I sat still on a black leather seat in the biggest mall in town as the world around me moved, all in various directions, but all going somewhere.

Unlike me.

The extra eyeliner I had applied was indicative of my crappy mood that day, and, to be perfectly candid, all of the other days. I hadn't talked to Rae since we kissed, and I couldn't work up the courage to make an effort to get in touch with her. It had been eleven days, three hours and... I don't know how many minutes.

I may be endearingly inelegant and look like a fuckin' G in eyeliner, but I am in no way a genius.

One of my white earbuds dangled against my chest. My mom and Phil were at the dentist, and I wanted to make sure I heard her when they were done.

I was probably listening to my music way too loud, as that's what I did when I felt sad. The bottom of my ear hurt; I had been listening non-stop for eleven days.

What a coincidence.

A little while later my mom tapped me on the shoulder. I got up and fallowed her and Phil, who looked just as down as I, to the car. Everyone seemed to step to the beat, though I was the only one who noticed. I got into the car, closed my door and bopped my head to the sound of my favourite playlist on repeat, now with both buds in my ears. Phil sat next to me, and stared at me while our mom pulled out of the parking lot and towards the grocery store.

Errand-day sucks balls.

Phil yanked one of the earbuds out of my ear. "Ah! Fuck, Phil... Fuck," I said, glaring at him and momentarily massaging my sore lower-ear.

"What are you listening to?" he asked, judgmental. We had an ongoing argument on who listens to better music.

He scrolled through my playlist, aptly named 'brooding playlist.' "Nurko... Disclosure... Sigma... No Method... all shit!" he exclaimed. "All of it — just audio-tune and bass."

"The stuff you listen to is just a bunch of Britneys, Fergies and Ashleys crawling around on the unexplainably-wet floor," I countered. "At least Alina Renae doesn't sound like she has a cold 100% of the time."

"Whatever," he said, throwing the bud back to me. I wiped it on my jacket and continued to block everything out.

"Um," Phil said then, "speaking of music and listening to stuff, I was wondering if I could have a party or something at some point?"

I took one earbud out. I wanted to hear this.

"Nope," My mom shut him down. "No parties. No get-togethers. No nothing."

"Double negative," I muttered.

"Stop that," my mom snapped.

"Mom, Reg found a CD player and fixed it up!" Phil said, getting worked up. "He says I could use it any time this week or next week before he sells it to a consignment store! Please..? I have a... a girlfriend now, and my bros think she's imaginary! She's not, and I wanna show them how hot she is!"

I scoffed earth-shatteringly. By now I was used to Phil's backwards view of women in general, but him having a girlfriend was a whole 'nother level of delirium.

"Nope," Mom said. "Not talking about this anymore. Let's talk about something else."

Phil sat back in his seat, crossing his arms bitterly like a six-year-old in a huff.

"Jacky, have you seen Raegan lately?"

I harrumphed and put my earbuds back in my ears. My mom probably said something along the lines of 'o-kay then, grouchy-pants' or 'who the hell raised you?' — to which I would have responded 'SpongeBob SquarePants and Wild Rice Sticks,' if I was in any kind of mood for that.

We pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. The car stopped with a jerk and my mom said something I couldn't hear. I pretended I didn't know she was talking. Phil elbowed me. I gave in.

"Ugh, what?"

"Come on, we're all going," my mom said, opening her door and getting out.

"Why?" I asked, though I could assume it was because of both of her children's temper tantrums.

"Have fun," Phil said.

"You're coming, too," Mom said.

"Fuck," Phil said. I laughed in his face as we both exited the vehicle.

I kept my earbuds in as we circled the outside produce section of the grocery store. Every once in a while my mom would ask me if I wanted to try a vegetable (which I never did, because gross) or Phil would show me a potato that looked like an actor, but nothing happened of any excitement. Sometimes I would get in the way of someone else's shopping cart, or Phil would ask mom if he could buy a drink that he may or may not have noticed was alcoholic. Phil had just been asked to put down the fourth potato that looked like George Clooney when the song in my ear changed to my one of my favourites: Disclosure - Latch feat. Sam Smith.

Now, mind you, I've never believed in the existence of a god. Capital 'g' or not. But, in that moment, just as Sam Smith sang "now I got you in my space," I saw the only person who could possibly get these buds out of my ears, and it seemed too extraordinary to be true.

"Is that...?" I asked under my breath.

My mom gasped dramatically. "Cassia!" she screamed. She ran past me to give the Watters family a hug. They exchanged mom-talk as Rae noticed our family's presence. She saw a glimpse of my face as someone conveniently passes between us. She pushed her way through the crowd, and I tugged the buds out of my ears, advancing towards her. We met in the middle and paused for a second before embracing like it had been eleven years instead of eleven days.

"I'm so happy to see you," she said, as she started to let go.

"Me, too," I said, smiling a wide, toothy grin and haphazardly gathering my dangling earbuds into a ball of wires in my pocket. "I'm sorry I didn't call you or something. Because of... what happened." My voice dwindled as her father ambled towards the rest of us.

"Oh, it's okay," she said, wringing her hands. She looked equally anxious and excited... just like me. "You don't have my number... um, how are you?"

"I'm in a grocery store, so... could be better," I said. "But, like, generally happy. Like, you're here right now."

"Ha! I feel the same way," Rae said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Her father noticed us, and acted accordingly. He put his hand on her shoulder, and she shrunk from his touch.

"How're you doing, young lady?" he asked me.

"Fine," I said, staring at his face, wondering how such an awful man can look like such an average one. Though, the worst ones do.

"Glad to hear it," he said. He turned to Rae. "Honey, would you go get one of those avocados that are so good with chicken?"

He was good. But not as good as Rae.

"Okay, Dad. Jack, would you like to come with me?"

"Okay!" I agreed. I kept my eyes on her, and avoided the thwarted gaze of her father, who watched us walk to the avocados until our moms pulled him into a conversation.

"Oh, your earbuds are dragging on the ground," Rae pointed out. I collected them again, this time coiling them around my hand and then buttoning them in my pocket.

"Thanks," I said, in retro spect, I might have been staring at her, but I was just meeting her eyes. This was maybe-kinda-totally the best moment ever.

"What were you listening to?" she asked, swinging her arms as we took our time walking to the avocados.

"Uh, Latch by Disclosure and Sam Smith. The lyrics are great. Relatable," I said, hoping she didn't know the lyrics, which were mostly heartwarming and sentimental and sickeningly romantic.

"Cool. I haven't heard that one," she said.

"If I were cooler, I would say it's dope. Or bae. Or lit, whatever that means."

"Give it a whirl, girl," Rae said, snickering. "Is what I would say if I was cool."

I laughed.

We came to the avocados, she picked one up, staring at it like it had wronged her. "Are the avocados supposed to be hard or soft?" she asked me.

"I dunno," I said. "Maybe in between." She nodded and picked one. She looked up and we locked eyes. Her pupil seemed boundless, light shimmering like stars in endless space.

"Um..."

"Eleven days ago. Three hours," she said.

"Yeah," I said, struggling to contain my titanic smile.

"Yeah," she parroted. We kept staring.

Then she got her fathers attention and pointed to the bulk section — it was situated out of his sight. Before he could protest, she marched away, and I followed.

We stood awkwardly by the wild rice sticks and the gummy raspberries. I wondered if she would speak first, or if I had to. I was about to wing it, when—

"Three facts," Rae said. "We kissed. I like you. Let's exchange phone numbers."

My smile must have taken up half of my face. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that... Uh, here's my phone." The excitement of the moment took hold of me. I held out my phone, she took it and gave me hers. I went to her notes and wrote my phone number. I noticed the wall paper on her phone. It was the poster for the new season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. "You watch Miraculous?" I asked.

"Um," she seemed hesitant to answer. "Do you?"

"Yeah!" I said. "It's awesome."

Rae grinned. "Yeah, totally." Suddenly, she broke out laughing. "What is this? Your wallpaper says 'I punted that fucker clear across the highway'?"

I cackled. "Um, yeah, ignore that," I said.

"That's hilarious, and it's not even in context," Rae said, handing my phone back. I gave hers back. "Um, we better get back or my parents' voices are gonna get all high."

I looked at my shoes. I was kind of hoping she would kiss me again.

Then her hands were on my hips, and I looked up and blinked. She smiled before she kissed me — hard.

My hands found her shoulders as my mind went blank.

"You know," I said, "one of these days I'm gonna initiate a kiss. You just wait."

She grinned. "Gladly."

"Wait, do you actually need a bulk thing here?"

"Oh, yeah, I should probably get something," she said.

We rejoined our families, who still stood chatting in the produce section. Rae dropped a paper bag of pretzels in their shopping cart.

"Pretzels," she said to her dad matter-of-factly, because that was the fact of the matter. Nothing else happened in the bulk section...

"Good news, Jacky," Phil said, sidling up next to me. "The 'rents made a plan to schmooze soon."

I didn't quite know what that meant, but the excitement in Phil's voice interested me.

"Well, nothing's set in stone," Rae's dad said. "We'll check our schedules and see what happens."

"No, no — we're definitely coming over to your house and having dinner," Rae's mom said. "I'm surprised we haven't done that already, but it's been so hectic with the move and..." Her mom looked at Rae momentarily. Rae shrunk into her hair. I wanted to take her hand, but I knew that would cause more problems than solve. "We better get going!"

"Yeah, us, too," my mom said. "See you soon. Take care." She pushed the cart from the group, and Phil followed. I started to walk away with them, but all I wanted to do was sweep Rae off her feet and become the Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi of our generation.

"You, too, dear," Rae's mom said. They turned and took their groceries to the car. Of course, Rae and I had to glance longingly back at each other. I looked away as I thought I saw her father start to turn his head. I waited a few seconds and then looked back stealthily. He had placed his hand on her shoulder in that way that made me squirm. Disdainfully and authoritarian, like she was his property that he could control the orientations and ideals of.

As we went through the check out, I saw her flash one more smile in my direction, as she shielded her eyes from the sun. I smiled enthusiastically back at her, and she rushed into the car as she heard the vehicle roar to a start. She's barely seated when the car backs up and takes off in a puff of smoke.

After we finished up at the check out, I floated on a Segway made of clouds back to our van.

Mom slammed the trunk closed with the grocery bags safely inside.

"Hey, mom," Phil said to her. "Me and Jacky will get the cart back to the rack."

"All right. That's considerate, honey," Mom said, totally missing the fishiness of Phil willingly offering any kind of help.

"Why do I have to come?" I asked.

"Shut up and walk with me," Phil said. I walked with him, and he remained oddly silent until the cart was back with its cart brethren. He waited a second and then slowly shifted his gaze to me, inhaling deeply.

"Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend!"

I did a rare face-palm/eye roll combo.

"Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girl—"

"Be fucking quiet!" I commanded as he snickered and giggled. "You are such an asshole! Just shut up, dammit!"

"No! Never!" he exclaimed. "I'm your older bro, it's my job to make you feel uncomfortable when you finally get a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever!"

"Since when do you admit you're my older bro and actually do a job you have?" I said. "The dishes have been in the sink since Christmas."

"Because it's a fun job! Make my little sis feel awkward is literally the best job there is in the world. And don't think I'll be doing Rae any favours! She's like my sister now, I guess..."

"You are— I can't— What the f— I don't—" I groaned loudly. Phil did a little dance in triumph.

"I can't believe we both got girlfriends! What a coincidence, eh, Jacky?" Phil started back towards the car, and I caught up.

"Well, I dunno if she's my girl— wait, no, shut up. Phil, just don't parade it around town. Logan would have a field day with that information, and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I won't tell the boys," Phil said. "But if it comes up in therapy or in a truth or dare game, well..."

"Shut the fuck up, Phil, this is my fucking business," I said. "This is Rae's business."

"Sure, sure." Phil looked like a toddler who found the cookie jar. "Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend, Jacky's got a girlfriend!"

He promptly shut up as he opened his door. We climbed into the car, slammed the doors shut and plugged in our seat belts, and, just like that, we were driving away from the most magical place on earth: the grocery store.

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Hello peoples!!

This is a weird chapter. It's, like, 3,000 words long. I love it. Woo.

Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter! It means a lot to me.

Have a beautiful day!