I have a lot of strange dietary quirks, one of which being my choice soda flavor. The ideal soda for me is an equal mixture of Orange and Raspberry. Strange, yes. All my friends think I'm nuts. But I like it and that was my reason behind being at the 7-Eleven that night.
I was attempting to hold the large bottles of Orange and Raspberry soda while grabbing a bag of Doritos off a shelf when the Orange soda bottle slipped out of my grasp.
My luck being what it is, of course the bottle crashed into a huge display of Diet Pepsi.
"What the heck?"the cashier screamed, running over to where I was standing, yelling more things in Spanish which I'm sure by the way he said them were not nice ones.
"I'll pick them up,"I offered meekly. There's nothing like a guy swearing at you in Spanish to put you in a very humble mood.
"And I'll help her."A guy that appeared about seventeen or so with long blond hair he had in a ponytail had come up behind the clerk.
I almost kissed his feet, but considering we'd just met, I decided against that. I was willing to have anyone help me that would.
The Spanish cashier seemed satisfied."Pick them ALL up."
I started piling cans back onto the display.
"I'm Zac."The guy who had so generously offered to help me stuck out a hand.
"Missy. Just start picking up cans. We'll shake later."
He began doing just as I said."So, how old are you Missy?"
"Seventeen, you?"
"The same. Mind if I ask about the orange and raspberry soda thing?"
"What about it?"I paused looking him in the face. He was kinda cute, I wasn't that into long hair on guys but he had beautiful caramel colored eyes.
"I was just wondering if you did the same thing that I did with it."He too stopped piling cans.
"Which is?"
"Mixing them."
My mouth dropped open."No way!"
"Its the best kind of soda."
I grinned, but not for long because the cashier sent me a death look. Zac made a face at me and we started back at the long process of picking up and piling Diet Pepsi cans."I can't believe you do that too,"I murmured.
It took us about an hour but we managed to get all the cans picked up. Once we were done, we brought our purchases up to the counter (I decided the whole knocking down the display had been the diet god telling me not to buy the Doritos) and Zac insisted on paying for mine. I let him, but slipped a couple bucks into his coat pocket when he wasn't looking.
"Can I have your phone number?"he asked bluntly as he walked me to my car.
I pondered over that one for a minute, deciding he didn't really look like a stalker or anything."Sure, if I can have yours too."
We exchanged numbers and I continued on home. I was sitting in my room, drinking a cup of raspberry/orange soda, glancing at the number when all of a sudden I read Zac's name on the paper.
Zac... Hanson? I couldn't believe how stupid I had been! Good grief, I still had a Middle of Nowhere promotional poster on my bedroom wall. I looked over at Zac's smiling face. Sure enough, that was the same Zac who had spent the better part of an hour helping me clean up the mess I had made.
He sure was a sweetie.
I wondered if he'd ever call.
I wondered if we'd ever date.
I wondered if my Jazzercise classes were paying off.
Guess I'd have to wait and see.