Nibble part 29

Lindsay took us to the most cliché romantic comedy ever created. When I walked in, Nick was already standing there, looking extremely uncomfortable as Lindsay stood close to Juan and giggled every time he breathed. I couldn't help grinning at the image- Nick could act like a real big-shot sometimes, but when he was actually being treated like a normal teenager by other teenagers, he tensed up and lost his social skills. I went out of my way to sneak up on him, and I poked him in the forearm once I was next to him, causing him to jump like the trembling little bunny that he was. He smiled nervously at me when he recognized me, and Lindsay giggled more as she told us it was time to go inside. I held a couple of Nick's fingers with mine as we walked behind Lindsay and Juan, and I smiled comfortingly at him when he glanced down at me.

Lindsay sat on one side of me in the theater, but she turned completely away from me in her chair, her whole body facing Juan as she giggled over the commercials on the screen. Nick was on my other side, and he was slumped down in his seat like a kid getting lectured by his parents. "Relax," I told him, "We're at the movies, not a college interview." He half-grinned at me and whispered, (I should've known he'd be one of those polite movie-going people,) "It's hard when Lindsay keeps giving me these interrogative stares and then these huge smiles- I feel like I'm being given the good-cop bad-cop routine." I laughed, "Lindsay might occasionally glance at you," I was whispering then, too, but only because the subject of our conversation was directly next to me, "but trust me, her mind is mostly elsewhere. You can relax." Nick grinned and sat up a little bit in his seat. The lights in the theater went off and Lindsay giggled a final time as the real trailers started, and I situated myself in my seat before glancing over at Nick, biting my lip, and nudging my arm under his on the armrest, so that our hands were touching but our fingers weren't intertwined. I caught Nick's grin from the corner of my eye and I smiled, but before I could close my fingers around his, he grasped mine.
"You should just give up," Lindsay said, holding my left hand in both of hers as we walked behind the guys toward the grocery store to pick up some junk food Lindsay was craving, "because if it wasn't obvious that you and Nick had something blossoming before, now I've got a big old flower all up in my face, and you can't do anything to trim it." I raised my eyebrows and said, "You have an interesting way of phrasing things, you know that?" She slapped my arm, "You are so terrible at changing the subject, you could win an award. Why don't you just tell me everything that's gone down?"
"Lindsay. Please stop. You are so terribly white, you're embarrassing even me."
"Be quiet," she replied, rolling her eyes as I laughed. Juan waved Lindsay over to the chip display as we stepped into the grocery store, and I was set free momentarily, so I walked over to Nick and we strolled silently away from Juan and Lindsay. I bit my lip as we walked down the aisles, and Nick noticed that I was tense and said, "Seems we've switched roles. What's got your shoulders so close to your neck?" I grinned a little bit and said, "Grocery stores make me anxious." This seemed to surprise him. "They do? Why?" I shrugged and bit my lip again, "I don't know. It just seems like...well, I mean, everyone's so relaxed in a grocery store. Like you could have any matter of things plaguing you, but the moment you walk through those automatic sliding glass doors, everything goes away, and everyone's minds are at ease as they take their time to stroll down the aisles with carts full of unnecessary money-eaters, and...I don't know. I just always feel like, what are you all thinking? The world doesn't just stop so that you can go grocery stopping. You've still got a due date, you're still low on money, and if you just relax and take your time and waste your money while you're in here, everything's going to be that much worse when you leave. You'll have that much less time to work. You'll have that much less money to spend. And the stress that was momentarily taken off your shoulders while you were in there will fall onto you twice as hard." I looked over at Nick and suddenly blushed, embarrassed by my rant. He looked away from me and raised his eyebrows, "Wow. I never really thought about it like that before." I looked down at my feet, "Sorry. I probably ruined your grocery shopping experience for life." He shrugged, "Nah, I think you've shown me the light." I laughed, "And oh, what a grand light it is." He grinned and we continued pushing our cart slowly down the aisle.

© 2011