Lucy's POV

I stumbled through the crowd, my eyes blurring and the tears cascading down my face. And it was all because of Lockwood. It was always because of Lockwood. He didn't understand, and know I knew he would never. I knew that when we met up to go home he would have a flood of questions waiting for me. But I pushed that out of my head and continued on my stumbling path. I was so distracted that I didn't realise I had collided with someone until I was lying flat on the cold, hard ground.

I felt strong arms pull me up and I stood staring at ginger haired Quill Kipps.

"Julie!" he joked, "how's ol' Tony and-" he stopped abruptly when he caught sight of my face. "Ar-are you okay?" Kipps asked timidly.

I wiped my eyes hurriedly on the back of my hand. "I-I'm fine," I lied. I gave a small smile just to prove it.

"Are you sure?" he asked, "because you don't look fine."

I scowled. "Oh, thanks a lot."

"No, I didn't mean I like that," he rushed, "you're always pretty," he said quietly, staring at his feet.

I felt myself turn red and I decided to tell him the truth. "It's Lockwood. He said something really mean a few minutes ago."

"Mean? Doesn't sound like Tony. What'd he say?" Inquired Quill.

I looked away from him, "that doesn't matter. What matters is that he said it. He probably doesn't even realise..." my voice faded away.

"What? Why'd you stop?"

My eyes grew wide. "Hide! We have to hide!" I grabbed Quill's arm and yanked him into one of the aisles.

"What?! Why are we hiding?" Kipps asked, bewildered.

I shushed him. "Keep your voice down. We're hiding from Lockwood. I just saw him," I carefully peered around a display full of almonds. I sighed in relief. He was gone.

I turned back around and came face to face with Kipps, who was looking really confused. I'm not kidding, his eyes were popping out, and his mouth was wide open. It looked kinda comical, actually. "Why do we have to hide from him?"

"Because he's going to question the life out of me," I explained.

"Why would he do that?" Kipps looked even more confused, if that was possible.

I pulled us out of the aisle and started looking for the items I had to buy. I did have to shop, you know. "Because I kicked him in the knee and ran away," I responded.

Kipps grinned. "Nice."

"Thanks," I said, grabbing a bag of tomatoes (ugh, I know, tomatoes). I continued grabbing stuff for a few minutes before I asked, "don't you have to shop or something? Why are you still following me?"

Kipps turned red and said, "er, I have to ask you a question," he shifted his feet nervously.

"Yes?"

"Will, um, you go out with me?" he looked away as soon as he said it.

"Sure."

"Really?" he looked genuinely surprised.

"Why not? We'll tell them at dinner, though," I said.

"Yeah, okay. I have to go. Bye!" Kipps disappeared into the crowd. I was left standing with my arms full of food. I quickly counted them and moved to the checkout. I bought the groceries and took up position by the entrance, waiting for Lockwood. When he finally appeared, I turned and walked ahead of him the whole way home, ignoring his questions.