When Constellations Form (Light in the Dark 4)

“This place is fucking amazing!” I cry, and he glares back at me.

“Quarter,” I mumble. “You know, you can’t expect me to change overnight. I’m an intelligent, classy, lady that says fuck a lot so give me a break.”

He shakes his head. “You read that in a meme.”

“Memes are my life,” I retort, as he sets our bags by the stairs. “So are McFlurrys, Cheez-Its, Nutella, and currently lemons—please tell me we remembered to pack lemons.”

He covers his face with his hands. “Dammit.”

“Swear. Jar.” I smirk, rubbing it in that he’s not Mr. Perfect after all.

“I’ll go get you some lemons,” he mumbles. “There’s a grocery store not far from here.”

“I’ll go with you.” I raise my hand to volunteer like I’m in school and he needs to call on me to pick me. “I’m starving. Me and the soul-sucking life force inside me need to eat.”

He gives me a funny look and then busts out laughing. “You’re too much sometimes—scratch that, all the time.”

I shrug. “I have to keep things interesting. Otherwise, it gets dull.”

“I’m going to take our bags up to our room and then I’ll be back.” He adjusts the baseball cap he wears backward on his head. He’s dressed simply today, in a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt, but he still looks hot as fuck.

“Quarter!” I shout, but then laugh because I realize it was a thought and I didn’t say it out loud, so it doesn’t count.

Xander comes back down the stairs. “Did you say something?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Nope. Maybe the place is haunted,” I reason.

He laughs. “Not likely. Let’s go.” He places his hand on my waist, guiding me back to the front door.

We get back in the truck and Xander turns it around, heading out of town.

I’m starving, since I couldn’t keep my breakfast down this morning.

Xander’s right, there’s a grocery store close by. He barely has the truck stopped before I’m hopping out and running in, because fooooood.

I grab a shopping cart and wheel it through the sliding doors. Xander jogs up to me, not even out of breath a little bit. “Thea,” he scolds. “Don’t do that.”

I shrug. “You caught up to me in like five seconds.”

“The truck was still moving.” He narrows his eyes on me.

“I’m hungry,” I defend.

He shakes his head and quiets, accepting defeat.

I roll the cart over to the lemons and get twelve because I’m going to need them to make it through the weekend. From the lemons, we move through the store to the snack food. I grab a box of Cheez-Its and a bag of sour cream and onion chips, and then I get some kind of queso dip that looks good enough to dip my finger in.

“Ooh, you know what else would be great?” I ask rhetorically. “Pickles!”

I charge through the store and Xander groans, running to keep up with me.

I find the pickles and stop the cart, admiring the choices. I finally pick one and unscrew the lid, pulling one out and taking a bite.

“Thea!” Xander admonishes.

“Imsohungy,” I mumble around the food in my mouth.

“We have to buy it first,” he hisses, taking the pickle from me and returning it to the jar.