Chapter 30 - Day 12 You Like Them #2
"Then leave it alone."
"Why?"
"Because you're doing this deliberately."
"Doing what?"
I put the bread diagonally across the cart.
He stared at it.
I watched him stare at it.
One second.
Two.
Three.
His hand moved.
I caught his wrist.
"No."
His eyes lifted to mine.
And I stopped.
My hand was wrapped around his wrist.
I hadn't even thought about it.
I'd just-
grabbed him.
Neither of us moved.
One second.
Two.
Three.
His eyes stayed on mine.
My fingers were still around his wrist.
And suddenly the bread wasn't very funny anymore.
I slowly loosened my fingers.
Pulled my hand away.
Adrian didn't say anything.
Neither did I.
I looked back at the cart.
Then at the bread.
"Okay."
I cleared my throat.
"It can go back."
Adrian took it and returned it to its original position.
Perfectly.
Of course he did.
I watched him.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"This explains so much about you."
"It explains nothing."
"It explains your office. Your house. Your desk. Your files. Your pathological hatred of misaligned headings."
"They were misaligned."
"One molecule."
"Visibly."
I laughed.
He pushed the cart forward.
I followed him.
And now I couldn't stop seeing it.
The way he placed things into the cart instead of dropping them.
The way heavier things stayed together.
The way nothing fragile ended up underneath anything else.
The way every item somehow acquired a designated location the second Adrian Vale touched it.
I had worked in the same office as this man for a year.
For most of that year, we'd barely spoken.
I'd seen him.
Avoided him.
Been mildly terrified of him.
But I hadn't known him.
Apparently there were still things I was only beginning to notice.
I was about to say something when we passed the flower section.
I noticed them because I always noticed flowers.
Bright bunches arranged in buckets near the edge of the aisle.
Lilies.
Tulips.
Roses.
Sunflowers.
I looked at them as we passed.
Didn't stop.
I didn't need flowers.
I needed groceries.
I kept walking.
Then realized the cart wasn't beside me anymore.
I turned.
Adrian had stopped.
He reached toward the display.
Picked up a bunch of sunflowers.
Then-
red roses.
I watched him.
He put both into the cart.
I stared.
He started pushing again.
I didn't move.
He looked back.
"What?"
I pointed at the cart.
"What are those for?"
"Decoration."
I blinked.
"Decoration."
"Yes."
I walked toward him.
"Why do we need the decoration for?"
He looked at the flowers.
Then at me.
"I don't know."
A beat.
"You like them."
And-
Oh.
Something inside me went completely still.
Not I like them.
Not they looked good yesterday.
Not the kids liked them.
Not even your apartment needs flowers.
Yesterday.
That was all it had taken.
One grocery store.
One bunch of sunflowers.
A few red roses.
One white vase on his outdoor table.
He had noticed.
Of course he'd noticed.
This was Adrian.
But this felt different.
Because there was no practical reason for this.
I didn't need flowers.
He didn't need flowers.
There was no barbecue today.
No outdoor table to decorate.
No Elena asking whether we were going to grill them.
He had simply seen them.
Remembered.
And put them in my cart because-
You like them.
Adrian was watching me now.
Probably because I'd been silent too long.
I looked down at the flowers.
Sunflowers.
Red roses.
Exactly the same.
Then back at him.
"Okay."
His eyes stayed on mine for another second.
Then he nodded once.
And started pushing the cart.
I followed.
Quietly.
For once, I didn't even argue about him having my cart.
By the time we reached the checkout, I had almost recovered from the flowers.
Almost.
They were lying across the top of the cart because apparently Adrian's zoning regulations extended to botanical life.
Nothing could go on top of them.
Nothing could go underneath them incorrectly.
I knew this because I'd tried.
Once.
He'd moved the bag of chips I'd placed over the roses without even looking at me.
I had decided not to test him again.
For now.
The cashier started scanning everything.
Eggs.
Milk.
Bread.
Rice.
Vegetables.
Chicken.
Two boxes of strawberry cereal purchased partly out of spite.
And eventually-
the flowers.
The cashier picked them up.
"These are pretty."
"Thank you," I said automatically.
Then realized-
I hadn't picked them.
Adrian had.
The cashier scanned the sunflowers.
Then the roses.
I reached into my bag for my wallet.
Adrian tapped his card.
I froze.
"Adrian."
"What?"
"Why did you just pay?"
"Because she finished scanning."
I stared at him.
"I know how checkout works."
"Apparently not fast enough."
"Those are my groceries."
"I'm aware."
"You just paid for all of them."
"Yes."
"Why?"
He looked at me like this was an incredibly stupid question.
"Because I was standing here."
"So was I."
"You were too slow."
"I was getting my wallet."
"Slowly."
I stared at him.
"Adrian."
He took the receipt.
"Angelica."
"How much was it?"
"No."
"I didn't ask a yes-or-no question."
"I know."
"I'll send it to you."
"No."
"You cannot keep paying for things just because you get your card out faster than me."
"Apparently I can."
I narrowed my eyes.
"Are you going to do this every time?"
Something changed in his face.
Just slightly.
"There isn't going to be every time."
And-
There it was.
The countdown.
Right there between the cereal and the fucking grocery bags.
Neither of us said anything for a second.
Adrian looked away first.
He picked up two bags.
Then two more.
I reached for one.
He took it before I could.
"I can carry groceries."
"I know."
"Then why are you taking all of them?"
"You have the flowers."
I looked down.
Apparently I did.
He'd left me exactly one thing to carry.
The sunflowers and red roses.
I looked at him.
"You planned that."
"No."
"You absolutely planned that."
He started walking.
I followed him toward the exit.
"You're carrying all the bags."
"Yes."
"And I'm carrying flowers."
"Yes."
"That's suspicious."
"It's efficient."
"Of course it is."
The Corvette presented a problem.
Specifically-
groceries.
I stood behind the car while Adrian opened the trunk.
Then stared inside.
Then at the bags.
Then back inside.
I smiled slowly.
"Oh, this should be interesting."
He looked at me.
"What?"
"Your perfectly organized groceries now have to fit inside a Corvette."
"They'll fit."
"You sound confident."
"They'll fit."
He put the first bag inside.
Then the second.
Adjusted the first.
Moved the second.
Put the third beside them.
Stopped.
Moved the second again.
I leaned against the car.
"This is incredible."
"What's incredible?"
"You're Tetris-ing groceries."
"I'm putting them in the trunk."
"You moved that bag twice."
"It was unstable."
"It was groceries, Adrian. They weren't attempting escape."
He ignored me.
Fourth bag.
Turned slightly.
Placed carefully.
He stepped back.
Everything fit.
Perfectly.
Of course it did.
I looked into the trunk.
Then at him.
"You know normal people just put the bags in."
"They shift."
"They're allowed to shift."
"Not with eggs."
I held up the flowers.
"Do these have assigned seating too?"
He looked at them.
"Yes."
I laughed.
"Of course they do."
He took them carefully from me and placed them where nothing could crush them.
Then closed the trunk.
I walked toward the passenger side.
"I'm moving your pens tomorrow."
Adrian stopped.
I turned around.
His expression had changed.
Barely.
But enough.
I smiled.
"All of them."
"Don't."
"Maybe just one."
"Angelica."
"Three inches to the left."
"Don't touch my desk."
I laughed and opened the passenger door.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun."
He got behind the wheel.
"It won't."
"It already is."
The drive back to my apartment was easy.
Too easy.
The kind of easy that had somehow started happening between us without either of us acknowledging it.
No Solara.
No Vale Architecture.
No Ethan.
No resignation conversation.
Just Adrian driving.
Me beside him.
And an argument about Death Note that apparently had not ended.
"Light lost because he became careless," Adrian said.
I turned toward him.
"He lost because the story needed him to lose."
"No."
"Yes."
"He became arrogant."
"He was always arrogant."
"Exactly."
"That doesn't prove your point."
"It proves all of it."
I stared at him.
"You've thought about this way too much."
"So have you."
"That is completely different."
"How?"
"Because I'm right."
He glanced at me.
I smiled.
"Don't."
"What?"
"You know exactly what you're doing."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're using my arguments now."
"Maybe your arguments are improving."
"They aren't."
"Rude."
"Accurate."
I looked out the window, smiling.
A few seconds passed.
Then-
"Light was more interesting."
"L was smarter."
"Light won."
"Temporarily."
"He killed L."
"That doesn't make him smarter."
"It makes L dead."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
I turned toward him.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
"You're actually offended."
"I'm not offended."
"You are."
"I'm driving."
"You're sulking over a fictional detective."
"I'm not sulking."
I laughed.
"You absolutely are."
"Angelica."
"Adrian."
He shook his head.
But I saw it.
That tiny movement at the corner of his mouth.
And I smiled too.
When we reached my apartment, Adrian opened the trunk.
Everything was still exactly where he'd put it.
He looked almost vindicated.
I pointed at the bags.
"Don't."
He looked at me.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I wasn't."
"You were going to say nothing moved."
"Nothing moved."
I stared at him.
He picked up three bags.
I grabbed the fourth before he could.
He looked at it.
"No."
"Yes."
"Give it to me."
"I live here."
"That isn't relevant."
"They're my groceries."
"I know."