The Anti-Love Pact

Chapter Five

Tina

I rest my arms on the shopping cart as my eyes carefully scan the aisle. Vodka, Rum, Tequila...

"Soju." Sherry holds two green bottles in front of me, a cheeky grin spread across her face.

"Love that." I motion her to put it in the cart.

This past week has been a very productive week for the Anti-Love pact. I've been attempting to cook at least one meal a day, with Noah's help, of course. And Noah's been doing his best at fine-tuning his drawing skills, with my help, of course. We decided to throw a little kickback with friends this weekend to not only celebrate our successes, but also to take the after-breakup advice of not isolating ourselves.

Sherry holds the front of my shopping cart, leading me along the aisle. She's a bartender, so naturally I invited her along for alcohol shopping. She grabs a variety of drinks and mixers and proceeds to place them in to my cart.

"We're trying to go for chill game night vibes, Sher, not an all out rager." I chortle.

"Oh don't worry, this is exactly what we need, girl." She says with a wink.

As we continue cruising through the aisles, a familiar face turns around the corner in front of us.

Shoot, it's Alex.

In my best attempt to avoid being seen, I lower my head to try and avoid eye contact. But it's too late, and we eventually lock eyes with each other.

I let out an awkward laugh. Oh gosh, Sherry, save me.

"Hey." Alex says, putting his hand up for a wave. No hint of awkwardness at all, unlike me.

The awkward feeling doesn't end there and I I hit him with a stiff smile and nod. I haven't seen Alex since the dinner, when we broke up. My mind replays that night's events and I feel a lump in my throat. I don't want to see him right now.

"Hey Alex!" Sherry says, strategically placing herself in front of me to block him from my view. "You on shift tonight?"

Thank you, Sherry. I breathe a sigh of relief while she takes the reigns of conversation with him. They converse a little about work and various small talk topics before Sherry finally cuts the conversation.

"Well Alex, we kind of have to go so, we'll talk to you later?" She says, looking at her watch.

"Of course." He acknowledges, then he turns his attention to me. "It was nice seeing you, Tina." He smiles at me. "I hope we can catch up sometime."

The audacity. I nod in acknowledgement and watch as he disappears in to the next aisle.

Sherry turns around and mouths me an apology before I take another huge sigh of relief. "Sher, that was unbearable." I whisper to her.

"I know, girl, let's just go." She says, coming up next to me and pushing the cart forward.

The fact that Alex seems so okay after the breakup while I've literally felt like a mess makes my heart sting, just a little bit. Ok, maybe a lot of bit.

"Maybe you were on to something with the amount of drinks." I say with a laugh and she throws another wink at me.

--

After setting up a variety of snacks on the table, Noah and I take a seat on the couch while Sherry places the drinks on the kitchen counter.

"I saw Alex today." I tell him, a sad look spreading across my face. I can't help but feel the heartache of our breakup when I think about him.