Distant | j.b fan fic (MBFR Sequel)

Fifteen | Grocery Trips

- Three months later -

I tiredly stood over the stove and twirled a spoon around the processed chicken and noodles I emptied from a can a few minutes ago. I couldn't cook and Nonna wasn't in the mood to cook anymore. For the past three months we ate from fast food restaurants or canned food which was odd because Nonna never eats anything she doesn't cook. The only time she did cook was on Sundays, where she felt obligated to. But since it was only Wednesday, this was our only option.

I emptied the contents in a bowl and grab a spoon before carefully walking up the stairs. "Nonna," I call softly. "I'm bringing you soup."

"Oh that's okay sweetie." She says. "I'm not hungry."

I sigh and use my foot to slide the door open slowly. She was sitting up with stacks of thick old photo albums in her bed. "You haven't eaten since this morning." I set the soup down on her nightstand and sit down on her bed, joining her. "Nonna why are you looking at these?"

She dabs a tissue to her nose and sniffles. "I miss him. I miss Angelina. I miss Franklin."

I nod. "So do I but, I don't think this is going to help us move forward. It's been three months nonna. We've been to the funeral, we've left flowers at the grave site, we talk to him, yet we still haven't moved forward. I'm not saying we shouldn't grieve because we should. It's just that life is passing us by and we're missing out on so much. You haven't left the house in weeks. We're running low on groceries and everything."

Nonna nods. "I know Dana. It's hard, to have to deal with this all over again."

"I know." I stand up and smooth out my shirt. "I'm going to go get a few groceries from the store. Do you want to ride?"

She wastes no time in shaking her head. "Maybe next time. I'm not ready yet."

I nod understandingly and kiss her forehead before leaving. Then I grab my keys and purse and walk outside, the hot sun beaming on my arms. We didn't really need groceries, we were low but, it was enough food to last two more weeks. I just really wanted to get out of the house and try to drag Nonna along with me but she wasn't having it. I wish I could help her more than I already am. Every night I hear her sobbing and even when I get up to console her she couldn't stop. Sometimes she'd even cry for half an hour before slowly falling asleep. She was a lot worse than she was when my parents died. Maybe that's because she was so busy trying to help me keep myself together that she didn't have time to mourn. Now, it was the other way around.

I park my car in the lot and thank God that it wasn't crowded today. Grabbing my purse from the passenger seat I lock my doors and head inside the small store. I didn't really write down a list this time because I already know what we have and what we don't. So I walk down an aisle and grab about ten more cans of food. Eating canned spaghetti and tuna fish was getting pretty old. I had an idea. Even though I've never cooked for anyone and I wasn't sure I ever had to, there's a first time for everything right?

That led me to my next decision which was to travel to the meat section to grab a few packs of chicken. Maybe we could have a grill chicken salad. I mean, you could never go wrong with that.

I push my shopping cart to the produce aisle and stop when I see a certain someone. A certain someone I haven't seen or spoken to in three months. A certain someone that rejected my phonecalls. A certain someone who was back in LA and I'm not sure why.

I'm not going to lie, Just because we haven't talked doesn't mean I wasn't keeping up with him. I followed him on social media so I saw all of his posts and photos. According to what I've seen he was finished touring
a months ago. So why was he back here? It wasn't like Ryan was in town. Him and Allyson went on their summer trip like they planned. Then it hit me. The reason why we stopped talking in the first place.