He tucks loose strands of hair behind my ear, and I look up at him as he smirks.
"That's all it took?" He chuckles.
"Tease!" I push against his chest, then start running when he charges for me.
"Take it back," he playfully warns as he chases me around the kitchen.
Once he catches me, he tickles me until I nearly piss myself laughing.
I keep protesting and shaking my head until his lips capture mine again. "I don't want you to go," I admit, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Don’t leave me.”
"Trust me, I don’t want to, but we’re out of shit. I'll try to get enough to last us a few more weeks at least. Make a list of things we need, and I'll do my best to grab it all. Remember, the sooner I leave, the quicker I'll return." He winks.
"Think you can pick up some toilet paper?" I ask, half-joking, knowing it's nearly impossible right now. Pretty sure it’s selling for several hundred dollars a roll on the black market.
I would've never imagined a time when toilet paper would be such a hot commodity, but everyone started hoarding it the moment people started panicking. Now it’s like finding the golden ticket in a Willy Wonka chocolate bar.
“I’ll see if I can find some,” he says. “If not, I’ll teach you how to do the pee and shake.”
“Gross!” I laugh.
I grab a sheet of paper from my notebook and begin to make a grocery list. Eli randomly adds stuff to it too.
"I want to make you a fancy dinner. What are you in the mood for?" he asks.
"You. On a plate. Naked." As if he needed the reminder.
Eli takes off his shirt and stands in the kitchen. "Don't tempt me, sweetheart. I'll dick you down right now." He growls, causing me to snort.
"Uhh," I say. "Did you just say dick me down? Is that what all the players say these days?" Laughing, I lower my gaze down his body and admire every solid inch of him.
He shrugs, putting his shirt back on. "Apparently. Heard it from one of my roommates who's addicted to Bumble and Tinder."
I giggle. "Mm-hmm, sure. How about you surprise me? I don't want to give you a meal choice because what if it's impossible to find the ingredients? I've heard some things are tough to come by. You might not find half of what’s on this list." I glance down at it. Who knew in today’s world there’d be struggles to get common everyday items?
"You're right. I kinda forgot about that. I haven't been out in so long, I'm not sure what to expect. I'm a little nervous being around people."
I meet his eyes. "We could place a pickup order instead? I’m not sure when we could schedule it, but it’s an option if you don’t want to go out."
"No, it's okay. We need these things now unless you want to eat shitty microwave dinners for the next three weeks. You brought enough, but seriously, they’re kinda gross, and the chicken tastes weird after a while." He gives me a look, and I snort.
"Remember the story about my mother? She would have a heart attack if she knew how much processed food I was eating here." I chuckle.
Eli tilts his head at me. "You're such a rebel."
I finish adding things to the list, then hand it to him. "I was able to order a few masks before I came here. Do you want to take one?"
"Yeah, that’d be good," Eli tells me, and I nod. I head up to my room to grab one while he grabs his keys.
When I return, he chuckles as he reads over the list. "Cadbury eggs. Mini Snickers bars. Reese's cups. You're not joking, are you?" He arches a brow.
"Hell no," I retort, handing him the mask. "If so, buy out the store. There’s no dieting in quarantine. I’ve decided."
He lets out a hearty laugh. "You are something else, Cami."
"A hot mess and a handful? You're welcome." I glance over at the clock and then back at Eli. "Better get going. Maybe it won't be so busy this morning, but they're on restricted hours."
"You're right," he says. Taking a few steps forward to close the space between us, he kisses me until I’m breathless, but I still want more.
When we break apart, I squeeze my arms around him tighter. "Please be careful out there."
"I will. Don't worry, I'm not fighting vampires or zombies," he teases. "I grabbed my tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. Got a mask. And as soon as I get home, I'll put everything up, sanitize the hell out of it, then strip down naked and take a shower."
"Ooh, stripping. That sounds fun. Dicking me down later on that list too?"
"Only if you're a good girl," he throws back before tucking the small bottle back in his pocket and then folding the list and putting it in the other.
I kiss him goodbye one final time. Before he walks away, I grab a handful of his ass. "Hurry back."
"If you keep that up, I might not leave."
"Get out of here." I playfully point toward the door. "And watch out for zombies."
He shakes his head and throws me a wink. I watch as he leaves and frowns, immediately missing him.
While he's gone, I pull out all the cleaning supplies and rubber gloves so we can safely unload the groceries when he returns. I’d come across a video online demonstrating the proper way to disinfect items, and I’ll watch it again before he returns.
After I have the counter ready for when Eli is back, my phone rings, and I'm giddy when I see it's Ryan. I haven’t been able to get him off my mind, and it's been a while since we've chatted. When I answer the phone, I'm a little too excited.
"Ryan!"
He chuckles but sounds defeated. "Hey, sis. Doing okay, still?"
"Yep, pretty much back to my old self," I say happily.
"Ahh, so back to being a
