Beautiful • OBJ (under editing)

chapter five

real groceries.

|Raj|

"There's no specific reason," I started after taking a long breath. I sat my water down on the counter. "You ever seen a boxing match? You know how they can get hit and brush it off, get hit again and brush it off, hit and brush.  They might think they're fine in the moment, but when the wake up in the morning, they feel all of that. One morning I woke up and I started to feel all of it." My voice started to crack. I quickly cleared my throat as a tear fell down my face. I felt a masculine hand slowly brush them away.

"Thank you, Odell. A lot." I told him.

"They didn't have tissue at the Kwik Mart—"

"No, Jackass..." I laughed, playfully pushing him in the chest and sniffling. "...for not letting me jump."

"I know, I know. We don't have to talk about it anymore. I don't want you to cry." He assured, hugging me tightly.

We stayed silent for the rest of the night. I expected him to leave, but he didn't. He wrapped his arms around me and I laid on his chest. Before we knew it, we were fast asleep on the couch.

•••

"What is this stuff?" Odell asked, slowly pushing the buggy down the aisle as he leaned on it. He picked up a box from the cart.

"Food, Odell. Do you ever grocery shop for yourself?" I asked, looking at the shelves in front of me.

"Sometimes, when I bring a girl home she'll cook me breakfast in the morning, so I got enough food for that." He shrugged, tossing the box back in the buggy.

I burst out laughing. Who is he?

"You're quite the guy, Mr. Beckham. " I shook my head.

"Glad I could entertain you Ms—you never even told me your last name..." He scrunched his face.

" Hamilton. Rajuri Hamilton." I smiled, formally introducing myself.

"Rajuri? That's pretty. Does it mean something?" He asked.

"No," I chuckled, "My mom just wanted to be different, I guess."

He nodded, "Cute. I like it."

"Let's go get some milk. " I told him, grabbing the end of the buggy and pulling it

•••

|Odell|

Raj is actually pretty cool. I find myself constantly wanting to be around her. She let me buy her groceries but that was it. She didn't take me up on any of my other offers, like furniture.

We've actually become quite close. She hasn't told me much about herself other than her mom died from cancer last year and she was married once.

That's crazy that she was married because we're the same age and I get tired of the same chick within a couple of hours.

Once we got back to her house, I helped her put the food up.

"Thanks, a lot. You really didn't have to do this. It was very sweet of you." She said once we finished.

"It's cool. Grocery shopping is kinda fun." I joked, "You like football? You should come to one of my games." I said biting into an apple.

"Odell, I couldn't as—"

"I want you to come." I grabbed her face making her look up at my face.

Neither one of us moved for the longest time. I got a tingling feeling down my spine. I got lost in a daze, only to pulled out of it by laughing.

"You have apple juice all around your mouth, Odell." She giggled, moving my hand and handing me a napkin.

I chuckled and wiped my mouth, slightly embarrassed. I got a little caught up and it was weird. After making sure she was good, I told her I had to go. I needed to get the fuck out of her house. It was making me soft and shit.