Chapter 31:

I was pushing a cart down the aisle of the grocery store about half an hour into our store trip. Cameron was annoying the shit out of me.  He kept stopping to look at things on the shelf like he had never seen a grocery store in his whole life. I was starving and he was acting like we had all the time in the world.

He picked up a box of some sort of cracker snack off the shelf and started reading the label. He shook his head, placed it back down, and picked up another kind right beside it.  He made a face and put it back down again. He did it three more times just to irritate me.

"What are you doing?" I snapped at him.

"Looking for something new to try. I don't know, really. Nothing sounds good right now." He grabbed another box and began examining it.

"Everything sounds good right now." Both Jessa's were shrieking at him at the same time. They were hungry too.

"Keep moving. I don't want to be out all night. I don't feel well." I complained as he took his sweet time perusing the shelves. 

I began walking down the aisle and he set the box back down to follow me. I bared my teeth at him when I saw him stop and pause again.

"Don't knock him out. He has the keys." Good Jessa reminded me.

"Shut up," I mumbled under my breath back at her.

"Something wrong, darling?" Cameron whispered in my ear as he snuck up behind me. He ran his hand over my butt and I growled angrily. I pinched his hand as hard as I could to try to get him to quit.

"Just stop it. Stop touching me. You touch me too much." I stomped off with the cart as he strolled behind me at a leisurely pace with his hands stuck in his pockets.

"Jess." He called behind me as I started walking down the snack aisle looking for some glorious fatty food that would take my grouchiness away. I wanted lots and lots of crunchy things to mash my teeth against. 

If I didn't get what I wanted, I was going to fucking bite the idiotic boy behind me all night until I did.

I continued walking down the aisle when Cameron started trying to get my attention again. I pretended like he wasn't behind me, yelling my name over and over again. If I ignored him long enough, he would have to stop eventually.

"Jess...Jess...Jessa...I know you hear me...Jessa Miller...Jesssssaaaa...." He kept calling.

"Will you just stop?" I yanked a bag of sour cream and onion chips off the shelf and angrily tossed them in the cart. I picked up another one and slammed it down with its friend.

"Maybe this will make you feel better?" He said playfully.

"What now, Cami?" I groaned.

I spun around and raised my eyebrow in annoyance. Cameron was holding a bag of bright, orange-colored cheese puffs in his hand. He had magically found a pair of red plastic sunglasses from a hanging display and was wearing them.  The tag kept hitting him in the nose as he danced in the aisle.

"I hate you." I tried to bite back my smile and failed. I wanted to stay angry and he was killing my bad mood.

"How about it? You want a little cheese puff tonight?"  He grinned back.

"This is why I don't take you places."

"Well? Is that a yes?" He nodded enthusiastically.

"Put them in the damn cart." I huffed.

Cameron launched the bag into the front of the cart like he was shooting a three-pointer on a basketball court instead of walking over to the cart like a sane person.  He was in a mood tonight. Unfortunately, it was not the same mood I was in.

I began to walk up the aisle again to get as far away from him as possible and then stopped abruptly when I felt sick. I doubled over as everything started to swirl around me. I was starting to feel dizzy and had to lay my head against the cart so I didn't fall over.

Cameron came running up behind me and ripped the stupid red glasses off his face. He threw them back on the shelf next to the tortilla chips.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he rubbed my back.

"I don't know. I just feel so off today." I explained.  This was the first time I had admitted it out loud.  Something was not quite right with me again. There had to be something wrong with my meds.

"Let's just get what we have and get you home. I will fill up the bathtub with your new bubble bath and you can just relax tonight. Does that sound good, darling?" He caressed my back tenderly.

I nodded my head. The quiet was exactly what I needed tonight.

When we got up to the checkout, Cam was still hanging on to me tightly in case I fell over.

I looked down into the cart, about to unload all the contents onto the conveyor, and realized we had forgotten the peanut butter.  It was the one thing I wanted to come to the store for.  It was so like me to fill up a cart and forget the one thing I wanted to buy.

I wasn't going to leave the store without it, but the thought of turning around to go get it made me even more ill.

There was only one solution.

"Cami?" I said quietly in the sweetest voice I could muster in my current state.

"Yeah, Jess?"

"I forgot to get the peanut butter. Can you run back and get some for me?" I tried to turn on the charm, but there was really no need. It was Cameron; it wasn't going to take much persuasion to get him to do it for me. 

"Yeah, sure. Hang tight. I'll be right back."

"Get the big one." I stopped him before he took off across the store.

"Got it. One gigantic tub of peanut butter coming right up." He jogged back across a few aisles and then disappeared. He was going to be gone for a few minutes since the checkout line we were at was on the other side of the store. It was part of the reason I despised shopping at these big box stores; nothing was ever close to each other. I hated walking across multiple departments, only to end up impulse buying things I didn't know I needed.

I tapped my fingers on the cart and fidgeted around impatiently until Cameron walked back up to me. He was carrying the biggest jar of peanut butter that I had ever laid my eyes on.

My face fell when I saw it.

"Cami, you got the wrong kind." I started bawling my eyes out.

"Jess, it's peanut butter. It's all the same." He looked like he was confused.

"You got the creamy one. I wanted the crunchy kind." I was full-on ugly crying in the middle of the store over a giant jar of peanut butter that I didn't want.

He raised his eyebrow and turned his head. He looked down at the jar and back up to my face.

"Jess, you don't eat crunchy peanut butter. You only ever eat the creamy kind. You always tell me that it makes the jelly taste funny if it's crunchy." He questioned me.

"Cami, just get me the damn crunchy kind." I barked out, drawing way too much attention to the both of us.

"Calm down, darling. It's really not that big of a deal. I'll go get you the crunchy kind." He looked lost in thought as he began walking to the wrong side of the store.

"You're going the wrong way," I screamed at him.

"Oh yeah, I knew that." He shook his head and started walking back towards the back of the store while staring at the jar in his hands. He had a huge smirk on his face like was amused about something.

He was going to get karate chopped right between the eyes when he got back if he kept acting like this tonight.

"Are you in line, dear?" A woman behind me asked.

"Oh no, you can go ahead." I scooted out of the way to let her pass.

I wasn't sure exactly how long Cameron would be gone.  I didn't want to be finished ringing out before he got back.  It was rude to expect people to wait for you in line.

"Did your boyfriend forget something?"

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