Warnings: Bad driving, minor angst, profanity

Word Count: 1841

Author's Note: The first chapter from Tyler's POV! I'm not really sure why I dedicated an entire chapter to them grocery shopping together, but I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless :)

*     *     *

I laid into the horn for a third time, hoping that Y/N would hear it. She had said she would go grocery shopping with me today, but all three of my texts announcing that I was outside had gone unanswered. Now, creating as much noise as possible was my last resort to get her attention.

"Hey!"

My eyes shot to the porch. Y/N's brother, Carter, was leaning out the front door. I immediately pulled my hand off of the horn and rolled down the window.

"What the hell are you doing?" he yelled.

"Trying to get Y/N's attention!"

"You know, we have this really cool thing called a doorbell right here," he said, gesturing to it. "Works great!"

"Sorry!"

Carter waved a hand at me, "I'll go get Y/N."

The front door shut and I leaned back into my seat. Leave it to me to make an embarrassment out of myself in front of Y/N's family.

I was starting to get impatient when the front door flew open again, revealing Y/N with only one of her shoes on. She slipped on the other one and came running down the path towards my car, looking frantic.

"I'm so sorry," she said as she slid into the front seat. "I was up late last night working on a paper, and then I fell asleep today right before you were supposed to show up and - oh, you texted me."

"Three times."

"Oh man, I'm really sorry, Ty," she said, pressing a hand to her forehead.

"It's fine. As long as you didn't totally bail on me."

Y/N turned to me and smiled. Despite the fact that she had just woken up from a nap, she still looked absolutely gorgeous.

Stop, Tyler.

"I got to have a nice chat with your brother about not making so much noise," I laughed.

"So I heard. He was talking about it as I was running around my room trying to get ready."

"Ready to go?"

She took a moment to look around the area she was sitting in, "Yeah, I think I have everything."

"Great."

I pulled away from the curb and headed towards the grocery store. Y/N was quick to kick her feet up on the dash.

"Thanks for coming with me," I said, idly tapping my fingers against the wheel. "I don't know that I would know what to buy if it weren't for you."

She laughed, "You know you'll have to learn how to shop for yourself eventually, right?"

"Not as long as you're around."

"I may not be around forever, Ty."

I turned to look at Y/N. She was looking out the window, watching the trees that were whizzing past as we drove down the quiet street. It was hard to imagine a life without Y/N. She meant too much to me for me to ever let her go.

I thought back to the night that her feelings for me had been revealed during a stupid game of truth or dare. She had been so scared that I wouldn't think of her the same, but it had never felt that way. Y/N was still Y/N, no matter what her feelings towards me were. I had never understood what made it such a big deal.

"Ty!"

My reflexes kicked in just in time for me to swerve away from a trash bin sitting on the side of the road. Y/N had a hand splayed out on the dash as she turned to me with wide eyes.

"What was that all about?" she laughed.

"I was thinking," I smiled innocently, hoping she wouldn't press the matter any further.

"Well, think less next time."

"Yeah, then I might finally understand what it's like to be you."

"Hey!"

She reached over and lightly punched me in the arm. I laughed and tried to duck out of the way, but the confines of the car didn't really allow for that.

"You're mean, Joseph."

"You love me."

"Maybe I do."

*     *     *

"Now where are we going?" I asked, leaning my body into the grocery cart to get it to start moving.

"We still need to get you fruits and veggies."

"I don't eat those."

"You're going to now."

I groaned, but knew better than to argue with her over this. She was just making sure that I was taking care of myself, that was nothing new.

"What do you think? Apples?" she asked, holding up a particularly shiny one.

"Sure."

She shot me a look, "Have some enthusiasm, Ty."

"Then show me some exciting fruit!"

Y/N tossed a couple apples into a bag and added them to the cart with the rest of my groceries before moving on to another type of fruit.

"How did you learn all this stuff?" I asked as she looked over some oranges. "I don't even know where to start with groceries, aside from snacks."

"My mom used to drag me and my brother to the grocery store with her when we were little," she smiled. "I guess I memorized her shopping list from seeing it so many times."

"So what you're saying is that I should be paying attention to what you're choosing?"

"Tyler!" she laughed, turning to face me. "Are you not paying attention?"

"I'm just pushing the cart."

She pursed her lips for a moment before bagging the food in her hand and adding it to the cart as well. The disgruntled expression on her face made me smile and for a moment I couldn't get myself to look away from her. Everything about her was just so...

No.

Y/N started to walk farther down the aisle, so I followed after her. She stopped in front of the salad section and began to look over the options.

"Now that looks like a level of cooking that I could handle," I said, hoping it would get another smile out of her.

It did.

"Why don't you pick a kind that looks good? I don't need to pick all of your food for you. You're the one that's going to be eating it."

I moved around the cart so that I could better see my options. Y/N grabbed a bag for herself and put it into the little basket that she had grabbed for her own groceries. She didn't have nearly as many things to buy, mostly because she was still living at home so her parents handled most of the shopping.

"What about this kind?" I asked, reaching for a bag.

"Ty, it doesn't matter what I think."

I glanced at her for a moment. She was too busy looking at more salad to notice.

"But for the record, that kind is really good," she added.

"Ok, I'll give it a try."

I added it to the ever-growing pile of groceries in the cart. If I was lucky, I could convince Y/N to come over and help me put away all the groceries.

"You know, I really do worry about what you'll do if we're ever apart," Y/N said.

"I'll just call you wherever you're at for help."

She turned to me, "I can never escape, can I?"

"Nope."

"I think there's only a few more things that we need to pick up and then we can get out of here."

"Lead the way."

I followed Y/N through the produce section as she picked up a few more things that she said would be good for me to eat. Occasionally she would try to explain how to pick out good fruit, but I knew it was no use. All the information would be gone again by the time I had to grocery stop for myself.

"I don't even know what to do with half of this stuff," I said as we loaded bags into the back of my car.

"You know, there's these great things called cookbooks and the Internet that you can use to find recipes. They even tell you what to do to make the food." Y/N shot me a smug smile from the other side of the car.

"You and your brother are the same person, I swear."

I loaded the last bag into the backseat and then shut the car door. Y/N did the same and hopped into the passenger seat of my car while I returned the cart to where it belonged. She had already started playing her music by the time that I hopped in the driver's seat.

"I'm way cooler than Carter, just so that's clear," she said before I had even buckled my seatbelt.

"I never said one of you was cooler than the other, I just said that you two are the same person."

"That would imply that his level of coolness is the same as mine, and there's no way that I'm as dorky as him!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! You're way cooler than Carter," I laughed, throwing my hands up in defeat. Y/N seemed pleased by my response.

"Thank you."

"Hey, are you coming over? Or should I drop you off at home?"

"I can come over for a little bit, as long as I'm home for dinner. I still have more homework to catch up on."

"Do you ever get a break?"

She leaned back and kicked her feet up on the dash, as she always seemed to do. "Doesn't feel like it."

I put one hand on the back of her seat so that I would actually be able to see out the back window while I pulled out of the parking spot. My mom would never let me hear the end of it if I scratched up my car again.

"Then consider hanging out with me your break," I smiled.

"I can't think of a better way to spend my time."

*     *      *

I pulled up against the curb outside of Y/N's house. She gathered up her things before stepping out onto the pavement and leaning down into the car.

"Thanks for letting me come over for awhile, Ty. It was a much needed study break."

"It was the least I could do after basically making you grocery shop for me. Thanks again, by the way."

She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, "It was fun."

"Agreed. Good luck with studying."

"I'll need it."

Y/N shut the car door and waved to me through the window. I watched as she walked back up the path to her house and jumped up the steps that led to the porch. Once she was finally inside the house safely, I pulled away and headed home.

The quiet of the car allowed my mind to wander. I thought about Y/N, mostly.

A bird dived at my car, making me almost swerve into a trash bin for the second time that day. Apparently daydreaming and driving wasn't a good mix for me. I reached over and turned the radio up, hoping that it would give my mind something else to focus on.