"Paper bags and plastic hearts,

All our belongings in shopping carts."

❁❁❁

"TELL ME WHY I'm here again?" Logan asked, staring at the garish neon shop front as we arrived at the town's grocery mart. While I was still in my uniform, Logan had changed into an otherwise unassuming outfit— a grey boat neck sweater and black skinny jeans, but because it was Logan Marshall, he looked a million bucks.

"You're going to help me with groceries!" I chirped excitedly. The car door slammed behind us, and out emerged the grumpiest boy in the city. Asher, like Logan, switched out of his school uniform. Instead, he chose to dress in an imposing all-black attire that made him look like Death himself.

"This is the worst day of my life," Asher grumbled, running his hand through his shaggy white hair, his permanent frown deepening. Rolling my eyes, I walked towards the entrance of the shop and grabbed a grocery cart.

"Get over it, Asher. You're the one who wanted to organize this party for Emily in the first place," I said in a matter-of-fact tone. Asher grunted, turning around to get back into the car before he was quickly stopped by Logan.

"Oh no, you don't," Logan cheered, grabbing Asher by his shoulders and practically pushing the giant into the shop.

"So, what exactly are we here for?" Logan asked, turning to look at me with eyes wide.

"I need to get the ingredients for Robin and Yuko's dinner, and for the cake I'm going to bake for Emily," I reminded him, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the baking aisle. Asher followed suit, without much choice, since Logan kept a tight hold on the white-haired grinch.

"I won't be much help around here. I hardly go grocery shopping," he said, pursing his lips.

"I figured, but you and Asher were the only ones I could ask, and I do not want to spend time with Asher alone," I replied, wrinkling my nose at Asher, who scowled at me.

"You think I want to be here?" Asher scoffed, narrowing his eyes at me. "I'd rather spend my time bathing a baboon!"

"You know, you guys act an awful lot like siblings with your constant bickering," Logan commented, causing Asher and I to shoot him a glare.

"Ew!" I cringed.

"He's not that bad, sunshine. He might be a grouch, but he's a good friend," he said, his lips quirking into a sincere smile.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment, Logan?" Asher growled, glaring at his cheerful friend.

"Anyways," Logan continued, ignoring Asher's question. "We should get started! Curfew's in three hours."

The next hour and a half was spent running around the supermarket and trying to locate all the ingredients and food on the list Yuko had given me. We only took so long because Logan kept getting distracted by all the food on display. I wasn't informed about what the two boys were cooking up, but with the amount of food they're making us buy, it must've been enough to feed the entire city.

"I still don't understand why Yuko needs all the flavours Bonne Marman offers. Why can't he just get the strawberry jam? That's good enough, isn't it?" I exclaimed, grabbing all twelve jars of assorted fruit preserves and dumping it into the already over-flowing cart.

"You know Yuko, he likes to be sure," Logan laughed.

"He could've just asked," I grumbled.

"It's a surprise for a reason, idiot. If he asked her, she would've figured it out," Asher said in a condescending tone. I shot him a glare, but he deflected it like it was no big deal.

"Do you ever have something nice to say?" I replied, narrowing my eyes at him. Asher scoffed, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Don't mind him," Logan whispered. "He's been on the edge lately."

"Why?" I asked, shooting a curious look in Asher's direction. Logan hesitated, then shrugged his shoulders.

"I would like to know too," he replied, pursing his lips. Sighing, I decided to let it go and focus on my grocery shopping instead. Looking down at my list, I was pleased to see that there was only one thing left.

"We just have to grab a chicken and we're all set," I said, and the three of us set off to find some poultry.

When we finally collected everything on Robin and Yuko's list, we headed to the check-out, where a doe-eyed girl stood behind the counter.

"H-Hey, welcome to Bloxx Mart," she squeaked as we unloaded our groceries onto the check-out belt. Logan and I smiled in response, while Asher brooded behind us.

"The total will be $895.45. Are you paying by cash or uh, credit?" she said, turning a faint shade of pink when Logan looked into her eyes.

"Credit," Logan replied, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket and handing her a sleek black credit card. Then, Logan suddenly perked up. "Oh! I left my produce bags in the car. Let me go grab them. You guys wait here, alright? Asher, be nice."

With that, he turned and headed out of the mart, his brown hair flopping as he walked. The minute he left, it was as if Logan took all the sunshine and warmth away with him. The temperature in the mart seemed to drop several degrees as Asher loomed behind me menacingly.

"I wonder what it's like to stomp on you," Asher asked aloud.

"What the hell?" I retorted, spinning around to face him. He stared down at me with his bright green eyes that seemed to glow under the fluorescent. He was definitely much taller than I was, and it wasn't hard to imagine him growing several feet taller and squishing me with the back of his leather boot.

"You know, like a bug. Crushed," he continued.

"What kind of psychopath says that?" I almost yelled, hugging myself tightly. The check-out line fell silent, and everyone turned to look at us.

"Sorry, she's a bit ill," Asher said to our unwilling audience, not sounding even the least bit apologetic. I gasped, before my arm shot out and smacked him on the chest. Asher still had the audacity to smirk at me! I wanted to wipe his smug expression off his face, no– I wanted to punch it off of his face.

Before either of us could do anything, his phone began to ring. He quickly retrieved his phone out of his pocket, his expression darkening when he saw the caller's name on his screen. Because I was standing in front of him, I couldn't see who it was who dared to give Asher Dane a call. He barely cast a glance at me before he turned around and stalked out of the grocery mart.

"Hey!" I protested, but if he heard me, he didn't turn around.

"Asshole," I grumbled under my breath. I turned my attention back to the check-out girl, who still looked a little star-struck. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Oh! It's alright," she replied, finally snapping out of her daze when the two Royals were out of sight. "I wonder what his dad wants..."

"What?" I asked in confusion. The girl turned a bright shade of pink, and she ducked her head to let her hair fall over her face.

"I wasn't being a creep, or anything! I just happened to see the contact name on his screen just now," she squeaked. My brows furrowed, and I looked back at the entrance that Asher exited just a few moments ago. I wonder what happened to make Asher grumpier than usual...

"Sunshine, I'm back!" I heard Logan before I saw him. Like an excited child, he ran into the grocery mart with several empty canvas bags in hand. He passed the bags to the cashier, who quickly began to load our groceries into the reusable bags. "Sorry it took so long, I was helping a lady put her groceries in her trunk. Where's Asher?"

"His dad called," I explained, and for some reason, Logan's smile faltered.

"Oh," Logan managed to say. "What a bummer."

Even though Logan smiled, I swore I saw a sliver of concern flash through his eyes. In that moment, I couldn't help but look in the direction Asher took off in. Hesitating, I asked Logan, "Is something wrong?"

"No, no," Logan quickly reassured, offering me another one of his bright smiles. Before I could question him any further about his grumpy friend, Logan grabbed all of the produce bags in his two hands, loading it up into our grocery cart

"Thank you, uh, Mindy, is it?" Logan said to the cashier, who turned a bright shade of pink.

"Y-Yeah," she stuttered shyly. "Have a great day! C-Come back again. Soon."

When we were out of hearing range, I nudged Logan and shot him a coy smile.

"Quite the ladies' man, aren't you?" I giggled, and Logan scratched the back of his neck and let out a laugh. I grabbed the cart from Logan and the both of us headed to his gorgeous green Ferrari.

""I hope it fits," I muttered, staring down at the piles of groceries we had bought.

Logan shot me an amused grin and snorted, "That's what she said."

"...To me," he added after some thought, looking extremely pleased with himself as he laughed under his own breath at his joke.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "Control yourself, Logan."

Once he loaded everything into the back of his sweet ride, we settled into the car comfortably.

"I love your car," I squealed for the umpteenth time since I got into his car at the Academy. If I could take away one thing from getting to know the boys since I first started studying at the Academy, it was that they had amazing taste in cars.

"If you get your license, you can take her out for a spin any time," Logan offered happily, causing my jaw to drop.

"Are you serious?" I gasped, and Logan replied by nodding his head.

"I love you so much!" I squealed, jumping up and down in my seat excitedly. Logan let out a laugh, revving his engine.

"Wait," I paused. "Shouldn't we wait for Asher?"

Logan pursed his lips, looking at his watch.

"I think we should head back first. It's almost curfew, and I doubt Asher will be returning to the dorms tonight," Logan replied vaguely, spiking the curiosity inside of me. Why wouldn't Asher be returning to school? Was he going out to meet his father? But even so, why were the two of them so dismissive about it?

I was friends with Logan, and Asher was my best friend's fiancé, but it still felt wrong to intrude into their private matters. I suppose it's due to the fact that I haven't known them for long, and I wouldn't exactly consider us the best of friends. I knew I wouldn't be comfortable sharing about my past with them even if they asked.

And so, despite my overwhelming urge to find out the answers to my questions, I kept silent the rest of the way back to the Academy.

❁❁❁

Have you followed me on Instagram yet? Follow for the latest updates & special sneak-peeks before chapters are released! ALSO! After an overwhelming number of you guys voted 'Yes' on my insta poll (like, 100 of you guys. I was shookt), I'll be doing an instagram live sometime this week! Ask me anything here & I'll try to answer them :) Let's get to know one another! I'll post the details of the live on my Instagram page, so be sure to follow me! #FOMO

Question of the Chapter: We haven't had a #QOTC in awhile, but why do you think Asher is acting so weird? Let me know!

Song of the Chapter: The Great Escape // Boys Like Girls