LUCIFER » SIMON MINTER

Chapter 48

My palms were clammy at the thought of having to go grocery shopping alone. Freya was out with Josh, which she was doing a lot more of lately, and I believe Sarah had stayed the night upstairs in Callux's flat. In the meantime, we were running out of food in the flat, which meant that it was my turn to go grocery shopping.

First of all, I hated grocery shopping. There's just something about the swarm of bodies racing to get their shopping done first, the fact that the one thing you need is never in stock and that there's just so many people... you get why it freaks me out, right?

Nevertheless, I put on a coat and grabbed my keys and headed outside. I kept my head down as I made my way through town, avoiding eye contact with anyone who walked past. I fumbled with a folded piece of paper in my pocket and went through the list of things I needed over and over again in my head. Hopefully I memorised the list by the time I got there, so I could dash in and dash back out and run back home.

When I got there, I grabbed a cart and swung it around, heading in the direction of the entrance of our local Tesco's and nearly knocked a women over. She was heavily pregnant, too. Can anything not remind me of Freya? For fuck's sake. I ran to the fruit and vegetable isle, picking out some fresh foods to add into the pasta I was going to make for dinner tonight.

I was looking at all the different pesto that they had when my phone started buzzing in my pocket because someone was calling me. When I fished my phone out of my jacket, I saw that it was in fact Simon who wanted my attention. 'Yes?' I asked when I answered his call.

'Wow, not even a 'good morning handsome?' Rude.' He laughed and I giggled along.

'Sorry,' I whispered. 'I'm at Tesco's right now.'

'Gee and Will want an answer on their offer for our flat.' He said and I sighed, biting down on my lower lip. Could they not be patient?

'Well, what do you think?' I asked him, placing a pot of pesto in my shopping cart. Suddenly two little boys raced up to me, phones better than mine waiting eagerly in their little hands. Both had the same haircut which made them look exactly the same as they were twins: brown, straight hair with a fringe that was just too short to actually be a fringe.

'Hi! Are you Lucifer?' One of them asked with a bright smile, showing off all the teeth he was missing. They both looked about eight, and I wondered if they knew me for me or for Simon. Surely they're too young to be watching videos like the ones Simon makes. I looked down at the two boys with a loving smile and leaned down so that I was at the same height at them. 'Yes, that's me. Do you want pictures?' I asked, still holding my phone to my ear. They both nodded enthusiastically and turned to take a selfie, their tiny thumbs clicking on the button on their phones. Their entire hand was smaller than the screen of their phone. Kids these days.

I lowered my phone so it was out of view and smiled up at the camera. Suddenly you could clearly hear Simon say 'Hello?' which made both of the boys turn around.

'Is that Simon on the phone?' The other one spoke this time, biting on his nails as a nervous habit. I looked at my phone, seeing that our call was still on going.

'Yes, it is.' I said hesitantly after debating whether I should tell them the truth or not. As if it was even possible, their dark brown eyes shined even brighter out of pure excitement. I picked up my phone again to talk to Simon. 'Listen, I've got two very excited young boys who would love to talk to you.' I told him, then put him on speaker.

The boy on the right turned around and shouted 'Mummy, we're talking to Miniminter on the phone!' I giggled.

'Hello?' Simon asked.