How to Liv

by Megan Keith

  Fuck! I can’t believe he caught that! How embarrassing.

  “After you,” he said. He took a couple of steps in my direction and motioned with his arm towards the shelves.

  I tried not to notice the proximity of the good-looking Tim Tam guy as I collected two different jars of sauce and started reading the ingredients and instructions, comparing them. Both our trolleys were behind us, effectively sandwiching us together between them. He moved a little closer and leaned in my direction.

  “That one,” he said, tapping the jar of sauce in my left hand.

  “Really?” I asked sceptically, looking up to him and wrinkling my nose. He had pointed to the jar I was just about to return to the shelf. I looked back at the two sauces and then back to the handsome man in front of me.

  “Trust me.”

  He gave me a slight nod, a sexy smirk that had my insides twitching, then reached in front of me to grab his own jar of said sauce from the shelf. For some reason I wanted to believe this attractive stranger.

  He glanced at me once more, with a small smile playing on his lips, before moving over to place his purchase in his trolley. Then he pushed his trolley past mine, heading in the direction opposite to where I was going. I got a good look at the back of him, he was wearing tan cargo shorts and a navy blue t-shirt. His shoulders were broad and his waist narrow. The t-shirt was just short enough for me to check out his butt, which was rather nice, too. He had muscular looking tanned legs and was wearing thongs on his feet.

  Damn he’s hot… I doubt he’s single.

  I chose the recommended jar, returned the other to the shelf and grabbed a pack of spaghetti noodles.

  When I rounded the corner to the next aisle, he was there again. We were essentially criss-crossing through the store. I grabbed some garbage bags and moved my trolley along, giving him a small smile from where I’d stopped in front of the dishwashing liquid. I couldn’t help myself, I looked in his direction, watching him as he grabbed something from the top shelf. He barely had to stretch to get it; he was a lot taller than me.

  Most full grown adults were.

  I barely scraped the five foot mark, he must be nearing six feet, maybe more. He glanced in my direction and I quickly looked away. But not for long. My eyes drifted back to him moments later and I could see from his side profile that a grin was adorning his face. His eyes drifted my way again and I quickly turned, grabbed the dishwashing liquid and pushing my trolley further toward him.

  I tried to concentrate on the shopping list in my hand, but I couldn’t ignore his presence when he got closer. I moved my trolley a little and stood in front of the laundry detergent, pretending that I didn’t already know exactly which product I was going to buy, and tried to discreetly watch him instead.

  The overly loved-up couple from earlier were coming down the aisle in the same direction as Tim Tam guy and my eyes were unfortunately distracted by them as they constantly touched and kissed each other while walking. It looked awkward and I couldn’t tear my eyes away when they went past, again totally oblivious to my presence. I was turning back to my trolley when I realised that Tim Tam guy had stopped just metres away and was looking in my direction. Our eyes met again briefly.

  Of course the laundry detergent I always buy had been relocated to the top shelf. I knew I was too short to get it but I reached for it anyway. I was on my tippy toes, stretched to my limit and still not even close to grabbing it, when I felt Tim Tam guy standing directly behind me.

  “Let me get that for you,” he said in a deep sexy voice.

  “Thanks, that’d be great.” I moved aside for him.

  He reached the top shelf with ease and my eyes momentarily drifted to his tightly encased arse, before looking up to see him grabbing the wrong detergent.

  “No, the pink one please,” I quickly instructed him. He moved his hand to the right and grabbed the correctly fragranced detergent for me.

  “There you go,” he said, handing the bottle to me. Our fingers touched as we both held onto it for a moment and our eyes locked again.

  “Thank you,” I said, as he let go.

  “You’re welcome.” He gave me a slight smile before looking away and walking back to his trolley.

  I glanced in his direction again when I realised he hadn’t yet moved. He was standing still and watching me. It didn’t make me feel uncomfortable, but I did feel shy and so I just smiled back timidly before pushing my trolley away. It took everything in me not to turn around but I realised there was nothing more I needed in that aisle so I reluctantly turned the corner.

  Without looking up I immediately felt his presence yet again when he turned the corner at the opposite end of the next aisle. I tried not to look at him too much as I went about my business.

  He’s probably married. He wouldn’t be interested in me. I really need to stop day-dreaming!

  He stopped halfway down. He had his trolley blocking the way and as I approached him my heart started to palpitate while I tried to figure out how I was going to get past. I stopped with my trolley almost touching his, but before I had the chance to say “excuse me” he pulled his trolley toward his body.

  No wedding ring! Could he be single?

  “Sorry,” he said with a bright smile in my direction, he looked as if he wanted to say something more but then quickly looked away. I couldn’t find my voice so I just nodded and smiled back at him, continuing past.

  Huh! Maybe he was just as shy as me!

  That thought somehow boosted my confidence. When I made it down the next aisle we crossed paths again. I smiled widely at him which made him smile even wider back at me. We both came to a stop, our trolleys side by side as we shopped opposite each other.

  “We have to stop meeting like this,” I joked.

  He laughed and then we had to move both of our trolleys to make way for the ‘cutesy’ couple to get through. When I turned to face him he was already moving off toward the end of the aisle. I watched him, more than a little disappointed, when he turned the corner without looking back at me.

  Probably not single.

  Moments later, on the very next bend, I turned the corner, too quickly and crashed my trolley head on into his.

  “Sorry.” We instinctively spoke at the same time before we both burst out laughing.

  What did he do, speed down that last aisle?

  “We really do have to stop meeting like this,” he said between chuckles.

  We both quieted down, untangled our trolleys and started to move past one another. I racked my brain trying to think of something more to say to the handsome Tim Tam guy but couldn’t for the life of me come up with any words.

  We had come to the end of the store, the last aisle. I was more than a little disappointed that I would probably never see this man again. As I started emptying my items onto the conveyor belt at the cash register, I tried not to look all over the store for him. I didn’t want to appear desperate, but I desperately wanted to catch another glimpse of him before he left.

  I suddenly felt like someone was watching me and turned to my right to find that he was at a register a couple of lines down. His eyes quickly returned to his groceries and to the task at hand and I figured I was being ridiculous.

  I mean, the guy is gorgeous. Totally out of my league. He’d be better suited to my sister. We shared a couple of looks, probably meaningless. We smiled a couple of times, had a laugh. So what? Now he’s probably going home to his girlfriend.

  I decided not to give it another thought and turned my attention to loading the bags of groceries back into my trolley and paying the lady at the register. As soon as I left the store I dug around the bags to find my packet of Tim Tams. I really needed them now! I ripped them open and placed them on top of my handbag in the child’s seat of my trolley. Taking my first bite, I couldn’t suppress a moan of appreciation leaking from my lips. I savoured the flavour, chewing slowly, then took another bite.

  I steered my trolley in the direction of my car and alm
ost immediately rammed it into Tim Tam guy. He was leaning against the wall of the front of the store with his trolley at his side. He had an open packet of Tim Tams in one hand and a half-eaten biscuit in the other and he was openly gaping at me. He was completely still, as if he was frozen in time. We were close, only my trolley separating us. After a moment of staring at each other he started chewing again and held up his packet of biscuits, toasting me. I grabbed my packet and imitated his gesture. He smiled and nodded as he continued to chew. I watched his throat for a moment as he swallowed before clearing mine and popping the last of my biscuit in my mouth.

  “Great minds think alike,” he said.

  I couldn’t respond with a mouthful of chocolate biscuit. I tried really hard not to break into a smile. The last thing I needed was to dribble or splutter out chocolate in front of this guy. I tried, I really did, but the giggle was coming and I couldn’t allow that embarrassment so I turned my head and my trolley and walked away with only a nod.

  When I reached my car I was devastated. I’d missed my chance completely. What a royal fuck up!

  I opened the boot and started dumping my groceries inside. The late afternoon sun was beating down on my back. Normally I loved daylight savings but at this exact point in time I really wished it wasn’t seven-thirty at night, sunny and still stinking hot. I could feel a bead of sweat forming on my forehead to match the drip running down my back. I couldn’t wait to get home and have a shower. I heard a crack from one of the bags as it hit the side of the car. I looked inside to find that I had broken the lid of the ice cream.

  “Fuck!” Could this day get any worse?

  “So we meet again,” a now familiar voice spoke softly.

  I jumped, still cursing the broken tub of ice cream and turned to watch Tim Tam guy pushing his trolley to a stop at the back of the silver ute parked beside mine. What are the chances?

  “Well, I feel like I have to introduce myself now.” He chuckled.

  Introduce myself! Why didn’t I think of that?

  He stepped a little closer and held out his hand.

  “I’m Joel and I promise I’m not stalking you.”

  “Olivia,” I said laughing, taking his hand. It was warm and slightly rough. It was strong and inviting and very, very hard to let go of. I blinked a couple of times and then dropped my hand to my side before I made even more of a fool of myself. I hope he can’t see the sweat on my brow.

  “Nice to meet you,” he said with a genuinely heart pounding smile. “So Olivia, have you eaten?”

  I picked up my packet of Tim Tams and saluted him with them.

  “Dinner?” he asked disbelievingly.

  “Yep,” I replied.

  “You can’t be serious.” He chuckled.

  “Deadly,” I said with a smile.

  “Could I take you to a real dinner? Something with a little more nutrition, maybe?” He had a cheeky look on his face.

  “Um…” I’m a sweaty mess, why is he even asking me?

  Oh god, he’s single! And hot! And asking me out!

  I looked terrible in my black shorts and hot pink singlet top. My hair was in total chaos and I was wearing bloody work boots! I can’t go have dinner with him and all his handsomeness when I look like this! Glancing around me, I looked for an excuse.

  “Ah… I have ice cream melting in here, I really need to get home.” It was the best I had. Idiot!

  “Need to get home… okay…” He trailed off reaching up to scratch the back of his head. Glancing around, he let out a big sigh. “Are you seeing anybody?”

  “Um…” Seriously?

  “Sorry for being so forward. None of my business? You can totally tell me to get lost you know.”

  Looking a little nervous, he gave me an uncertain smile. I was surprised that someone as gorgeous and strong looking as him would be nervous talking to me.

  “No… um, I’m not seeing anyone,” I said quietly and his brow quirked up.

  “Okay… so I can’t take you to dinner tonight, you’ve got that covered,” he said with a smirk, motioning to my packet of Tim Tams still sitting, and probably melting, in the trolley. “Could I have your phone number then?” he asked with what sounded like a hopeful tone.

  My throat went dry and I couldn’t get my mouth to work. This is too good to be true.

  “Tomorrow’s Friday, how about dinner then?”

  “I can’t.” Shit! I had already told Karen that I would work late tomorrow night.

  “Just tell me to get lost. I can take it,” he said looking over his shoulder briefly.

  “I’m…”

  “Not interested?” He sighed turning away and walking back to his ute, seemingly resigned that he knew what my answer would be.

  “It’s not that…” Not wanting to let him get away, I hastily explained, “I’m working tomorrow night.”

  “Oh?” He looked up from where he was bent, loading his groceries in the car beside mine.

  “Yeah, I probably won’t finish until late.”

  He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets taking a tentative step back in my direction.

  “How late?”

  “Nine?” I managed to squeak out in a god-awful voice, that didn’t sound like mine. Where did that come from?

  “I can do a late dinner,” he said, taking a couple more steps towards me, causing my heart to jump into my throat.

  “It may be later than that, I mean, I may finish work at nine but then I’d have to go home and get ready and…” Stop babbling!

  “Suits me.”

  I shyly chewed on my bottom lip and looked around the nearly empty car park. There is no way that I could possibly say no to this guy.

  “Okay.” I tried not to sound too eager.

  “Okay?” He seemed a little surprised.

  “Yes.”

  He took his phone out of his jeans pocket and pressed a couple of buttons. Then he looked up at me through long eyelashes, in a way that made my heart flutter. It took me a moment to realise that he was looking at me as if he was expecting something.

  “So can I have that phone number now?” he asked again, with a cheeky grin.

  Damn, those eyes! What colour are they?

  I blushed awkwardly, blinked a couple times and then gave him my number. He put it in his phone then he turned his attention back to me.

  “How about I book us in somewhere? I’ll text you the address and you can meet me there? That way we both have our cars and can make an easy escape if it all goes horribly wrong.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or humorous, but when his lips curved up into another heart pounding smile I decided to go with humorous.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said as his eyes glued onto mine. It felt like someone had turned up the heat of the already hot sun. We stared at each other for a moment before turning our attention back to loading our groceries into our cars.

  I put the last of my items in my boot and shut it. When I turned around Joel was standing with his empty trolley, reaching for mine. I was distracted by his hard muscled bicep peeking out from under his t-shirt. Damn!

  “Here, let me take that back for you so you can rescue your ice cream from liquefying in this heat,” he said thoughtfully.

  I grabbed my handbag and Tim Tams from the child’s seat of the trolley and thanked him as he pushed our trolleys together releasing his one dollar coin from its slot and handing it to me. I felt the heat turn up another notch when our hands met. I wonder if he felt that, too.

  “Here you go, I’ll keep yours,” he said.

  I nodded, unable to find my voice. Is it weird that it gave me a funny tingly feeling because we were swapping coins? I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d actually put a two dollar coin in my trolley though. I guessed he would find that out when he returned it.

  I pulled my keys from my bag, opened my car and reluctantly entered the hot box. Chucking my bag and biscuits on the passenger seat I hurriedly turned the key in the ignition and se
t the aircon to arctic. It was worse than a sauna in the car, the air so thick I found it difficult to breathe. I wasn’t sure if Joel was expecting me to wait, to say goodbye or something, but my car wouldn’t cool down until it actually got moving, so I slipped into reverse and backed out of my spot.

  As I was driving out of the car park I spotted Joel leaving the trolley bay. He was looking at the coin in his hand, obviously realising he had made a 100% profit on his trolley return. I couldn’t help the small chuckle that left my lips when I smiled in his direction. He smiled and waved back when my car passed him.

  Oh my god! Did he just wink?

  Well most of my day had been pretty shitty but meeting Joel more than made up for that! I can’t believe I actually have a date with that man tomorrow night! Ahhh!

  I so could have used an extra couple hours of sleep, but when my alarm went off at the ungodly time of quarter past four, I somehow managed to have an extra bounce in my step. I guess it was the thought of seeing Joel again. I was already tucked up in bed when I heard Ally come home from work at about eleven last night. I should have been asleep, but I was having trouble getting there, too anxious for tonight. I was extremely excited, but also nervous about it. I’m not much of a conversationalist at the best of times. Being one on one with a stranger made me panic just a bit, especially one as hunky as Joel.

  Looking in the bathroom mirror I instantly regretted spending my night finishing off the last of those Tim Tams while watching old Buffy episodes. I had a massive zit on my chin. It was an ugly mess. I’m nearly thirty years old for fuck’s sake, I shouldn’t be getting pimples! Typical though, the first date I’ve had in god knows how long and I’m going to have to face him with that! Joel was going to take one look at that thing and run away screaming. It was almost the size of a five cent piece, okay that may be a slight exaggeration, but it was horrible. I dabbed it with some acne cream that I found in Ally’s stash and prayed that it would clear up by tonight.

  Karen and I both arrived at work bang on five a.m. As we entered the empty factory she informed me that Jess wouldn’t be in again today. I huffed in disappointment and made my way to my locker, ditching my bag and shrugging on my lab coat. Then Karen and I made ourselves coffees and sat down in the staff room for a quick chat. I was a hard worker and did overtime daily, but I also wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to bludge on company time for ten minutes before anyone else arrived to know about it.