Shopping Day (For Blue)

"Yeah...I guess you have a point there. Can't really fault her if I don't know what she's going through."

Ace rubbed the back of her head, before shrugging.

"I dunno. I guess being nice usually is a good idea, though sometimes I think Taylor has it right with her more....abrasive way of handling people."

Suddenly, Ace noticed that she was standing near a bag of potato chips, that were half off. She quickly grabbed them, before Cassie or any other shopper could. Ace fucking loved potato chips, despite being completely unhealthy for her.

"So...your nice, understanding, caring...and apparently you can cook good Mac and Cheese...Are you like, the best person in AFW or something?"

"Taylor has a big heart," was all Cassie said in reply.

But then she had to blush, her cheeks turning a shade of red that complimented her orange hair. She looked down, slightly ashamed to even have the words applied to her. She didn't deserve them.

"I don't think anyone thinks that about me anymore," she said quietly.

Ace looked at Cassie, a confused expression on her face.

"....Why wouldn't they? Did something happen?"

She asked, concerned about her...well, as forward as it might have been, she was already thinking of Cassie as her friend.

Cassie gave Ace a confused, skeptical, scrunched-brow look.

"Really?"

She knew Ace had seen her matches, she had said so at Taylor's party. She couldn't imagine anyone being able to search "Cassie Elliot" and not come up with a billion results about her so-called ambulance match with Dark Angel. It was probably the first one she saw. She knew the things that people said about her, behind her back, on message boards. She wasn't blind to the looks she sometimes received in the locker room.

But if Ace wasn't one of those people...

She shook her head. "Nothing. Um... I should get-" Her cart began to roll forward as she leaned against it, and she nearly fell over. She caught herself, blushed again, and began to slowly inch away. "I should get going..."

Ace mentally kicked herself. She had been thinking something had happened since they had last seen each other, but more likely Cassie was still dealing with issues from the Dark Angel stuff. It had, along with her accidental injuring of other fighters, been part of their last discussion.

"Uh, you don't have to"

Ace said quickly, picking up her baskets, blushing a little.

"I mean uh...we could keep shopping, or if your ready we could pay for this and get a coffee or something, if you uh...need to talk, ya know?"

Ace honestly wasn't sure if she should be offering. The girls had only met once after all, but they had bonded a little that last time, Cassie had even given Ace a brief hug, so Ace had comforted her a little it seemed. Valley's listening and comforting Ace with her issues from time to time had an influence on the the girl it seemed, as she was wanting to listen to her friends problems, even though she was worried Cassie would find it inappropriate.

"I mean, unless your busy or something..."

Cassie hadn't really been expecting that. Not that she was surprised by the offer.

"Well, I..." She began to look for an excuse. She knew she was doing it, she just wanted a way out, to keep her distance. She glanced around, and then at her cart. "Well, I'm going to need to get my cheese to a refrigerator," she said sensibly. "So it doesn't go bad."

"Ah...right. Well, I suppose I need to get these veggies and meat to my fridge too...um....raincheck?"

Ace offered, looking away a bit. She should have expected it, it wasn't really her place to ask Cassie to talk about something personal like that. She couldn't help but be a little bit stung by it though, she had, before Akashi ruined it, really enjoyed how they had connected before. Perhaps her outburst towards the sumo had ruined whatever friendship the two had started after all.

Ace shrugged, looking around, thinking maybe she should find an out herself.

Cassie nodded. "Okay, sure. Another time, definitely," she said as she continued to inch her cart away.

She just needed to get her groceries and get back home where she could be by herself, and safe from all the wildcard opinions of others who had seen little bits of her that were made public. She had never before in her life craved solitude, but now, even after being rebuilt by her time with her family, she found herself often unable to face people when she didn't know what they would say about her. Or worse, when she could tell by their faces what they thought of her.

"Bye, Ace. Er, Haley. Bye, see you later." She waved back at her and began to repeat in her head the list of things she needed to get before she could leave. She pushed her cart away down the aisle.

Squeak-a-squeak-a-squeak-a