This is written for the Artina Ficathon organized by troubadette.

My story is based on the prompt: Grocery Shopping - Artina style. Prompt is from Berytni.

Enjoy!

Artie sighed in frustration as he looked down at the piece of paper he was currently holding. His mother, being incredibly busy that day, had asked him if he would pick up a few things for her at the grocery store. He had agreed, thinking that it would only be a gallon of milk and a bag of carrots. He did not anticipate a full sheet of paper with a list that reached the bottom of the page. His mother had dropped him at the store, handed him the list and a couple of twenties, then drove off to take his little sister to her dance class. Now he was sitting right near the entrance of the store, staring at the list, and having absolutely no idea where to begin. Knowing that he was accomplishing absolutely nothing, he pulled out his cell phone, hit a very familiar number, and called the person who was always able to help him out no matter what the problem was.

Less than ten minutes later, Mrs. Cohen-Chang was pulling up in front of the store, and Tina was hopping out of the front seat. She bounded over to him, as she turned around to wave goodbye to her mother.

"So, let's get shopping!" she exclaimed as she reached Artie, grabbing the handles of his chair and pushing him into the store.

"Well, hello to you to," he replied amused, turning around to smile up at his girlfriend. She gave him a beam in return and reached down to grab the list out of his hand. After studying it for a moment, she dropped it back onto his lap and started pushing him toward to the carts.

"This is going to be easy," she declared as she let go of the handles to grab a cart. "You should see my mom's shopping list; it's way more than what your mom wants you to get."

"Easy for you to say," he retorted as he pushed himself alongside her. "You like shopping and you do it a lot. I can't stand it and avoid it as much as possible."

"That explains your fashion sense," she teased as they headed to the frozen foods section. "It screams 'my mom picks out my clothes.'"

"Haha," Artie replied dryly. "What exactly are we looking for here?"

"Popcorn chicken, frozen vegetables, ice cream, and some pizzas," Tina rattled off easily. "You go get the pizzas and ice cream, and I'll grab the other two things." She marched off with determination and Artie had to hold back a chuckle. She was getting a little bit too into this, but he was glad he had called her. What they were accomplishing in the next five minutes would have probably taken him a half hour by himself. He grabbed a couple of frozen pizzas, and then wheeled over to get a gallon of ice cream. He managed to beat Tina back to the cart, and dumped the items in there. She came over a moment later with her food items. She then grabbed the back of the cart and started pulling it in the opposite direction. Artie quickly grabbed the handle of the cart and allowed Tina to pull both him and the cart down the aisle.

At the sudden addition of weight to the cart, Tina turned around in confusion. The sight of Artie holding onto the cart, only the top of his face appearing above the handle, grinning mischievously at her made her laugh.

"Freeloader," she chided him. However, she continued to pull the cart down the aisle. He continued to grin cheekily at her, enjoying the free ride. The pair attracted a few stares as they made their way around the store, but neither paid much attention. They made their way to the fresh produce area of the store where Tina sent Artie off in search of apples and bananas, while she got carrots, peppers, and lettuce. After gathering their respective food items, they met up at the cart again, and headed towards the dairy aisle. Artie got two cartons of eggs, while Tina got a bag of shredded cheddar cheese. By this point the cart was filling up and getting heavier so Artie relented and let go of the cart. Tina pulled out a pen and crossed off the stuff they had already gotten.

The next thing on their list actually wasn't food but they found anyways. A package of paper towels was what was needed, and Mrs. Abrams had detailed the exact brand and how many in the package. Of course the one that she wanted was on the top shelf where neither the wheelchair bound Artie or height challenged Tina could reach. They stood in the aisle, both staring up at the offending item that was so far above their heads, and pondered as to how to get it down.

"Maybe if we throw stuff at it, it'll just fall?" Artie suggested halfheartedly. Tina didn't hear him however, because she was figuring out her own way of getting the towels.

"Or if we both concentrate really hard, our combined brainwaves will – wait what are you doing?" Tina had placed one hand on his shoulder and put her left foot on his armrest. Pushing up slightly, she rose up, and quickly swung her right leg to the other armrest. Acting on a reflex, Artie reached out and grasped her around the waist, lest she fall and get hurt.

"Not exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it'll work," Artie mused as Tina reached up for the paper towels. At that moment, he unfortunately realized that she was wearing a skirt. A rather short skirt at that, and at his vantage point he had perfect viewing of –

No! He thought to himself, quickly averting his eyes. True, she was his girlfriend, and he was technically allowed to look; or was he? This was the kind of stuff that got him in trouble. He assumed things, and a lot of the time he ended up being wrong. And if he decided to ask about it, who knew what would come out of his mouth. He decided to play it safe, and examined the rolls of toilet paper that were stocked at eye level for him. Fascinating. He was interrupted out of his musings with a slight thump as Tina tossed the package into the cart. She turned slightly to try and get down off his chair when her foot slipped and she fell. Artie quickly reached out and managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

Tina landed rather ungracefully in his lap, banging her legs and back against the armrests, which she knew would hurt later. However, she wasn't exactly thinking about that at the moment, because she was sitting in Artie's lap, her face rather close to his own. He smirked slightly at her, and she couldn't help but blush. He leaned in, closing the distance between their faces as he brought his lips to hers. Tina moaned quietly as she deepened the kiss. Their lips moved against each other in a familiar dance as he brought his hands up to play in her hair. She adjusted herself slightly in his lap, bringing herself as physically close to him as their current position would permit.

At this point, they had quite forgotten where they were so they were brought quickly and abruptly back down to earth when they heard what must have been an employee's voice say,

"I'm heading over there right now. Stan said that aisle 7 needed the toilet paper to be restocked."

They sprang apart rather guiltily, each attempting to straighten themselves out and look as innocent as possible. Tina walked over to grab the cart as the employee that had interrupted them came around the corner, still talking into his headset. The two teens exited the aisle as inconspicuously as they could. Once they had rounded the corner though, they burst into embarrassed laughter.

"All right, let's get back to business," Tina managed to say between giggles. Artie gave a mock salute as they headed down towards the next aisle. Tina instructed Artie to the cereal section, not sure on what his family ate, while she got bread and bagels. They then continued to make their way around the store, following the now slightly crumpled list that Tina held onto.

Tina soon learned why Mrs. Abrams didn't take Artie shopping with her. He acted much like a little kid, begging for cookies and candy whenever they would pass by the aforementioned food items. She relented with the cookies because they were actually on the list, but when he tried to toss in a bag of Skittles, she gave him a look that reminded him too much of his own mother.

"That's not on the list, Arthur," she reprimanded sternly. She sounded like his mother too. Artie put on his most pitiful expression and stuck out his bottom lip.

"Please?" he begged. Tina just scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"No," was the firm reply as she put the bag back on the shelf.

"You're no fun," he mumbled, wheeling his way down the aisle. He glanced up to see Tina staring at him with a rather amused expression on her face.

"How old are you?" she asked him.

"You're going to make a great mother some day," he retorted, sticking his tongue out at her. Tina just rolled her eyes and checked the list again.

"All right, looks like we're done. You have money for this right?"

"Yep. Let's go check out." They headed for the front of the store, making a beeline for the checkout counter with the shortest line. They made it through the checkout line, with Artie attempting to sneak a package of gum in, but Tina catching him and making him put it back. Once they were done, they pushed the cart outside while Tina called her mother for a ride home. Artie's mom was going to pick him up, but they had gotten done a lot sooner than she had anticipated and there was no way for her to pick them up.

While they were waiting, Tina finally relented and allowed Artie to go back in and buy some candy. He returned a few minutes later, a bag of licorice sitting in his lap. The two sat in the bright sun, eating the candy in between licorice sword wars. Soon enough, Mrs. Cohen-Chang pulled up and the two loaded the bags into the van. Tina pushed the cart back to the rack as Artie eased himself up and into the van. Once Tina was in as well, Mrs. Cohen-Chang pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Artie's house.

Tina helped carry the bags into Artie's house once they got there. By help carry, she placed a couple on Artie's lap and pushed him up the sidewalk and into the kitchen where he placed them on the table. It only took them two trips before all the bags were in. Artie followed her out to the van to say goodbye.

"Thank you so much for helping me today," he said earnestly. "If I had to do that myself, I would still be looking for the pizzas right now."

"No problem," she replied. "It was fun. If you ever have to do it again, call me," she winked at him. She paused then and glanced over at her mother.

"You have five seconds," Mrs. Cohen-Chang said, pointedly looking in the opposite direction. Tina took quick advantage and leaned down to kiss Artie on the lips. She smiled as she pulled away and his smile grew to match hers. Tina hopped back into the van and waved as her mother pulled out of the driveway. Artie sat on the driveway, waving until they were out of sight. He then turned and headed inside; dreading the thought of all the groceries that he now had to put away by himself.