It Started In August

Chapter 12 (Part One)

"Hey Aster, talk to me."

We were inside the grocery store and the first thing I thought about was cake, so here we are in front of a shelf full of cocoa powder. I had a stack of flour and some eggs in my house so all I needed were the other ingredients I didn't have.

I put the cocoa powder I picked on the push cart, and when I walked away, Roman quickly followed to make sure he was walking beside me. He was pushing the cart.

Ever since he demanded that I call him by his name, I tried my best not to even look at him. He'd ask me some questions though, and I tried to answer them as as short as possible.

"Aster," he put the push cart in front of me and it stopped me from my tracks. It felt like he was whining like a kid.

"What?"

"Call me by my name."

"No," I changed my direction and went straight to the dairy section. I needed butter, and maybe some fresh milk too. When I got there, I picked out at leas two blocks of butter and 2 cartons of fresh milk. I heard Roman speak beside me.

"Why?" he had asked. I just shrugged my head as a response. "I don't know," I put the butter and the cartons of milk in the cart and when I looked up, Roman was staring at me. Then out of the blue, he pouted.

"W-why the hell are you pouting?" I was flustered at him, I could feel blood rush to my cheeks. "Stop that."

I quickly turned away and hastened my steps. When I looked back, he was jogging his way to me, the wheels of the push cart making a sound.

"You know," he started, "Your voice sounds beautiful," I walked beside him, so now we were both pushing the cart. "Thank you Godfrey," I tried to say it as calmly as I could.

He huffed at my response. "There we go again with the Godfrey. Why don't you just call me by my name?" his whining made me giggle, but I did not answer him.

We continued to scour the whole grocery store. "I'm sorry, even my friends call you by your surname, so I just went along with them. Don't be bothered about it," I saw him roll his eyes.

"Is this all you're gonna buy? Just some baking stuff?" he eyed the items that lay in the cart. He looked disinterested of the items I put in there.

"Yeah, pretty much," I looked at my phone. It was already 3:50 p.m. I put it back in my pocket then took out my wallet.

"Hey where are you going?" Roman had left the cart and started to walk away. "I'm gonna go buy something exciting," his answer made me furrow my eyebrows. "I'll be back," he shouted at me, and I saw him disappear from my vision when he took a left turn.

I just shrugged my shoulders then pushed the cart to the cashier. I put the items on the counter.

"That would be $77.75," the cashier said. I handed her a $100 bill, then she packed the items on a paper bag and handed it to me. She gave me my change and I put it in my wallet. I picked up the paper bag ang walked away.

I stood by the door that lead to the parking lot and patiently waited for Roman. I saw him from afar and he was holding 2 bags on both his hands. When I heard the clinking of bottles as he got near, I furrowed my eyebrows in disbelief.

"Why, never tasted alcohol before?" he smirked. I shook my head vigorously. "I'm still a minor," his smug expression changed into a shocked one. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Yeah, seriously," I rolled my eyes and we exited the department store. When we got to his car, he first put the paper bags at the back of his car, then he took the paper bag I was carrying and putting them in the back as well.