For Better Or For Worse

f o u r

It was weird to say out loud what I wanted most out of relationships was the mundane things in life. Don't get me wrong I loved the honeymoon period, I loved the excitement I felt on those first few dates and I definitely loved that new relationship sex. But what I really lived for was doing all the boring, everyday things with a partner. Those arguments about what film to watch, those boring trips to the store together, spending that extra hour in bed on Sundays. It was always what I wanted when I was in relationships but I had never found the right person for me.

When we parked at the store, we both got out and I decided to take the lead in this acting partnership, something I had already worked out I would have to do most often. It was already extremely clear who had the more dominant, outgoing personality out of the two of us and that would mean I would have to initiate a lot of our 'relationship' when in public.

Rachel walked to the front of my car and I went over to join her, reaching out and grabbing her hand once I was close enough. She hadn't frozen like I had expected or freaked out but she did momentarily close her eyes and take a deep breath before intertwining our fingers. I took a second to take in the feeling of her small, soft hand in mine and gave it a small squeeze in reassurance.

"You good babe?" I asked quietly, knowing she might have never even walked around holding someone else's hand like this before. If the only guy she'd been with hadn't even had the decency to call after they'd slept together, I doubt her would have been overly affectionate when they had gone for dinner or been in public.

"Yeah I'm good now." She said even quieter than I had spoken to her but she did give my hand the softest squeeze back that filled me with some faith that we could pull this whole façade off.

"Okay, now remember, our kitchen needs food for both of us so anything you want, you put in the cart." I said as we grabbed a cart.

As I had expected, no one gave us a second glance as we walked around the supermarket. As soon as Rachel realized no one cared about us, she also started to relax. She seemed happy enough to let me push the cart with one hand and still continue to hold her other hand as we went through the aisles. I had to remind her that although I thought of myself as a top chef, pretty soon I would have to travel for my international games so she would need food that she could cook for herself.

"You mean I finally get to move in with my own personal chef and then she goes and leaves me?" She joked, letting me see more of her care-free side. "Anyway, you're yet to cook for me. We skipped dinner last night and I think you'll find I made breakfast this morning." She said sticking her tongue out at me and dropping my hand to add some more items to the cart before I could say anything.

I was definitely enjoying this side of Rachel and I could only hope that as she spent more and more time with me, this would be the Rachel that I got to show off.

This shop was also proving beneficial for getting to know a bit about some of Rachel's likes and dislikes when it came to food, for instance, I had discovered had a major sweet tooth purely by how much chocolate she had been trying, and failing, to sneak into the cart when she thought I wasn't looking.

"All this junk food means I'm going to need to train extra hard to stay in shape- not everyone can eat all this rubbish and stay as skinny as you." I said poking her side as she added more yet more candy in the cart. She laughed loudly, accidentally alerting me to where she was ticklish so deciding to test the waters, I tickled her again, noticing she let her guard down and relaxed when I did.

"Kelley stop it." She whined but she was still laughing slightly. "Kel! There's people looking."

I looked up and saw a couple of people in the aisle minding their business and getting on with their shop and an older lady not too far from us, smiling. I smiled back at the woman before looking at my fake girlfriend who still had a grin on her face, a rare sight for me to see.

"Come here then." I said quietly as I wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her close to me while keeping my other hand on our nearly full cart. I had fully expected her to instantly pull away from me but she stayed there and leaned in to me. She looked up at me and smiled as if we were in our own little world and not the grocery store.

"Hi." I told her before planting a soft kiss on her forehead. I didn't know if I had gone too far but it had just felt right and having these small affectionate moments seemed to come to me so naturally. I focused back on Rachel only to see her blushing at me before whining at me stop again.

The older lady approached us, alerting us again to the real world around us. Knowing that the older generation tended to have more conservative or, in my opinion, backwards views towards homosexuality, I readied myself to have abuse hurled at us and prepared to have to defend my lifestyle to a complete stranger.

"I just wanted to say you both look really sweet together. My granddaughter has, umm, just told me she likes girls so I've been trying to understand it as much as I can. I just want her to be happy." The lady said and I suddenly felt guilty for assuming she would be hateful towards us.

"Thank you. I'm sure your granddaughter will find someone who makes her really happy. She's extremely lucky to have someone like you to support her." I told them woman while Rachel just stuck to my side.

We were almost finished at the store, so I grabbed the last few things we needed and headed to the cashier. Rachel stayed in my side the entire time and I had a sneaking suspicion she was enjoying the closeness rather than solely trying to sell to our relationship status to complete strangers.

I chucked our bags in the trunk of the car and returned the cart while she got in the passenger seat. She wasn't the only one that had enjoyed having her that close to me especially since I hadn't been in an actual relationship in a while but I needed to keep reminding myself that this was all pretend. Rachel wasn't even attracted to women so I had to be careful about my own feelings. I climbed back in the car and it was evident that Rachel was now more relaxed sitting beside me than she had been on our way here.

"Did you see that in there? That woman totally thought we were together." She said to me excitedly as I started the engine.

"Well we were acting like a couple. I didn't make you uncomfortable, did I? You know, wrapping my arm around you or the little kiss. I can take it slower if it feels bad or strange for you." I said suddenly somewhat nervous about how she would respond.

"No Kelley, you didn't make me uncomfortable. I liked it." She whispered the last part almost as if I hadn't meant to have heard it and now it was my turn to let out the breath I had been holding.

"Okay that's good. We can talk more about that sort of thing back at home, you know likes, dislikes, boundaries. Now, is there anywhere else you need to go before we go back home?" I asked her.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind a coffee." She said fluttering her eyelashes at me and giving me a small pout.

"Okay, okay. No need to try that hard. If my girl wants a coffee then that's what she will get."

A/N

So I took some time off my other book, just a week or so, because your girl had a quarantine birthday and celebrations were needed. But it's Sunday so I'm back with this chapter and hopefully should have a chapter up for Lost and Found within the next day or two if you're also reading that book.