Chapter Eight: Mistake

"I hate you," Lamb said for the tenth time in the past half hour.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "No you don't." She grabbed a carton of milk and stuck it in the cart. She had promised her dad she'd do the grocery shopping as part of her punishment (she may or may not have broken into another house), and somehow she had convinced Lamb to come with her. They had been in the store for a total of two minutes when Lamb first mumbled that he hated her.

"You're too damn convincing," Lamb grumbled. "You somehow always get your way."

Veronica smirked. "You're just a push-over."

Lamb stopped. "I seriously hate you."

This time Veronica snorted. "Yeah right. If you hated me, you would've left the minute you first complained."

"You drove," he deadpanned. He reached up to grab a box of granola bars that the petite blonde couldn't reach. He tossed it in the cart and Veronica moved on.

"This is your fault," Veronica said as they walked. "Well, mostly your fault."

"How the hell was it my fault?"

"You called my dad."

"You broke into a house!"

She shrugged. She almost said, "I do it all the time", but figured that'd be a bad thing to say to the sheriff. "Not the first time, and usually you don't call my dad."

"Well I had no reason to keep you. Besides, your one call was to Fennel to tell him good luck at his game."

"I wanted him to do good," Veronica said with a smile on her face.

As Veronica went down the list and checked items off, Lamb leaned against the aisle, careful not to knock anything off.

"That it?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I need to get some bread."

"That's by the candy isn't?"

"Why? You want some?"

"No…maybe."

She laughed and nudged him with her elbow. "Well I could use some chocolate."

They grabbed two loaves of bread before going down the candy aisle. Lamb was trying hard to convince her to buy some Mars bars, but she just kept laughing and shaking her head. Eventually Lamb put the Mars bars down and picked up a bag of M&M's. He tossed it in the cart. Veronica just stood there, eyes scanning every inch of the aisle.

"We don't have all day, Mars," he said.

"It has to be the right choice," Veronica snapped playfully. "It has to be the perfect candy."

Lamb rolled his eyes, but he had a slight smile on his lips. "You're insane," he muttered.

She poked him in the side before going back to her important choice. Lamb stood slightly behind her, looking over her shoulder.

"Excuse me," a female voice said. Veronica took a step back, pressed against Lamb's front, to let an elderly woman pass. The small woman reached up to a box of candy on the very top of the aisle. She stretched hard to try and grab it, but Lamb knew she wouldn't be able to reach it.

"Let me get that for you," he said, stepping around Veronica. He grabbed the box and handed it to the smiling woman.

"Thank you young man," the woman said, clutching the box to her chest. She smiled at both of them before starting to walk away. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back around. "Might I say that you two make a lovely couple."

Both Lamb and Veronica opened their mouths to protest, but the woman scurried away. They stood in silence for a moment or two before Veronica blindly reached for a box of Skittles.

"Let's go," she said. She didn't wait for Lamb. She knew he was following her.

Lamb took a good long look at Veronica from behind. She was wearing faded jeans, worn-out sneakers, a t-shirt of his that she had stolen the last time she had fallen asleep at his apartment, and her hair was in a messy ponytail. He didn't know what had given the old lady the idea that they were together. And by the way Veronica was acting, she didn't know and didn't want to bring it up. It was a honest mistake…right?