COMPLETED. A university student. A professional hockey player. They've proved they can be friends. Can they be more?
Although they're both in their early twenties and living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, their lives couldn't be more different. Cami...
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And that was how I found myself meandering through a nearly empty Walmart in Winnipeg on a Saturday night with Taylor Hudson.
We had only come out for chocolate chips, but on the drive over I got a text from my mom asking for a carton of chicken stock. She had just gone to No Frills the day before, and I don't know why she didn't get it then, but it made no difference to me.
I told Taylor on our walk from the parking lot to the store entrance. To my surprise, he grabbed a cart. I would have opted for a basket, seeing as we only needed two things, but as long as he was going to push it, I wouldn't object.
Two minutes upon entering Winnipeg's finest Walmart, a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and Campbell's chicken stock and nothing else, sat in the cart.
"Was that as bad for you as it was for me?"
Taylor, who was leaning over the handle of the cart and pushing it lazily, looked up at me.
"Are you talking about dinner, with your family?" he asked.
No. I'm talking about Zayn leaving One Direction.
I nodded.
"No, it was great. Your family is awesome."
His eyebrows were furrowed and although I had only known Taylor to be genuine, the sincerity in his words still warmed my insides.
I wasn't sure what that gooey feeling meant, but I did know that it meant a lot to me that Taylor liked my family. Probably because I saw my family as a direct reflection of myself and would personally take offense at any offense directed towards a family member. I had always been that way. When I was younger and overvalued the opinions of others, I used to get mad at my parents and brother when they fought with someone, because it hurt me so much that someone would get mad at them.
Now, I just told those people to 'bite me' in my head.
After I cried, of course.
"I'm so glad," I said, as we walked down the aisle with the pretzels, popcorns, and chips. "Because I know my dad was acting a little weird, I mean he usually does, but in a chatty way, and my brother was cringey on so many levels..."
Taylor laughed. He stopped to pick up a bag of white cheddar popcorn. A man after my own heart.
"Camille, I had fun. Stop worrying. I could tell how much your family loves you, even your brother, who seems to exist to bug you." He scanned the nutrition facts. "Yeah, I can't eat that," he mumbled, putting the bag down.
"That's a shame. It's my favourite."
"Really?"
"Mmm hmm." This brand's popcorn was the fluffiest and the cheesiest and the smoothest. I would know; I had tried a lot of brands.
"Okay," Taylor said simply.
And he proceeded to toss a bag of the Smartfood into the cart.
"What's that for? You said yourself you can't have it."
