But I Wanted That!

[Elizabeth Edison]

Grocery shopping. 

If anything calmed Elizabeth Edison down, it would definitely be grocery shopping. Her family members find it both amusing and annoying bringing her out to shop for groceries simply because she would colour code the things in the shopping cart and then refuse to let the bagger of the store do the bagging. 

So sometimes, her mother would just give her the list and the money and Elizabeth would do the shopping and actually enjoy herself. Which was why she was beaming as she walked into the store with the sole intent of getting her shopping on. 

Grocery stores were her jam because everything was neatly packed and had it's own aisle. She could spend a whole day just grabbing things and putting them in order in her cart. That this would be her first time shopping for herself and her newly minted apartment just made her that much more excited.

She was halfway done when she realised she had to also stock up on alcohol so she breezed through the aisles to the back where all the drinks were. There was just the one guy at the cooler and he was already taking out what seemed to be the last pack of her favourite beer. "Nooo." She thought to herself, not realising she had actually voiced it out as well. 

[Taylor McCarthy]

Life had taken on a sort of beautiful simplicity in recent years. At the time Taylor had cursed his family for all but forcing him to return to Ireland all those years ago but it had yielded unexpected results. After enlisting in the Irish Army as the ultimate act of defiance Taylor found himself surprisingly adept at adjusting to the life of a soldier. With his only chief concerns being the time he needed to report, where he needed to report and in what uniform he needed to report in Taylor took well to the environment. Working for Helios was much the same without the needlessly complicated rules and regulations surrounding whose daughter is safe to fool around with. It seemed these days the only thing on his mind was whether or not he wanted to go for a six or twelve pack of Guinness.

Definitely the twelve pack.

Brows furrowed as the sound of someone expressing dismay came from behind Taylor. Slowly, curiously he turned to see the blonde woman staring at him, wide eyed with disappointment. A thin smirk touched his lips as he studied her for a moment. He wasn't the source of her ire so much as it was the cold pack of beer (the last one in the case) he held in his hands. "It's not usually until the morning after I get a girl looking at me with that much disappointment." He said without missing a beat, his thick, Irish accent weaving through his words.

[Elizabeth Edison]

In the midst of displaying her utmost disappointment at the loss of her beer, she almost missed what the guy said. Blinking, she looked at him and frowned a little before it dawned on her that he just made a joke.

"What?" She asked before laughing. "You're that bad? What a shame." She shrugged before shaking her head. "No...the beer. I wanted that beer. To christen my new apartment. I'll pay you for them?" She offered with a big smile.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor couldn't help the smirk on his face from spreading into a bit of a goofy grin as he caught the blonde girl off guard and she gave a laugh. At least his self-deprecating sense of humor worked well enough to break the ice with what was undoubtedly a good looking member of the opposite sex. He offered a faint shrug, a hint of mischievousness creeping into the grin. "I'm not all that sure." He said, continuing with the joke. "But I'm willing to keep trying, you know? They say practice makes perfect." A single brow quirked, giving the off the notion Taylor wouldn't particularly mind present company assisting with such an endeavor.

When the beer he held was pointed out Taylor gave pause. His dark eyes dropped to the case of Guinness for a moment before lifting back up to the blonde. "Are you taking a piss?" He asked. There weren't many girls he'd ever met that enjoyed the dark, bold beer he was carrying. Usually they stuck to those girly mixed drinks or light beers. "You-" He almost laughed himself. "You'll pay me for this?" He said, lifting the beer up a bit in emphasis. "Well that's a fucking stupid idea." Taylor said bluntly, though the proposition clearly gave him no small amount of amusement.

[Elizabeth Edison]

"Good choice. I'm a pretty good practice dummy." She wriggled her eyebrows and was suddenly struck by a vague familiarity coming off of the guy. The facial hair was obscuring part of his face but he did look sort of familiar. Where had she seen him before?

His question had Elizabeth narrowing her eyes as she tried to figure out what he meant. And when he laughed and told her it was a stupid idea, her eyebrows furrowed in the middle and she huffed. "Your shirt was a fucking stupid idea." She retorted before chewing her bottom lip. "But seriously. Beer? Come on, it's my first night alone in my apartment. Give a girl a hand, would ya Irish?"

[Taylor McCarthy]

The brow that had quirked slyly lowered before the other perked up with no small amount of curiosity. Taylor's bold proclamation had been met with much less scorn and potential violence directed toward his person than he'd initially thought. He wasn't quite sure what it meant by her referring to herself as a 'practice dummy' but his mind was already beginning to consider the possibilities. "I think I'm in the wrong line of work. I don't know of many practice dummies that look like you."

Taylor caught the faint glimpse of curious familiarity in the young woman's eyes though he cast it aside for the moment. He gave a short laugh at her response. "Oi. Irish? Is that the best you got?" Taylor glanced down to the twelve pack of bottles that he held in his hands then gave a resigned, almost humorously apologetic shrug. "I'm not really getting away from the Irish stereotypes, am I?" He asked though his attention was quickly pulled away from the beer itself. "Now that hardly seems the proper way to spend the night." He mused. "No one should be alone on the first night in their apartment." Although it didn't look like he was all to interested on giving up the case of beer. It was his favorite, after all.

[Elizabeth Edison]

The flirtatious response had Elizabeth chuckling. She would have continued had she not been more concerned about not having the beer.

"I haven't had my beer so the wit isn't coming in quick." She shrugged before laughing at his self-depracating humour. He was pretty good at that, it seemed.

His comment about being alone at night made her chuckle again. "You're welcome to keep me company. As long as I get the beer." She paused and sighed. "Why doesn't this place restock their beer? That seems highly irresponsible." She shook her head.

"So...seriously? You're not giving up that beer? I'll pay you double."

[Taylor McCarthy]

Yet again there was a bit of shuffling among brows. Taylor didn't even know this girl and she was already inviting him over to her new apartment where she had admitted to being alone. He couldn't help shake the feeling there was something at play he wasn't considering but it seemed at the moment like she was either a little crazy, he was that charming and good looking or she just really wanted that beer. He was going to go with the witty and charming bit.

"Jesus Christ you're stubborn." Taylor said, exasperated already in spite of his obvious amusement about he situation. His head shook and he let out a low sigh. "You're not going to let me get out of here with this, are you?" He said even though he suspected the answer already. "Fine then." He said, chuckling at the sheer absurdity of the situation. "I suppose I can't deny you the pleasure of your beer for your first night in your new apartment." He reasoned. "I'll even buy it for you as a housewarming gift so long as I can help you drink it."

[Elizabeth Edison]

If she had really thought about the exchange between them, Elizabeth would have seen the red flags a mile away. Turned out beer goggles also occurred before you bought the beer. Who knew.

Being called stubborn made the blonde nod. "Growing up with five brothers who started flat out refusing to let me in their tree house because I was a girl but ended up being the president of their little man cave, you kinda have to be."

When the guy seemed to start waning in his resolve, Elizabeth perked up and shook her head with a grin on her face. And when he actually caved, Elizabeth pumped her elbow down in victory. "Hot dog. You're a good man, Irish. Sure sure. Just no more than three. I gotta make it last." She grinned before pushing her cart close to the guy to sling an arm around his shoulder, what little shoulder she could actually reach anyway.

"Wow you're bulky. Okay come on, I gotta pick up a few more things and then we can check out."

[Taylor McCarthy]

"Were the runt of your family, were you?" Taylor replied with a smirk. He knew a thing or two about being the youngest of a large family. Growing up at home he often found himself drawing the short straw in just about everything given his own horde of older brothers and sisters. "But you became president?" He said only in partial mock surprise. That she was able to tame a lot of apparently rambunctious boys that wouldn't want to be stealing kisses behind the school bleachers was an impressive feat unto itself. "You'll have to tell me that story sometime."

"Three?" Taylor glanced down at the case in his hands and sighed yet again, giving a shake of his head. He didn't know how or why this girl was making him offer so many damn concessions so quickly but here he was agreeing to far more than he'd ever planned to when he'd first stepped foot in the store in search of beer. "Then we'll swing over to the liquor section." He said, pausing a moment as an arm went around his shoulder. He didn't mind the gesture so much and he continued. "We'll add a little Jameson to the proceedings if I can't have more than three of these."

[Elizabeth Edison]

"In more ways than one, unfortunately." She sighed with a shrug. She was not only the lone girl in the family, she was also the smallest and shortest. But it was because of her brothers that she had a mean, rough streak about her despite her stature. It was fun being their little sister but dinnertime was always a battle. "Yes I did." She nodded with pride. Of course, that was partly due to the fact that their dad made them. But it wasn't like she didn't earn the spot at all. "Oh, suggesting a sometime already? I like you." She pointed to him and nodded.

Chuckling, she shook her head. "Naw, you can have more. And I wouldn't say no to more alcohol." She skipped along with him. She pulled him into the canned foods aisle and stocked up on beans, tomatoes and baby corn before finishing up their grocery run at the liqour section.

"Ooh, we should have gotten cream soda." She snapped her fingers in mock consternation before grabbing a few choice bottles and adding it into her cart. "What're you getting?" She asked, looking over at the guy before her eyes widened. "Oh my God. I know you!" She exclaimed before shooting a punch against his arm. "Thunder Taylor McCarthy! You fuckin' blew my mind as BA's linebacker! How the heck are ya?" A wide smile appeared on her face, once recognition hit her.

[Taylor McCarthy]

So far, so good. Whoever this girl was she was thankfully a far cry from the nervous, uncertain, annoying ones Taylor had often attempted to avoid in school. This one seemed to know exactly what she wanted and how to go about getting it. After all, she'd not only gotten the beer she wanted but had also coerced some poor bastard into buying it and carrying it to her place for her. If he had half a functioning mind, Taylor may have noticed this subtle manipulation. Thankfully McCarthys didn't worry much about such things.

When the blonde let out a sudden exclamation Taylor's eyes shot over toward her and he froze. She knew him? From Bellefonte, of course. He blinked a few times, then shook his head with abfurrowed brow. "Thunder T-" He looked at Liz as if she was insane. Which she very well may have been. "Who the fuck ever called me that?" He asked still just staring at Liz with a dumbfounded expression. "No one ever called me that."

[Elizabeth Edison]

If she were any other type of person, the subtle manipulation would have been her go to M.O. Elizabeth Edison, however, didn't believe in manipulation. People just had goodwill and she was always in the good fortune of being on the receiving end of it. That it came with a face that looked it was deliberately made for staring was just a bonus.

His exclamation made her roll her eyes before pointing to herself. "Me. I did. I called you Thunder Taylor. To everyone I know. Because you just strike hard and fast and I dug that." She nodded. "My ex mighta been the QB but you were the main attraction." She nodded, biting her lower lip and grinning.

[Taylor McCarthy]

For a brief moment Taylor thought he was speaking to the girlfriend of the other quarterback he played with in college. A brow shot up in surprise, though he quickly began to doubt his first instinct. He'd instantly thought of the little, rich guy that was hardly the most athletic player in the field but always acted like he was the smartest. That one had ultimately became Taylor's boss and he knew he was married... Or at least though he was.

"Ohhh." Taylor snapped his fingers as he finally realized which quarterback she was talking about. Both the Bellefonte signal callers during Taylor's single season on the team had girlfriends they wouldn't shut up about. "Wait. You're..." Taylor's eyes narrowed as he tried to remember the name. "Liz?" He cautiously ventured.

[Elizabeth Edison]

When recognition hit the linebacker, Elizabeth excitedly nodded, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Yep! In the flesh. I must have about a thousand pictures of you tackling the other team like they were just water droplets. I think I lost my voice cheering for you that one game." She laughed, running her fingers through her loose blonde hair.

"I can't believe of all places I would run into you was a convenience store. What a small world, right? Are you still at BA?" She asked, before holding one finger up. She slid over to get another bottle of hard liqour and added it into her cart before sweeping a hand for him to continue. "You think we could get outta here? Enjoy that while it's still cold?" She pointed at the case of beer with a wide toothy grin.