"Hey, Rita. Is my dad in his office?" Ben asked the first cashier he saw.

"Hey, Ben. I think he is. You can go check." Rita said.

"Alright, thanks." He turned towards the group, "You guys want to go get the snacks while I go talk to him?" He asked.

"Yeah. See you in a bit." Clint said.

"Yo Sam!" He yelled at one of the cashiers as he left the group. "Know if my dad's in his office?" He asked.

"I just went to look for him. Not there. Come on he's probably in the stockroom."

"So his dad owns this place, right?" Lina asked.

"Yeah. It's a long story. His grandpa had the first grocery store in town. Back when it was just Indians and lumberjacks. Steven, Ben's dad, went to WSU, got a business degree, and opened this place up when he graduated." Clint said.

"We still don't have to pay?" Claudia asked.

"Still don't have to pay." Clint said (for some reason) pridefully.

"Here we are." Clint said once they reached the snacks aisle.

"Where's the 'authentic' movie theatre popcorn?" Lina asked.

"Over there." Clint pointed at a shelf down the aisle.

"What's new with Ben?" Claudia asked Clint.

"Quite a lot. His sister's big now. She's in second grade." Clint said.

"Wow. Somehow that's hard to believe." Claudia said.

"It's been a while since the three of us have hung out." Ben said, metallically.

"Yeah. It has." She wanted to say something, but seemed unsure if she should, "Hey. I- i'm sorry I wasn't there for you sophomore year."

"Don't worry about it." Clint quickly said.

"It's just... It must have been hard. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help." Claudia said.

"It's fine. That was a while ago." Clint said.

"Clint-"

"Hey! Check this out! They have kettle corn too!" Lina yelled from down the aisle.

"OOh. Get some." Clint said.

"Will do!" She was already holding four different boxes of microwaveable popcorn.

"It may have been a while ago. But that's not something you just drop and forget about." Claudia said.

"Claudia, I know that. I know that too well. But can we not talk about this now?" Clint said.

"Sorry, my bad. I guess the middle of a grocery store isn't the best place for the topic." Claudia said.

"This enough?" Lina asked. She had 6 boxes of popcorn tucked under her arm.

"Hmm.. isn't that a bit excessive?" Claudia asked.

"But they're all a different kind!" Lina exclaimed, "Theres even some lime with chili ones!"

"How about-" Clint took the top two boxes out like jenga blocks, "we get rid of these and make some guac instead."

Claudia and Clint had been standing next to the tortilla chip shelve. He reached out and took the first one his hand grabbed.

"Let's get some avocados." Claudia suggested.

"Where are they?" Lina asked.

"Follow me. You've never shopped here?" Clint asked.

"No. My dad hates grocery stores. Says they're too American. Since he has to drive out to Seattle for meetings at least once a week, he usually goes to a farmer markets somewhere along the way and buys our groceries there." Lina said.

"That's so much effort." Clint said.

Lina shrugged, "It's how he is."

"So what do you do if you get a random craving for chips at 7pm on a Saturday?" Clint asked.

"I don't eat chips." Lina said.

"Really?" Clint asked.

"My mom didn't let me eat them as a kid. She says junk food is how capitalist keep the working class unhealthy and poor so that they can overexploit them." Lina said.

"Wow. I think my mom would have gotten along with yours. But, she did let me have the occasional snickers and bag of Doritos." Clint said.

"Do we all just have weird parents? I'm still not allowed to eat anything with sugar." Claudia said.

"Remember how pissed your mom was when she found out Ben's dad was giving you free chocolates?" Clint asked.

"Oh god. I'd forgotten about that." Claudia laughed.

"What'd she do?" Lina asked.

"We both got grounded." Claudia said.

"Both?" Lina asked.

Clint broke out laughing and couldn't stop for a few seconds.

"Mrs. Kitteredge had a very long conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Brooks. After that Mrs. Brooks was very mad at Mr. Brooks. It was hilarious from the outside in. Ben couldn't get permission to leave the house for like two weeks." Clint said.

Claudia covered her face with her hand.

"It was so embarrassing." She said quietly.

"You scared of running in to Steve?" Clint asked.

"Slightly." Claudia said.