Twenty minutes after the UW billboard disappeared from my rearview mirror, Ellie and I walked up and down the grocery store aisles again. If I hadn't lived alone for two years and fended for myself, then I probably would've hated grocery shopping. Ellie with groceries was next-level though, she filled the cart with stuff I'd never have eaten on my own. At one point she even put in a pumpkin, which was too early for Halloween.

She was also very hands-on in the produce aisle, grabbed and poked things, even smelled them. Every few steps she mumbled her grocery list items and plans for them in an internal conversation with herself. I stepped back and watched her with interest since half the time I think she forgot I was next to her.

"That's a lot of... those," I finally spoke up after she tossed three cauliflower heads into the cart. We'd only gone through two aisles, the produce section, and she'd already filled half the cart.

"I'm going to try a few things." She looked up at me and hesitantly ran a hand through her hair. "I have a cauliflower, egg, and casserole recipe for breakfast, plus I'll make some buffalo wing knockoffs. We'll see how cauliflower tortillas go since I found some recipes but never made them."

"Buffalo wings?" I reached into the cart and pulled out a cauliflower. "Hate to tell you but this is nothing like chicken or a tortilla shell."

Teasing aside, I already knew I'd at least try whatever she made. I was pretty sure she had a recipe that made dog food taste like a five-star meal, not that I wanted her to attempt that.

"And I look forward to making you eat those words." With a lightness in her voice, she reached over and grabbed my wrist. A flash of her dark eyes up at me and a soft smirk later, she rotated my hand until I dropped the vegetable back in the cart.

Walked into this one, Ellie.

In a snap, I rolled my wrist until my hand held hers and teased, "Don't make me think about eating something... non-edible."

By the way her lips parted open and her cheeks turned pink, she understood the dirty reference. Ellie and I hadn't done well with penetrated sex but oral sex we had down, pun intended. While she wasn't the first girl who'd given me a blow job, again, by far the best.

I need to skip the details or I'll be pushing the cart with another hardon.

Ellie snatched her hand back and right when she opened her mouth, my lips curled up on their own. I ignored the interest that swelled between my legs from this indirect conversation topic, but my ego rewarded this round to me. While I pushed the cart past her, I paused, leaned over, and murmured in her ear, "Which aisle can I find -"

"Stop," she breathed out, her entire face now flushed red as I pulled back slowly. I chuckled and pressed a gentle kiss into her warm cheek, neither of which I could have restrained myself from if I'd tried.

"I was going to say wing sauce." I stood straight and winked at her. "Where's your mind this morning, Ellie?"

"In the gutter apparently," was her muttered response. She tipped her chin down, hid her face from view, and studied her list. "I think we're done with produce. I am now, at least."

While I was seriously tempted, I avoided asking her if she wanted any eggplant. The pyramid of peaches on a display past her shoulder did me zero favors either.

A few steps and several 'calm-down-Logan' breaths later, I stopped near the flowers at the end of the produce section, where the colorful selections caught my attention. With a look over my shoulder, I asked her, "Hey Ellie?"

"Mmm," she replied without looking up. After a few moments of silence, she looked up. "What?"

"Do you still like the same flowers?" I shifted my eyes to the display, then back to hers.

"I asked you out," she pointed out with a smile that quickly faded. "You don't need to get me anything."

"But if I wanted to," I insisted with a slight frown at her stubbornness. "What do you like?"

"Still the same," Ellie replied and patted a hand into my chest on her way past me. "Why?"

"Wes said you like... something else," I admitted, put one hand on her shoulder, and steered her towards the flowers. "So, do you?"

"Gerber daisies." She reached out and stroked her fingertips over a red-colored daisy. "These are fine."

"I don't want fine." I frowned down at her. "What's your favorite?"

With a deep breath in that expanded her chest, she sighed and slowly exhaled. Her eyes moved slowly upwards and, once they met mine, they held a weighted sadness.

"Fine," she spoke so quietly, I leaned in far enough that I heard her.

"White daisies with yellow centers, hasn't changed," she whispered in a husky voice that filled with emotion, then paused and swallowed lightly. "I... told Wes I liked something else. Red daisies are Charlie's favorite and he was sweet enough to buy them both for us on Valentine's Day."

"But...?" I pressed her for the truth.

Her eyes darkened slightly before they shifted off my gaze. My hand moved on its own and I gently lifted her chin with one finger, then used as gentle a voice as I could and redirected her eyes back on me. "Why not your favorite?"

"Because..." she started as another blush spread across her cheeks. The discomfort in her eyes held back what she wanted to say, so I just waited a few moments until she relented in a voice that sounded like a whispered confession.

Her words were entirely worth the wait, "Because they reminded me of you."

The honestly, combined with the quiet admission, generated multiple reactions inside me. While more than my ego exploded at the idea she'd held onto reminders of me while we were apart, how she distanced herself from them was a bitter sting.

My voice wavered slightly but I wanted the answer to the question that burned in my skull, "So you didn't want to think about me?"

"No," she replied quickly. She rolled her lips under, just once, then released, "I just didn't want anyone else to give them to me... They were too special. Sorry, I'm not describing it very well."

"I get it." I smiled at the unspoken compliment and lowered my hand. Since no part of me wanted her feeling pressured or torn up over this, I just assured her, "Thanks for telling me."

"What about you?" Her soft voice flowed around me from behind and stopped me in my steps. "Anything you give up?"

Is any and all girls a legit answer?

"Like reminders of you?" I looked at her over my shoulder again, but stalled with my response.

"Sure." She just shrugged and skimmed her eyes over her list again.

"I'll tell you what," I offered with a sigh because while my heart tugged in my chest that Ellie deserved to hear my vomited feelings, my brain was well aware that we now currently stood between cans of beans and boxes of macaroni and cheese. "I'll tell you everything Friday night. You ask, I'll answer."

"Deal," she quipped happily.

With the tension dissolved, we made quick work on Ellie's list. I bit back a laugh when her short legs jumped up for the taller shelves, defined by anything on the top two rows. She never asked for help but after she climbed up the baking aisle shelves like a ladder for some yeast, I stepped in for her.

"Thanks," she said and pushed the cart ahead to the refrigeration section, our last but biggest stop. "Short girl problems."

"Logan Hightower, what a surprise," a suggestive female voice called over to me as Ellie and I stopped over the refrigerated meats' case. Both Ellie and my heads turned and I inwardly groaned at the blonde whose blue eyes were trained on me like the freshest meat in the aisle.

Relief flashed through Ellie's eyes when I leaned down and murmured in her ear, "What's her name again?"

"Lydia," she grumbled back and narrowed my eyes as the girl sauntered closer. She looked absolutely ridiculous in four inch heels, miniskirt, and a strapless shirt that looked more like a bathing suit top.

"She looks like a bad walk of shame," Ellie whispered more to herself than me.

"Ellie," Lydia said in an icy tone, then turned on her full charm as she sidled up to me. With one hand perched on the edge of the meat cooler, she batted her lashes upwards, then did absolutely nothing for me when one of her hands roamed up my arm.

Ellie's eyes shifted two shades darker when Lydia pressed further, "How about that personal interview? Can you squeeze me in on Tuesday?"

The muscles in my back and shoulders stiffened, but I provided an answer I hoped Ellie appreciated, "If I agree, then will you stop touching me?"

"No promises," Lydia purred suggestively, patted my chest, then thankfully withdrew her hand and rolled up her palm. "But give me your phone so I can enter my number."

"You can email me on my student account," I replied coolly but internally cringed at what I hadn't yet shared with Ellie. "Since we both know you already have it."

Lydia had actually emailed me a few days prior to the game. I assumed the general first name then last name format for all UW emails was how she found me, but she hadn't been the only one who'd contacted me. After the pep rally, my inbox had been flooded with all kinds of emails, from awesome supportive pre-game well-wishes to, well... I'll just say that messages worse than Lydia's that had gone right into my trash.

"Right," she faltered slightly while Ellie gave her a look like she mentally stuffed Lydia's head in between the chicken thighs and wings in the meat cooler.

Lydia's blue eyes shifted between us and a realization stirred inside them, but I couldn't have been more surprised when she blurted out, "Are you two together or something?"

Before either of us answered, which I for the record would've admitted yes, Lydia cackled out a laugh. She looked down on Ellie but spoke to me, "Because really Logan, you could do much better than a bookworm prude."

If Ellie had been a cartoon character, then her face would've instantly turned bright red and steam rushed out her ears. Instead, her small hands closed into tight fists, she clenched her jaw tight, and her eyes narrowed. I however, had a slightly different reaction.

Well, that ends that interview.

"Know what Lydia, I think I'm going to decline your interview request," I interjected with as polite of a voice as I mustered. By the coy smile that crossed over Ellie's lips, she knew I suppressed an underlying irritation. "Maybe another time."

"I don't give in easily, Logan," Lydia promised, then gave me a sugary sweet smile that set off every red flag my mind owned, then swayed her hips and clicked her heels down the aisle.

"Well, that's encouraging." Ellie groaned and turned over to the fridge at her hips. While her dark eyes skimmed over the options beneath her but focused on nothing, I reached over and placed my hand on hers.

"Ellie," I started. "Sorry, I just -"

"Why are you sorry?" She craned my neck back and studied me but I couldn't hold back the sense of guilt that rose inside me. "She's the morning-after trash."

I cleared my throat, then clarified, "I should've told you that she contacted me, I didn't -"

"You don't owe me anything," Ellie muttered and dropped her gaze. "Your emails are your own private business."

"But I should've told you." I curled my fingers around hers and squeezed until she looked back up at me. "I want us to be open and honest again, even if we just take things slow."

"Open and honest..." Ellie visibly swallowed at those words.

A small frown creased tension between my eyebrows at her reaction, but I just gently rubbed my thumb over the back of her hand. She shifted her weight between her feet and, when she looked up at me, now her eyes were soaked with guilt.

"Logan, I..." She mumbled quietly like a confession. "I need to tell you something."