Chapter 4: addicted to lingerie

After cleaning a hell lot of tables and dishes, the clock finally struck four. Closing time.

Praise the heavens.

Jenna offered we went grocery shopping and I agreed. We touched up on our make-up, well, mostly Jenna because she was the "I must look like a beauty queen everywhere I go" kind of girl. After that, we signed out and hailed a cab downtown.

Jenna was so freaking excited about the condom package and I was still freaking wondering how I became friends with her. She earned several eye rolls from me.

When we got to the supermarket, Jenna instructed the cab driver to wait for us at the parking lot. We entered the building and headed to the grocery section.

"Hey Roxy."

"Mmh?" I hummed while tossing three boxes of chocolate cereal into my basket.

"Which cereal should I buy between these two?"

I looked up to see Jenna holding two identical cereal boxes and examining them.

"Jenna..," I started, "those are exactly the same type."

"Uh, no they're not. This one has a red price tag while this has a blue." she raised the one in her right hand and then left.

I narrowed my eyes at her for a seconds and just stared at her blankly.

"What?"

"I'm just wondering how Edward can cope with you. You're something else, Jenna. Crazy. That's the word!"

"Well, normal is too boring for me," she said and winked.

I rolled my eyes at that.

"You know, I was once told that constantly rolling your eyes isn't good for you. Your eyeballs might just end up stuck at the back of your head."

I involuntarily rolled my eyes at that too.

Ok. I might have a problem.

"Well at least, I'm not as delusional as you or," I sneered as I stared at all the butter and nuts in her basket, "greasy."

Jenna simultaneously pushed her basket and walked beside me. "Why did you arrive late to work today if you weren't shagging your boyfriend?"

My stomach churned. Shit! I had already forgotten about it. Leave it to Jenna to always remind you of shit you don't wanna talk about.

I sighed, a very long one.

"Well, Eric arrived home after midnight yesterday high and we got into a fight. I walked out on him and went to sleep but he came onto me. He wanted us to sleep together but I refused and went to the couch instead and voilà! I miraculously woke up around noon." I picked up some corned beef and dropped it in the basket loudly. Jenna flinched a little.

"Hey, be careful with that. It's not the reason for your boyfriend situation."

"Stop. I'm not in the mood to hear it."

Jenna was about to object when I rolled my basket away. She followed without a word.

After walking and tossing numerous things into our baskets, Jenna finally broke the silence.

"You know I want what's best for you, right?" she asked, genuine concern etched in her voice.

"Of course I know that." I playfully bumped my basket with her's.

"Oh really!" She mimicked me, making my groceries shift to the other side of the basket.

"Oh, It's on."

I chased her through the passages, between shelves, laughing like a kid. This was why Jenna was my best friend. She eventually stopped and I was grateful because I couldn't breathe.

"Oh my gosh, Jenna. You made me burn fat I don't have!"

"You started chasing me! You really need to get fit. We didn't even run for more than five minutes!"

I rolled my eyes and then looked around to see people looking at us like we were maniacs.

"Let's go." Jenna pulled me to

walk with her. We were now in the clothing section of the supermarket.

"We're making a quick stop here."

I assessed our surroundings.

She then dragged me into the lingerie store. What can I say? Jenna drags me a lot, to lots of places.

"Oh come on, Jenna. Are you for real? Why do you wanna buy some lingerie?"

"What do you mean why? Lingerie is an accepted form of clothing," she said matter of the fact-ly.

"Jenna, you have a whole section of your closet devoted to lingerie. You haven't even worn quarter of the ones you have. You also purchase new ones each time we come to the mall." I stared at her so she could realize how addicted she was to lingerie. We stood at the entrance of the store.

She looked at me like I won the lottery. "For once in my life, I don't know what to say." Actually, it felt like I had because Jenna was like a chatterbox. She always had the best come-backs to every statement.

"Hello. How may I help you?" we heard a voice say from inside the stall. We turned to it's source.

A smile appeared on the delicious man's face. "Jenna! How are you?" Jenna's hands instantly went around him.

Jenna, smiling from teeth to teeth pulled away. "I'm fine Armando and you?"

Armando it is.

"I'm great, love."

"I thought you were in Miami."

He chuckled and then eyed Jenna suggestively with a real, not-chaste, might I add, smirk. "Miami was just too boring. The guys were hot but the girls just....no."

Ok, Armandowando. Try keeping the flirting to a minimum.

"Awwn. Don't worry. I bet you there're funner places in the world to go to." Jenna smiled at him. "Are there any new arrivals?"

"Of course, specially for hotties like you." He motioned to go into the stall but our eyes somehow met. "Hey....," he finally faced me.

Holy fucking shit.

"Uh- I- uh- Rox- Roxanne."

His lips twisted into a lopsided grin.

"Didn't ask for a name but-," he chuckled. Why did it sound so sexy? "Pretty name for a sexy girl." His eyes trailed down my body and up. "Anyway, come in. You're with Jenna right?" He asked and I smiled. That was the only action I could afford since my throat was currently inaccessible and not able to perform one of it's primary functions. Not it's fault though. This guy was a fucking Greek god. How could his voice sound so sweet but so rough? What the fuck?

"Come on, Roxy. Let's go in." Jenna pulled me in. I didn't realize I'd just been standing there and gawking. Well, more like drooling.

I could definitely get creative with that chiselled jaw line and those fucking full lips definitely needed something. My tongue shoved into them, damnit! And those eyes. Those blue eyes, why the hell did I feel like drowning in them? Why would anyone feel like drowning? Oh shit! This-

"He's gay."

I slowly turned to Jenna and she smiled apologetically.

Damn it! Such a waste.

I smiled at Jenna and she wrapped her hand around my shoulder as we walked further into the store.

"These are our latest arrivals," Armando said, rejecting a call on his iPhone. He turned to me and caught me staring. I turned away, red in the cheeks, mentally cursing myself. Jenna on the other hand was gasping.

"Oh shit!" she said. She picked up a piece of lingerie. From my view, it looked nice. Superior in quality and it's colour was magnificent: ultramarine with traces of gold and pickets of a colour I couldn't decipher.

"I didn't know you guys had the new Victoria secret lingerie! Shit Armando! This came out only a week ago. This is the best stall ever! I'm taking three of this. I want a red one, this one and a black one," she said with finality in her statement and I stared at her, blank. Was she really buying three designer lingeries? You never know with Jenna.

"Uh- Jenna, are you really buying three of that?"

"Yes." She handed Armando the ultramarine one. After that, he went to the cashier and started handling the details while Jenna and I continued discussing.

"You know that you can never run away from the truth right? Especially when it's embedded in you." The playful glint and smirk Jenna always wore on her face disappeared. I hated Jenna's playful side because it was stupid and we always ended up in trouble but I dreaded her serious side more because she always told the worst one of all: the honest, heartbreaking truth.

"I know that." I turned my attention to my fingers. I'd planned on getting my nails done.

"And you know you're going to break up with Eric one of these days right?"

My eyes snapped to her. I was beyond speechless. Not because I feared her statement but because I feared it was the truth.

Fuck it.

**********

-C.