Weeks flew by, and winter was steadily approaching. On a cold, fateful Sunday morning, I found myself at the local grocery store shopping for necessitiesâin other words, I was on my period and had run out of tampons.
Gently humming under my breath, I tossed a pack of tampons in my shopping basket before slowly heading over to the baked goods aisle. Naturally, being on shark week only meant that I was in desperate need of something sweet.
My eyes narrowed at a pack of brownies standing upright on the shelf. There was only one more left. I hurried over to it, though just as my hand grazed the pack, it was yanked away from me. With a frown, I realized that someone from the other side of the aisle must've gotten to it first.
Sagging my shoulders in defeat, I slowly browsed through the aisle for something else that could satisfy my cravings. I failed to realize that the person who'd grabbed the brownies was now watching me from the other side of the aisle.
I eventually reached the end of the aisle, and when I turned left, I jumped in shock as I collided right intoâ
"Elias," I softly gasped, stumbling backwards.
"Daisy," Elias curtly acknowledged. He hadn't even moved an inch, meanwhile I nearly fell from bumping into his muscular body. Unimpressed, he reached out a hand to steady my much shorter figure.
With a sheepish grin, I brushed my curly hair out of my face before asking, "what are you doing here?"
"Well, this is a grocery store, and I kinda need food to survive," he quipped. "If anything, what are you doing here? Let me guessâfollowing me again?"
"No, I only do that on Fridays."
With that, I glanced down at his shopping basket.
"It was you," I gasped, pointing down at the pack of brownies in his basket.
Whether or not Elias knew what I was talking about, he didn't seem to care all that much, for he simply strolled past me and resumed shopping. Nonetheless, I persistently followed after him into the next aisle.
"I had those brownies first," I continued. "You stole them from me."
He rolled his eyes. "Well, what would you like me to do about that?"
"Give them back?"
"That's a hard no, D," he snorted.
My heart skipped a beat. The only nickname I'd ever received was Crazy Daisy. It felt oddly nice to be referred to as something else.
My brown eyes wandered over to the food in his shopping basketâtwinkies, pop tarts, cupcakes, and oreos were only a few of the things I noticed.
"How can you eat all that yet remain so fit?" I questioned in surprise. "Of course, I love me some junk food as well, but aren't you a professional boxer and all?"
"Not professional," he corrected, grabbing a box of chocolate chip cookies and tossing them into his basket. "And these snacks aren't for me."
I furrowed my thick brows in confusion. "Then, who are they for?"
"The kids."
I was gobsmacked. "Y-You have kids?"
Elias' head tilted back as he released a heartfelt laugh. A real chest rumbling, eye crinkling, stomach clutching laugh. I realized that I'd never heard him laugh beforeânot like this, at least. The sound warmed my insides and caused me to softly smile. However, the smile fell from my lips at his next words.
"You have got to be the most stupid smart person ever," he chortled, running a hand through his tousled hair as he caught his breath.
"Thank you?"
"Not a compliment. And I haven't got any kids, just two little siblings who would eat all the junk food in the world if they could."
I giggled, though began to gaze at him in thought. "Wow, I didn't even know you had siblings. What else don't I know about you?"
He darkly chuckled as we began to make our way over to the cashier. "Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, D."
"Whatever," I scoffed at his ominous tone. "Anyways, if you get to call me D, it's only fair I give you a nickname as well. Eli? Or perhaps, Ass?"
"You are not calling me Assâ"
"I don't quite like that one either. Perhaps Ellie would be nice," I mused.
"That's a girl's name," he immaturely growled.
"Ellie it is," I nodded, my dark curls bobbing up and down.
Elias rolled his eyes, though the grin on his soft lips betrayed him. "Whatever."
We reached the cash register, and the elderly cashier woman bagged Elias' groceries, before moving onto mine.
"Your total is twenty-two dollars and thirty cents," she said to me.
My heart dropped.
"Oh, I've only got twenty," I whispered in embarrassment, reaching into my pocket to grab the crumpled bill. "I'm sorry. You can just take out the chips, I don't really need those anywaâ"
"I got it," Elias interrupted.
My mouth dropped open. "What? Noâ"
He casually handed the elderly woman a fifty dollar bill. "Keep the change."
She beamed at him. "Thank you, sir, God bless your kind soul!"
Kind soul? Anyone that knew Elias would beg to differ. Frankly, he had the tendency to act like a heartless jerk. Yet here he stood, offering to pay for my things and giving the elderly worker a generous tip.
He looked hardly phased and gave the old woman a brief nod before grabbing his bags and walking out. I hoisted my bags and bid the cashier a polite farewell before running after Elias, whose legs were a lot longer than mine and happened to walk much faster than me.
"Why'dâyouâdoâthat?" I was practically wheezing by the time I'd caught up to him in the parking lot.
"Do what?"
I blinked. "You paid for me!"
"Stop overreacting, it's not like I care or anything," Elias sneered. "I just couldn't stand watching you embarrass yourself."
Perhaps I really was overreacting, but the topic of money had always been a sensitive one for me. After all, I'd practically lived in poverty for the vast majority of my life.
"Well, here," I handed him my crumpled twenty dollar bill. "It's the least I can do."
"No need."
"Just take it."
"I don't want it."
"Take it."
"No!"
"Justâ"
"Gosh, Daisy, you're so fucking annoying. How do your parents put up with you?" he snapped.
A lump formed in my throat, and I stopped in my tracks. Elias stopped too, only to look back at me. Although I attempted to conceal my hurt, nothing ever really got past him.
His expression morphed into regret as he attempted to backtrack his words. "Waitâ"
"It's fine, you were just joking," I weakly laughed, glancing down at the ground.
"No, I wasn't joking, I was being a dickhead," he softly sighed. "I'm sorry."
I never quite thought I'd hear those last two words come out of Elias' mouth, yet here he stood, gazing at me with actual remorse.
"Thank you." With that, I pressed the crumpled twenty dollar bill to his chest. His large hand grazed over mine as he was given no choice but to accept the money. My hand went cold once I removed it from the warmth of his firm chest.
"Goodbye, Ellie," I gently smiled before turning around.
"Don't call me that."
When I glanced back, he was glaring daggers at me. I giggled, and the corners of his lips lifted into a small smile. Although, I convinced myself it was just the sun playing tricks on me, because when I blinked, his expression was blank once again.
While walking back to my car, I offhandedly glanced down into one of my grocery bags and froze. There, on top of all my belongings, lay a singular pack of brownies. How on earth did those get there?
I sharply looked back at Elias, but by the time I'd done so, he was already long gone.
*****
Ugh Elias is so bae.
Anyways, surprise update! I was supposed to have my math exam today, however it got pushed all the way to next week because of the snow storm, which gave me lots of time to write this chapter!
QOTD: when is ur birthday?
AOTD: september 30
The next chapter will be out sometime next week. Hope you guys enjoyed, please leave a vote or comment if you did!
Love, Emmanuela<3
01/26/2023