Witness Protection ✔

Shopping

The typical background hums and buzzes of a supermarket mixed in with the soothing soft music playing on the radio were a stark contrast to the turmoil that reigned inside of Nathalia.

While walking beside Darius and the shopping cart she looked around for the ingredients for the meals she was planning to make as he had told her before in the car his cooking skills were limited to heating up canned foods. When they turned into the next aisle they passed shelves filled with sodas so Nathalia went and grabbed some bottles of Dr. Pepper. It had always been some sort of comfort food to her, or a comfort drink in this case, since it reminded her of the summers she spent at the lake with her parents.

"You drink that shit?"

She turned to see Darius hanging over the cart with a disapproving look on his face.

"Yeah, sometimes. Why?" She was not about to let him stand in the way between her and the delicious Dr. Pepper so she neatly put the bottles in the cart.

"It's unhealthy, there are better things to drink. Like water, which doesn't mess up your blood pressure," he said while pushing the cart forward again into the frozen food section.

She had already guessed he only ate healthy foods by the way his body seemed to lack any fat at all, instead he was made of hard muscle under soft skin. She wasn't like that at all and liked comfort food too much, even though it made her hips slightly squishy. Yet she always made it a point to keep an eye on her weight, not because of women's beauty standards but because she was simply too lazy to go out and buy new clothes if she'd reach that point where they wouldn't fit anymore.

"I drink water too, I just like to drink soda from time to time as well. You gotta enjoy the finer things in life right?" It wasn't a lie, she drank tons of water and soda was something she rarely bought, but when she did she enjoyed it immensely. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm too young to worry about my blood pressure."

"Seems like we have different ideas about what the finer things in life are. And it's never too soon to worry about your health, it's better to start good habits early as opposed to late."

Sensing an opening to finally ask him something about himself she went for it.

"So what do you consider to be the finer things in life then?" The moment she asked she immediately regretted it. His eyes darkened as he pressed his lips into a fine line.

"That's none of your business," he said, at last, effectively ending the conversation.

She didn't understand how he had become so cold in just a second, with the way their conversation was going she thought they were warming up to each other. But she'd been wrong. She knew absolutely nothing about this man, not even his name as she had found out earlier.

Continuing walking around the store they reached the clothing section, the shirts were very basic and the jeans just didn't fit right but beggars can't be choosers and she was grateful to have at least something to change into tomorrow.

She picked out a pink pajama top with matching pink shorts and to her horror, she realized she had to pick some underwear and a bra as well. While Darius was standing right beside her. Nervously glancing out of the corner of her eye she saw that to her relief he was too busy typing on his phone.

Wait he was allowed to bring a phone and I wasn't?

Quickly she went and picked a very basic black bra and some black undies and threw them into the cart as well, moving the other clothes on top of it. At that moment Darius looked up from his phone as if to ask her if she was done.

"I just need some toiletries and then I'm done."

As her things were set to arrive this week she only grabbed some of the most basic stuff like toothpaste and a toothbrush, some shampoo, and a pack of razors. That would have to do for now. Since it was around dinner time now the store was mostly empty and there wasn't a line for the register. Setting down the items she realized there was no way Darius wouldn't see the underwear she'd picked. The thought filled her with embarrassment but there was no way to avoid it now.