cash in. (au story)

chapter 2: forced.

(trigger warning for intense/descriptive abuse.)

"alright," sighed kevin. "shift's over. get out."

"i'll take the trash out, but only today. how about this; everyone monday, tuesday, and friday, i take the trash out, and you do it every other day," richie dealed out. kevin shrugged.

"sounds good to me. wow, dipshit, you actually care about this job."

richie shrugged and smiled, rolling his eyes at the nickname and leaving from behind the counter and hurrying into the bathroom to grab the trash bag. doing so, he also got the trash bags from other cans and rushed out of the place, heading to the back of the building and tossing all of the bags into the dumpsters. he sighed and swiped his hands against his pants, slamming his back against the brick wall.

he was exhausted. sure, only a total of twenty-three people showed up to the pharmacy today. but he wasn't tired because of his job. the boy was just mentally exhausted.

maggie. >>> richard

maggie.: yea i don't know what you think you're doing but get your ass home right fucking now.

richard: bro im literally leaving my shift right now dumbass

maggie.: i am not your bro, and don't speak to me like one of your friends. wait, you still don't have any.

richard: just shut up maggie

maggie.: good thing you're making money because i'm kicking your ass out of this house one of these days.

richie just decided to ignore it and put his phone back in his pocket. he got up from the wall and walked over to the bike racks, grabbing his and getting on, biking back home.

on the way back, he stopped. it's hard to bike and cry at the same time. tears blurred richie's vision, causing him to sniff, remove his glasses, and wipe his eyes.

"god.." he breathed.

"um.. hey.. you okay?" a voice came. richie jumped slightly.

"oh.. hi— um, yes," richie chuckled, sniffing again and putting his glasses back on.

"did you get in trouble with your manager?" mike tried to joke, joining next to richie.

"nah. he didn't find out. by the way, how's your leg?"

"it's actually a lot better, took a few hours but it got there."

"that's great!" silence washed over the two.

"you sure you're okay? you were just crying.."

"crying? i wasn't crying?"

"you don't have to lie." richie sighed.

"i'm just a little tired, everyone cries when they're tired," richie lied, shrugging. mike swallowed.

"uh.. i'm mike."

richie smiled. "i'm richie."

"i'm not trying to be creepy or anything.. but could i get your number? so we can stay in contact. i don't really have any friends here and you seem pretty cool," mike explained. richie chuckled.

"of course," he said. mike handed richie his phone, richie typed in his number and handed it back. "i'll text ya later, mikey."

"okay, bye, rich! nice talking to you!"

"you too!" richie smiled to himself and biked back home, sniffing a couple more times before taking a deep breath and calming down.

mike smiled as he biked back home, just happy he made a new friend.