Two
“Harley, you’re lucky I love you,” Lara said as she
placed cans of cat food in her shopping cart. “You’re also lucky that there was
a coupon in Sunday’s paper for this stuff.”
She checked her list, then moved on to the dairy section. “Healthy…gotta eat healthy…” she muttered to
herself as she eyed up the yogurt shelves.
It was twelve-thirty at night, and she had decided to shop after her
shift at the restaurant. It was nice, actually…not many people shopped at
twelve-thirty in the middle of the week.
“Enough healthy,”
Lara said, looking at the cantaloupe, yogurt and carrots in her cart. “I need
SOME sort of treat. Ice cream.”
Lara practically
sprinted to the ice cream aisle, and critically walked up and down, trying to
decide what she really wanted. She finally reached inside one of the frosty
cases and came out with a half-gallon of Blue Bunny No Sugar Added Frozen
Yogurt. “You don’t want that,” a male
voice said behind her. She was so
shocked that she dropped the container, and it rolled a few feet away. The man bent and picked it up. “This stuff
is nasty. It tastes like ice milk, and
after the first few spoonfuls, it has no flavor.” He put it back on the shelf and smiled at her.
Lara finally
found her voice. “And I suppose you are
an ice cream expert?”
“In my line of
work, you learn to eat quick. Take this
instead.” He reached in and handed her
a half-gallon of Blue Bunny Low Fat Frozen Yogurt. “Chocolate Brownie Fantasy…the breakfast of champions.”
Lara took it,
feeling as if she were in a dream. One
week she’s being asked to bed by JC Chasez.
The next week she’s talking ice cream with Justin Timberlake at almost
one in the morning. “Thank you,” she
said. “I love chocolate.”
“There you go,”
he said, smiling. He pulled his
baseball cap down tighter over his short curly hair. “Anything else I can help you with?” He glanced down at her cart.
“Oh, we’re going healthy, I see?”
“We’re trying,”
she sighed, leaning on the cart. He seemed nice enough, and looked young and
boyish in his sweatpants, tshirt and baseball cap. “I work somewhere where I pick at food all the time, which is NOT
healthy.”
“No,” Justin
admitted. “You have willpower.” He
motioned to the cart.
“For now,” she
said, and he laughed. “Well, I guess
I’m done,” she said finally. “I’m just
getting out of work and I could really hit the hay. I guess you do all your shopping at one in the morning?”
He blushed
slightly, acknowledging the fact that she knew who he was. “Actually, my mom
usually shops for me, or my girlfriend.
But, since, as we all know, I no longer HAVE a girlfriend, I figured
it’s about time I grew up and let my mommy do her own shopping.”
Lara tried to
picture Britney Spears in a grocery store and just couldn’t do it. “How very grown up of you,” she said
seriously. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he
said just as seriously, then smiled that smile. “Maybe I'll see you here again.”
“Maybe so,” Lara
said. “Nice talking to you.”
“Nice talking to
you, too,” Justin said as she walked away.
Four days later,
as she munched on a salad during a particularly slow night at the restaurant,
her manager walked up to her. “VIP
table at booth eight,” he said. “I
won’t seat you again.”
“Like it would
matter,” she mumbled, but she put down her salad. Lara hated when business was slow. It made the time drag unbelievably. She put on her best smile and headed out into the dining room.
The smile faded when she saw Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, JC Chasez and Chris
Kirkpatrick at the booth. She took a
deep breath. “Hi there, how are you tonight?”
“Hello,” JC said
in a stony voice. Lance stared at
him. Justin smiled up at her, his grin
genuine and bright.
“I didn’t know
you worked HERE. I woulda come here
more often!”
“Yeah, well, you
do what you can,” Lara said evasively.
“Drinks, anyone?”
She took their
orders, with Justin giving her an odd look because of her almost-rude
tone. She turned on one heel and went
to the bar. Having a little chat with
him in the ice cream aisle was one thing. She could forget who he was and who
his friends were. But now, seeing him sitting next to JC Chasez, it only made
her remember how JC had treated her.
And more than likely, they were all the same. Most celebrities were.
Lara decided to treat them just like any other customer, and get them
out of her section as soon as possible.
That was easier
said than done. Chris pretty much
ignored her, as did JC. Lance was
polite, as usual, and Justin kept turning the charm on. It was hard to resist. But she wasn’t about
to be led into another date that could only end in a proposition that she
wasn’t ready to give.
“You guys have a
good night,” she said, slapping the check down.
“I have it,”
Justin said quickly, grabbing the little folder. He pulled a credit card out, slid it into the pocket, and handed
the folder back to her.
“I’ll be right
back with this.”
“No…I’ll come up
front and sign it,” Justin said, following her. She sighed and went to the front desk. “Look…Lara…” Justin glanced at her nametag. “Is something wrong? Do you hate boybands or something?”
“No…not all of
you,” Lara said. “I’m busy, Justin, and
you’re a customer.”
Justin looked
around the half-empty restaurant and she blushed. “Is it a crime to want to talk to someone? It was nice, just
having a conversation, like we did at the store.”
“But now I’m at
work. If YOU were at work, you wouldn’t waste your time ‘having a conversation’
with me, now, would you?” Lara asked. She took the receipt and handed it to
him. “Here. The bottom copy is yours. Have a good night.”
Justin signed his
name and added in the tip as the others walked up. “Don’t waste your time on
that one,” JC told him. “Been there, done that, and she wasn’t even that good.”
Justin stared at
him. “You and her?”
“Sure. About a week or so ago. She’s not all that, anyway.” JC slung an arm around Justin’s shoulder and
led him from the restaurant.
Lara wearily crawled into bed after her
shower. Harley snuggled down next to
her. It was almost worse standing
around doing nothing then when it was busy.
Lara closed her eyes, but she kept seeing Justin Timberlake’s
smile. He seemed nice enough, but then
again, it’s one thing to be alone in a grocery store, and another to be out in
a nice restaurant with your friends.
Lara shoved him from her mind and tried to sleep. Justin was not someone she should waste time
thinking about.
Silence stared me in the face…and I finally heard
its voice…it seemed to softly say…in love you have no choice…
