[wren]

Originally Posted by Rubinaito

"I'll be glad to help, Aspen." Santiago replied, pushing the cart forwards to head towards the checkout counter. "Do you have a boyfriend or husband that's dealing with such a terrible hangover?" He asked, vaguely gesturing towards her full basket. His warm brown eyes focused on hers, waiting patiently for her answer. He wasn't paying attention to the path in front of him though and he collided with another shopper, sending the goods in both carts up into the air and toppling over the unfortunate duo onto the ground. The man he had rammed into spluttered indignantly before bending down to pick up his items to the best of his ability while lecturing Santiago all the while. The young man turned his head slightly and grimaced, bending down to help the older man out with his groceries. "Sorry about that, sir," Santiago said earnestly, only to be scoffed at before the man stormed off. The young man's cheeks heated up with anger and embarrassment, and he bent down to pick up his own groceries. "Or not." He grumbled under his breath, loading the spilled goods into the cart. He was lucky that he hadn't loaded anything fragile into the cart yet, otherwise, it would be spread across the floor and injure somebody. Santiago finished up and stood up rather unsteadily, trying to catch his balance before moving towards his cart again. "That was eventful." He mumbled, pushing his cart forward. The tips of his ears were burning, although he managed to banish most of the red away and return his cheeks to their normal color. "Sorry, Aspen. Should've been watching." He didn't look back at her, a little too embarrassed by the recent adventure that he couldn't stand to look back. Why? He wasn't quite sure. Perhaps it was just part of him trying to hold onto the last scrap of dignity and pride in front of a beautiful woman like men were prone to do. Beautiful? Where did that come from? I just met her. God, I sound like a pervert, even in my head. He grimaced to himself, his grip tightening on the handle of the cart ever so slightly. Throughout his life, Santiago tried his best to show that he wasn't like those stereotypes created by men and women who were hardly open minded. It was like it was a sin to be a polite, handsome Mexican man in the United States these days and Santiago didn't like it one bit. Prejudice seemed to follow him wherever he went as he got further and further away from the southwest and closer to the northeast. "Let's, ah... Let's continue." He coughed and made his way towards a shorter line to check out his groceries and although Aspen didn't know it yet he was going to buy hers as well.

(As you can tell I'm making an attempt to carry things out quite a bit slower and more realistic than usual.) @Celestial

[ Got it ]


Aspen looked over at him a blush firing on her cheeks, there want even a real reason and perhaps she was being ridiculous she had only met the man about 30 seconds ago which made her doubt herself even more. When he mentioned boyfriend or husband she rubbed the back of her neck, there had been plenty of mistakes in her life. Many of them where boyfriends. She tuned back around facing Santiago with a grin, raising her hand and waving it showing she had no w
Ring. "No dice" she said with a playful smile and a casual shrug. "How about you, who's the special lady in your life huh? Or man. I'm not one to judge" she said with an embarrassed smile as she covered all opportunities just in case. She looked away, awaiting his answer, and as she was examing the shelves they walked by she heard a crash and whipped around faster then you could say, "what!" and was astounded to see the cart laid on its side, an angry man, and an embarrassed guy trying to fix it and things all over the isle floor. She couldn't help but slightly laugh at the commotion as she dropped down to a crouch to pick up the rest of the stuff tossing it in all the while still trying to not laugh at them until the man stormed off huffing. She looked across at Santiago seeing his e,bar assent and smiling to herself without even knowing it, her face starting to hurt from smiling so much on the last five minutes she dropped the smile quickly, but she watched him secretively studying his face. Something drew her to him and she wasn't even sure what it was. As the cart was set back into rights she found herself huffing another few giggles before covering her mouth and grinning beneath her hands, eyes light with amusement. "So we have a short girl and a klutz?" she mused dropping her hands and fixing them across her chest fighting tem around herself as she released how much she was goign after him. Stop it Aspen you weirdo! she scolded foolishly before mentally face palming. Than they tunred an isle into another even though she didn't need anything in it, perhaps it was just the conversation she wanted to continue. She found herself Odly day dreaming as they walked staring at him too, how aw akward. Just than she heard a muffled set of words and snapped into reality only to have completely missed what he had said despite looking RIGHT at him! "Uh, uh yeah" she said nervously unknowing what she had been replying too