Page 24 of Demon Dating Service

Matteo motioned for him to follow, but they didn’t get more than a few steps. He stopped and plucked a single orange off a pyramid of them. With a wide grin, he dropped it into Luke’s basket. “To keep away the scurvy.”

They both chuckled as Luke followed him to the deli counter. Luke didn’t care that his cheeks felt like they were on fire with embarrassment. He was having fun.

Matteo stopped sharply again and swung to face him. “Do you like chicken?”

“Yep.”

The young man let out another loud, dramatic breath. “Oh, good. It just dawned on me that you might not eat any form of bird because you’re studying to be an ornithologist.”

If Matteo kept hitting him with surprises, Luke was going to drop dead in this grocery store.Matteo knew what he was studying!Not that hard to learn, buthe knew!

At this point, Luke was beginning to believe that he might need to up his research game regarding Matteo. So far, all he was sure of was that Matteo was a transfer student and was likely a junior. He wasn’t even sure what Matteo was studying.Oh, no.This wouldn’t do at all. He was going to need Harper’s help. Sheloved being nosy and sneaky. She would eat this assignment up. Plus, it would give her an excuse to do anything other than study.

They continued on to the prepackaged meals in the refrigerated area near the deli. “My suggestion is a section of rotisserie chicken breast. It’s delicious. The fried chicken is good too, but you said healthy. Their green beans are amazing, too. They cook them with bits of ham. They also have mac ‘n’ cheese and cornbread. Snag all of that, and you have a full meal. It keeps for a few days if you can’t eat it all. Perfect for lunch or a midnight snack. All you need to do is slide down to the bakery to find your dessert.”

“I was thinking about getting some ice cream.”

“Mmmm…ice cream. I was thinking about grabbing some Rocky Road just yesterday.”

Wow!

Was it too early to propose? Could he propose to Matteo right here in front of the deli counter because he would never find a more perfect man?

“What do you think?” Matteo asked, breaking through Luke’s impromptu wedding planning.

“It’s a great idea. Thanks!” He bent and began snatching up the containers Matteo had indicated. It sounded like a good idea. It was as close to a home-cooked meal as he was going to get, and it seemed a lot healthier than the crap he had been eating. His grin might have grown even wider when he saw Matteo doing the same thing. His inner fanboy silently squealed at the idea of them having the same meal tonight.

As soon as they had dinner in their baskets, they walked together to the other end of the store where the freezer section was.

“It sounds like you’ve gotten quite a few of your meals here. I figured you’d eat on campus,” Luke said.

Matteo shrugged. “I do, but sometimes I need to get away from school. By Thursday, my brain feels like goo, and this gets me out of my routine of classes, studying, and walking to the cafeteria. What about you? You’re not living on campus, are you?”

Luke shifted his basket from his left hand to his right so he wasn’t in danger of accidentally hitting Matteo with it. “Nah. I’m renting a room in an old house. It’s only about five blocks from here.”

“Oh, so now that I’ve shown you my secret deli meal plan, you could come here more often,” Matteo said, his voice turning playfully sly as he opened the glass door to get a pint of Rocky Road. Luke grabbed a different brand of Rocky Road because he was afraid of it seeming creepy if he got all the same things as Matteo. “You know, the deli does more than chicken. They usually have fresh pasta throughout the week. So, you don’t get burned out on chicken.”

“Nice. I’ll have to look into it.”

They walked together to the front of the store. They used separate self-check registers since the store was so dead. A smile crossed Luke’s face as he placed the single orange in the bag.

As they walked out of the store, Luke racked his brain for something else to say. They’d fallen into a comfortable silence, but he wasn’t ready for this encounter to end.

“You know, we could make this a thing on Thursdays. We could meet here and come up with new dinner ideas,” Matteo suggested. “Because I’ll admit I never considered the scurvy problem.”

Luke soared into the clouds for one heartbeat and crashed to earth on the next. Matteo must have seen it written on his face, because the young man backpedaled.

“Or not. That was lame. I shouldn’t have said that. That was so dorky.”

“No! I just…I want to, but I work two jobs. It was sheer luck that I was off today and had time to run to the store. I don’t know when I’ll be free like this again.” He sighed. “But I wish I could.”

“Here.” Matteo shoved his cell phone under Luke’s nose. “Give me your number. You can text me next time you’re free to do a grocery run. And we can send each other pictures of our meals if we can’t go together.”

Luke snatched up the phone and plugged in his number, his heart returning to skipping. He handed the phone to Matteo, and his new friend used the number to send a text.

“Great. Well. I should get going. See you around.”

Matteo hurried off before Luke could point out that they were headed in the same direction. This was for the best. They’d said some very scary things in the store. This was allowing them to end on a positive, not-too-embarrassing high note.