Chapter Text
Another normal day in their apartment complex, everyone was sleeping right now at 7 am. Kendrick was lying in bed , rolling around and mumbling random words in his sleep, "Mh.. nh.." Suddenly his alarm went off and rang and he jolted up immediately, "..What..? Oh.. I thought I turned you off."
He tried going back to sleep, but yet another alarm went off 5 minutes later, "GET UP" He woke up and covered his ears, groaning and complaining. "..Fine. I guess I can get up." He sat up and stared at the wall for a minute before getting up and starting his morning routine, brushing his teeth, washing his face, eating cereal while watching a random TV show.
He rubs his eyes as he finishes his food, putting it in the sink before stretching and yawning, and crawling back to bed. "Yeah.. time to sleep.."
He groaned before laying back down, rubbing his eyes. Then, his phone starting ringing, he groaned louder this time, "Oh come on..!" He rubbed his eyes and looked at the wall for a third time, "Better not be another alarm I put." He notices its a call from Trevor. "What does he want..?" He says with a moody tone.
"Huh..? What is it?" Kendrick asks on the other side.
"Hey Kendrick? Yeah, I really need you to go with Ash to the grocery store. Me and Ryan are too busy around here trying to make sure Jasper doesn't get in our stuff."
Kendrick is immediately reluctant to do this, questioning why he out of all people have to do this. "Geez.. well, can Jasper come with me instead..?"
Trevor sighs, "No, he'll just cause more trouble there, Ash is the best option. Besides, you need someone with you, its easier."
"OK, I guess." Kendrick sighs, his hand falls down a little before closing his eyes,
"Good, meet me in my dorm in 15 minutes." Kendrick ends the call and sighs, sitting up before staring at the wall for a few minutes. "Well, guess I gotta do this."
A few minutes later
"I don't wanna do this.." He rubs his eyes, knocking on the door before Trevor opens the door immediately, pushing Ash out, "Hey, Here's a list of all the groceries I need, be back before noon."
Before Kendrick could even process the words, Trevor shut the door immediately. He stared at the door, looking confused. "Why'd he want him to go quickly so badly?" He thought to himself.
Ash stands there in silence, waiting for something to happen, "Uh, you good?" Kendrick shakes his head and turns towards him, "Oh, yeah.." ".. So, what did he add to the list?" Ash asks, going on his toes and trying to peek at the paper.
"..Lemme see, um, bread, milk, cheese, yogurt, waffles.."
Kendrick responds before Ash immediately grabs the list from him, "C'mon, lets go." Kendrick is a bit more confused, dumbfounded Ash would even seem slightly eager to do something at all. "Okay."
Ash walks downstairs, then giving a glance back a quick second to Kendrick before he then follows from behind. It's a bit awkward between them, as they have never had a real interaction with just them before.
"..So why'd he choose you to come with me?" Ash asks, with a clear usual lack of energy. Kendrick jolts up a bit before immediately responding. "Trevor didn't tell you?" "Tell me what?" Ash asks, a bit reluctant.
"Well, he told us that it had to be us two because we needed two people to go, and Jasper was out of the question." Kendrick responds.
"Oh, makes sense. He's very sneaky anyways." Ash has a small, but clear grin on his face.
They both walk out of the apartment complex, and as Ash looks around, he asks Kendrick where the grocery store is. "You forgot where the Grocery store is? Don't you go there like once a month?" Kendrick asks.
"Well, yeah but I forgot. And wait, how'd you know that?" Kendrick itches the back of his head, "Well, I see you come back with a bunch of grocery bags when you walk back to your apartment every month."
"Wow, I didn't know someone paid attention to my groceries." Kendrick starts feeling a bit guilty and is quick to respond, "O-oh no, I'm sorry if that seems weird."
Ash reply's, "No, not really. Seems fine to me." "
You really think so?" Kendrick responds, "Other people didn't really think the same." "What'd they say?" Ash asks, a bit curious his ears perk up a bit. "Well, I mean a few people at school told me that I'm always too focused on small stuff." Kendrick states. "I guess they meant that was a bad trait to have."Well, I don't think that's a bad trait at all." Ash remarks. "You don't?" Kendrick asks.
"Well, wouldn't that clearly be a good trait though? I mean, you notice stuff that others don't. That sounds good in my opinion." Ash utters. "I guess you're right. I never really viewed it liked that."
Kendrick nudges Ash, "Hey, we're here." Ash stops zoning out, "Oh, yeah. I actually remember the path again." Kendrick waits behind Ash, pulling out the list of groceries. "Sooo.. we need to go to the dairy section first, it has most of the items on the list." Kendrick shares to Ash. He chuckles, "Well, I guess those two aren't lactose intolerant." Kendrick giggles as well, putting his hand near his mouth.
"Anyways, here." Ash gives Kendrick a cart from outside. Kendrick grabs it from him and they walk over to the dairy section, stopping and trying to find the food items that they need in that section. Ash puts some cheese, yogurt and milk in the cart. "Okay.. so we also need waffle-" Ash trips and falls, the list rips in half, the other half stuck under the freezer with the ice cream.
"Oh no." Ash looks at Kendrick. He looks back at Ash, "What? What happened?" Ash looks down, "The other half of the list ripped." Well that doesn't seem so bad, we can still read it." Kendrick states, before noticing the piece was missing. "Where's the other half?" "Its under this thingy." Ash responds.
"Um.. that's really bad, umm.. ok, lemme just call Trevor." Ash's shoulders sink a bit in relief.
Kendrick dials Trevor's number in his phone, then waits for the other side to pick up.
"Kendrick? You coming back?" Trevor asks.
Kendrick tugs on the rim of his shirt, shaking a nervous sweat. "Um.. no. I just wanted to ask you..."
"What? What happened?" Trevor asks on the other side. "Well.. do you remember what was on the grocery list..?" Trevor's obvious sigh pinches through the phone, his nostrils flaring and his face turning red, "Are you serious?" He bursts out in anger from the other side, "I can't trust any of you guys!" Ash hears the call, having a lack of a reaction but still. His posture backing his body away.
Kendrick ends the call, his body still tense after Trevor's crash out. "No, no.. what are we gonna do?!" He pulls on the hem of his shirt again, biting it with his teeth. Kendrick paces a little throughout the aisle, Ash confused on what to do in the situation, simply stands there and tries to process their situation a bit.
"U-um, lets just get some more dairy products.. Ryan and Trevor like those, right...?"
Ash looks at Kendrick with utter confusion, and he decides to go along with his idea because he can't think of anything better. Ash walks behind Kendrick as he tries to just look at random items and see which ones seem best. Something pops up in Ash's mind, "Didn't we need butter?" Ash asks in an uncaring tone, his eyes scanning all the other items in the aisle. "Oh. Yeah, I guess.." He looks around the aisle, looking for the butter. Kendrick rolls the cart as Ash stays in the same spot, still scanning the items.
Kendrick finds the section where the butter is, "Oh, here it is." He comes closer, before realizing there's no more butter left in stock. 'What? No.. The only thing we have on the list, isn't even there... " Ash strolls over slowly to Kendrick, wondering what he's upset about. He looks over to see that there's no butter. Ash looks at Kendrick before shrugging, pulling out his phone and scrolling.
Kendrick takes a deep breath and slicks his hair back, shaking his hands, he grabs the cart and turns it around, ready to go to the checkout station. "That's all you got?" Ash gives Kendrick an uncaring expression throughout his whole body.
"Geez, and we were bonding so much earlier. Can't believe he would go back to be uncaring. Right after our first, surprisingly well conversation together." Kendrick yawns, continuing his pushing on the cart, loosing focus and his body auto piloting. Just then, Ash had stepped on Kendrick's shoelace, causing his, and the cart to fall on to the ground.
Kendrick's face turns red not only from the fall, but from embarrassment. He yelps out a loud "Ow!" that only gives more glares from other shoppers, causing more attention towards them.
Kendrick stands up and looks around, seeing all the people staring at him. First, the list was gone. Then, no butter. Now, tripping on the ground in front of everyone. This day could not have been worse. Kendrick storms out immediately, having no other place to be alone and let himself breath. Ash sees all what just played out, slightly worried about how Kendrick feels.
He hesitatingly pushed the cart into a corner before walking out the store, seeing Kendrick in front of the store, next the one of the pillars, super frustrated and upset.
Ash walks over to him slowly, unsure if he should talk to him or not. Kendrick then notices him in a small glance, then turns back. Ash stops, but then starts walking in a more consistent pace before standing next to him.
"What should I say..?" Ash asks himself, tugging on his jacket and softly nudges Kendrick's shoulder.
Kendrick stays quiet for a few more seconds before sighing and rubbing his fore-head, quenched in sweat from anger. "I'm sorry. For, tripping you over." Kendrick looks at Ash before he rubs his arm, "I don't know, why I did that.." Ash waits for the right time to speak, opening his mouth slowly. "I-"
A loud thunder bolt crashes in the clouds, both of them jolt up a bit, having no idea a storm had started. "We should, check out those groceries." Kendrick tells Ash before they both walk inside again.
Kendrick grabs the cart and he looks at the bottom to make sure that its theirs, and to make sure everything he put in there is still in the cart. Kendrick walks slowly over to the check-out station. He doesn't want people to think he's a loser or make fun of him.
As he and Ash put every item on the conveyor belt, Kendrick avoids interaction with other people. Looking at the ground to hide his slightly faded, but still red face. Ash and Kendrick hold both two bags each of groceries, then hearing loud honking. Its Trevor's car.
"You two better get in this car right now! Or I swear to-" Trevor pauses and cools down a bit. Noticing that Ash and Kendrick are quieter than usual, they get in the back of the car, leaving the middle seat empty with the groceries in-between them. Trevor pulls out of the parking and starts driving back, occasionally using the wind wipers to wipe away excess rain.
The three of the pull in the drive way and Trevor opens a big umbrella over himself. "Hoped you guys brought your own." Trevor tries to bring the umbrella over all of them as they try not to slip from the wet concrete. Trevor closes the umbrella before they get inside. "Put them on the table!" He yells at Kendrick and Ash when they walk up the stairs. Trevor can't help but feel a slight sense of unease from those two. He closes the door and follows behind them.
Later, 7-pm
"Kendrick lays on his bed, fresh out of the shower, wearing a tank top and sweatpants. He rubs his face that's almost done healing from the encounter with the ground. He suddenly hears a knock on the door, he sits up and walks over. The door opens, and its Ash on the other side, he looks up at Kendrick then looks away for a second.
Seeing Kendrick wearing a tank top instead of his usual shirt was definitely different. He then tries to give an apology, "Hey, I'm sorry for, making you upset earlier." Kendrick's eyes widen up a bit before he responds. "No, it was my fault. I got too.. frustrated."
Ash and Kendrick stand there, a bit awkward with the current moment of sudden vulnerability. Ryan walks over to find Ash. "Hey Ash, c'mon you're gonna play uno with me and Jasper. He stops when he sees the other two clearly in a weird but somewhat important situation to walk in on.
"Im... gonna go."
Ryan walks back awkwardly, trying to avoid the current situation thats going on. "..I gotta go then, I guess." Ash rubs his shoulder before walking back to Ryan's dorm, he looks back and gives back a small, but really awkward wave. Kendrick gives back a wave. and as soon as he leaves, he shuts the door and lays his back against it. Sighing in relief, his face turning red again.
In Ryan's dorm
Trevor, Ryan, and Ash are playing uno, Trevor being really sneaky with the cards, stealing one every time they don't look. Ryan starts noticing and accuses Trevor who's acting dumb. Although Ash is zoning out, still thinking about the day that happened. Wondering about Kendrick and who he is. "That guy is pretty weird, but.. he's pretty alright to me, I guess." He thought to himself.
Kendrick's pov
He's staring at the ceiling, thinking the same thing as the other. "Gee, I mean he's not as bad as I thought he was. I don't even know who he is, or what he actually likes. But I have to admit, he's more interesting than his normal. quiet self."