LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 161: Factor Twenty
Claire’s fanatic rhyming aside, we continued on towards the store, being passed by another firefighter on a snowmobile before we arrived. In front of the store, there were a couple of police officers and some firefighters near a stack of sleds. They were handing them out to people who exited the store and helped them to secure their groceries on top of them.
“Em, will we get a sled too?” I asked my girlfriend.
One of the firefighters had heard my comment and smiled at me, giving me a thumbs up. “Yes you will. As long as you don’t live just around the corner.”
Em quickly replied by giving the address of Rora’s house, to which the fireman nodded. He was especially happy to hear that we were also hauling some groceries for our neighbors too.
“Thank you for looking out for your neighbors, this is definitely a time where we need more acts of kindness like that.” As he said that, the radio he was wearing started to make some noise. I really couldn’t decipher what was said but apparently the man understood without an issue as he took the radio in hand. “Copy that, we will head over.” He then turned towards the rest of his squad. “Horizontal evacuation guys, a couple of streets over, let’s go.”
“Yes, Captain.” His men replied and wasted no moments to get on top of their snowmobiles.
He then directed some last couple of words towards us. “Our colleagues of the police department will stay here to distribute the sleds. Just ask them when you come out.”
The three of us nodded in awe as the firefighters then set off into the snowy cityscape.
“Man, firefighters are so cool.” Claire commented after they had disappeared out of sight. “Well, especially now with the weather and all, but you know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean, Claire.” Em replied. “I’ve always liked firetrucks since I was a child.”
“Me too!” I commented.
Claire chuckled. “Who didn’t? Big red truck goes vroom.”
I felt somewhat grateful that the police officers were standing just outside of the hearing distance. They were also doing their job reaching out to the community, but people generally always gravitated towards the fire department. Not entirely illogical, as the fire department can’t really abuse their power in the same way as the police can. But it is a shame for police officers who were actually trying to make a change and be better than those few colleagues who are bad.
“Ria, are you coming along?” Em grabbed my hand and pulled slightly. It seemed that I had drifted away in thought and hadn’t noticed that Claire and Em were heading inside.
I smiled and nodded happily in return. “Yes, let’s!”
The inside of the store definitely was a lot more cozy than the outside, that was for sure. Although I still wasn’t planning on taking off my jacket any time soon. The store itself wasn’t busy at all, as expected, only a couple of people here and there who needed to get some groceries, but I would be surprised if there were more than fifteen people inside the store with us and the employees included.
The three of us get a cart to load all our groceries onto and then start touring the shop. As we are three rich kids, we are not really looking at the price tag on any of it although for our neighbors we do keep in mind to buy the specific brands they suggested.
“Uhm, Ria?”
“Yes?” I looked to Em.
“Could you go and grab the last couple of things from this list. I think they should all be in the aisle next to this one.” She gave the shopping list Julie penned down to me. “We’ll continue going down this aisle.”
“Okidoki.” I smiled and took the list out of her hand. The list contained mostly pasta-related items. “I’ll come look for you when I got them all.”
Em smiled, leaned in to give me a kiss on my cheek, and then continued walking down the aisle with Claire next to her.
And so my quest began to finish the shopping list. The first couple of items were pretty easy to find as they just wanted a couple of packs of spaghetti and some herbal mixes, but it’s the peeled tomatoes that were delaying me. It was a pretty specific brand they wanted, and it didn’t really jump into my eye immediately. It did make me realize just how many different kinds of canned tomatoes existed. Quite impressive if you think about it.
Then after five minutes of systematically looking through the aisle I finally spotted the canned tomatoes I needed, but that also led to my second problem. My height.
The dastardly store had put the exact canned tomatoes I needed on the highest shelf, and my small stature didn’t grant me easy access to what I needed. A quick look around also didn’t really give me any new insights either. From the couple of times I’ve gone to a store with Rora and Em, I noticed that there were occasionally small steps provided that you could use to get to the higher shelves quite a bit easier. But a quick peak in the aisles nearby didn’t reveal any of those to me. That left me with two options, getting someone to help me, but it looked like all the employees were busy, or standing on my tippy toes to grab the canned tomatoes I needed.
To my regret, standing on my tippy toes also proved harder than expected. The cans I wanted to grab were just a tad bit too slippery for me to get a good hold of it which was very frustrating, so tantalizingly close, yet so far away at the same time. Luckily for me, help came from an unexpected angle, and with that I mean it came from behind me as I hadn’t noticed a lady walk up to me who quite easily picked the cans off the shelf for me.
“How many do you need?” A strangely familiar voice asked while she held my back still so I wouldn’t trip.
“Four of them.” I said, staring up as the lady took the required amount off the shelf.
“That’s a lot of canned tomatoes, isn’t it?” The voice said amusedly.
I turned around to take the cans into reception. “It’s for our neighbors, we are shopping for them.” I don’t know why I felt the need to defend the purchase of four cans of tomatoes, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did. When looking up at the lady that helped me, I finally realized why her voice sounded so familiar.
“Oh, you are the witchy lady from the store!” The moment I said that I realized I didn’t mean to say part of that sentence out loud. I covered my mouth. “Whoops.”
“Witchy lady, huh?” The lady chuckled. “Ah, I remember you. You were in my shop buying some candles and necessities for massages with your strong girlfriend, right?.”
I nodded sheepishly.
She gave me a wink. “Don’t worry, my friends also call me a bit of a witch, I do try to embrace that vibe. No offense taken at all.” She then offered the cans to me, which I quickly took into my arms.
“Ria, who’s that?” I heard Em’s voice come from the side. Claire and her must’ve come looking for me as I had taken quite a while to obtain the tomatoes I now held in my arms.
“This is the lady who owns the store where we bought your massage things.” I replied with a smile.
“Oh.”
“Are you the girlfriend they bought it for?” The lady asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”
Em nodded and blushed a little. “I am, yes.”
“Did they do a good job?”
“Very good.” Em nodded once more. “Definitely worth a repeat in my opinion.”
“That’s good to hear. I hope the scented oils were also to your liking.”
“Definitely.”
The lady smiled. “I’ll leave you three to it. I don’t want to hold you up for long. Feel free to come visit my shop any time.”
“Any time?” Claire had spotted an opportunity.
The lady glared friendly at Claire. “Any time we are open.”
“Aww.” Claire started to chuckle, which also got a chuckle out of us all.
“Bye bye.” The lady gave us a polite wave.
“Bye bye!” I waved back enthusiastically, almost dropping the spaghetti to the floor. “Thank you for helping me again!”
She replied with a nod and then disappeared out of sight as she turned the corner into another aisle.
“Why did you need help?” Claire asked, slightly confused, before she looked up at the shelf where the tomatoes came from. “Oh, that’s why.”
“I’m too smol.” I pouted.
“Damn, I should’ve taken that into account. My girlfriend is too small for canned tomatoes.”
“It would’ve been fine with any other brand…”
Em chuckled once more and put her hand on my head, giving me a short rub. Accentuating my stature just a little bit more. “It does increase your cuteness level by a factor of twenty, though.”
“I’m inclined to agree with that.” Claire was swift to follow.
-A factor of twenty isn’t too bad… I’ll gladly take that trade any day of the week.-