The Never Wanted Mate

The Apocalypse

Elliot

His girlfriend. He said nothing happened between them, but he didn’t deny she was his girlfriend.

I’m literally checking out a man that doesn’t belong to me. Ugh!

I look in my fridge. There is barely any food. I guess I should go to the groceries. I head out and luckily he is no longer standing in the doorway. I rush out before he gets a chance.

I run to the car as fast as I can and lock the doors as soon as I get inside. Apartment, car. These are my safe zones right now. I have to go to the groceries and come back to my safe zone. He lives here now, so the chance of running into him at the groceries is pretty high. If I don’t see him, I’m buying a bunch of frozen food that I can thaw out so I don’t have to accidentally run into him.

I become useless in front of him. Once I build up some confidence that I won’t fall apart everytime I see him, I will go back to my normal routine.

My grocery run was successful, and I carry as many bags as I can. On my second round, the bag of fruits rip open and I watch a lone apple roll out.

“Damn it!” I say exasperated.

“Need help?”

That voice sends shivers down my spine. Does he always have to find me in distress?

“Nope, I got everything under control,” I lied.

He looks at the ripped bag fruits and the other five I’m holding onto. He chuckles lightly and without a word takes the bags from me.

His fingers grazed mine and I swear all the hairs on my body stood at attention. Why does he have this effect on me?

“I can help you with the rest after I put these up,” he says. He is standing so close to me I can smell his cologne. I can feel his breath on my neck.

I look up at him and swallow dryly. He smirks when he notices my reaction to him being this close. I would like to grab my bags back but I suddenly am feeling very weak. Like my legs are about to give in weak. So I nod and lead him to my apartment.

He follows me quietly and puts the bags down on my kitchen floor.

“Are you preparing for an apocalypse?” He asks, pointing to all the bags on the floor.

I scoff. No, just trying to avoid you, I think to myself.

“One can never be too prepared for a food emergency,” I say, nonchalantly, like I do this all the time.

“Well, I guess if I need groceries, I will just come knock on your door,” he says, giving me a smile that totally melts my insides.

I shudder and his smile widens.

“Thank you for your help, Devin, but I think I have the rest under control,” I tell him.

“Well, let me get your bag of fruits that you left outside, and then I will come help you put everything up.”

I’m about to say that won’t be necessary but he is gone by the time I turn around. He is really fast. But I need to be faster. I start shoving things into my fridge without unpacking them. The faster I get this done the faster he can be out of here.

The fridge barely closes by the time I put everything inside. But it closes. I smile to myself, proud of my accomplishment.

I turn around to see Devin biting into an apple next to my kitchen counter. The bag of fruits has been emptied and nicely put in the fruit basket. How long has he been watching me? Did he even wash that apple? I look closely, and it’s definitely glistening like it’s been washed. He has been watching me for a while then…

Without a word, he comes next to me, opens the refrigerator door, and catches all the things that start to fall out. He quickly empties all the bags on the kitchen counter and organizes everything into piles. One for the freezer, one for the fridge, and one for the pantry.

I stand there speechless and watch him work. Damn he is fast.

“Now, would you like to tell me where you actually put your groceries?” He asks, looking me in the eyes.

“Why are you helping me?” I ask, not moving from my spot next to the fridge.

“Because I’m a nice person,” he responds.

I scoff, “do the girls believe you when you say such sweet things?”

“Only if I give them a smile,” he smiles and winks at me. I feel like I might swoon.

“Yea…ummm…thanks for the help….umm…I think I have the rest…un-under control,” I get out.

“Do you always stutter when you are nervous?” He asks as he looks at me with some weird look of amazement.

I almost want to turn and look behind me to see if he was looking at something else, but I can already feel the wall behind me…so unless I have a bug or something crawling on my wall. Eeew, I’m not turning around to find that, so I will go with he is looking at me.

“I’m not ner-er-vous,” I try to put my words together.

“Well, you are breathing hard, stuttering and I bet your heart is beating a mile a minute. So either you are nervous or you feel something else. Now, are you brave enough to explore something else,” he says, making it very clear what else he is referring to.

He takes big strides towards me. I close my eyes shut, maybe he will disappear. He gently lifts my face up to look at him, and I slowly open my eyes. I expect a smile or laugh or something at my expense, but he looks at me with the same amazement he had earlier.

I wish he laughed or said something arrogant because I can’t handle the way he is looking at me right now. I don’t think anyone has looked at me like that.

“You don’t have anything to be nervous about. Don’t look down to anyone,” he whispers. He lets me go just as quickly as he came to me. He starts walking out of my apartment.

“Devin. Wait!” I shout. He pauses and slowly turns around.

“I’m Elliot. Thank you for your help. You really didn’t have to,” I tell him with a little more confidence in my demeanor.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it? It’s nice to meet you, Elliot,” he says before he walks out, closing the door behind him. And I let go of the breath I was holding.