Page 25 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

“So is there like a list or something?” She paused and shook her head. “Wait. Nevermind. I forgot who I was talking to. We’ll shop based on vibes. Good vibes only, right?”

“You get it,” Leo said and smiled. Of course, she didn’t get it. Sofi was one of the most type A people he’d ever met. She made lists like Leo made chaos. He was positive she already had a detailed mental checklist of what she wanted organized by department, aisle, and probably brand name. Meanwhile, he still couldn’t remember why he’d circled back to the cereal aisle. However, he appreciated her being flexible despite how much the lack of structure was probably making her twitchy.

“So where to next?” she asked.

Leo thought about it. “Unless there is anything you want here, we should probably start at the produce section,” he replied. He was sure there were things there that they’d need. He knew for a fact that Sofi liked eating tons of fruits and vegetables and always had smoothies in the morning.

Their short walk to the produce section was silent and not necessarily tense but it wasn’t comfortable either. Leo felt like he did the first time he’d entered a burning building, he was nervous and excited for the adrenaline rush, but also terrified he’d mess up. Something about this moment told him that this was his last chance with Sofi. If he took one wrong step he could crash through the burning floor and into the flames.

He searched his mind for something to say, some way to reach Sofi behind the flaming door she was locked behind. He looked around. They were already in the produce section, standing right next to the watermelons. “Hey,” he told Sofi.

She looked at him.

He smirked. “What did the cantaloupe say to her date?”

Her eyebrow went up. “Are you really about to make a melon joke right now?”

“I was, but you ruined it with your joylessness.”

“It’s not joylessness. That was just...” She looked around and reached into a bin on the other side of the walkway. “Corny,” she finished, holding up an ear of corn.

Leo snorted. “Mine was way better than that.”

“You wish.” She motioned to the corn, silently asking him if he wanted some.

He was cutting back on starchy stuff to get in shape for the exam, but Sofi was playing with him again. He wasn’t going to let some stupid diet ruin it, so he just nodded. “Grab two of them.”

They moved on and Leo examined the produce in front of him for another idea. He found it. He held up his prize. “Hey, girl,” he said in an over-the-top sexy voice. “What’s it gonna take for you to turnip at my place?”

Sofi scrunched her adorable nose but she looked around. She reached behind him. “I don’t find that a-peel-ing.” She held a bunch of bananas.

“What?” he said, faking offense. “That’s bananas.” He took them from her and put them in the cart.

She shook her head. “You’re such a dork,” she told him, but she was grinning.

“And you must be an onion, because looking at you makes me wanna cry from happiness.”

She actually chuckled at that.

Leo smiled. Then he saw the perfect vegetable. He’d just reached his hand out when Sofi stopped him.

“Nope,” she said, swatting his hand away. “Eggplant jokes are too easy. Do better.”

“Fine,” he huffed and walked on. He picked up a carton of strawberries from the end cap. “But that was berry rude.”

Sofi reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a bag. “Bitch, peas,” she said, tossing the sugar snap peas into the cart.

Leo laughed. “Nice,” he said. He took another look around. He zeroed in on the shelves at the end of the section, which were full of different kinds of seeds and nuts.

Sofi followed his gaze to the same area and then gave him a “don’t you dare” look.

Oh. Of course, he dared. He pushed his cart over to it and casually began looking. “Lola made this salad the other day that had roasted pumpkin seeds in it. It was bomb as fuck.” He pretended to look at the different pepitas options.

“Who is Lola?” Sofi asked, there was an edge to her voice that Leo was all too familiar with. It was the same tone she used when she saw him out with another woman and he was thrown for a second, until he remembered that Sofi had already distanced herself from them when Lola came back to Humboldt Park. Leo held back a pleased smile at her jealousy. “Lola is Saint’s girlfriend. She works at El Vecindario. Actually, she’s the director of the new El Hogar that they built together.”

“Oh.”

Before Sofi could start overthinking her reaction and shut down on him, he grabbed a bag of walnuts and tossed them to her. “Here, hold my nuts.”

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