Where They Go

Chapter Twenty-Six: On The Curb At 7/11

It was a little past ten-thirty at night, when Zoey looked to Erin and asked,
"Are you hungry by any chance?"
"A little bit. Why?"
"There's a seven-eleven pretty close to here. I thought we could get some snacks, maybe a slushy."

Erin looked at her curiously.
"Are you allowed to leave this late at night?"
"As long as I take my phone with me, then yes." Zoey answered.
"My mom would kill me if I left the house in the middle of the night." Erin commented.

Zoey, who had been laying upside down on her bed, sat up and went to Erin.
"You're mom isn't here, though. You're safe with me."

Erin did feel safe with Zoey, she always did. "Do you want to go?" Zoey asked.
"Yes."

Zoey stood up and went over to her dresser, opening her wallet and counting the money inside of it.
"We're good to go. I've got plenty of money."

By "plenty of money", she meant twenty dollars, which wasn't much, but it was enough for them to buy what they wanted from the convenience store.

Zoey put her wallet and phone into her pajama pants pockets, then went over to her closet.

She pulled a plain gray hoodie out of the closet and put it on.
"I forgot to bring a hoodie." Erin said.
Zoey looked at her sympathetically.
"It's fine. You can borrow one of mine."

Erin thanked her then looked in the closet, picking out a navy blue hoodie with the words "Death Cab For Cutie" printed on it in colorful letters.

In the time that they'd spent apart, Erin had gotten around to listening to more music from "Death Cab For Cutie", figuring out that she liked it a lot.

With Zoey being taller than Erin, her hoodie was baggy and the sleeves were a little too long on Erin.

Zoey looked at her fondly.
"What?" Erin asked softly, pulling the zipper up.
"You just look adorable, that's all."
Erin felt her face burn up at that compliment.

The two of them walked down the stairs into the living room, where Sharron was sitting on the couch, watching a reality television show and drinking a glass of wine.

"Where are you girls going?"
"We're gonna go to the seven-eleven that's a few blocks away."
"Okay. Keep your phone with you and don't stay out too late, alright?"
"Alright. Love you, Mom."
"I love you, too." Sharron said.

"Can I hold your hand?" Erin asked as the two of them started the twenty-five minute walk to the convenience store.
Zoey replied by giving Erin's left hand a gentle squeeze.
Erin's hands were still cold, like they'd been when they first met.

The walk to seven-eleven was rather peaceful.
The two girls walked hand-in-hand down the street, talking about nothing in particular.

"Zoey, are you going to tell your mom about us?" Erin asked a little while later.
"Yeah, I plan on telling her sometime."

Erin went silent for a second, then let out a sigh.
"Is it okay with you if I don't tell my parents?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Are you not out to them?"

"I... haven't really found a word for what I am." She admitted. "So, I don't really plan on coming out to them."
"You don't need a word for what you are, that's completely okay, Erin."
"Thanks. I also don't think they'd be too accepting. My mom isn't the most... progressive person."

Zoey nodded her head.
"I get that. You don't have to tell her, it's completely fine with me."
Erin felt a small weight being lifted off her chest.
She had nothing to worry about.

They eventually made it to seven-eleven.
Erin held the door open for Zoey, then followed her into the store.

Not many people were in seven-eleven at this hour.
A few people were wandering through the isles and one elderly man was waiting for something by the cash register.

Zoey gently pulled Erin towards the candy isle.
She picked up a bag of gummy cola bottles.
Erin took a minute to decide what she wanted, Zoey held her hand, waiting patiently.
Soon, she picked a bag of gummy sharks.

They then meandered their way over to the slushy machine.
Erin grabbed a cup, then filled it part way with the blue raspberry slushy.
Zoey filled part of her cup with the cherry slushy.

Both of them mixed their slushees with other flavors. Zoey mixed hers with the cola flavored slushy and Erin mixed hers with the lime flavored slushy.

Erin lingered by the slushy machine, staring off into space for a minute or two.
Zoey squeezed her hand a bit, which shook Erin out of her mind.

Zoey paid for their candy and drinks, then pushed the door open.

She walked a little bit away from the store and sat down on the sidewalk, motioning for Erin to sit next to her.

Erin ripped her bag of gummy sharks open, put one into her mouth, and put two in her slushy.

Zoey looked at the two sharks.
"Why'd you do that?" She queried, chewing on a piece of her candy.
"The sharks are in the water. I don't know, I thought it was cute." She said.

Zoey put a gummy cola bottle into Erin's cup.
"Why did you do that?"
"Now the sharks can share a drink." Zoey replied. Erin chuckled lightly at that.
"Yeah, but plastic bottles aren't too good for sharks." She commented, smiling.
"Oh, don't think to literally about it." Zoey said, smiling, too.

A bit of time passed, it was nearly midnight.
All of their candy had been eaten and their slushees were almost finished.

Underneath the light of a street lamp, Erin looked wonderful. Her eyes were shining with joy and she was grinning happily at Zoey, who'd just told the punchline to a hilarious joke.

Zoey felt really good right now.
She'd never felt this happy and full of so much love in her entire life.

With all of this love in her heart, she asked Erin something.
"Can I kiss you?"
That caught Erin off guard.

Her face felt warm again and she knew it was most likely bright red.
"Yes." She answered quietly.

She'd never kissed anyone before. Her heart was pounding with excitement and a bit of nervousness.

Zoey had kissed a few random kids back in her freshman year of high school during games of "Spin The Bottle", so she was only a little more experienced than Erin.

She placed her hand on Erin's cheek and looked into her eyes.
"Are you nervous?"
Erin nodded her head a bit. "Don't be. Everything's okay, I promise."
"Thank you." Erin said.
She was so grateful to have someone as understanding and patient as Zoey in her life.

Zoey pulled Erin closer to her.
Their lips met gently.

Zoey was holding Erin's face in her hands.
Erin didn't know what to do with her hands.

Her heart was jumping and dancing around too hard in her chest for her to figure out where to put her hands.

She felt so damn happy right now.
There was so much going through her mind, she was feeling so many things at once, the feeling of Zoey's hands on her cheeks, the comforting smell of Zoey's hoodie, the cool breeze going through her hair, the softness of Zoey's lips against hers.
She didn't want this to end.

But after another second, Zoey slowly leaned back, feeling Erin's hands on her waist.

She kept her hands on Erin's cheeks, feeling her heart jump with joy at the huge smile that was on Erin's face.

Neither of them knew what to say.
They were both overwhelmed with a flood of great feelings.

Erin kept her hands on Zoey's waist, while Zoey pulled her hands back.

She wrapped her arms around Erin, hugging her tightly.

They stayed hugging like that for a couple long minutes.

After a while, they both stood up, threw their trash away, and started the walk towards Zoey's house.

They didn't get home until one in the morning, but they were very happy with their outing.