Be Mine Forever

Chapter Five

Briana: 

Wednesday, May 8th

"So how ya doing Alec?" I ask as we look over the money in our registers. He's been kind of glum since the Unholy Trinity and his bitch of an ex-girlfriend barged in and I want to make sure he's okay. He doesn't even look at me, mumbling some crap excuse about being okay under his breath, and starts wiping down the counter. "You sure? 'Cause we can always go out once we close to cheer you up," I offer though I know he'll still say he's okay. He nods again, making a little 'mhm' noise under his breath, and keeps wiping down the counter.

Dammit Alec, could you just let me take care of you?! Whenever someone asks if he's okay, he always says yes even if he feels like shit, and will insist that it's true if you pester him! And right now I know it's not true and want him just for once to let me take care of him and make him feel better. He's my friend and I need to make sure he gets the support he needs when he's feeling shitty. "Hey Allie, if you're feeling sad, me and the two flying monkeys can always take you out to perk you up," I offer as I pull off my apron and hang it on the coat hanger.

Alec stops wiping down the counter for a second, kind of just staring at it, and then sighs. He turns to look at me, his face all clouded over, and mumbles," Yeah, that'd be fun." Oh, God. I walk over to him and pull him into a hug, wrapping my arms around his back, and murmur," Yeah we'll have a great time okay? 'Cause, we're here for you." He sinks against me and buries his face against my shoulder, finally giving up on convincing me that he's okay.

"O-okay. Thanks for being such a," he pauses to sniffle," good friend." I run my hand up and down his back and mumble," Yeah you're welcome, Allie." He starts sniffing again and I pull him tighter into our hug, trying to squeeze all the sadness out of him so he won't hurt anymore. I don't know how long we stayed like that, maybe a few minutes or more but our little moment was broken when Lucky and Andrea walked over. "Hey what're you two doing?" Lucky asks. They both hover a few feet away from us, looking between us with confused looks.

I pull back from the hug a bit, though Alec's still glued to me, and explain, "Just convincing Allie to let us take him out once we close." Lucky breaks out in an enormous grin and chirps," Oh, that's great!" They clap their hands together and start bouncing all the balls of their feet, excited like usual. Andrea chuckles at them and then turns to me and Alec and chuckles," Well that's great. Ain't it Allie?" He nods against my shoulder and mumbles something incoherent but doesn't take his face out of my shoulder.

"Soo.. should we head out? We closed like fifteen minutes ago and I have a really good idea for where to go," Lucky says, glancing at Alec. I glance down at him too and poke his cheek a couple of times. "Hey Allie, you ready to go?" He nods against my shoulder and then finally lets go of me. He wipes his eyes a couple of times with the back of his hand and then leans against the counter. "So where are we going?"

"I hope it's not another Build-a-Bear again," Andrea grumbles. She gives Lucky a little glare and then leans against the counter next to Alec. "It's not Build-a-Bear! And that was only one time!" Lucky yells. Andrea and me both laugh at Lucky's little outburst, Alec joining in a little too. "Okay, so where are we going?" It's probably going to be something like Build-a-Bear, like a stuffed animal shop or something. I swear Lucky has a fetish for them or something.

"To this food cart at the intersection at 5th avenue and Terrace Dr. It sells hotdogs and french fries and stuff and would be really fun to go to." Lucky looks at me and Andrea to see if we have any complaints about their plan, which isn't as bad as their other ideas. I've been to that food cart before and their food is actually better than most. "That actually sounds like a good idea," Andrea admits, just as surprised as me that Lucky didn't choose Build-a-Bear.