AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Honestly, I thought it would be worse.”
“Good. I’m glad.” I smile back. “Mind if I pick something up for me too? I just realized I didn’t take anything out of my fridge to cook for dinner.”
“You can eat with me if you’d like?” he asks, the flecks of gold in his hazel eyes making it impossible for me to turn down such an invitation.
“Only if you let me cook,” I offer.
“I can cook for you,” he retorts steadfastly.
“Okay, then. How about a compromise? You cook dinner, and I’ll deal with dessert.”
He nods, throwing me one of those shy smiles of his, the ones that always melt my heart, leaving me like a puddle on the floor.
Thankful that I now have a mission of my own, I leave him to continue with his shopping while I go and procure the various items for the tiramisu I plan to make for him. But when I return with the items in my hands, I find Nate shrinking in size.
What the hell?
His huge form curls into itself, and he’s hiding his face behind a cereal box, making me look around at what could have possibly brought that on.
Of course, I find a stock boy filming Nate, not even bothering to be discreet about it, either.
He’s looking at Nate like he’s the scum of the earth while saying something to whatever audience the little asshole thinks he has.
I pour my items into the cart and march over to the stock boy at the end of the aisle to give him a piece of my mind.
“Do we have a problem here?” I ask the kid who is on his knees pretending to put away boxes while, in reality, he’s using his phone to get more followers and likes.
“Ma’am?” he retorts, confused, looking up at me while quickly hiding his phone in the pocket of his jeans.
“Don’tma’amme, kid. You’re rudely staring at my friend and taking pictures of him without his consent. Didn’t your parents ever teach you manners?”
“I’m sorry?” He tries to feign ignorance.
“Yeah, you should be. Now, hand me your phone. That’s an order!”
“Ma’am, I didn’t do anything. I think you’re confused.”
“Am I? Do you want me to call the manager and have this conversation with him?”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It better not be. I’ll play the role of a Karen all goddamn day if you don’t hand me your phone this second. Keep playing, and you’ll see. Now hand it over!”
The boy hesitates, looking every which way to see if anyone is watching us. He stands up, and I can tell he’s thinking about some lame ass excuse to give me just so he doesn’t have to give me his phone. Tired of this dance, I don’t give him time to think and pull his phone out of his back pocket.
“Hey! That’s mine!” he shouts.
“The phone might be yours, but my friend never consented to being filmed. So, guess what? Tough luck!”
The kid curses under his breath as I flash the phone in his face to unlock the screen. Seconds later, I erase the video, and only after I’ve made sure there isn’t anything else on it, I hand the phone back to him.
“Next time, make better choices. Just because you see someone on TV doesn’t mean they are up for grabs. Everyone deserves their privacy. Remember that.”
The ashen-faced boy cowers away with his phone and runs as fast as his feet allow him.
“The nerve of people.” I shake my head, honestly aggravated by how strangers feel entitled to take private moments from a person and broadcast them online.
“That shouldn’t happen again,” I say to Nate once I’ve walked back to him. “People are jerks. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
