Superhero

Chapter 92

Jake picked Addison up from work, even arriving before her shift ended. Fiolina kept giving her a squinty smirk but Addison promptly ignored her.
"Finally, my boss let me leave early," Jake sighed as he grabbed a few Itchy-Buns. "The other jerks got caught instead."
"Good for them," Addison chuckled, scanning the stuff. "They deserve that."
"The weirdo finally realised how I was doing most of the work and they merely slacked off," Jake rolled his eyes as paid. "Why do I get such crazy coworkers, I still don't know."
Addison packed the buns in a plastic bag and handed it to him. "There's still a few minutes left for my shift to end, why don't you sit down first?"
Jake did and tore open one of the buns to nibble on. Fiolina awkwardly sat there, nibbling on her pack of chips. Eventually, she left to get changed and waited for Addison to clock out before taking over.
"Alright, let me just grab me some dinner," Addison said, making her way around the shop.
Jake frowned as he watched her rummage in the freezer for readymade spaghetti bolognaise and went to her, shaking her head.
"Addie, no need," Jake said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Mom made a huge chicken pot pie. There might be enough for everyone to eat tonight and tomorrow."
Addison immediately lit up. "Really?! Yay! Felicia is the best!"
Jake smiled. "Well, I can't agree more."
"But maybe I'll grab a drink," Addison said, making her way towards the fridge and grabbing a carton of milk and a few large bottles of soda before heading over to the counter to pay. Fiolina looked surprised but scanned her things nonetheless.
"Have a nice night, Addie," Fiolina smiled as she handed her the receipt.
"Bye, Fio," Addison chuckled and waved at her before turning to Jake. "Let's go."

"I really appreciate you picking me up, Jake," Addison said as the two walked towards the Kia Optima. "Thank you."
"Oh come on, it's no biggie, I needed to grab a few buns for tomorrow anyway," Jake shrugged. "Anyway, did your teacher say anything about getting a new coffee table?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because Mom's going ballistic since he cleaned up the mess, packed his bags, and left in his car," Jake informed, taking his keys out to unlock his car. "And he isn't answering his texts too, though he's constantly online."
Addison frowned, opening the passenger seat door to get in. "If he's planning to bail on the coffee table, we'll jump him at school tomorrow. Jordan too."
"I'm sure you guys will."

Jake slowed down as he neared his home. To his surprise, a lorry was parked in the Kennedy home driveway.
"What's up?" Jake asked as he parked at the side of the road. "What's going on?"
"Don't know..." Addison frowned as she peered the windshield to see the commotion.
The two got out and went closer to have a look. They spotted Giuseppe's old Fiat parked a little way forward and entered the house to take a closer look. The front door was wide open and Giuseppe was seen pushing a sofa away from the living room.
"Right here," Giuseppe told someone. "You can put it in front of the television."
It was then Addison and Jake spotted a few men carrying a very heavy-looking wooden coffee table. Felicia stood not far off, watching everything with a slight smile on her face. The movers eventually put the table down and left the scene after thanking Giuseppe.
"Jake!" Felicia grinned, coming over to the two. "Addie!"
"So he got you a new table after all," Jake smirked. "Nice table, though. What is it, mahogany?"
"It's teak," Giuseppe said before pushing the sofa back into place. "Also, that's not the only thing I got. Hold up for a second." He went over to the cabinet at the side and grabbed a plastic bag resting on the top before making his way to Felicia, pulling out a box to give her. "Here, I also got you this."
Felicia sat down and opened it, revealing a shallow ceramic pot with dainty paintings of koi fish at the front and a metal lid with flower designs and large holes.
"What's this?" Felicia asked. "A vase?"
"No, it's an incense pot," Giuseppe smirked. "I overheard you and Jake talking about how you wanted to get an incense burner to make the house spell good. The store I went to sold this too, together with all the supplies needed." He handed her the plastic bag he was holding. "I'm pretty sure you already know what to do with this."
Felicia dug into the bag and looked at the contents in awe. "Ooo sandalwood and agarwood. You got the white ash and tools too!"
Giuseppe nodded. "Yep. So I guess... I'll be leaving then. I already packed everything up so I don't think I need anything else from my room."
With that, he nodded at Felicia, gave Addison and Jake a wave, and started making his way out, right when Jordan parked his car in the driveway. The redhead stopped the engine and got out of the car, watching Giuseppe walk past him in surprise.
"Is he leaving?" Jordan asked, turning to the rest who waited on the porch, pointing a thumb at the Italian man.
"Wow, he didn't even wait for the morning," Addison sighed.
Felicia ignored them both and went after the Italian man. "Giuseppe, wait!"
Giuseppe stopped midway and turned to her. "Did I leave something behind?"
"Do you have a place to stay for the night?" Felicia asked.
Giuseppe shrugged, shaking his head.
"Then where are you gonna sleep tonight?" Felicia asked, sounding more concerned.
"A hotel, I guess?" Giuseppe shrugged. "Just gonna walk in somewhere, there's a lot around West Town."
Felicia suddenly felt bad for him. It was true he had come in drunk, broken a table, almost threw a vase at her, but he still apologised profusely, got her an expensive new teak table, an incense holder, and all the supplies needed to set it up.
Besides, that table was a free gift with the sofa set. It didn't cost her a dime, and it was already wobbly from the start. Giuseppe broke a free gift, only to replace it with something that has more than tenfold its quality.
And something that costed a lot more. Felicia didn't know all that much about wood, but she did know that teak costs a hefty amount.
Without thinking twice, she grabbed his arm and started pulling him back to the house.
"Mrs. Kennedy, why?" Giuseppe asked in surprise. "I'll be leaving tomorrow anyway, why bring me in now? It will be hard for me to move out in the morning, Mrs. Kennedy, I need to go to work! It will be easier to move now."
It seemed like a solemn drama scene at first but Giuseppe's amusing accent had started to kick in, something which they observed only happened when he was on edge.
"No, you're not moving out," Felicia firmly said. "You're staying right here."
"Bu- But you threw me out last night, I even broke a table, almost threw a vase at you," Giuseppe pointed out. "How canna you still letta me stay?"
"Because you still paid for the damages you've done, that table meant nothing, a free gift I got together with the sette. You got me teak, Giuseppe. Teak. It must've costed you a fortune."
Giuseppe nodded dolefully. "It did. Half my salary went for it."
"And that's why you're staying here," Felicia said with a curt nod. "Go get your things and unpack. We'll have extra class tomorrow onwards."
"Nuts, extra class..." Giuseppe groaned. "I've skipped a lot of it, haven't I?"
"Never mind, you already paid for it with that table," Felicia said, shaking her head. "Just go get your car and park in the garage."
Giuseppe quickly nodded and ran off to his car. Jordan, who still stood on the driveway, turned to his two friends in surprise, making gestures with his hands as if to say 'what is the meaning of this?!'.
"And I didn't even do anything yet I still get kicked out of the garage," Jordan complained, opening the backdoor of his car to take his bag. "Well, at least Galante didn't get kicked out."
"Jordan, come look at the new coffee table," Felicia excitedly called.
Jordan shrugged and entered, his two friends laughing at his heels. Felicia flourished the table with pride, ignoring the plastic bag and box that sat on it like a sore thumb.
"It's beautiful," Jordan said in awe. "Is it like mahogany or something?"
"Teak," Addison smirked. "And it costed half of Galante's salary. Maybe more, actually. Teak is very expensive."
Jordan nodded slowly. "So that's why he didn't get evicted..."
"Well, he still packed up, though," Jake shrugged. "Guess he'll have to do some unpacking now."