Smile For Me

Chapter 61 - Evil Intentions

I don't think it was until Wednesday when I realised Breah was stalking us. Everyday when I left school a half hour early, I noticed she was waiting outside. She was always on her phone, but she wasn't very discreet about it, she'd occasionally look up at me and smile an annoying smile. Everyone who take exams go home at lunch, so she must have been waiting in the courtyard for almost two hours. I don't know why, because she didn't catch anything with every attempt to spy. I'd get into Eddie's car (he was aware of this happening now), he'd give my cheek an innocent kiss, seeing as it was okay to be a couple now, then we drove home. Eddie was getting tense over this, and considered whether he should tell Mrs Walberg about this so she'd stop. But he kept his patience. For now.

One time after school, Eddie drove to a shop instead of going straight home. I didn't think we were out of food, because mum often bought more on weekends, but I didn't question it. I took Eddie's hand once we stepped out the car and followed him across the parking lot and inside the shop. I was planning to ask him what we came here for, because he didn't go to the food aisle straight away, and he put strange things into his trolly. He grabbed a lot of toiletries, new toothbrushes and toothpaste, some tampons and sanitary towels, deodorant, soap, shampoo - it was as if he were throwing away his entire bathroom to replace it with new stuff. I held onto his arm like a child and wanted to suck my thumb, I didn't understand what he was doing.

He picked up a pair of sunglasses and sunscreen and new sandals for me and put them in the trolly too, I raised an eyebrow, because he knows I don't like the beach here. The water is grey and the sand is mostly pebbles that hurt your feet, I wrinkled my nose at the thought of going there, despite it being perfect weather. I followed him obediently as he walked to a different aisle. "Dadd- um, Eddie,"I blushed because I almost called him daddy in public. He smiled down at me as he picked up a phone charger, though he already had one that worked perfectly fine. "Yes Janie?"he said. I squeezed his arm a little. "What's all this for?"I eventually whispered. Eddie patted my head gently. "Another picnic darling,"he said. He had to switch from 'baby' to 'darling' out in public, but there was something off about the way he said it. I had a feeling he might be lying, I should have asked where we're going for this 'picnic', because it didn't look like he was preparing for an ordinary walk down the road.

Eddie pushed the trolly down another aisle, this one filled with bags, and he hummed to himself. "How's your old backpack Janie? Worn out yet?"he asked. I should have gotten a new bag years ago, but I didn't want to let it go yet. "No, it's fine,"I said. Despite me saying no, he carried on browsing anyway. But he wasn't even searching for a new school bag, because he started looking at some suitcases. He eventually picked a large brown one for himself. I definitely knew something was different then. "Eddie, where are we going?"I finally asked. Eddie pushed his hair aside and kept walking,"Hm? Nowhere Janie, I just needed a new bag for work." That didn't make much sense to me, because he only had to carry around a briefcase at the dentistry. I frowned, because I just knew he was lying now. Eddie frowned too at the sight of my droopy face, and he sighed a little. He then slowly leaned in and that confused me. "I'll tell you once we get in the car,"he whispered. I made an 'oh' sound and perked up a little, I thought he might have just kept it a secret from me until it was time. When he appeared done he steered the way to the sweet aisle, and I made myself bounce like a little girl. I wasn't really excited, I still felt like an empty shell, but he was doing this out of kindness. Any love I recieved from Eddie, I'd try to feel it. That's how I was getting so spoiled now.

I didn't think about that though. He handed me the pink and white striped paper bag for a pick-and-mix. It wasn't the same one as last time because we were in a different and larger shop, but that was fine, because that meant more to choose from. I gladly filled it with a variation of sweets, some of them being Eddie's favourites, like taffy and cough candies - funny because those were some of the worst for your teeth. I quickly shook my head, because I was being stupid for thinking about the dentistry, I'm just scaring myself again. I wasn't a fan of hard candies, but I knew he also liked fudge, so I quickly picked quite a few of those. I was secretly planning to share them with him, because I wanted to feel the same way he felt when he did something nice. I wanted to feel a little more content with myself for bringing a smile to someone's face, and I wanted to feel happiness.