"A tub of vanilla ice cream and a packet of liquorice. And we'll get dark chocolate for good measure." Liam's eyes slide to mine. "Don't worry, Kennedy won't get diabetes. I'm planning to eat at least half of it."
"I wasn't worrying," I say.
I turn right and pull into the large parking lot in front of Woolies. A teenager pushes a line of trolleys across the bitumen. When we enter the supermarket, the air-conditioning causes goosebumps to rise on my skin. I pick up a shopping basket at the entrance because Liam's going to be finding everything, and I want to look helpful.
Liam leads the way, taking us through the aisles and throwing in the junk food. When Liam puts the ice cream into the basket, his arm touches mine, and we both say "sorry", and I rub the arm where a shot of electricity runs through.
"Does Kennedy need sanitary products?" I ask, in an attempt to be useful, as we walk to the self-serve machines.
"No, she uses a period cup. It's better for the environment and all."
I don't know what a period cup is. "Oh. Okay,"
Liam must sense something because he laughs awkwardly. "It's weird that I know that, right?"
I shake my head. "You've been her best friends since birth. I knew you know each other well…" Only now, though, do I feel like I'm seeing the extent of it. "I feel like I should know this stuff, too. Before this morning, I didn't even know what kind of ice cream she liked."
We arrive at a self-serve checkout machine and start scanning the items.
"Well, you've only been together for… what? Three months?"
"Three months is a lot." At least, it's a lot for high-schoolers. It's a lot for me.
I shake my head. I need to stop having these spiralling thoughts and pay attention to the task at hand. I stare at the items piling up on the side of the machine where the bag is meant to go. "Damn it, we forgot to bring a bag," I say. Like most supermarkets in Australia, this one doesn't provide free plastic bags and so people bring their own or purchase reusable ones. I don't want to purchase a reusable one, though, because I know we have a lot back at the beach house.
"It's okay, we can carry them," says Liam.
He presses the button to pay but I lean over him, pressing my phone against the card reader before Liam can protest. A moment later, the machine spits out the receipt.
"Paying is like an Olympic sport for you, isn't it?" Liam says.
I grab the receipt and gather the items. "Come on."
Once we've picked up everything, we leave the supermarket. "You're a good boyfriend," Liam says.
I almost trip. "It was nothing." I wave the hand that has my receipt between my fingers.
"I'm not saying this because of that," Liam says. "In the supermarket, you sounded as if you thought you were inadequate and I don't think you are."
"Thanks," I say. Before I continue, I hesitate, because I always overthink about what I say. I never want to say the wrong thing. But then I think about Liam bringing me a cup of tea last night. And lending me his pimple cream. And when I ribbed him about his fanfiction and it was like we weren't enemies.
"You're a good friend to Kennedy. A really good friend," I say.
Liam's head jerks up in surprise and doesn't respond until I look at him. His smile is small. "Thank you."
I let out a subtle sigh of relief. That went well. And not only that, a part of me feels warm because I made Liam smile like that.
We cross the carpark with its dark-grey bitumen and get into the car. "I still haven't gotten my license," Liam says as I pull out of the carpark.
"Neither does Kennedy," I say. In Victoria, once you're eighteen you can get your provisional license, which means you can drive without a supervisor, but first, you need to meet all the requirements and pass the tests.
"Kennedy's closer to getting it than me," Liam says. "Besides, she has you. I wish I was dating someone with a driver's license."
"That shouldn't be too hard for you." It slips out.
"What does that mean?" he says it like I've insulted him.
"Nothing. Never mind."
