. As I slid it in with the other carts, I spotted the refrigerator filled with flower bouquets, and I wandered over to it, admiring the beautiful bunches of flowers that I had skimmed over but never really paid attention to. On a whim, I opened the door and grabbed an arrangement of bright pink and yellow tulips, holding them up to my nose as I took in their fresh scent. Striding back to the car happily with it, I clambered back down into the passenger seat.

   "Flowers? For me?! I'm incredibly flattered."

   "As if. I just thought they looked pretty and...I don't know, I just grabbed them."

   "Aww, nice try but I still know they're for me."

I just sighed and gripped the sides of the car, preparing for the inevitable jolt of the Porsche taking off. Weirdly enough, Kai pulled out of the parking lot at a normal pace, and started down the road at a reasonable speed.

   "Oh, a normal speed. Nice."

   Turning to smirk at me, he said mockingly, "As if."

Instantaneously, we took off down the road, and I gasped at the sudden shift as we once again flew through Mystic Falls. In no time, we were back at the Salvatore house. Exiting the car as quickly as I could, flowers still in hand, I noticed that the sun had just begun to set, painting the sky with streaks of brilliant color, and, even though it was the same one that I had been seeing for a while now, I stopped to admire it.

   "When you're done staring at the sky you could help me bring these inside."

I huffed a little before I began moving everything into the house and putting it on the counter, and I went back once more to grab the last couple of items, slamming the trunk closed before I went back inside.

Kai was by the oven, a frozen pizza in hand, and my stomach growled at the sight of it.

   "Someone's hungry."

   "Well, pushing a tall-ass guy around an entire grocery store works up an appetite."

He seemed pleased by the mention of his height, and I moved past the reaction as I looked around for something to put the tulips in.

   "There's a vase for you to put my flowers in somewhere upstairs on one of those weird little hallway tables."

   "They're not your flowers."

   "Mhm, whatever you say."

I sighed at his insistence before I started up the stairs, looking for whatever vase he was talking about as I reached the landing. Distracted by the vase-hunt, I failed to notice the ball before it was too late. I stepped right on top of it, letting out a sharp cry of pain as my ankle went sideways and I fell with a resounding thump onto the floor.