“Ellie, stop looking so depressed. Let’s go do something fun.”
Opening my eyes, I lifted my head off my knees to see Anthony giving me a concerned look. I half-smiled at him. “Fun?”
He nodded. “It’s Walmart. We could play Frisbee, or Clue, or ride around in those cars for little kids.”
“I don’t know…” My eyes drifted down to the floor, where my empty bowl of cereal was placed. After eating, a sudden depression had set into me. The realization of being trapped, even if Anthony was here, scared me. I knew the chances of us dying were close to zero, but there were always the what ifs.
“If you’re still scared about the ghost thing, I really was joking. Sorry,” he apologized, a regretful expression on his face.
I shook my head, smiling at him. “It’s not that, Anthony.”
“You know, these next few days will be really hard to go through if you continue to be so morose.”
“So you want me to be happy and pretend we’re trapped in here for fun?”
“Yes,” he deadpanned.
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little easier said than done…”
He heaved a heavy sigh, shaking his head at me. “Alright, Ellie. That’s it.”
“That’s what?”
He sprung up from his lawn chair, moving in front of me in two, long leg strides. Before I could protest he pried my arms from around my legs and then pulled them away from my chest, placing my feet flat on the floor. After that he grabbed my hand, yanking me to my feet. “We’re going to go have fun.”
“We really shouldn’t mess around in here—”
“I’ll take all the blame if we get in trouble.”
“Anthony…”
He pursed his lips at me. “Ellie.”
After a moment I sighed in defeat. “Okay, fine. What do you want to do?”
“What do you want to do?” he responded, grinning widely. “Choose anything.”
I thought about it for a moment. We were completely alone in Walmart. No matter what we did, we wouldn’t get in trouble for it… There were millions of possibilities. What I wanted to do hit me with so much force I was surprised I didn’t fall over backward. “I’ve got the best idea!”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Full store Nerf gun fight.”
Anthony stared at me blankly for a moment. I stared back at him, my exhilaration slowly fading. Did he think that was childish? Did college guys not play with Nerf guns anymore? My eyes widened in horror as comprehension dawned on me. Of course college boys didn’t play with Nerf guns! Only immature middle schoolers did! How could I have been such an idiot—
“That is an awesome idea!” he exclaimed, his eyes glowing in excitement. “I have to warn you though; my roommates and I have Nerf wars all time. You’re the first college girl I’ve met that has ever wanted to be in one though. All the girls at my school think it’s childish.”
I scratched the back of my head nervously. “O-oh really? Call me weird then…”
“Actually, I think it’s cool,” he responded, his eyes piercing into mine. “Come on, let’s go find some Nerf guns.”
His hand grabbed mine so fast I barely registered it as he began tugging me in the direction of the toy aisle. A small blush spread to my cheeks as my eyes zeroed in on our entwined hands. We weren’t holding hands like couples did, with interlaced fingers, but we were still holding hands— something I would have never even dreamed of doing with Anthony.
YOU ARE READING
Waist-Deep In Walmart
Humor"As I sat on the toilet, I realized how badass I was being. First of all, I (kind of) broke into Walmart; Second, I was (kind of) plotting to steal toilet paper; and third, I was doing all this while a hurricane was brewing outside." Ellie wanted a...
