CHAPTER 9
“Come on babe we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry the hell up. You don’t want to miss the parade. Shay would never let us live it down.”
I try to usher Annie down the aisles of the local supermarket with a full shopping cart of crap.
“But we need marshmallows and peanut butter cups.”
She darts around the end cap as she gazes up at the signs above each aisle.
We have been here far too long already, and the store is packed with families shopping for their barbecue needs.
I make a mental note to never come shopping on a holiday ever again, no matter where we are or what holiday it is. This is like torture.
I push the cart, nearly hitting a little blonde girl as she runs away from her mom with a bag of ketchup chips clenched in her little hands. We need to go before I lose my shit right here in the middle of the pasta aisle.
“Marco.”
I hear it come from somewhere to my left, in Annie's sweet, buttery tone.
“Polo.” I yell back, not caring that everyone in the aisle stares at me.
Even the little girl stops and gives me a dirty look. Thanks, kid. I finally find Annie down the candy aisle with her arms crammed full of sweets.
“That’s more than peanut butter cups.”
She empties her arms into the cart, revealing a smorgasbord of sugary confections.
“I need options. Plus, we both know you’re going to get stoned later and want all the sweets.”
She winks. Fucking winks at me like she thinks she knows me better than I know myself. I grab her wrist, pulling her into my chest. My heart pounds in my chest as she stares up at me with her big caramel eyes. It takes everything I have not to kiss her right here.
“The only sweet treat I need is you,” I whisper into her ear.
“Scar…”
“I know, babe, it's okay.” Her eyes look at the couple who shimmy around us, as they don’t bother diverting their stares. “You’re the sugar I need.”
My Jeep comes to a rolling stop as we approach our campsite. The camper on the other side of the tree line is barren of people, making me still wonder if it’s really him or not.
“What’s wrong?” Annie gives me her normal concerned look that she does anytime she thinks I’m hiding something from her.
“Nothing. I’m just tired.” I lie because how can I tell her I think someone from home has followed us twelve hours away?
Shay skips over to us as we still sit in my Jeep.
“Did you get everything?” She reaches in and grabs the tied bags off the back seat.
“Yeah, but a slight problem,” Annie says.
She reaches for the one bag she put on the floor out of direct sunlight since the tops and doors are off. Thankfully, I have those netted half doors, so things don’t slide out when going down the road.
“They only had dark chocolate,” she hands Shay a pack of dark chocolate bars.
“Annie, you have to stop being so dramatic. I thought it was something majorly wrong, not some damn chocolate,” Shay lets out.
I admire them as they bicker about who’s more dramatic and who’s allowed to go shopping next. My tension slips away as I watch my two closest friends act like a dysfunctional family. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve known each other for so long.
Will Annie and I fuck up our relationship with the other three if they find out about us? Are we going to lose the girls who have been through everything with us?
Maybe that’s why Annie prefers to hide it from everyone.