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Dennis Whitaker hated shopping, but he hated when his roommate Trinity Santos dragged him to Costco once a month.
It was always super crowded and chaotic, but you couldn’t beat the prices when you split between two (sometimes Garcia threw in a few bucks when she stayed over). So he dealt with the abuse.
Trinity pushed the cart as they walked up and down the aisle and he followed quietly. “Are we out of ketchup?” She asked, looking at the three pack of condiments.
“I think we are running low, but do we really need three?” He asked and she shrugged, putting it in the cart.
“Yes. You go through so much….” She said looking up and froze. Dennis frowned and turned around to look at what she was looking at. “Was that Langdon?”
Sure enough, Frank Langdon, wearing jeans and a hoodie, crossed the aisle pushing a cart. “I think it is.” He agreed, but he wasn’t alone.
Dennis took a step towards the end of the aisle to get a better look at him. Frank Langdon wasn’t alone, Mel King was standing on the end of the cart with his arms bracing her in place, her back against his chest as they headed towards the freezers, her hair was freed of its normal hair tie and in his face. “He’s with Mel.” Dennis reported, they looked so natural together.
That made Trinity Santos perk up more and when come around the corner to look. Mel had stepped down from the front of the cart, but still stood between his arms.
“How long has THIS been going on?” She asked, pushing her cart in their direction, Mel ducked under his arm dramatically to reach into the freezer. She had the biggest smile on her face and they could hear him laugh, so carefree and unlike the doctor who reamed her out every once in a while.
His smile was bright and teasing as he grabbed something from a different freezer, grabbing a purple box of Uncrustables. He was such a child.
To her credit, she had grabbed a box of dinosaur nuggets. “They shop like children.” She commented and he grabbed a box of Redbull.
“He has children.” Dennis reminded her and she shrugged, grabbing a box of frozen corn dogs and putting it in the cart.
“Still, this doesn’t seem like a platonic activity.” She commented.
“Then what are we doing?” Dennis asked with his hands on his hips.
“We’re roommates, we have a reason to be here together, they don’t.” She said pushing the cart forward to follow them slowly. He gave her a look with a raised brow and she returned the look, daring him to refute her claim.
They watched from the premade meals section as Frank and Mel looked at the bakery items, bantering playfully over the choice of muffins.
Whitaker gave them away, he had returned to shopping not stalking and walked right up to them, clearly a noob move. The pair of them looked up at him with matching smiles. “Oh hey guys!” He said as if he hadn’t been following them through out the store.
“Dennis!” Frank said with a genuine smile on his face, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder.
“Doctor Whitaker!” Mel also said with the same bright smile.
“Settle something for us.” Frank said, giving Mel a devious look. “Muffins, which one would you choose?”
“You know Blueberry is the best.” Mel said with such conviction, it was as if it was a life or death situation.
“She’s clearly crazy.” Frank said with a laugh. “Banana Nut is superior, followed by the coffee cake one, chocolate and then blueberry.”
Both sets of eyes looked at him expectantly. “I think. . .” He felt suddenly nervous. “I like all the muffins.”
“That is such a cop out.” Trinity said walking up to them. “Hey guys!” As if she hadn’t been spying on them.
They greeted her and Frank looked at her expectantly. “Same question, which muffin would you choose?”
“Clearly Banana Nut.” She answered and Frank poked Mel in the arm with a Ha! “Oh if I’m agreeing with you, then I choose what Mel picked.”
It was Mel’s turn to laugh and poke him back. “Ha!” She said picking up the container and putting it into their cart. “This was so much easier when they had the combo packs.”
“One of these days King, I will win the muffin war.” Frank said, grabbing on to the cart.
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Do you guys shop here a lot?” Asked Whitaker, immune to their flirting.
Frank nodded. “Oh yeah.” He said. “Mel turned me on to this place a few months ago. It’s a bachelor’s paradise.”
“Dino nuggets?” Trinity asked with a raised brow.
“It’s the only thing my children eat.” He said, pulling a thing of cookies into the cart. “And the Uncrustables are the only thing that Mel will eat.”
Mel glared at him and took the cookies out of the cart and put them back. “It was good to see you! We have to go pick up Becca in an hour.” She said and turning to smile at them but glaring playfully at Langdon who put the cookies back into the cart. “We’ll see you guys on Monday.”
“Of course!” Dennis said waving at them as he turned back to Trinity. “We’ll see you on Monday.”
Mel and Frank disappeared into the milk freezer, returning to their playful argument. Langdon hip checking her gently.
“God! Can you not read the room?” Trinity asked with a glare. “We were spying on them, it doesn’t mean approach them! We needed intel on them to win the pot.”
“Because they are shopping together, doesn’t mean they are together.” Whitaker answered as they neared the produce, not mentioning seeing him holding her while he pushed the cart.
“Pu-lease.” Trinity snapped, putting grapes in the cart. “They were literally about to fuck in the bakery department just now, they probably would have if you hadn’t just walked up on them.”
Dennis rolled his eyes. “Are we finished here?” He asked hoping to redirect the conversation and she nodded, heading towards the front.
Trinity’s phone began to ring and she answered it and Dennis thanked every god, he needed a break and because when he looked up at the long line, he saw Frank and Mel in line a head of them.
They stood nearly chest to chest, his hands playing with the string of her hoodie as he looked down at her and for a brief second he pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
Whitaker’s eyes nearly fell out of his head and he looked at Trinity who was focused on the phone call and not on their coworkers kissing in front of them. He elbowed her and she glared at him for just a moment before looking at what he was seeing. “Holy fuck.” She whispered. “Yo, you are not gonna believe what we are watching….”
When they broke apart, he pulled her to his chest, his lips resting on her forehead with his arms tightly wrapped around her and her face buried into his shoulder. “Go check the betting board, the Mel and Langdon bet….. alright call me back.”
It was just for a moment until the spell was broken and they were next in line to check out both of them laughing about something as they stepped away from each other. He rang up their items and she packed them neatly into the boxes impressively. “Holy shit bro.”
It was so domestic, it was nearly disgusting.
Maybe Costco wasn’t so bad after all.
They watched as Mel climbed back on the back of the cart and Langdon arms bracketing her into place as he pushed, in her hand was the white receipt with the blue edges. She laughed freely as they exited, their cart being checked by the elderly checker, leaving Whitaker and Santos in the long line behind them.
“Fuck.” Trinity complained, and Whitaker looked up at her in confusion. “We didn’t get any proof!”
Eh. It was a win for him to see his coworkers so happy.