Bread.

Alex pushed his shopping cart to the end of the isle before turning left, going over his mental grocery list.

He decided it would be more efficient if he cooked his meals instead of eating out the rest of his stay. He was already paying for the kitchen in his room, anyway. It wasn’t that he didn’t realize he could easily afford to spend extra money on meals, though. He loved cooking, and with his constant traveling he barely had any time to do it.

He reached his isle and picked up a loaf of sliced bread, then mingled to the other side of the isle and grabbed a loaf of freshly baked Italian bread. He looked down at his cart, racking his brain for other things he needed before pushing it towards the produce section.

He looked down at his cart again, making sure he’d gotten all his things before heading to the checkout line. He had a pretty small haul, considering he only needed enough food for a few days. He pursed his lips and shrugged before heading to check out.

As he was waiting in line, his eyes adverted to the tabloids to his left. He scoffed as he scanned over the headline about Kylie Jenner’s newest cosmetic surgery, and he grimaced. He hated tabloids so much that they made him physically ill. He’d never been in one for any major reason, but still all the information about him was fabricated. He most certainly wasn’t “bff’s with Harry Styles”. Never even met the guy. And they spelled his name wrong.

Which was why it struck him in a weird way to see his name spelled correctly in the top corner of the same magazine with the headline in big, bold letters reading ALEX GASKARTH: MISSING???.

“What the fuck?” he whispered under his breath as he looked at the picture of himself behind the headline.

As curious as he was, he didn’t want to be bothered with whatever crap was written about him to read it. Instead, he pulled out his minute phone and took a shitty quality picture and sent it to Jack, adding Dude wtf underneath it.

After shoving his brick of a phone back into his trunks pocket, he picked up a different tabloid and set in front of his. He didn’t want himself staring at him while he waited to check out.

He was about to move forward in the line when he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around, his cheeks immediately burning as he made eye contact with a smiling Lily.

“Hey,” she giggled, but soon the noise was cut short as she noticed the expression on Alex’s face. He looked like an even mixture of sad and pissed.

“Damn, did I catch you at a bad time?” she winced.

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Why?”

Lily pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling nervously as she tried to bite back her smile. “I can’t tell if you want to cry or burn the place down.”

Alex hadn’t even realized that he was frowning from the tabloid and his face flamed even more. “No, sorry, I was just….thinking about something.”

“Oh,” Lily frowned dramatically. “Well, stop thinking about it. That look doesn’t suit you.”

Alex grinned and mentally cursed himself as his skin grew hotter. “Noted.”

Lily smiled and lightly touched his arm briefly. “What’s up?”

The relief washed over him like a cool pool of water as his nerves started calming down and he gestured towards his cart. “Just getting some groceries for my room. I decided to cook the rest of my stay.”

“Oh,” Lily said smoothly with risen eyebrows. “You cook?”

“I do,” he nodded, not even realizing his eyes were glued to the way her mouth moved when she spoke.

“You cook well?” she teased, and his eyes snapped back up to hers.

“Very well, thank you,” he said, faking hurt feelings.

Lily giggled again, and she felt so silly and was sure she sounded like a nine-year-old girl. “I’d love to be a judge sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Alex chuckled.

She licked her bottom lip and smiled as she looked up at Alex’s eyes. She’d just been debating with herself whether she wanted to risk really falling for a tourist, but she couldn’t quite help herself with Alex. Every time her green eyes connected with his brown ones, her gut fluttered and it just felt like those teeny tiny bells were ringing in her chest. She knew better, but she had to at least know him.

“So, you cooking tonight or are we meeting somewhere for dinner?” she asked.

Alex’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh, what?”

“Tonight,” Lily said. “Are you cooking for us or are we going out to eat?”

“T-tonight?” he stuttered.

“Yep,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’re hanging out tonight. That’s cool, right?”

Alex chuckled at her bluntness. “Do I have a choice?”

“Of course,” Lily nodded. “You don’t have to hang out with me, Alex. If you don’t want to, that is,” she added, her eyes drifting dramatically to her feet.

After getting over the electric shock of hearing her say his name, Alex realized by the way she would glance to see if he was paying her any attention that she was faking it, but he went along with her joke anyway and reached over to rub her arm. “Aw, it’s okay, Lily. I’ll hang out with you tonight.”

“Cool,” she smiled, her skin under his fingers tingling. “So, you cooking?”

Alex grimaced a little and shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t cooked in a while. I don’t want my first time back in the kitchen to be for an audience.”

“Fair enough,” she shrugged back. “Meet me at Aloha! around seven-ish?”

“Uh, yeah,” he nodded. “I’ll see you there.”

Lily waved and turned on her heel before disappearing down one of the isles. Alex pushed his cart to the conveyor belt, thankful that no one was waiting in line behind him and that the cashier was patient with him. After paying for his groceries, he hurried back to his hotel room. He had six hours to get ready for dinner and he had no idea what to wear.

Notes