Page 65 of Getting Over You

I walk into Roy’s Grocery, instantly overwhelmed by the bright lights and sea of… everything. Shit.

“Whatever. But if I get home tonight and we’re missing shit, I’m sending you back.”

“Fuck off,” I say before I hang up.

I heave a sigh as I wander over to the produce section. EJ’s list is straight, to the point:

Beer

Hamburger

Buns

Things to Put on Buns

Bottles of Beer

Hotdogs

Vegan Hotdogs for Rory (I think)

Fucking idiot. My brother has a single brain cell, and I’m convinced it had the night off when he curated this list.

I start, naturally, in the Things to Put on Buns section. EJ’s lack of description is immensely helpful here, so I pick what I know. After grabbing a mess of onions, lettuce, and tomatoes, I make my way to the meat section.

I’m trying to figure out what makes a hot dog vegan, and if that’s even a real thing, when I hear someone call my name. My head snaps up from my Google search, and then I see Gigi.

“What are you doing here?” she asks me.

“What areyoudoing here?”

She rolls those pretty blue eyes at me. “Ice cream.”

A divot forms between my eyebrows. “Sad ice cream or happy ice cream?”

“Little bit of both, I guess.” She shrugs. I want to pry, but I won’t. She won’t like it if I do.

She looks tired, her blonde locks piled in a bun on the top of her head. She’s got a big sweatshirt on and a pair of shorts that are so short it looks as though she’s not wearing anything alongside her sweatshirt at all.

God, this girl.

“What are you up to?” she wonders, peering into my cart. “Impromptu produce shopping?”

“I haven’t told you?” I say. “I’m actually fascinated by grocery shopping. Produce, specifically. It’s so… bright and happy.”

She rolls her eyes again. I have to fight scraping my teeth over my lip. “Screw off. Nothing about you screams bright and happy, you dark, tattooed…” She peers into my cart again, and realization lights up her face. “Cade. I told EJ I could do the shopping.”

I scratch the back of my neck. “I know you can, but it’s not your job to do dumb shit for my brother.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I know,” I say. “Still.”

Those eyes roll. I’m afraid one day she’ll do that to me and her eyeballs will fall from her skull. She’d still be pretty without eyes, though, I—

Cade. What the fuck, man?

“Well.” She chews on the inside of her cheek, considering this. “It doesn’t look like you’ve gotten too much. I’ll help.”

---