𝐢 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐢'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 ˢᵒᵈᵃᵖᵒᵖ ᶜᵘʳᵗⁱˢ

𝟎𝟎𝟒. ( he works here too? )

❝ you have no reason to be sorry. i left you for a whole year with no explanation, i'm the one who should be apologizing a million times. ❞

THE NEXT DAY, i have to wake up early and head into work unexpectedly. i had originally planned on sleeping all day and maybe even watching a few movies but those plans were ruined.

as i'm heading into work, i notice that there's a new worker. i raise my brows as i try and get a better look at who it could possibly be.

soda?

my heart stops. i stand there in the doorway like a complete fool, i try and play it off when he looks in my direction—probably to see who gasped.

"athena." soda nods his head but looks away quickly. i don't say anything back, a sick feeling in my stomach making an appearance.

the sadness runs back to me, i try to push it away but it never leaves. soda doesn't look at me once the whole time and i understand.

when i'm leaving the building, i don't look behind me to see if sodapop needs help closing up, i don't even care.

i do care, i care a lot.

i won't admit it though, i shouldn't care about someone that should be a buried memory of my fucked up past. i'm doing a lot better now, even if i don't have soda anymore.

i drive off, trying not to seem like i care if soda gets home safe or if he even has a drive home —which he probably does—but i can't seem to care for him even if i do.

once i pull up in the driveway, i realize that my brother's car is parked. he's never home at this time? i try to wipe away the eery feeing that's stirring in my gut and pull out my keys.

once i open the door, it's completely quiet and all the lights are shut off. i turn on the light in the hallway and start shuffling towards the kitchen for a late dinner.

i search through the fridge, realizing then that we really need to go grocery shopping. no harm in getting it done now...right?

since nobody else will do it, i set back off on the road to the store. i'm relieved that it's late so it won't be as packed as usual.

i shouldn't have been so relieved.

once i walk into the double doors, i'm greeted with a familiar face. fuck. it's darry, the fuck do i keep running into them for?

i slip past him before he can notice me, i'm frustrated that wherever i go—someone from my past appears.

i search through the cereal options, as i'm deciding which one to pick, someone stands next to me. i guess personal space doesn't exist to other people so i scoot over.

i don't bother to see who could possibly be standing so close to me merely because i don't care.

i pick a cereal and walk out of the aisle, searching for milk now. just to my luck, someone else stood closely to me as i searched the milk for two percent.

i turn to look at then furiously, my eyes widening when i notice it's another boy from my past.

he grins widely at me, i don't. "have you been following me?"

"what makes you say that?" two bit asks, a bag of grapes in his hand and he's eating from it. i roll my eyes and snatch the grape bag from him.

"you can't just eat food that you haven't bought yet!" i snap, placing the grapes down on a shelf.

"why not?!" he asks like the answer isn't obvious. "you used to do it!"

"i'm not like that anymore." i say, "how did you find me?"

"i'm here with darry." he tries to steer away from my question.

"no fucking shit!" i grab a carton of milk and start walking from him. i want him to leave me alone, i want to go home and pretend that this interaction never happened.

except that's impossible because two bit's still following me. i try to speed away from him but he's fast.

"leave me alone." i reply viciously, not turning to see if he left or not.

i spot darry up ahead and now i know that i can't go that way because i don't think i can stomach talking to him too. especially for what i had done to his kid brother.

i turn down one of the aisles and start hurrying to self check out, not bothering to keep shopping.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

by the time next morning had rolled around, i had forgotten all about my interaction with two bit and how weird it was to keep running into all the gang out of nowhere. who's next? steve?

but that's not what i was thinking when i woke up, i was thinking about work and how i was going to avoid soda today. why is he working there now when he has a job at the dx?

extra money, most likely.

i want so badly to call off of work for the day, tell them a lie but i can't because i've missed too many work days as it is—i couldn't afford to miss anymore.

so i do what i do every morning, i fight the emotions and get ready for work. even though i don't want to see sodapop, i have no choice, really.

soda's there before me, he looks like he's waiting for someone. who's he waiting for? i head to my cash register and start getting ready for what awaits me.

"athena?" a voice interrupts my thoughts. i turn around to see soda looking at me with his blue eyes.

"um, yeah?" i try to play off the shock and lean against the counter.

"i'm sorry for being so rude to you the other day, i shouldn't have been so angry." he admits, i shake my head in disagreement.

"you have no reason to be sorry. i left you for a whole year with no explanation, i'm the one who should be apologizing a million times." i also admit. he smiles a little, the smile i've dreamed about ever since i last saw it. for some odd reason, my stomach twists in excitement when i notice that it was me that caused his up turned expression.

"i've missed you too, athena." he finally says, my heart melts in my chest. this moment feels too good to be true.

"soda can i buy this?" the girl from yesterday comes up to the both of us. she gives me a weird look then looks back to sodapop.

"of course baby." soda says awkwardly, i flinch at the pet name, trying to play off just how much that stung.

i go back to my register and try my hardest to get my mind ready for work.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

i wrote most of this in the car so it might not make much sense !
my head hurts so bad right now
-molly