The Grocery List

Gee Whillickers

g.whillickers@gmail.com

Eric glanced at the contents of the list before looking up at the back of the boy heading out of 8th grade math. He shook his long black hair out of his eyes. “Kyle! You dropped something.”

Eric watched Kyle’s surprised stop, the boy’s drooped shoulders making him appear even smaller than he was.

Kyle turned around slowly, red-faced, apparently at being addressed by a member of the wrestling team.

Eric waited as Kyle tentatively made his way towards him. He glanced at the other side of the dropped piece of paper and time slowed down.

Two things happened at once. The meaning of the scratched out message on the other side of the grocery list sank into Eric’s brain, and Kyle suddenly stopped once again, staring in horror as Eric looked at the paper with wide eyes.

Kyle’s blush vanished only to be replaced by a sickly white color, in stark contrast to his red hair.

Eric thought he looked like he might faint. He was frozen with his hand half out towards the grocery list.

An eternity passed. Neither boy moved. Neither boy quite knew what to do.

Kyle’s reaction told Eric that the message was his, and that it was true, or at least had been before it was scratched out.

Eric had read once about some science experiment that showed how people actually made decisions long seconds before their conscious mind thought they did. He pretended to himself for an instant that he was undecided, but he already knew what he was going to do.

His coach was going to kill him. His dad, too. He hoped they’d understand later.

“C’mon Kyle. Let’s go buy your groceries.” He steered Kyle towards the exit door with a gentle hand on his back.

Kyle spoke for the first time. “D-Don’t you have a meet?”

“Nope.”

They had almost made it out of school when the Coach’s yell stopped them. “Little Rabbit! Where the hell are you going?! Get your butt in the locker room and get changed!”

Eric looked back. “Sorry, Coach. I gotta help McAllister with his grocery shopping.”

He tried to pour meaning into his heavy stare back at the Coach. It must have worked, at least a little.

The Coach’s mouth dropped open, then closed again, and he stared back at Eric with a whole host of expressions on his face, but he didn’t say another word.

They walked out into the bright afternoon towards the supermarket. Sometimes, thought Eric, helping someone with their grocery list was the most important thing you can do.

Besides, Kyle was awfully cute.