First Time Shopper

Who: Olivia & Judiel
Where: Super One Foods
When: Early Evening

The walk to the grocery store hadn't been that bad. It had been a bit refreshing, actually, though she was trying not to imagine the walk back with her arms full of grocery bags. It was times like these that the whole car thing might have been useful and already she was figuring she'd have to maybe hitch a ride back to Tourville if she went a bit overboard. It was a strange feeling, to be wandering around a grocery store with an actual grocery cart, putting actual food inside said cart.

Usually in the past, she would run in, grab something that didn't require cooking, and run out. Sometimes without paying. This was a completely new experience and Olivia found herself taking her time walking up and down every aisle, examining almost every box and package rather than just grabbing things here and there. She didn't want to admit it, but having a real place weirded her out in a panicky sort of way. Having an actual place with a boy was making it worse. Herbert was great. Friendly. Outgoing. But since she and Herbert had come to the agreement and moved in, she had to constantly fight the urge to pack up and run whenever she had a few free moments to actually think about it. It was stressful, given they hadn't even lived together forty eight hours yet. And when those thoughts hit, she reminded herself that she had a fairly strong will, and she was determined to push through this initial weirded out phase. She had a plan. So she just had to get over it and stick with it for awhile.

And since she didn't have much at all in the apartment (given her bad was pretty much it), she figured stocking the fridge would be a nice way to start making the place seem a bit more like a home even if that wasn't really what it was, or was going to be in the long term. And what did people put in their fridges? She remembered back to when she lived at home, and sort of went by what Marcos had usually bought. Vegetables, meat...bread. Healthy crap. She ticked things off in her mind until she began to grow impatient with the process. Food was food, right? So she began to do what she had vowed not to do, and began pulling stuff off the shelf, giving it a quick once over, and tossing it in the cart. Cookies, small cakes, pastries, cheesy crackers...ice cream! Her stomach growled lightly in appreciation. Maybe grocery shopping wasn't so bad after all.

Judiel tried, in a general sense, not to eat crap. Too much of it tended to make him sick anyway, even though it was tasty. And kind of his social heritage as a nerd. Shopping usually called up debates within himself: taste vs. health vs. his own laziness vs. what his mother had brought him up on. He could cook to a degree, which helped, but ... there was only so much time he wanted to devote to doing it.

And today, he just felt ... off, anyway. The two red dots on his neck had healed minimally in the past two days, at the very least ceasing to be holes. Still, they were tender and looked bad. Wearing a scarf would be totally ridiculous in this weather, despite there being the supplies in his closet to look relatively emo-trendy. He just hadn't bothered to cover them up. Most people, as a rule, didn't ask questions anyway.

So he was standing in front of the frozen foods, staring listlessly at the array of pizzas with his half-full basket.

Olivia shifted the cart down the aisle of the frozen pizzas, the man barely registering in her mind as she gnawed on her bottom lip, wondering why there had to be so many different fricking frozen pizzas. They were all the same, weren't they? Some just cost more...

Opening one of the doors, she grabbed the least expensive one and tossed it on top of the other junk food she had snagged a couple aisles over. She began to continue on when she remembered Herbert didn't like meat, and she had gotten pepperoni and she wondered if she should get two different kinds? And if they had veggie pizzas? Or just cheese? Would that be considered veggie? Why the hell were there so many different effing pizzas?

Completely oblivious to the fact that she was still pushing her cart along, her eyes shifted along the various brands while she calculated prices in her head. It wasn't until she felt her cart halted that she was shaken from her pizza-oriented thoughts and she realized she had more or less rammed her cart into the man sharing the decently sized aisle.

He'd been enough lost in his own world that Judiel wasn't even aware of the woman in the aisle until he was assaulted with a shopping cart. Her jerked and grunted a little, the impact startling him out of his dazed non-thoughts. He looked over, thankful whoever it was hadn't been going very fast. "Sorry," he said with a very faint sheepish smile. Judi stepped back out of her way.

"No, that's was all me," Olivia said quickly, pulling the cart back, slightly embarrassed. These things could be lethal! And why was he apologizing? "I ran into you. I didn't realize that shopping for pizza would take so much thought. I'm more of a call for delivery girl than any kind of cook so, this whole process is new to me..." Olivia trailed off with a weak laugh. "Wow, you really don't need to hear about my lack of shopping capabilities. Sorry."

He wasn't quite sure why he was apologizing either, it was just force of habit, really. Judiel listened as she rambled a bit, and chuckled a bit. "It's okay. I always feel a little lost myself," he offered, glancing down into her cart. She seemed to have a lot for one person, and a big variety of things. Not that there wasn't anyone at home for her or anything. "I'm trying to decide if thin crust with cheese and spinach would be more healthy than just regular vegetable."

She wrinkled her nose lightly at that and turned to look into the glass cases at the pizzas he had been staring at. "Spinach? Really? My thought is if you're going to splurge and eat a pizza, you get it with a bunch of goopy cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms." Olivia paused and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Unless you're a vegetarian." Like Herbert. Which was still odd to her. She just didn't get the concept.

Judi couldn't help but smile a little at her reaction. He was pretty used to it. "Not a vegetarian, no," he said. "But the processed meat they tend to use on frozen pizzas?" He made a bit of a face and put his free hand lightly over his stomach. "They get to me. I have a weak stomach, unfortunately. So. The expensive Californian kind --" he pointed out a particular yellow box, "-- mostly use organic ingredients."

"Ah. People like me don't like to think about processed meat. It's much easier to eat that way." So he wasn't a vegetarian. But he liked to eat healthy. She glanced down at the crap she had piled up in her cart and gave him a slightly sheepish smile. "I do have healthy stuff in there. Somewhere. At the bottom. I think the bread might be smashed at this point." Beneath the Cheezits, Ding Dongs and chocolate ice cream.

Thoughtful for a split second, she opened the door and reached for the box he had pointed out, grabbing the cheese and spinach. She lifted it for him to see and tossed it atop the other pepperoni pizza she had chosen. "You convinced me. Organic...sounds tasty." Only it so didn't. At least Herbert would like it. Maybe.

He smirked at her, pretty aware that she would probably hate it, judging by what she already had in her cart. "If you put ranch dressing on it, it's much more tolerable," he said, leaning in a touch in a conspirator's whisper. Yeah, he ate well because he had to at least sometimes, not because he liked to. He just liked his digestion working properly. Judiel glanced from her full cart to his sadly near-empty hand-held basket. He really hadn't gotten very far. He was usually a more efficient shopper than this. "So are you feeding an army?" he asked lightly, aiming a little smile at her.

Ranch dressing. She mentally noted to get a bottle of it before she left. Biting her lower lip in a sort of embarrassed smile, she looked down at her pile of food choices before following his gaze to his half empty basket.

"No, actually. Well, yes. Sort of. If you consider an eighteen year old boy an army," Olivia explained, sort of amused by the whole thing. Better to be amused than panicky! "My roommate. We just moved into an apartment at Tourville? Sort of a living arrangement of convenience. The empty fridge was depressing me, so...I guess I'm just stock piling now. I don't really know what things I need, so I'm just grabbing what looks good." She was suddenly wondering if she had enough. Or if she needed more.

He let out a little laugh, because eighteen year old boys could eat like a full army, his mother knew that for certain. Then Judiel's expression turned into pleasantly surprised as she said that she'd just moved in to Tourville. He grinned. "I'm sure he'll burn through all that in a few days," he said, amused. At least she was serving as a nice distraction for the moment from his darker thoughts. "We're neighbors then, I live in 206. My name's Judiel," he introduced himself, sticking his free hand out to shake.

She blinked at that, slightly confused by what he meant before it dawned on her. Neighbors. That meant he lived in the same building. She almost thought that it was a small world, but it was Marquette so...not so shocking. "Olivia," she said, reaching over to take his hand with hers. "You're right down the hall from me. Might come in handy if I ever run out of ranch dressing." She glanced at his basket again, knowing it would be nosy to ask but... "Do you live alone?"

Judiel gave her a warm but gentle shake and a nod. He chuckled a bit again. "I always keep a good stock of it," he said, then glanced into his own basket as she did. "Ah, yes. Most definitely." He looked a little chagrined at that, though it wasn't too unusual for ... mortal men that had his interests to still be single, was it? He didn't think so. He hoped not, anyway. And Christ, he was already thinking about how he had to clean up if she might be stopping by. Not that she would. Hadn't he learned his stupid lesson already? "I use the other room as an office."

"Nothing wrong with that," Olivia assured him, noting his expression. "There's more privacy. It's cheaper, right? And you have more freedom. You can be as messy as you want, with no one to answer too." She gave him a smile and leaned against the handle of her cart. "And you get to make that second bedroom an office. Do you work from home or is it more of a computer room where you play computer games?"

Judiel didn't bother pointing out that a single bedroom could be used for two people. Because yeah, not going there. Definitely not at the moment, because she had a cute smile. And his head wasn't supposed to be even in that direction lately. He'd been assaulted, he was supposed to be acting healthily paranoid. But he found himself grinning right back at her like an idiot. "Kind of both?" he offered with a wry eyebrow raise. "I fix computers, and program, so they're kind of tied hand in hand. You have to test them with something, after all." He chuckled faintly.

"Oh! So you test them with computer games? Must be nice, getting paid to do something you enjoy," Olivia commented, her smile widening a bit because hey, she was having a decent conversation with a guy. Who wasn't Herbert. For once! "And you get to work from home, in your own bachelor pad, with your choice of cheese and spinach pizzas. Sounds like you're pretty much set to me."

He blushed, but to his credit, it was just a little bit. She was just being nice. Which was cool, he could be nice back. Judiel lifted a shoulder. "There's worse stuff to have to do," he agreed. Then uplifted his chin questioningly. "What do you do?" And how did you come to have a teenage-boy roommate? But that wasn't any of his business.

Here's where she totally failed. No interesting job, whatsoever. Not that she was trying to impress him. No, not at all. But she found herself hesitating, wishing she could lie and claim to be some kind of extravagant jet setter, or hell, even a nurse, or something. But no jet setter would be caught dead in Marquette. And it was a small enough town, and they were neighbors, so lying was off the table.

"I'm a waitress," she finally said, her smile slipping just a tiny bit. "At Mya's Diner...and usually during the evenings at Babylon...nothing overly special."

He watched her expression change a bit. Sure, it was a humble enough sort of job, but so was his. He thought so, anyway. Of course, he was terribly critical of everything he did, vocation included, because it didn't do much that mattered at all. The name of Babylon caught his attention, however. He'd been there. Knew what sort of place it was, more or less. He'd never patronized, but Judi knew it was possible. Which made him wonder, but still ... again, none of his business. "Hard work," he said with a nod. "I've had to wait a few tables in my time. It was at least a guaranteed meal in hard times." Judiel offered her a little smile.

"Yeah." She had never really felt embarrassed by her jobs before. Like he said, it was a guaranteed meal when there were times she wouldn't have had any before. And it was quick cash, even if it was physically exhausting. But for some reason she felt slightly embarrassed and forced another bright smile. "Do you mind if I ask you a favor? Neighbor to neighbor, of course."

Glad to get off of a subject that seemed to make her unhappy, Judiel raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Of course," he echoed, looking curious. "Anything I can do." Eager to help, as always.

Hell, they'd only met, but who cared? He seemed nice enough - although they always seemed nice enough in the beginning - and they were neighbors, so it really wasn't like it was an inconvenience... she hoped. "I sort of walked here, being carless at all..." Another score for so not having her life in order! Now if she were a guy who was a waiter, with no car, she'd probably be branded a loser. "If you don't mind giving me a ride back to my apartment, I'll cook you dinner sometime. Well," She cringed lightly, "maybe more of a frozen pizza in the oven than an actual feast...but it would save you on your energy bill!"

He glanced from her face down to her load of groceries and laughed softly. "Totally unnecessary, I'd be happy to," he said, and looked damn genuine about it. Because yeah, in this heat? No way in hell he was going to let her even think about walking home, much less with that sort of load to bear. "I'll even help carry," Judiel added with a crooked grin. Then looked questioning again. "Are you ready? I think this is all I'm going to make myself really think about enough to buy."

Relieved, she smiled, even if she felt mild, mild disappointment as his turning down her offer of "dinner". But it was probably for the best. No need to put herself in any situation like that again. "That'd be really great, thanks. I sort of got carried away." She began to push her cart beside him, casting a concerned look at his basket. "Is that really all you came in for? I don't want you to feel like you're being rushed just to help me out."

If he'd have known she was disappointed, Judiel would've rushed to accept. As it was, he was just intent on doing a good turn without expecting to be paid back in some fashion. It was chivalry, not disinterest. But seeing as how he was oblivious, he just smiled at her and nodded. "This is enough," he said, glancing down into it again. He'd gotten the basics, anyway. Enough to last a couple days, with as much as he ate out. "No rush at all." Judi fell into step beside her.

She supposed it was enough. It was definitely more than she'd ever get for herself, and he did live alone, so it made sense. Still, she hoped he wasn't finishing up on her account. "So I have to ask," she began pushing her way to the front of the store and beginning to dump her things on the belt by the check out. "Have you lived here long?" Because it seemed a lot of people she was meeting were newbies.

He moved to help, setting his basket aside to pull things out of her's and load them up onto the moving belt. "Several years," he said, shooting her a smile. "I officially moved from California, but I'd been traveling a while. Where did you blow in from?"

Olivia gave a tiny grin at his help and placed the smashed bread up next to the ice cream. "I haven't been to California yet," Olivia said. "It's on my list, though. I came from Chicago. I've only been here a couple of weeks." Her eyes flickered to his neck briefly, noting the tiny red marks on his neck and decided against asking about them in front of people. She pushed her cart forward as the cashier scanned her things through. "Why Marquette?" she asked instead. "Of all places. Just wanted someplace a bit more quiet?"

Judiel half wished there wasn't a bagger on duty, so he could continue to lend a hand, but such was life. Maybe he'd tip the boy. In any case, he answered her as he waited for her things to move down enough for him to start putting his own on the belt. "It was interesting to me. Small, but the college was a draw," he said, neglecting to mention the whole thing about how the place had this indescribable draw to him. That sounded weird, and he was weird enough on his own to cute girls. "I sort of settled, just haven't gotten around to leaving yet." He smiled a bit and shrugged a shoulder.

Olivia nodded along as he spoke, handing a wad of cash to the cashier when she was told her total. "I sort of know where you're coming from. I keep saying I'm leaving, and then I don't. I don't know what it is." Because she wasn't one to admit Marquette had a strange draw either. At least not to someone she just met. "Are you still in school then? Or do you do work for the college?"

He stepped up to do his own little checkout-dance. "Yeah, this place will catch hold of you and keep it," he agreed, watching his stuff get run over the little red eye. "I still take classes part time. I'm sort of a perpetual student," he said with a chuckle. "I have done some work for them, but I mostly freelance and repair on my own. Is your ... roommate? Is he in school?" he asked, glancing over at her. And maybe waiting for the correction of 'boyfriend', but maybe not.

She wanted to take classes. Badly. But that dream was long gone as a realistic goal. "Uh, yes, actually." Olivia waited by her cart filled with bags while he checked out. "He's from Canada, and in town to finish his last year of high school. And yes, I know that sounds odd. But he's a sweet person and so far, in the like twenty four hours we've been roommates, very easy to live with. And he likes to eat." She motioned toward the groceries. "All in all, I think it'll work out as an arrangement."

Well that put the kid far out of the realm of 'boyfriend', if he was still in high school. Unless Olivia was very creepy, but her tone suggested otherwise. Judiel gave her a smile and paid for his stuff, gathering the bags up and starting to lead the way to the front entrance. "So what brought you here?" he asked, glancing at her. Pretty often, actually.

"Uhm. I don't know, really," she answered, knowing that it wasn't an acceptable answer, but she wasn't sure how he would take I hitched a ride and got dumped here, especially given he was giving her a ride home. She didn't want him to think she was some crazy, or anything. "I was sort of passing through and ended up staying. I like the peace and quiet."

Olivia looked over at him, thinking this whole situation was somehow strange. Though not necessarily in a bad way. Two weeks ago she was homeless and a complete mess. And now, she was still a mess, but she had two decent jobs, she was grocery shopping, and hitching rides to her apartment with Cute Grocery Guy. Very strange.

"That seems to happen to a lot of people," he said, as it was pretty much his own story too. Judiel motioned in the direction of his car as they walked out of the store. It was starting to get a bit dark out, and he subconsciously walked a little closer to her. Not that he'd be any good at protecting anyone, but it was just instinct by this point. "It's really not a bad place to live," Judi told her, glancing over with another little smile. He left off the once you get used to it thought. This whole thing was strange to him as well, but he was attempting not to read into it.

Olivia followed him to his car, oblivious to his walking a bit closer. She never minded the dark. She'd slept outside, in the dark, several times. Even being well aware of what lurked outside, it had never seemed to frighten her.

"It's...interesting," she conceded, laughing a bit. Marquette was so beyond interesting. "I don't know what it is about this place. I wasn't overly impressed with it, the first few days, but, in the short amount of time I've been here, it's started to grow on me. Which is strange." They stopped at his car and she gave a tiny sigh of relief and gratefulness. "You're really sweet for helping me."

Judiel took the key out and popped the trunk to the old Buick. He let out a sheepish little laugh and shook his head. "No problem. It's not like I wasn't going that way anyway." In all honesty, he was pleased to hear it, though. He helped her load her supplies up into the trunk and closed it. He put his own few bags in the backseat on his way to opening up the passenger side door for her. Ever the gentleman. "I'm glad to have run into you and be of help."

Olivia paused when he opened the door for her, slightly taken back, but pleased, regardless. She slipped inside and reached for the seatbelt, waiting until he had gotten in the car himself before thanking him. "I'm telling you, I really hadn't thought through the entire carrying bags home bit of this whole thing. Someone was looking out for me tonight and made sure you needed to get some more spinach and cheese pizza." She knew she really oughta make it up to him somehow, but other than attempting to make something that could pass as dinner, she was at a loss.

He started the car up, thinking briefly that he should clean it out more often. There was a lot of computer junk and textbooks in the back, but at least it wasn't trashy. His mom had had enough influence on him in that regard, at least. Judi flashed her a shy-ish little smile. "Really, no problem. Since you're feeding a teenager and don't have a car, anytime you need to restock and I'm home, let me know," he offered. Because cab fare sucked when you were on a budget, and pretty soon the weather wouldn't be friendly enough to walk in at all. He put an arm up on the back of the bench seat and started to back out.

She gave another small laugh at that. Feeding a teenager. It sounded odd, like she was much older and had ravenous children at home.

"I might just do that," Olivia replied, turning her head slightly to look out the window. "I'll have to think of something adequate enough to offer you in return." Because she could have taken advantage of his nature and used him whenever she needed something, but he was just too nice a guy and her conscience wouldn't let her entertain that thought.