The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

2

We pull up in front of a nearby local store. Eddie and Argyle are still blazing weed and blasting us out with music. The van shuts off and we all hop out.

"Heyyy man, you should listen to Musical Youth. Pass the Dutchie is a good one." Argyle says leaning against the van.

"Yeah... no." Eddie said with his finger up. I think we all knew Eddie better than that. He was a rockstar at heart.

We all go inside of a small convenient store. It looked just like a gas station but without the pumps. A middle aged woman sat behind the counter with her head in a book and a fan on her face. She looks at all of us above her glasses, almost judging us. But that's because of what Eddie was doing.

Eddie was dancing down the aisles and grabbing the most random snacks possible, shoving them into his arms. Argyle was joined right behind him while Robin, Steve, and I went to get what we were actually getting.

"Let's see what we have here..." Robin swings open the fridge.

"Guys- aren't we like.. a year behind of age to be buying this? No way that lady will let us." I whisper.

Robin and Steve look at me. "We're not buying it. We're taking it." She raised her eyebrows.

"What?!" I whisper loudly. "Are you guys out of your minds?! We just ran successfully from the cops and a monster and now we want to commit theft?!" I keep my voice as low as possible.

Robin looks up as if she was thinking. "Mmm.. yeah! What you said. We will have a good distraction. To be fair, we will be off in a couple of days. You think they're really going to care about teenagers stealing alcohol with what's going on right now?"

She did have a point, I must admit. I sigh. "Fine. Get me a White Zinfandel." 

"I'll take a Slippery Nipple." Steve says quickly. Robin and I both look at him. "What?! We both can't like boobies?!" He flings his hands up in annoyance.

"Oh, nothing.. who's boobies?" Robin pushes in a  seductive tone.

"No one, okay! I just like it!" He whispers.

Robin throws the alcohol into the cart and our attention is suddenly directed else where.

"Watch out!" Eddie comes running to us, a cart in hand. His feet were on the bottom, gliding on it. Argyle was.. looking at the ceiling lights.

"Are you guys five?" I rub a hand down my face.

"Precisely." Eddie says with a grin. He goes down the aisle next to us and comes up the next. Just like a child. "Okay, I'm ready now." He looks down at the cart. Chips. And more chips. His potato chips he has been wanting since that gas station to be exact. Robin dumps the alcohol and puts the beer cases in the cart.

"You ready, Munson?" Robin asks.

"Oh yeah, baby. Just watch. I'm a pro. I've done this several times to get food for the D&D campaigns." He goes up to the counter and the woman gives him another judgmental look.

"Can I help you?" She slowly asks, unenthused. Eddie leans onto the counter with his elbow, leaning in.

"Can you, uh.. see if you have any more of these in the back?" He holds up a bag of chips. "You seem to be out besides what I found." The lady looks at all of us and grunts, reluctantly unlocking the storage room door behind her and disappearing. After a few moments, Steve initiates the go.

"Go! Go, go, go!" Steve whispers. Eddie starts to run with the cart, pushing it. Once we reach the lot, we are in full speed. Eddie hops into the metal bar and starts to cheer. Argyle hops into the drivers side and everyone starts to throw things in the van.

"Hurry! Go!" We all load into the van and the music comes back on at full blast. The tires start to burn rubber and we immediately leave the lot.

"Holy fuck!" I breathe with my hand on the window.

"Heya, Sparky." I hear a voice in my ear. I jump and scream, revealing Eddie in the very back. My hand was up and ready to slap.

"Don't do that!" I yell. He laughs and messes up the top of my head with his hand.

"You guys really need to run faster." Steve says next to me.

"I agree." Argyle says nonchalantly.

"Argyle- you were staring at the ceiling!" Robin exclaims. She wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, you guys said find a distraction.. so I found one. I counted how many time it-"

"Just.. stop." Steve says.

"I think I got her with my good looks though." Eddie says leaning over the seat.

"You think? I think she was just trying to do her job." I laugh.

"Nah, she totally fell for my charms." He flips over the seat and lodges himself in between Steve and I. "You guys ready to get your freak on?!" He yells over the music.