The cold food aisle of the supermarket, that's where it happened. It wasn't romantic, there was no build up, it just kind of happened. He was pushing the trolley along and she had just reached into the fridge to pull out the milk. She turned around and as she placed the milk into the trolley she said.
"We should get married."
He stopped pushing the trolley, shocked at what his room mate had just said. "What did you just say?" he asked. He was thinking perhaps he was going crazy, or maybe hearing things.
"I said we should get married." She said again, and she began walking towards the ice cream.
"What?" he wasn't hearing things she had defiantly said marry but he didn't understand why, the way she said it was like she was suggesting they buy a new DVD player or something.
"Lexie!" George pushed the trolley after her. She hadn't gone vey far; she was stopped at the other end of the aisle staring at the freezer of ice cream.
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She hadn't meant to say it, she was thinking about it but she hadn't meant to actually say it. Lexie stared into the freezer of ice cream, she was trying to look like she was trying to work out what to buy but she already knew what they were going to buy they brought the same thing every week, creamy vanilla. It was the only thing she could think of to do. She couldn't believe what she'd just said. She'd just told George she thought they should get married.
She didn't want to get married, well she did want to get married but not to George, not really. But that was what she'd just suggested. She should have taken it back, when he'd asked her what she'd said she could have said something else but instead she'd just said it right over again. She heard George come up behind her and stop the trolley. She reached into the freezer and pulled out a tub of vanilla and a tub of chocolate ice cream.
"Look the ice cream's on special." She said trying to pretend like nothing had happened. "Vanilla or chocolate?"
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George started at Lexie and the two tubs of ice cream she held in her hands. She was acting like nothing had happened, like she hadn't just suggested they get married.
"George?" She held the two tubs of ice cream up at him, like she really needed his answer.
"Vanilla." He said deciding to play along. He wouldn't bring up the proposal again; well not while they were still in the supermarket. If she was really serious about it, the conversation they needed to have wasn't one to be had in the cold food aisle.
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For the rest of the day Lexie waited for George to bring up in conversation, what she had said in the supermarket. She knew he would bring it up eventually, it wasn't the kind of thing they could just ignore, though she kind of hoped he would do just that ignore it. She wasn't sure what she was thinking when she suggested it. Well she knew what she was thinking, she was thinking that everyone she knew was married or engaged, and it had been two years since she'd been on a date. That in itself didn't bother her, she worked a lot she didn't really have time for a relationship but still she wanted something.
"Lexie?" George plunked himself on the sofa beside her and handed her a bowl of ice cream.
"Thanks." She said keeping her eyes glued on the television.
"Today at the supermarket, why did you say we should get married?"
She took her spoon and shoved a large bit of ice cream inside her mouth; it was a conscious effort to delay answering the question.
"I don't know." She finally said. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
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"How could us getting married be a good idea?" George didn't think it was a good idea; he wasn't even sure where Lexie had got the idea from.
"I don't know, it was just something I was thinking about." She was trying to sound flippant, like it didn't matter. "Look don't worry about it. It was a silly thing to say."
"Yeah silly." George laughed a little to himself. "But still why did you say it?" He wanted to know what was going through Lexie's mind what thought process she'd used to think that perhaps them being married was a good idea, or even an idea, it wasn't something he'd considered before.
Lexie spooned more ice cream into her mouth. "Shit," she was thinking to herself, he actually wanted to know what she was thinking.
"I was just thinking how everyone else we know is married or engaged and here we both are single with no prospects. And then I was thinking how well we get along and I guess the thought just occurred to me." She spooned more ice cream into her mouth as she tried to think what to say next, what to say to end the conversation. "I wasn't serious." She finally said. "Forget about it."
And with that the conversation was over. But George couldn't stop thinking about it. Lexie had planted a seed in his mind and he couldn't ignore it. Could him and Lexie actually work as a couple, as more than just friends? He'd tried it once before, not with Lexie, but he had tried being more than just friends before and it had been a disaster. His little fling with Izzie had messed everything up, not only their friendship, which was never able to truly recover but everything else as well. He went from being loveable George to being the adulterer, and he hurt someone care about.
With Lexie now it was different though, there was no one to hurt, it was just their friendship that could be messed up. He didn't want to mess up their friendship, but now the idea had been planted he couldn't seem to get it out of his head. He kept wondering if maybe, they could work, if perhaps there was something already there. They did get along extremely well, they could live together without problems, they enjoyed spending time with each other, and he at least looked forward to seeing her at home at the end of the day. He couldn't help thinking maybe there was something in all that, something he hadn't seen before. There must be something, Lexie must have seen something otherwise why did the words ever come out of her mouth in the first place.
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A whole week had gone past since the words "We should get married," had come out of Lexie's mouth. They were back in the supermarket doing their weekly shop for groceries. George was pushing the trolley again and Lexie was pulling things from the shelves. They rounded the corner and turned into the cold food aisle. Neither one of them had mentioned the 'suggestion' (it was too loose to seriously be called a proposal) since their conversation in the living room a week ago, but they'd both been thinking about it a lot.
Lexie reached for the milk and turned to place it in the trolley. She lent forward and as she did she felt George step a little closer, when she stood up he was staring at her and then he lent a little closer and he kissed her.
At first her instinct was to pull back, she was shocked, a kiss from George at the supermarket was the last thing she was expecting but he placed his hand behind her head and pulled her closer and after a moment she started kissing him back. The kiss lasted longer than it should have and when they pulled away she stared back at him, a dazed, confused expression on her face.
"What was that for?" She asked.
George smiled at her. "I've been doing some thinking," he said, "and I just wanted to know what that felt like?"
"What that felt like?" She looked back at him more confused and then watched as he began pushing the trolley further down the aisle. "George!" She called after him and she began walking to catch up. He'd stopped at the far end of the aisle in front of the freezer of ice cream. "Why did you kiss me?" she asked but instead of answering her question he reached into the freezer and pulled out two tubs of ice cream.
"The ice cream is on special." He said. "Should we get two tubs?"
"No." She said staring back at him; he'd completely ignored her question. "George, why did you kiss me?"
"Later." He told her and he placed the second tub back in the freezer and kept walking.
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"George!" Lexie began as soon as they were inside the confined space of their apartment. "Why did you kiss me?"
"I already told you. I wanted to know what it felt like." George smiled, he wasn't going to let Lexie get to him, he wasn't going to get mad or defensive, not when she'd said what she'd said the week before.
"But why?" She was a little confused; she couldn't work out what George was thinking.
"Well," George walked over to their sofa and sat down. "I've been thinking about what you said last week and…"
"I told you to forget about that."
"I know but I can't. It got me thinking and I thought you made some good points. We get along great, we like being with each other, we're halfway there to a good relationship, so it got me thinking. What would kissing you feel like? Would it feel weird, strange, or would it feel right, perfect?"
"And?" There was a hint of intrigue in Lexie's eyes. "What did it feel like?"
"I liked it." George smiled at her. He paused a moment before continuing to speak, he had to take pause, make sure he was sure about what he was about to say. "I liked kissing you Lexie, I'd like to kiss you again. I've been thinking and I don't think we should get married but maybe we could try kissing some more." He smiled at her again and he hoped she could work out what he was suggesting.
A smile began to creep across Lexie's face, she knew what George was suggesting and the idea excited and terrified her all at the same time. "I liked kissing you too George." She said sitting down on the sofa beside him. "We can try kissing some more."
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The cold food aisle of the supermarket that is where it had to happen, that was where everything happened. George had been thinking about this for a few weeks, it had been almost six months since him and Lexie started kissing and well now they were doing a lot more than just kissing and it was all working out. They'd both been so scared about things getting weird between them that they'd tried extra hard to make sure that didn't happen. It hadn't happened, things between them were great, they were best friends and they were lovers.
Now they were back in the supermarket doing their weekly grocery shop. They turned down the cold food aisle and paused at the milk. Lexie reached for the carton and placed it in the trolley.
"Lexie," George began just as she was standing up. "Do you want to get married?"
Lexie looked back at him stunned but not totally surprised, they hadn't talked about getting married but it was always something in the back of her mind. She'd never been with anyone who made her feel quite the way George made her feel.
"Yeah," She replied slowly, "I'd like to get married."
"Okay then." George grabbed hold of the trolley and started pushing it forward. "Lets do that."
Lexie watched him take a step away and ran after him. "George, does this mean we're engaged?"
"Yeah, I guess it does."
"Okay." She was a little confused; this was not how she pictured her proposal to be. "Do you think we should do something to celebrate?"
"Probably." George looked into the freezer they were standing in front of. "Look the ice cream is on special." He said and he reached into the freezer and pulled out two tubs of ice cream and placed them both in the trolley.
He looked up at Lexie and they both started laughing. "That'd be right." She began. "The ice cream is on special."