Crazy In Love | Buggy

t h i r t y s i x

The couple of hours it took for us to row to the nearest island went by pretty quickly. It was spent with us mostly just chatting and messing around. After a while, Buggy detached her arms so they could row as he lay back and closed his eyes.

I let him rest. He wasn't fully asleep, but I could tell he was tired. While his eyes were closed, I took a quick smell of his jacket. It was hypnotic. Immediately, I felt so pathetic for allowing myself to do things like this.

Finally, I could see the island outline in the distance. My face lit up. I couldn't wait to get onto dry land.

"Buggy!" I cheered, without even thinking.

I felt bad for waking him from his cat nap. He sluggishly opened his eyes. "Hm?"

"We're here."

He sat up and turned to look, his face filling with excitement. "This is going to be so fun! Have you ever gone on a spending spree?"

"No," I told him truthfully. "Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs."

He gave me a sympathetic smile. "Well, you'll just have to make up for lost time."

Part of me was very excited at the idea of shopping. I wasn't even sure what my personal style was. I'd just worn what I could get my hands on. With all control, I wasn't sure what I would pick.

Then, another thought entered my mind. I had to ask. "Are...are we buying clothes or stealing them?"

Buggy pouted at that. "Don't worry. I know you well enough to know you'd never want stolen clothes. I brought money."

I couldn't help what I did next. I basically leapt into his arms, almost sending him flying backwards. At first, he seemed too shocked to hug me back, but finally I felt his arms wrap themselves around me.

"Thank you."

"Oh... a-alright, don't sweat it," He mumbled out, but then seemed to recover himself. "I'm pretty great, I know. You don't have to hug me."

I pulled out of his grasp, looking up at his face. "I'm just really grateful that you'd do something like this for me. And to do it my way, too. That means a lot."

Buggy's face was flushing red, I realised. He wasn't good at receiving this type of praise.

"Don't think I'm a changed man. I'm still going to steal things for myself, but... for you, we'll buy things. So you don't feel bad about it."

That was more than good enough for me. Knowing that not only was I getting clothes, but they were being bought fairly, made me the happiest person. Plus, it meant this town wouldn't have to suffer the way mine had, or the last town had.

Within a couple of minutes, our little boat was boarded on the island. This island didn't have a beach. Instead, it was just mud, then grass and trees that were unlike any I'd ever seen before.

"These don't look like palm trees, or like jungle trees either."

Buggy gave me an amused smile. "That's because we're in a colder climate. These are probably some type of birch trees."

He was right about the cold climate part. Even with his big fur jacket, I was shivering. I pulled it tight around myself.

Suddenly, I noticed something. "Smoke," I told him, pointing up towards the sky, which was greying with smoke.

Buggy grinned at that. "So there's definitely people. Let's hope it's a proper little town that we can buy from."

With that, he took my hand and led me through the trees. His hands were gloved, but still I could feel the heat radiating through them. It was nice.

We found the town within a couple of minutes of walking. It was a big town - much bigger than my town or the last town we had been to. The streets were paved with brick, the houses and shops large and beautiful. It was quite the sight.

"We should find a hotel for our stuff," Buggy told me. He then looked around, until he set his eyes on this little old lady.

When we walked up to her, she turned paler than paper. I guess it was quite the sight. It wasn't often that a clown walked up to you, asking for directions.

"P-pl-ease don't h-urt me," she choked out, almost crying.

Buggy tilted his head to the side, clearly confused. "Why would I do that? I just want directions to your towns hotel."

The lady looked baffled. "You're... not going to set it on fire or something, are you?"

Buggy threw up his arms in surrender. "Hey! I'm just a nice guy who needs a hotel room. What's with all these accusations?"

"The clown make-up probably isn't helping," I told him.

He scowled at me. "People are so prejudiced against clowns."

I wanted to point out that he and his crew hadn't helped the bad reputation that clown got.

"The hotel is over there," the lady finally said, pointing to a large building not too far down the road.

Buggy smiled at her. I think it was supposed to be a friendly smile, but in reality it looked a little bit terrifying. "Thank you for your help."

With that, we were off and walking towards the hotel. I became suddenly very aware of everyone staring at us in horror. Now, I was beginning to worry that we really weren't welcome here.

"Uhm, Buggy?" I whispered, so only he would hear.

"Yeeeeeees, Boop?"

He was in a good mood. I felt awful having to bring down his mood.

"I think people are staring at us."

He stopped suddenly. Dramatically, he turned his head to get a good look at everyone staring at us. "You're right. What's up with that?"

"Again, the clown make-up is maybe scaring people."

Suddenly, a tall woman pushed her way through the crowds of people who had gathered to look at us. She was wearing a blue suit, her hair was tied into a tight ponytail. It was easy to see that she was an authority figure.

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hey so announcement: from now on there will be only 1 chapter per day again! i enjoyed putting out 2 for that little while but it isn't sustainable! i hope everything is okay with this - i think itll improve the quality of each chapter too!

reads: 38k
published 12th of October 2023