"That is just obscene."
"Hmm?" Abbie's attention was more focused on squeezing her SUV in the last reasonable parking space at the supermarket and had gotten far too used to Ichabod's random exclamations to be distracted by them. The offended tone of his voice was enough to draw her gaze, not to whatever captured her companion's abject horror, but to Ichabod himself. Though his eyes remained locked ahead in disbelief, he must have sensed that he now had an audience, for he merely pointed in front of him.
Two rows across from them stood a rather attractive couple. The man held shopping bags in one hand, a loaf of French bread cradled in the crook of his elbow like a comedic marker. His other hand was full of his girlfriend's back pocket, pulling the woman close as they exchanged kisses.
"It's PDA," she started, her voice nonplussed but still managed to cluck her tongue as she turned off the car engine. "It-"
"It's indecent!" Ichabod explained, interrupting Abbie's explanation.
"It's not illegal." When his eyes flashed in her direction she glanced over at the couple ahead. "People are free to have whatever public display of affection that they so choose, so long as they're not outright having sex. "
"That's how people express their love in public?" He asked, his voice rising incredulously.
"For a man that can believe in just about anything, this is inconceivable?"
"Miss Mills-"
"I'm teasing. And no, that's not the norm. People are probably more open with their relationship than what you're accustomed to, but not like that. It's not indecent, but I can't say that's appropriate." To make him feel somewhat mollified, she honked her car horn, reminding the couple that they weren't home yet.
"So what is the norm these days?" Ichabod asked, unbuckling his seatbelt.
"Holding hands,-"
"You hold my hand all of the time-"
"To keep track of you, you wander off. It can be used platonically, now quit interrupting me. Or people hug, hold onto the person's hip or around their waist. They kiss, though not as intensely as those two." Abbie unlocked the door and climbed outside.
"Did you and the detective, display that much affection in public?" he asked, earning a flat stare from Abbie when he rounded the corner of the truck.
"Did you honestly think I'd tell you?"
"For educational purposes."
"Use your imagination, Crane." As she watched his expression contort to disgust mixed with irrational anger, Abbie sighed. She had no idea why Ichabod disliked her ex so much. "No, we weren't like that. If you haven't noticed, I'm a private person." It also helped that a majority of their time was spent at the office, so PDA was happily frowned upon. "What we may or may not have done was between me and him. Better?"
"Much." He uttered, even though his expression belied that answer.
"Well, come on, that refrigerator in the cabin isn't going to stock itself."