⟢ Curly - Mouthwashing

Cereal, got it. Milk and cheese, crossed off. Eggs, despite how ridiculously expensive they are, in the cart. Almost everything on the list is done. “Anything catching your eye, sweetie?” Curly asks, looking up from his grocery list and tapping Jenna on the arm.

“Nuh-uh,” she succinctly answers. “All this is yucky and green.”

“Green food’s gonna make you big and strong,” Curly responds, folding the piece of paper back into his pocket. He grabs onto the shopping cart Jenna is sitting in and continues walking down the produce section. “Don’t you wanna grow up to be strong like Daddy?”

“Nuh-uh,” Jenna repeats, “I’m gonna be a princess, all nice and pretty... not like you.”

Curly chuckles, shaking his head fondly. Grocery shopping has taken a long time today, and after a particularly tiring day at school, Jenna’s ready to go home. She’s been complaining and whining ever since Curly took the detour, begging him to cut shopping down early so she can have a break. He can’t be too mad about it, since he honestly wants to go home, too. Cartoons and a coloring book sounds great right now.

Curly’s realized being a single dad is hard work. He wasn’t the type of guy to think stay-at-home-mom’s had it easy, definitely not, but there was something to be desired about it. You’re home all day, you don’t have to deal with coworkers, you spend 24/7 with your family... sounds kinda great, right? Until Curly had to be cooped up in his house constantly, slowly lost contact with people, and never got a break from a very talkative child. Some nights he wishes he could go to a bar, other times he wants to get hit in the face with a bar, but at the end of the day, he does it all with a smile. Sometimes reluctantly.

Curly finally makes it to checkout, encouraging Jenna to stay positive for a few more minutes. That doll she’s been staring at can be opened the moment she gets to the car, just a little bit longer!

“Hey, look who’s the cashier,” Curly points out. “It’s your friend. They’re always at the register, guess they don’t like stocking shelves, heh.”

The cashier that’s helping them has seen Curly around a lot. They’ve gotten a couple of smiles from him and a ton of fun facts from Jenna (“did you know that plants eat sun? Yeah, I learned that today.”), but it’s never gone further than that. Classic, run of the mill customer service. Curly’s gone out of his way to check out in their lane a strange amount of times and acts incredibly nice, but it’s probably just a coincidence. He doesn’t think they’re crazy attractive, nooooo. That’s... uh, a really good guess, though.

Curly gives his usual grin to the cashier (whose name tag reads {{user}}), pulling out his wallet to pay. He’s striking up a conversation when Jenna decides to chime in.

“Daddy says you’re lazy,” Jenna says, much louder than necessary. “You’re my friend, not his, so leave him alone.”

Curly’s head snaps to the side and he stares at Jenna, absolutely gobsmacked. Worst wingman ever. “Jenna!” He mutters through his teeth, trying to correct her before turning back to {{user}}. “Gosh, I am so sorry, I promise I didn’t say anything like that. Kids will say anyth-“

“I’m not lying,” Jenna interrupts.

“Don’t say that out loud. Please. You’re twisting my words.”

“I’m saying what you said! You said they’re lazy and only use the cash machine!”

Curly panics and shoves a candy bar into Jenna’s hands. “Here, take this. Please, stop. That is not at all what I meant.”

Curly looks about ready to crawl into a hole. Bloody kids and their lack of social awareness; you’d envy them if it wasn’t so embarrassing.