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I paused for a moment, finally able to look at them. Their eyes held pity, but more than that, they were sincere.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
“Are things okay for you?” Carlos asked.
“Things are fine. I’m taking care of myself.”
“Do you need anything?”
“No. I may not have everything I want, but I have everything I need.”
Emily smiled. “Good for you. If you ever need anything, please... don’t hesitate to reach out.”
I knew I would never do that, but I decided to appease them so they could move on out of my line. I didn’t feel like talking about my not-so-recent past with them. Not here. Not now. Probably not ever.
“Thank you,” I said, sliding the last of their items across the scanner. “Your total is forty-four twenty-three.”
He swiped his card, and Marshawn handed them their bags.
“Take care, Pasha.”
I nodded, once again avoiding their eyes. It wasn’t until they were gone that I could finally breathe again. I expelled a deep breath as I clutched my stomach.
“You okay, Ms. P?” Marshawn asked. I knew he’d been listening.
“I’m fine.”
The next thing I knew, he was beside me, wrapping his arms around me in a brief hug.
“What was that for?” I asked, wiping my eyes.
“You just looked like you needed a hug.”
“Thank you, Marshawn. That was really sweet.”
“No problem. Aye, yo, Ms. P?”
“Yeah?”
“For what it’s worth... Any man that would leave you is a damn fool. You fly as hell.”
I shook my head. “Thank you.”
“You know I’ll be eighteen in a couple of years—”
I laughed out loud. “Not gonna happen! When you’re eighteen, I’ll be thirty. That might be grown, but not grown enough.”
He grinned as he headed back to the bagging station. “It made you laugh, though. See, I’m useful.”
“I guess you are. Get back to work.”
We worked with minimal noise for the rest of my shift. Five minutes before it was time for me to go, I shut down my register and counted out. After taking everything to the back, I clocked out and went out front to wait for my ride. Avyn had to work late, so I scheduled a car to pick me up while I was on break. I had only been waiting a few minutes when they rolled around to the front of the grocery store. I quickly climbed into the backseat and strapped on my seat belt. I was set for at least a twenty-minute ride back to my apartment. Soft music played in the background.
I scrolled through my phone, checking messages from the girls. They’d been in our group chat trying to make plans for this weekend. I wasn’t sure if I would be in the mood to do much, but if they wanted to go out, I might oblige them. I hadn’t gone out with them in so long, but I hadn’t forgotten how they liked to party. These days, I was more of a designated driver. I wouldn’t drink excessively but wouldn’t ruin their fun.
As I backed out of the message thread, I saw the thread belonging to Callum. I’d texted him so that he could have my number, but we had yet to have a conversation outside of the one we had this past Sunday. I smiled as I thought about that day. I’d really enjoyed his company, and even if it wasn’t a good look, I took great satisfaction in watching him hem up Raymond. He could have easily walked away when he saw me, yet he chose to be an asshole—a disrespectful asshole at that. I couldn’t feel bad about him continuously getting hands put on him.
I hovered over my keyboard for a moment before typing a short message and pressing send before I chickened out. A few seconds passed before the little bubbles populated on the screen.
