The Spy in Aisle Seven

I'd been spying on Jordan's Instagram stories for twenty minutes when my manager, Karen, caught me leaning against the spinach display. Again.

"Eyes up, Liam. That spinach isn't going to organize itself," she called out, totally killing my vibe.

I sighed and started turning the wilted spinach bags to face forward. Working at Food-4-Less wasn't exactly the glamorous summer I'd promised my friends I'd have. But hey, at least I had money for the zombie marathon at the old cinema downtown this weekend.

That is, until Jordan walked into aisle seven.

My heart did that thing where it forgets how to heart properly. Jordan was wearing their signature black combat boots and a faded hoodie that said "The zombies are winning" in peeling white letters. I'd been lowkey crushing on them since seventh period English, when they'd written that entire essay about how zombie apocalypse literature is actually about capitalism.

I froze like a cat in headlights. Which was ironic, because the actual reason I'd been leaning against the spinach was because I'd been avoiding the back room where my coworker's cat — yes, someone brought their cat to work — had somehow gotten stuck in the supply closet.

"Hey Liam," Jordan said, grabbing a carton of blueberries. "You okay? You look like you saw a zombie."

"Yeah," I squeaked. "Just thinking about running. You know, cross country season starting up."

Jordan nodded like this was the most normal thing I'd ever said. Meanwhile, I was dying inside. Why did I say running? I haven't run voluntarily since gym class freshman year.

"That's cool," Jordan said. "Hey, a bunch of us are going to the zombie movie marathon. You should come."

My brain stopped working. Jordan just invited me. To hang out. With people.

"I'll be there," I said, way too quickly.

"Awesome." Jordan smiled. "See you at school."

As they walked away, I realized I'd been holding a bag of spinach the entire conversation. I looked down at my hands. The spinach was organic. Expensive. So worth it.

"Liam!" Karen's voice echoed from the back room. "The cat escaped again!"

I shoved the spinach into my pocket and started running. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.