poor, plain Goldfish Crackers to the shelf and look for the colored ones. No luck.
ME: I don’t see them. What about dog snacks?
SHELLY: Please never have children.
I smirk down at my phone.
ME: Why not? They’d be so well trained.
SHELLY: I’m going to ignore that, LOL. Try the end of the aisle, sometimes they put them there when they’re on sale.
ME: oh
That’s my way of saying well fucking great, I just spent twenty minutes in the snack aisle.
SHELLY: Find them?
This texting is taking way too long, so I swipe out of it and bring up Shelly’s number to call her instead.
“Are you okay? I knew I should have gone with you,” she says, concern in her voice.
“Oh, I’m fine, just seconds away from finding the nearest bridge and going for a swim with the fishes,” I grumble, and Shelly lets out a howl of laughter.
“Well I hope you can swim.” She laughs before sobering. “Okay, head toward the end of the aisle, down where the—”
I cut her off. “OH MY GOD!”
“What?”
“Shelly, they have Mickey Mouse fish… Goldfish Mickey Mouses… mices, wait…” I shake my head, and Shelly’s laughter comes through the phone again.
“No mouses or mice! We need rainbow fish, now walk.”
I pout and stomp toward the end of the aisle.
“What’s that pout for?” a deep voice asks.
My eyes grow wide and with the phone still at my ear, I can hear Shelly giving me directions I blatantly ignore so I can stare.
“Umm…” Oh my god. It’s the guy… the guy that checked on me in the alley several weeks ago. What was his name? John, Jack.. JAX! Wait… Jax?
He smiles and a rush of lightheadedness hits me as my mind drags me back to my erotic fantasy with Angel and a faceless man. Only that faceless man has just been replaced with a tatted up Hispanic God. His skin practically glows a light golden brown, and those full lips.
“OAKLEY?” Shelly’s voice screams through my eardrums, almost deafening me.
“Found them,” I lie again. “Home soon,” I add before ending the call and shoving the phone into my back pocket.
“Why are you sad, little one?” Jax says, taking a step forward and I’m sure my heart is going to beat out of my chest.
I shake my head. “Sad?”
“You’re pouting.” He grins as he looks around. “Though this is the kids snack aisle—more commonly known as pouting central, so at least you fit in.”
I laugh and shrug. “I wanted mouse fishes but Shelly said no.”
His eyes grow wide and a smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. “Mouse… fishes?” he questions.
I nod. “Yep. Well, not mouse fishes. Fish mouses… mice… SHIT!” Since my word vomit makes no sense, I take a step back and point to the Goldfish Mickey Mouse box.
“Ahh.. and you’re not allowed to have them?”
I narrow my eyes and huff, planting a hand on my hip. “I don’t need permission to buy Goldfish mouses, okay.” Rude.
Why is he laughing at me? And why is he so goddamn beautiful?
“Mice,” he says. “Goldfish Mice. The plural of mouse is mice, not mouses. And I wasn’t saying you’re a kid. I’m sorry.” Now he’s pouting.
My thumb itches to rub across his plump bottom lip and it takes actual physical force to keep it by my side. Oh my God. This is not happening. My neck and my cheeks are burning, and as the burn travels up to the tips of my ears, Jax stands there perfectly put together, grinning like the Cheshire cat as if he has a front row seat to every one of my inner thoughts.
“Shelly is my roommate. The fish—crackers are for her son. Shit.” I hiss as the embarrassment of the situation sinks in. As if it will solve all my problems, I silently vow to never come to the grocery store again. “I really have to go,” I say urgently as I grip the handle of the shopping cart and zoom past him.
My zooming is cut short when a gentle hand lands on my forearm. “Wait. Do you… Do you remember me?”
I nod. I didn’t before. Not when his name was mentioned. But now that I’ve seen his face, I don’t know how I ever forgot him in the first place. And since I’ve paired him to the body that pinned mine between his and Angels in my fantasy, I know I’ll never forget him again.
“Would you like to get a coffee… with me?”
Cue the record screech. Oh god. Ohgodohgodohgod. I’m not prepared for this. Not now.