Xen’s phone buzzed just as she walked through the sliding doors of the grocery store. She paused by the carts, one hand on the red plastic handle, and thumbed her phone to unlock it. [Please remember to get my deodorant!] read Jareth’s text. Xen snickered guiltily. For the last two weeks Jareth had been stuck using her deodorant, going to work smelling of lavender and tea tree; she somehow kept forgetting to buy his. Not teasing him had been a struggle. She had enough self preservation to avoid poking her top for something caused by her own lapse… even if it was funny as hell. Jerking the cart loose from the line, she texted back hastily. [Getting it now!] The health aisle was close to the front of the store, just past produce. She closed messaging and opened the grocery list, scrolling down to “deodorant” and marking it off before turning the cart in that direction.
Blackberries were on sale. They were shiny and firm and she could smell their ripe juice from a few feet away as her cart slowed. Berries were a weakness for Xen, any kind really, but blackberries stood in their own category. She’d spent many late summer afternoons in her childhood plucking blackberries from the dangerously long thorned brambles that quickly overtook any untended area in the Pacific Northwest.