The Taunting (College Life #1)

Grocery shopping is so soothing, who knew

Cross notices the softness of her voice, the way her eyes look me over as if she could see the drugs coursing through my veins.

He knows.

"Your boy here is good, the greatest guy I know. I heard you guys are going up against Notre Dame this weekend, you got me free tickets?"

"Hell no, you better pay like everyone else."

He groans, "Come on, man. All the tickets have already sold out, help your boy out. I'll give you a little something." I can see him moving his hand around in his pocket.

"No, keep your party favors to yourself. I'll uh- I'll talk with the coach, see if I can get you a seat."

"That's more like it. Thanks, dude." He dabs me up, says goodbye to Elizabeth, not without kissing her hand, and then walks off.

I look down at her, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah."

✏️✏️✏️✏️

On the drive to the grocery store, it was silence in the car. Today's my day to cook for the house, so on to the grocery store we go. All of the members in the house, including Elizabeth, put money in an account, and that's what we use to buy groceries and ingredients to make dinner. Most kids come to college and they eat unhealthy, but with three of us being athletes, eating healthy is important.

I hate cooking, it's so fucking annoying, but the end results are worth it because the food tastes good.

"What are you going to make?" Elizabeth asks me, as I grab the shopping cart and start walking around aimlessly as she trails behind me.

"I have no fucking idea, I hate cooking," I grumble under my breath.

Her hand holds onto the bar of the shopping cart, inches away from mine. I so want to touch her, but every time I do, something always goes down, so I keep my hand in its spot. I come to this store, Ralphs, and walk around the store never knowing what to get. The last time I had to cook, I bought fast food, but now I need to actually make something. Buying that food was expensive, and the money I would have used to buy more fast food I gave it to Daniel, to be around Elizabeth.

I don't regret any of it.

We move through the store, hitting the produce section. Also, the coach says that since we have our games coming up, we need to be in the best shape. Eating all healthy food and working out at the gym.

"Why don't you make something easy, like a chicken pot pie," Elizabeth suggests.

"What would I need for that? Like chicken and crust and stuff."

She squeezes her eyes shut, trying not to laugh, "Yeah, you'll need chicken and crust and stuff, not only that but vegetables. Look, I'll pull up the recipe." It takes her seconds to find a recipe. "Ok, the vegetables needed are carrots, celery, onions, and garlic."

"Balsamic vinegar?" I suggest, hinting at the Elmo video. She bites her lip trying not to laugh, I pinch her side and a rumble of beautiful laughter comes out. A couple of people look at her, it takes her a few minutes, until she composed herself.

"You're such an ass. Oh, and thyme, don't forget the thyme." We get back to the list. I nod my head, grabbing that up too.

I grab three clear plastic bags, stuffing carrots in one, followed by the celery onions and garlic. She takes it from my hand and puts it in the cart. "What's next, E?"

I push the cart out of the produce section, moving past the milk and butter.

"We need a pie crust, raw chicken, and peas. I'm sure the house has salt, black pepper, and half-and-half." She says, scrolling through her phone.

"Ok, how about I grab the pie crust and peas, while you get the raw chicken."

"Deal." She pats my hand and walks off to get the chicken.

I stand there for a few seconds, just watching her walk away from me. This is nice, just doing normal things with her, such as going to the grocery store to make a chicken pot pie.

"Sir, can you move, you're in the middle of the aisle." An older woman with grayish hair says behind me.

"Sorry, yes I'll move." I push my cart down the aisle, moving over to the frozen aisle, grabbing a bag of peas and frozen pie crust.

"Holy shit!" I scream under my breath as something cold hits my neck.

"Is it cold?" The voice asked from behind me, turning around I'm faced with an amused Elizabeth, holding cold, raw chicken to my neck.

"Fuck yeah it is. Get that off of me." I swat it away. Her face lights up as I try to shake myself back to being warm again. She throws the food in the cart, pulls out her phone, and checks if we have everything.

I watch her, as her finger skims over the food in the cart. "We need chicken broth." To our luck, we're right by it, I throw it in the cart. "Ok then, we're all good let's go check out."