[rubinaito]

Originally Posted by Celestial

Aspen nearly jumped two feet hearing a voice behind her but was pleased to see a man who grabbed the package off the shelf and plopped it into her cart. She smiled hastily. ”I was that close you know” she mused thankfully as she leaned on the cart. She studied his face for a moment and held her own hand out which she than shook his thankfully. She could recognize the understanding in his warm gaze and found herself blushing and a faint smile appearing on her soft lips. “Well it hasn’t been my first, I’m afraid I’m on the butt end of the hangover” her smile growing wider as she scratched the back of her head and stood back up crossing her arms over her chest. Her stature going into a more relaxed state as she stood awkwardly during the prolonged silence. She smiled warmly again and turned to examine the food wall a second time. “Oh- yeah my names Aspen, aspen narrows” she said with a smirk. “I well- I may need some help putting this in the car”

"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