A/N: Let's admire "Damon" as he greets us all. Please vote and comment loves. Share if you like :)

———

Why is it that my life looks like something out of a Nickelodeon show parody?

I sigh as Mrs. Hall continues to rattle instructions to Damon and I. Venus is manning the counter and Kenneth is busy in the kitchen; leaving us to be the new errand kids.

Maybe my life really is from a Nickelodeon show.

"Make sure to buy chocolate chips too. We don't need flour or sugar but we do need butter so that's another thing to add to the list," she says as she hikes her bag onto her shoulder, "And maybe some coffee beans too."

Mr. Hall rolls his eyes as he waits for his wife. "I think they get it. Paulina is quick and Damon is smart. They can handle it."

She nods. "Yes of course. But still. I'm just trying to run them through everything. In case."

Damon chuckles. "Chocolate chips. Coffee beans. Vanilla extract. Butter. And cinnamon sugar. We got it."

I nod and remove my apron. I fling it over the counter and Venus glares at me. I ignore her. "Don't worry Mrs. Hall. We won't let you down."

She nods and gives me a quick hug. I pretend like I don't see the look Venus shoots me. "Beautiful. Well, I'll be on my way. Bye love!"

Mr. Hall drags her away before she can start being a bit dramatic.

...Leaving me with him. And Venus. But I don't really care about her so...him.

I gulp as Damon slowly removes his apron to find something to do with himself. He understands why we can't date— gotta keep it halal– and he's been a bit distant since the beginning of the day. But I get it. I partially led him on and I suppose that's my fault. I deserve to be ignored.

That doesn't mean I like it though.

"Damon honey, are you sure you don't want me to follow you instead of the freak?" Venus bats her eyes and I roll mine at her blatant use of my so-called new nickname, "I mean...I could do a much better job of picking out the jelly beans."

"Venus. Keep up. We're picking coffee beans," I rub my temple and she disregards my correction by fluttering her pretty lashes at Damon.

Damon chuckles but it lacks humor. "I think I'll pass. But thanks for asking," he smiles at her tightly and makes his way to the door.

I follow him with a sigh. He opens the door and gestures for me to go out and I can't help but smile at the fact that he's still trying to be a gentleman despite the fact that he's not exactly happy with me.

I don't think I deserve him.

The sun shines down on us and I try not to stay too close to him. The walk is full of awkward silence and I keep on sighing at irregular intervals in order to...make some noise. Alleviate the awkwardness. Make him notice me. Reasons like this.

He doesn't bother to look at me. He keeps his gaze forward and his shoulders look tense from my peripheral vision. The whole situation just makes me sad.

"You know," I clear my throat and plunge on, "You could just have taken Venus instead. To avoid this whole awkward fiasco."

I keep my eyes trained on the ground. I can feel his intense gaze on me and I really don't want him to see how sad I really am.

"Why would I do that?" he sounds confused like he's trying to figure me out, "It's only awkward because you know I like you and you don't return the feelings. It's basically karma because I know Venus has feelings for me but I don't return them so—"

"I like you, Damon," I cut him off. Interesting monologue but we have other pressing matters at hand.

He halts in his steps and I stop walking to look up at him. The sunlight is making his hair look brown and I smile at the look on his blushing face.

I clear my throat. "I like you. And that scares me because I don't know if we'd work out. And I'd really like for us to work out."

He scratches the back of his neck with a slow smile. His tone of voice suggests that he's curious about my answer— like he's trying to figure me out. "You like me?"

I nod because there's no point denying it. I'm human and I have feelings for this boy. He makes me smile, he makes me feel beautiful and he's generally amazing. My estrogen approves.

He grins. "You like me but you don't want to date me?"

I nod yet again. "Yes. I'm not sure we'd work. You're a great guy but you have hormones and after dating someone like Kenneth-"

He cuts me off with a chuckle full of humor. His smile is brighter than the sun. "There's no need to explain yourself Diadem. I understand what you mean," he walks by me with a wink, "I know why you have to abstain from my obvious charm. I decided to Google stuff about Islam."

I quickly catch up to his slow walk and I raise an eyebrow because if I remember correctly, I'm the one who instructed him to do so. "So you're okay with it?"

He slows his pace so that I can catch up with him, "Of course. I was just a bit upset because I thought you didn't like me."

I'm pretty sure my eyebrow is tired of reaching my veil but I ignore its fatigue. "So you don't mind the fact that I don't just want to date you despite the fact I like you?"

He chuckles but now, it sounds shy. "Ramadan has thirty days. This is day thirteen. I have seventeen more days to convince you that I'm not a regular teenage boy."

My heart almost stops beating in my chest as I look up at him. He's still smiling but the way he's clenching his fist tells me that he's nervous about how I feel about his words.

And cue the butterflies in my stomach that I'm yet to kill. I hope the blush on my cheeks look cute and not like I'm some kind of flustered tomato.

"I don't think I'd mind that much," I confess to him quietly.

He laughs. I smile even harder.

———

"Why are we so short?" Damon grumbles as we both look up at a bottle of vanilla extract located on the very top shelf. I laugh at his frustration and shake my head.

Damon isn't the tallest guy. He isn't a boy with easy height but he's taller than my 5'6 frame. I think he's about 5'9.

I shrug. "Some people are blessed with height. Others aren't. I'll just get a guy to help us or something."

He turns to face me with lightning-quick reflexes. "Excuse you, but underneath this flawless hair is an actual guy."

"An actual small fry of a guy," I correct him and his mouth drops open in shock. I laugh at him and turn away to find someone who has the ability to reach the shelf.

We leave the baking section and end up in the section full of plush toys. There's a tall guy that looks like he's in college, going through a collection of teddies.

Jackpot. He's cute, likes teddies and most importantly, he's tall.

"Let's find a female basketball player," Damon grumbles behind me and I roll my eyes at his words.

"I don't think so, Steroid Pillow."

I make my way towards the guy. My head doesn't even come close to touching his chest and I smile at the fact that I've found a human ladder.

"Hey," I look up at him. He looks down at me and smirks. His eyes are teal blue and his hair is red. Good looks. Cool.

"Hey," he turns his full attention to me and runs his fingers through his hair, "My name is Travis."

I try to keep my tone light and friendly. I don't want to come off as flirty considering I can feel Damon burning holes in my veil with his stare, "I'm Paulina. I was just wondering if you could help me with something."

His smirk turns wider. "Interesting. Of course."

"I'm sort of pretty short. And...well I can't reach the vanilla extract on the top shelf in the next section," I cock my head to the side, "I was wondering if you could help?"

"I can. And I will," he winks at me and makes his way to the other section. He brushes by a pouting Damon and I internally make baby faces at him.

"Come on Steroid Pillow," I walk up to him, "Travis is waiting for us."

"Travis is a bean pole," he mutters as he follows me reluctantly, "I think shorter boys should be in Vogue."

I laugh at his logic. "You aren't short, you piece of cake," I roll my eyes and watch as Travis picks the vanilla extract without any fuss, "You're of average height to most girls that love reading books."

"I think you're talking about yourself," he stage-whispers, "And the term you're looking for is nerdy girls."

"You like this nerdy girl," I gesture to myself with a raised eyebrow.

"I never said otherwise," he winks at me as Travis makes his way towards us, holding the bottle of precious vanilla extract.

"Thank you, Travis," I smile and he nods with his never-wavering smirk, "Damon, and I appreciate it."

"Hmm?" Damon hums like he doesn't know what I'm talking about. I frown at his envy and lightly stomp on his foot. He yelps and lurches forward.

...He's hugging Travis. And Travis looks like he's ready to freak out. I chuckle as Damon fakes a cry.

"I appreciate you, man. Thank you for helping us out. It's a hard world when you aren't an Oak tree," I detect a fake sniffle in his words and I roll my eyes at his dramatics.

"Uh...it's okay...man," Travis tears himself away from Damon's embrace and quickly gives me the bottle of our dreams. Then I watch as he runs away.

"Was that enough appreciation for you?" Damon chuckles darkly and I shake my head with a laugh. We continue down the aisle with Damon holding the basket while I throw stuff we need inside. Thankfully, I can reach everything so I don't need to find another "Travis" that Damon might scar.

And I thought he was a super nice guy.

We finally make it to the counter to pay. No one is standing in front of us and the person at the counter is a middle-aged woman.

"Thanks for shopping at Yomart," she drawls as we carry our bags and pay her.

I hold the bag that contains the chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Damon carries the rest and we make our merry back to the Café.

"So. What am I getting for my Iftar, Damon?" I look up at him with a slight smile, "I'm in the mood for pasta."

He laughs. "Thank the bakery goddess. I was thinking of baking a—"

He bumps into someone and I feel my eyes widen as I see the familiar figure slumped on the floor. There's also an actual human Oak tree behind this aforementioned figure on the floor.

Blond Douche aka the one Damon slapped with a bag full of flour on the first day of Ramadan.

And he has a bodybuilder standing behind him...

...I don't know why but I don't think this is going to end well.

"Well it's my lucky day," Blond Douche smirks as the human Oak helps him stand. "The terrorist bitch and her fuckboy."

Damon's bag of butter flies to its rightful place; the boy's cheek. I hold my laugh as the Incredible Oak glares at us with barely concealed anger as he catches his friend before he can get reacquainted with the concrete.

"Are you okay?" Human Oak asks Blond Douche. I suppress a laugh.

"It's okay," Blond Douche replies smugly. "This is why my father hired you and why we've been patrolling this street for days."

...Wait.

His boss. Blond Douche is this guy's boss. And Damon just slapped him with a bag full of butter. Which means...

I turn to look at Damon who is already pale. His eyes are wide with realization and he turns to face me with a very audible gulp. We slowly start to take measured steps away from the big...man tree person.

"Sage," Blond Douche clears his throat whilst clutching his cheek. "Get them. And show no mercy."

Damon and I simultaneously do our best impressions of Kid Flash without hesitation.

a/n: smh, Paulina and Damon need prayers. Will Sage catch them? Let's hope not ;)

Till next time loves x