18. Dani
Noah can’t believe Marina gave us a free dinner and dessert, but I’m not surprised. That’s the kind of person she’s always been.
Getting in the car, I drop my purse by my feet.
Noah gets in, realizing how close he is to the steering wheel. “Are you really that short?”
“Don’t make fun of my height.”
“I’m not. I don’t know if it’s safe to be this close to the wheel.”
“Awe, you care about my safety.” I give him a cute puppy dog pout.
“I never said that.”
“Your eyes did.”
“Are you ready to go to the grocery store?” Noah asks, sticking his thumbs up like an idiot.
Sitting in the parking lot in front of Marina’s Diner, I watch the moonlight bouncing off the ocean from here.
I haven’t been to Marina’s in a long time because it reminds me too much of Dad, but I missed going there. Seeing Marina and feeling my dad’s presence was oddly comforting.
I never pictured myself being there with Noah. It was weird talking to him about Dad. My writer’s block. Yet, it was kind of nice talking to him how normal people talk to each other.
“Yo, Solomon!” he shouts, snapping me back from staring off into space.
“What?”
“Grocery store.”
I shrug my shoulders. “What about it?”
“We need to stock up the fridge,” he says. “What’s up with you? You’re acting weird.”
“It’s just…I wish I could snap my fingers and wake Lizzie up. I wish I could rewind time to somehow put a stop to the car that hit them. I know they’re your family, but I’ve always considered them my family too. I wish I could do more to help.” My voice is shaky and broken up.
“You have no idea how remarkable you are, Dani. It’s only been a little over a day. Why are you putting unnecessary pressure on yourself?”
I gulp down his kind words, absorbing them into my body.
Did he just say I’m remarkable?
My lips swerve to the side of my face and find their way back to where they were. A smile slowly grows on my face which is wet from my salty tears. “It’s weird hearing you compliment me.”
“You need to hear every compliment that exists. You put so much pressure on yourself. You always put others first. It’s time to start putting yourself first for once in your life.”
“I always assumed you got the impression I was full of myself.”
“I did,” he says, backing up out of the parking space.
“If we”re both being honest, I was wrong about you, too,” I confess softly.
He licks his lips, looking at me for a split second until we’re on the road. Now he’s concentrating on driving. “How so?”
“I thought you were a little egotistical.” I lift my hand, pressing my index finger and thumb together like I’m pinching something. “I was convinced you only cared about yourself. I’ve discovered you’d do anything to protect the people you care about. I admire that about you.”
His ocean eyes pierce through my dark brown eyes, cutting through all the noise. He smiles so wide, blinding me with his pearly white teeth.
Gravity doesn’t exist on the planet I’m on right now.
“I’m sorry. Did you just say you admire me?”
I roll my eyes. “Get over yourself, Kaplan.”
“No seriously, you complimented me.”
“You just complimented me.” I huff.
He shakes his head, rolling his eyes and laughing.
The grocery store is right across the street from the Promenade at Sunset Cove. It takes us around twelve minutes to get there.
When Noah turns into the shopping center, I can’t help but think about the fact that I’m going to the grocery store with him. A dumb thing to overthink, but I’m interested to see how this goes because I’ve never done anything like this with him before.
It’s strange how something so mundane feels incredibly different with him.
Noah finds a parking space near the entrance and turns off the engine.
“Wow, it’s pretty quiet,” I say.
“Makes sense considering that it’s 8:30 at night.”
“Did you write down what we need?”
“Nope.”
My eyebrows lightly furrow. “Why?”
“I have it all stored in this bad boy,” he says, pointing to his head.
“Is this something you’ve always done?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“And how many times did your mom have to go back to the store to get something you forgot to mention to her?”
He looks around the car, avoiding any possibility of looking me in the eyes. “Maybe a lot.”
Yeah, I’m lucky I brought a list. This should be fun. Not.
Once we make it inside, he grabs a cart and follows me as I head for the produce section.
Avocados. Check. Romaine Lettuce. Check.
He throws a bag of honey-crisp apples into the cart.
“You’re going to bruise those when you do that.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Oh, he did not just call me Mom.
I put my hands on my hips. “Take that back right now.”
He laughs malevolently. “Never.”
When we finish in the produce section, I go to the dairy section.
“What’s on the list?” Noah asks.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Organic milk, eggs, goat cheese crumbles, cream cheese, shredded parmesan cheese, and plain Greek yogurt.”
He shakes his head, mouth gaping open. “I thought you said it was a small list.
“It is a small list.”
He walks over to me, grabbing the list out of my hand. “This is two pages long, Dani.”
“It’s a small notepad.”
“It’s still two pages long.”
“Will you just get what I told you to get?”
“It’s a good thing you’re not lactose intolerant.”
“Noah!”
“I’m going.”
When we’re done getting what we need in the dairy section, I make my way to the deli which is on the other side of the store. We missed the cut-off to get freshly cut meat and cheese, but it’s fine.
I’m standing in front of a refrigerator full of various meats and cheeses that are pre-sliced and packaged in Ziploc bags.
I turn to Noah. “What deli meats do you eat?”
“Does it really matter? I’m a guy. I’ll eat pretty much anything.”
“Oh, that’s right. I totally forgot.”
“How did you forget?”
“Sometimes you act like a girl,” I blurt out and immediately cover my mouth with my hand.
“Take that back.”
“I don’t think I will.”
It takes us around thirty minutes until we finally make it to the self-checkout line. Our cart is pretty full which is good because it means we won’t have to come back here for a while.
I stand in front of the scanner. “Stand next to me.”
“I am standing next to you.”
“On the other side of me, dumbass. I need you to bag the groceries.”
He sucks his lips inwards, looking up at the ceiling and moving to the other side of me. “Are you just going to keep staring at me or are you going to start scanning everything, so we can go back to the house?”
I bite down on my tongue and scan the groceries at lightning speed which I can see is making Noah dizzy.
“Okay, slow down there Wario.”
“You said you want to get out of here,” I say.
“Yeah, but I’m a human. I’m not a machine. I can only go so fast.” His tone is high-pitched.
“Stop complaining.”
Once I finish scanning the groceries and bagging them up, we head out.
When we make it to the car, I open up the hatch.
“I got it,” he says.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“I hate that you think I’m incapable of doing shit.”
“I didn’t say that.”
A small grin appears on his face. “You don’t have to. Your eyes did.”