My alternate ending to the story 'Checkout'

In his favor, his wish came true. The very next week as he was bringing in baskets from the parking lot, he saw her. He didn’t know how she had gotten into the store without him seeing her. However he had to think quick or else he didn’t know when he would see her again.

Meanwhile, as she was walking to her car, she wished she had of seen him. She was so sure he would be there. She went and bought all these unnecessary items just to see a guy. She was so appalled at herself. When she made it to her car, she sat there and laughed. She had to gather her thoughts and make a decision on whether she would go in and see if he was there and make up some silly excuse of why she was looking for him or to just drive away and keep her grocery store extravaganza to herself. Well, she decided to go in and wing it.

When she opened her car door, she walked right into him. He had a trail of baskets pushing them over toward her. He stopped, looked her in the eye and said,” I just came to collect your basket.” She didn’t know what to say. She handed it to him and simply said thank you. She asked how long he had worked there and he replied that he had just started. She told him to keep up the good work and that she would see him later. She knew what she was doing. She saw the mutual attraction in his eyes. She just couldn’t work up the courage to ask for his number first. He was so busy smiling; he didn’t realize he had let her drive away. He had to stop her but he decided to be ready and ask her next time.

He wasn’t scheduled to work that next Saturday afternoon. He was upset but he was also relived. He prepared very carefully and chose his words and said them over and over again to himself.

She thought her mother and father were getting suspicious of why the only thing she didn’t complain about was going to the grocery store. So when she was up and ready, she told her mom she was going to the grocery store for waffles when she realized that her mother wasn’t dressed for work or a meeting. Her mother volunteered to go with her to spend some time together.
When they pulled into the grocery store, her hands sweated bullets bigger that hail drops. Her body felt numb and she could see everything in slow motion. She closed the door behind her and walked normally but slowly. Her mother didn’t realize it until she turned and say her pretending to tie her shoe.

“She must be embarrassed,” thought her mother. “She doesn’t want to be seen with me. Maybe this was a bad idea. “Then she heard,” Mom, wait up!” She was still walking slowly but she was walking a little bit faster.

He was waiting for her in the deli. He knew it would be her last stop. She always bought something from the deli d gave to a homeless man outside the store. He had been there since 12 hoping to have with her by 4. It was going on 3 and he was getting as nervous as he was the first time he saw her. He paced back and forth wondering she was. How could one girl turn the few weeks on his job into the slowest hours of his life. Time was moving forward then backward and then forward again. It seemed as if time had just stopped. He looked up and there she was. Her beautiful red shiny hair pinned up in a pony tail with a yellow ribbon. It matched her blouse: a button down flowery to and a solid collar. She had on some jean shorts that stopped at her knees and sum yellow and pink flip flops. It was the prettiest outfit he had ever seen.

He stood up from the table and whipped the sweat from his hands on his khaki shorts and made sure his white and tan stripped shirt was tucked in, but not too much. He said, “Try our banana pudding, it’s the desert de jour.”

She spoke to him and they had a good conversation considering her mother was right there the whole time. And when he finally asked her out, she asked, “What took you so long?”

“Me? What about you? I saw you looking at me just as well as I look at you. But I think the important thing is that we are talking now. You had me quit nervous for a while. You are so beautiful and different and unique. I just didn’t know how to react to someone like you.”
She blushed for a long while before they realized they were next in line. He moved the original bagger and told him to take a break. The cashier laughed and acted as if she wasn’t paying attention. He bagged her groceries for her and her mother and the funny thing was, when he looked up at her, he dropped the jar of mayonnaise. They went all the way back to the beginning.