After Benton Knight left Tachibana no Akane's; he soon found himself in foreign territory.
A grocery store.
Almost losing his temper when being unable to free one shopping cart from another, it took a couple of tries to find one without a wobbly wheel before he started strolling down the aisles. Not knowing where anything was, let alone the fact he never made a grocery list, Benton found himself going down every single aisle whether he actually needed anything from it or not.
He wasn't sure what confused him more, all the various items from cooking oil to Pop Tarts, or how much food actually cost.
Benton thought about calling Frieda or his brother Lance for help, but didn't want to admit weakness to his younger sibling, and sought to have more control in his life; especially if he was unable to convince the household staff to return.
With that, he continued his trek through the grocery store, with the one thing Benton knew he definitely wasn't buying being Civet Coffee!*
MEANWHILE...
"What about this one?" asked Frieda Knight, coming out of the dressing room in a stunning one piece dress that left nothing to the imagination. "I take that as a yes," she said, staring at Eric Anderson and Spencer Lawson, while feeling the lust coming from the special bond the three of them shared.
"Maybe we should start being a little more practical," suggested Eric. "If you actually buy everything the three of us have already tried on, the bill is going to be over $5000, and we haven't even left Awareness** yet."
"Don't worry Eric," said Frieda, while moving closer to him, which did nothing to hide the view of what was under the dress she currently had on. "First off, for better or worse I definitely inherited my mom's shopping gene, but secondly, in all honesty, a lot of this stuff I wouldn't be caught dead in, although I must admit that this dress would look great on the floor of your basement," she added, winking at him seductively.
In the end, Awareness would be their only stop as far as clothes shopping was concerned. The final tally would actually be closer to $3000 than five, but it would include two new suits Frieda arranged to have delivered to her father later that afternoon.
ELSEWHERE...
Having already had a busy morning between checking on his sister-in-law at the hospital and making sure things were going smoothly at The Moon Lake Gazette, for he was a friendly but hands on Editor-In-Chief, Lance Knight stopped by the local diner for takeout before heading back to his house.
As he pulled his ecological friendly hybrid into his driveway, Lance was surprised to see Lila Carpenter's motorcycle still on the property.
She can't still be asleep? he wondered, having pushed her cycle off to the side so he could pull out earlier that morning.
The first thing that greeted him upon entering was the tantalizing aroma of a home cooked meal.
The second thing was Lila coming toward him. She was proudly displaying her fursona as a weretigress, but did have an apron and a smile on.
"Hello there," she said, giving Lance a friendly growl and a passionate kiss. "I wasn't sure when you'd be back, so I've been keeping brunch warmed."
"Not that I ain't happy to see you, but if I knew you were still here, I would have picked up something for you too," said Lance, showing her the takeout container. "Didn't you see my note when you woke up?"
"Yes. I didn't think you were the 'love them and leave them' type. Everything all right with your family?" she asked, while leading him to the table where they had dinner last night.
"Yeah. Amanda's recovering and Benton's... Benton," was all Lance would say. His older brother discovering he was bi-polar was a private matter, but after talking alone with Benton's doctors, they did tell Lance that short of officially being tested to make sure, he wasn't showing any signs of the disease himself. While bi-polar disorder might run in families, not every member got it.
"Well, I whipped up what I could, but you do need to go grocery shopping, and you should start eating better too," suggested Lila, leaving and coming back from the kitchen with an assortment of leftovers. "There was nothing but diner takeout trays and fast food containers in your fridge."
"Just the schedule I keep," said Lance, digging into his meal. "You know, for leftovers, this is actually good."
"Thank you. Cooking is just one of my many talents," said Lila, as she gave him a seductive purr.
Hmmm... thought Lance, as he continued to eat and stare at her. It's too soon to actually ask, but the two car garage is big enough for both my car and her motorcycle. Maybe when the time is right, Lila would like to move in with me.
Not knowing why he was smiling at her, Lila simply smiled back at Lance and thought, Eat up big boy. You'll need your strength for "dessert".
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*A contaminated container of the important brew was responsible for his wife's recent sickness and hospitalization.
**A clothing store in the Moon Lake of any story thread that sells specially made clothing that adjusts to almost any were shifting from their human form to fursona and back again.—tmw.