NOVEL NEXT 70: Convenience Store Wandering
Nyssa and Celeste ended up wandering around the convenience store for twenty minutes. Hand-in-hand the entire time. The new half-full paper bag they carried held a variety of region-specific snacks, from pastries, to cookies, to juices, to an... interesting ice fish popsicle blended with bark extract...
“Do we eat the popsicle first or last?” Nyssa raised an eyebrow. Her voice wavered as they ambled down the sandy rock-paved path down towards the beach. “If it destroys my stomach, I’m not sure if I want to get it over with or let myself enjoy everything else first.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy any of the other snacks if I know I have a mysterious unknown waiting for me at the end like that,” Celeste covered her face as exasperated laughter came slipping out between her words. “We’ll be near the ocean anyway, so we can always throw up right into the water! And why are you even worrying? Just shift your stomach so that you don’t vomit.”
“Such optimism,” Nyssa shook her head. Their conversation, though, halted for a second as the rock path came to an end. The two bent down, setting their bags beside each other, and slipped off their shoes before picking up their bags and continuing on. “To answer your question though, I don’t like those types of transformations...”
Together, they treaded a direct path towards the water’s edge. Nyssa, as they walked, pointed to her stomach. “It works, but they’re so energy intensive if I want to make it perfect. It's already energy intensive when it's just in the moment, but then I throw up once the transformation ends... To fix it all, I waste so much energy that I might as well just live like a normal person.”
“Interesting,” Celeste nodded before turning to see Nyssa rubbing her stomach with a wistful expression. Cracking a smile, she leaned over and placed a kiss on Nyssa’s cheek. “I feel like your mind has wandered, what are you thinking about?”
“Mn... to the fried fish flavored potato chips I bought...” Nyssa rubbed her cheek, now dragged back to reality. She looked around. Without anyone in the general vicinity, she returned the kiss after a brief moment of hesitation.
They both fell silent for a moment. A faint tinge of pink appeared on each of their faces. The sound of the waves crashing against the sand mixed with the sound of their footsteps waded through the wet sand. Wind blew their hair upward, letting it dance under the cloudy gray skies.
“Let’s go to an actually sunny beach one day,” Celeste sighed, looking up into the sky. “If... if we’re not too busy with work.”
“I’m sure we’ll find the time, even Roxanne and Angelica have time to go on regular dates...” Nyssa squeezed Celeste’s hand. “I’m also not that ambitious anyways, I’m sure whatever career I end up being in, I’ll have a lot of free time.”
“I guess...” Celeste smiled, a hint of worry dancing behind her eyes. “Let’s not think about that right now though.”
“Let’s eat our snacks!” Nyssa pumped her fist. “Onward!”
“Onward!” Celeste laughed, swinging her and Nyssa’s interlaced hand forward. Together, they left the water’s edge. Trudging through the sand as their feet sank into the dryer areas, they made their way to one of the large, flat rocks sitting on the beach.
Celeste pulled out a beach towel and set it flat against the rock. Bags down. Snacks unpacked. Drinks set upright. In the midst of it all sat a certain popsicle. Its wrapper depicted a scared cartoon fish being chased by a shark. Between the shark and fish though, sat a tree—with arms—wielding a bark shield to protect the fish.
Sat between Celeste’s legs, Nyssa leaned back into her girlfriend’s embrace with a sigh. “...Let’s do the popsicle first.”
“You or me?” Celeste teased as she watched Nyssa begin to unwrap it. Nyssa’s face contorted with gloom as she seemed ready to face the gates of hell within a moment’s notice. With each passing second, her gaze emptied as her soul left her body before the popsicle even felt the fresh sea air.
“... I’ll go first...” Nyssa pulled the popsicle out of the packaging. Her hands shook the entire time as they brought the popsicle to her lips.
Lick.
Not even a second later, Nyssa began coughing as her body curled up in Celeste’s arms. Celeste, unable to resist the urge, began laughing while placing a few soft kisses onto Nyssa’s neck. “It’ll be okay, you survived, good job!”
“T... Thank you,” Nyssa groaned as light began returning to her eyes. “I think I just saw the king of the underworld... I think he looked like the cartoon fish on the packaging of the popsicle...”
“It can’t be that bad can it?” Celeste asked, beckoning for Nyssa to pass her the popsicle. “You’re even partial to fish foods most of the time anyway.”
“I don’t even understand its flavor composition!” Nyssa laid in Celeste’s arms, catching her breath and recovering from her road of trials. “It’s a popsicle, but it's somehow sweet from sugar, salty from the fish, bitter from the bark, and also sour from... something?? At least the texture is normal popsicle texture.”
Once Nyssa had given her an idea of what to expect, Celeste took a tentative lick of the popsicle. Her tongue stretched outward and with the briefest touch, took some of the popsicle back to Celeste’s mouth.
Hesitation.
A raised eyebrow.
Another lick.
“It’s not that bad... I guess this is another area where our tastes differ,” Celeste laughed as Nyssa’s eyes widened. “Don’t be so surprised! It’s not... that good. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it. But it’s... fine I guess? Not good enough for me to finish though.”
“Your stomach is far stronger than mine, that’s all I've learned,” Nyssa patted her stomach. “Maybe if I morphed to have a star engine in my chest I could eat that popsicle too...”
“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Celeste poked Nyssa on the nose.
As their conversation continued to wander to other random topics though, Celeste leaned over to put the popsicle aside. In the meantime, Nyssa propped herself upright to pick out the next snack and drink to share.
Here, while in the middle of their awkward bending position though, the ocean kicked up huge, skyscraper-like sprays. Small figures from the beach volleyball pitch on the other side of the beach split into groups. Several ran across the ocean and disappeared into the spray. Others leapt into the air as their weapons flew off the sand to their owners’ grasps.
The sound of another impact shook the air before Celeste and Nyssa could react. A man and a woman came flying out towards the sand from the ocean. Still in their swimsuits, they tumbled and flipped before coming to a skidding stop within the sand near the rock Celeste and Nyssa had set up on.
As the two began clambering back to their feet, Celeste wrapped an arm around Nyssa’s waist and leaned in a little closer. “... Are you two alright?”