Page 36 of The Red Zone
“You’re telling me,” I muttered with an artificial smile as I briefly took her outstretched hand into mine and gave it a small shake.
October opened his lips, likely to say another idiotic remark, but I cut him off with a kick to the shin as the woman turned to grab two packs of peach rings off the shelf. The counterfeit smile I was sporting didn’t falter in the slightest, though the wince sound he made might’ve given me away.
When my dads adopted me, they had a difficult time coming up with a name that they both agreed on. Until one night when they were watching Barefoot Contessa and decided that a three-letter first name would pair well with our ironically matching last name, Garten. They settled on a variation of May since that’s what month it was, and neither saw a problem with the fact that they had quite literally named me “May Garden” with a botched spelling.
Of course, October found a substantial amount of humor in making fun of me for it over the years. Making each knockoff name more absurd than the last.
April Showers. May Flowers. Sunflower Summers. Autumn Falls. Breezy Winters.
It was never ending.
Although, I’d take these weird dummy nicknames over his typical “March baby” any day.
“Anywho, lovely to see y’all, but I’ve got to get going now. Just had to stop in here and get Jason something to snack on this weekend. You know how he gets on game day… nervous as a nellie munching on whatever he can get his hands on.”
“Coach does love peach rings.” October leaned in and gave her a parting hug and she patted him on the back a couple times before they broke apart. “I’ll talk to him about getting some of the guys together and coming to one of the boys' practices sometime.”
“All right, honey. I’m so glad I got to see you. Remember to play safe on Sunday.” Donna looked over her shoulder, and waved him off as she pushed her cart away.
For a split second, I contemplated what it would be like to be October’s girlfriend— disgusting, I know. I’m ashamed that I even had that thought to begin with. Is this what it would be like though? Friday nights at the grocery store catching up with old friends instead of lavish dinners?
Ew.
Shaking my head, I pushed the deranged thought out of mind.
“I’ll be right back. I need to get some paper towels and dishwasher detergent.”
The sheer audacity of this man was astounding.
“How is it that I’m the one who begged to come to the store, but you’re the one who has a full list of items you need to get.”
“Keep up with your complaining and I’ll make you walk home.”
I groaned, rolling my eyes at him and giving him the finger despite my hands being full. “Get a cart while you’re up there.” I shouted to him before he left the aisle.
Rounding the corner to the freezer section, I perused the frozen pizza options for a while before deciding that ice cream, while not necessarily more nutritious, would be the better option as my main course.
A dark-haired lady in her late-forties to mid-fifties reached for the handle of the freezer door next to mine in unison with me. I gave her a friendly closed-mouth smile before transferring my attention on the vast ice cream selection in front of me.
Perusing through the pint-sized options, I silently debated back and forth between the options for a quick second before deciding to get both birthday cake and chocolate brownie crunch. I placed them on top of the mound of snacks I’d already accumulated and let the door slam behind me.
“Sorry,” I apologized to the woman, thinking the repulsed look on her face was from the loud noise of the door shutting. However, the disgusted once-over she was giving me told me that this had nothing to do with the freezer.
“You should really learn to put on some clothes.” She turned up her nose, giving me a once-over with a disgusted look on her face.
Jealousy was a disease. And unfortunately for this woman, I wasn’t immune. I’d spent countless hours from the ages of thirteen to twenty-three being picked apart, ridiculed, and called every horrible name under the sun. While also spending a majority of my time with some of the most beautiful people on the planet—by society's standards, of course.
Whatever this deeply insecure woman had to say to or about me wasn’t even penetrating the thinnest layer of my mind. Especially considering the fact that I was wearing a boring workout top and athletic shorts. If she considered this to be scandalous, I’d hate for her to see the rest of my closet.
Normally, I would take the high road and choose to “kill them with kindness”. Maybe it was because I had been around October too much lately… or maybe it was the way she could’ve just gone about her night without having to be a cunt to random strangers. Either way, I wasn’t feeling like mustering up any kindness right now.
“Why?” I smirked. “Are you jealous?”
The woman scoffed. “I’d never be jealous of a skank like you.”
Boo-fucking-hoo. My feelings weresoooohurt.
I internally rolled my eyes. Though, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I had accidentally done it externally as well.
