FicWad

“Hello fellow last-resort-employees” I said as I entered the music store. I dropped my coat and bag off at my register and grabbed the new package of tape I was told to get. I laughed at the sight of Bob on the ladder, hanging streamers from the high ceiling. Bob was terrified of heights. He held onto the ladder with one hand and tried to hang the streamers one-handedly.

“Hey, Kira.” Frankie said from behind me. I turned around. Bob told. I grumbled quietly. Frankie took it wrong, inching away slightly.

“No, no, Frank! It’s all good.” I assured him.

“So, you forgive me for being ignorant?” He asked.

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” I smiled. He smiled back at me and unexpectedly stepped forward to hug me. I heard Bob grunt above us.

“Well, if you two are done with your little love fest, I’d thank you to get started. We’ve got two hours, that’s it.” He barked. I chuckled again and went to get the other ladder from the backroom. I set it up a few feet from Bob’s and helped him with streamers, while Frankie went to plastic-off the CD’s in the aisles. I heard a loud thud.

“Bob. A David Bowie CD just hit me in the head.” I heard Frankie say bluntly. I laughed and we continued back to work basically wordlessly for about fifteen more minutes.

Bob started whistling a happy tune. I followed his lead, and I heard Frank, now in the F aisle start as well. I giggled when our make-shift tune ended. We heard the door open and shut.

“Hello all.” I heard Ely’s voice ring out. The smell of food reached my nose and my stomach lurched almost instantly. I heard Frankie’s loud, frantic footsteps and then the word “FOOD!”. I heard Ely’s pleasant laugh. “Here sweetheart, try this.” I heard.

“Oh, boy.” I mumbled, climbing down from the ladder. Bob was right behind me, surprisingly. I saw Frank gobbling down a frosted sugar cookie. He had pink icing all over his face, which was odd, because it wasn’t a very big cookie. That’s when I realized Ely was carrying a large dress bag, and a smaller one in her other hand.

“What did you get me anyhow?” I asked, walking forward and attempting to unzip the bag.

“Uh uh!” She said, shoving me away. “Not until we get home!” She demanded.

“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Because, it’d be unfair to me.” She said, her nose in the air. I chuckled.

“How so?” I said, my head cocked to the side.

“Because I worked really fucking hard to get it!” She yelled. I heard Bob laugh and watched Ely’s face light up. I smiled in spite of her. Frankie snuck his hand under the plastic wrap on the tray of cookies. He got three out before Ely snapped out of her trance. I looked from Bob to Elegra. They were smiling. At each other. I grinned and took one of Frank’s cookies. He hissed lightly. Ely finally broke away.

“I uh… have it all here. There is [b]so[/b] much food here!” She exclaimed. “Frank, be a doll and go fetch the plastic crate out of the back. But be careful, there’s glass in it.” She said to him.

“All right!” He shouted, before running out the door out to Ely’s lime green Bug. While he was doing that, Bob, Ely and I all went to grab the foldable tables. There were five of them, and they were fucking heavy. When we got all the tables back into the room, I looked out of the clear store window, to see Frankie attempting to drag the huge plastic crate up the sidewalk. I laughed and walked outside to help him. Together we carried it up the short walk, laughing and almost dropping it the whole time. Suddenly I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I looked across the street to see the strange, black haired man. I yelped and stopped breathing, losing my grip on the crate as it crashed to the ground on my side.

“Kira!” Frank said as I was knocked on my ass. I gripped my heaving chest and concentrated on trying to breathe again. “Kira, Kira are you okay?” He asked, letting go of the other end of the crate and getting down on the same level as me. As soon as I was able to breathe again I grabbed his shirt and flung my hand out, my pointer finger out, in the direction of what I’d seen. Frankie looked, then turned back to me. “What?” he asked in confusion. I looked out across the street. Vacant.


I began to sputter. “It-I- he was there, he was there!” I gasped, still scared shitless.

“Kira, who?” He asked me, grabbing on to my shoulder.

“The man, the man! The one with the black hair!” I said so quickly I was surprised he understood. His eyes widened and he looked around the entire area. No one but us.

“Kira, let’s get you inside, alright?” He asked. I nodded, and we made a silent agreement not to say anything to Bob or Elegra. I stood up and helped him carry the crate inside.

“Hey, are you alright? I saw you fall.” Bob asked.

“Yeah, I just lost my balance. I’m good.” I said, my voice still a bit shaky.

“Oh good, you got it.” Ely said, as we set the crate down. She unlatched the lid and sat it down next to the crate as the smell of a hundred different foods reached us. Frankie was prepared to dive. “I got everything you wanted, Bobby.” She said. I bit back a snigger and instead concentrated on the job ahead of us; unloading tons of hot, delicious food while also starving. I sighed and decided to go set the table cloths out on the tables instead.

About an hour an a half later all the food was laid out and organized. Frank and I had stolen ‘free samples’ at any opportunity we got. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, completely exhausted as Frank and I sat on my register. He tried to breathe as little as possible, trying to keep the alluring scent of the food out of his nose.

“Thank you so much again for making all the food, Ely.” I heard Bob schmooze.

“Oh it’s no problem at all.” She said in the same tone of voice. Frank and I shared a look and a snigger before ignoring everything all together. I for one was enjoying the silence and the rest. I had a long night ahead of me, and it felt as though it’d just begun.

“Kira” I heard Frankie say.

“Yeah?” I asked, surprising myself when I wasn’t being snappy with him for interrupting my silence.

“Do you think I should… I don’t know… I guess take you to the party? For purely protective purposes, of course.” He said, poorly covering up the nerve in his voice. I believed that he wanted to protect me, but I was also slightly aware of the reason behind the nervous edge to his tone.

“Sure, Frankie. That’ll make me feel better.” I said, just wanting the subject to drop. I didn’t want to think about that man. He scared me to death, now that I thought about his qualities.

“Alright cool, do you wanna just meet me here, or should I pick you up?” He asked, better in control of his nerve now.

“I’ll meet you here, and I promise not to put the mask on until I get here.” I told him, hoping that it would end the conversation. He obviously caught on, and dropped it. About ten minutes later I decided that I’d let Bob and Elegra mindlessly swoon over each other for long enough and wanted to leave.

“Ely, I think we should go. We still have to get ready and all…” I hinted, jumping off of the register.

“Oh! That’s right! I can’t believe I lost track of time like that! I still have to get you all dolled up!” She said, practically oozing with excitement.

“Oh joy.” I muttered. Frankie chuckled.

“I’ll see you tonight.” He said, giving my shoulder a squeeze with a double meaning I could feel. It was friendly, but he was also reassuring me that he’d protect me. I felt my back finally ease and felt less tense than before.

“See ya.” I said, grabbing my coat and bag and heading out the door with Ely. I concentrated on the music on the radio all the way back to the apartment. Ely drove in her Bug ahead of me, and parked first. She waited for me at the lobby entrance and we walked inside together.

“Hey Kira, are you alright? You seemed a little sick earlier.” Mikey said.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” I assured, walking up to his desk. “Do you have any plans for this evening?” I asked him. He didn’t seem taken aback like I’d expected, and I silently thanked him.

“Nope.” He said, looking at my face.

“Well, you should come to the party tonight. You know where I work, right?” I asked him.

“Yeah, that record store a few blocks over?” He asked.

“The very one. We’re having a five year anniversary party there tonight, and I think you should come.” I told him.

“Is it an open invitation? I mean, you won’t be in trouble if I come, will you?” Mikey asked.

“No, of course not!” I said, surprised at his reluctance. “Ya have to have a mask, though. It’s one of those creepy masquerade things.” I said.

“I’ll break out the construction paper.” He smiled. I smiled back, said my goodbyes and took the elevator with Ely. When we made it into our building she immediately turned to look at me. She dropped her bags on the coffee table and grinned. I took a step back jokingly. She didn’t even seem to notice.

“Now the real fun begins.”

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A long chapter to make up for my short one. Review?