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He turned around slowly and narrowed his eyes in confusion.
“Your bags,” I explained, handing them to him. “You forgot your bags.”
“You could get fired.”
“What?”
“For stealing groceries,” he said.
I hesitated for a moment, a bit confused as to why his first thought would be that I stole the food. “I didn’t steal them. I paid for them.”
Bewilderment filled his stare. “Why would you do that? You don’t even know me.”
“I know you’re trying to take care of your mom.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head back and forth. “I’ll pay you back.”
“No, don’t worry about it.” I shook my head. “It’s no big deal.”
He bit his bottom lip, and brushed his hand over his eyes. “I’ll pay you back. But…thank you. Thank you…uh…” His eyes fell to my chest, and for a second I felt a level of discomfort, until I realized he was retrieving my name from my nametag. “Thank you, Alyssa.”
“You’re welcome.” He turned and went on his way again. “What about you?!” I shouted his way, hiccupping once or twice—or maybe fifty times.
“What about me?” he asked, not turning to face me, still walking.
“What’s your name?”
Hunter?
Gus?
Travis?
Mikey?!
He could’ve definitely been a Mikey.
“Logan,” he said. He kept walking, not looking back once. I placed my shirt collar in my mouth and chewed on it; it was a bad habit my mom always yelled at me about, but my mom wasn’t there, and small tiny butterflies were taking over my stomach.
Logan.
He looked like a Logan, now that I thought about it.
***
He came back a few days later to pay me back. Then, he began showing up weekly to buy a loaf of bread, or some more ramen noodles, or a pack of gum. He always came to my checkout lane. At some point, Logan and I began to talk during transactions. We learned that his half-brother was dating my sister, and they had been together for what felt like forever. At some point, he almost smiled. Then once, I swore he even laughed. We kind of became friends, starting with small exchanges of words and building up to bigger conversations.
When I’d leave work, he’d be sitting on the parking lot curb, waiting for me, and we’d talk even more.
Our skin tanned together under the burning sun. We left each night beneath the flaming stars.
I met my best friend in the checkout lane of a grocery store.
And my life was never the same again.
Part One
His soul was set in flames,
