Crosswalk

The clock above the counter of the Big Donut chimed 5:30, Thursday afternoon, citing it was time to start closing up the store. Stretching her legs out, Sadie walked over to the front door, flipping the 'Open' sign to 'Closed', and got to work on the daily checklist they carried for when it came time to close up. She glanced over to Lars, who was slouched at the counter, banging his head to music, and smiled, speaking up, "Hey Lars, can you empty out the trash, please?"

After thirty seconds of calling out her friend's name, and still not getting his attention over the loud music coming from his headphones, Sadie decided she would have to resort to plan B, and promptly pulled one of the headphones off his ear to speak.

"Lars, time to empty out the trash~", she singsonged as he yelped in surprise, and nearly fell off his chair.

Yanking his headphones off, he gave a frown, and huffed, "Fine," and grabbed the overflowing bags of styrofoam cups and napkins from the garbage bins under the counters, and hauled them out to the dumpster. Coming back inside, and without being asked, he began to grab the trays of unsold donuts to take to the back.

"What's this?", Sadie looked over, "No clocking out early?"

"Nah," he shrugged, "I'm in no rush to get home."

"Alright," she shrugged back, and began wiping down the counter, "You have any plans for the weekend yet?"

"Not really,", he shrugged, "I don't have a car to go anywhere anymore, so I'm stuck in city limits unless I hitch a ride with someone. And even then, where would I go? Charm City? Noooo thank you."

"True," she laughed softly, and tossed a soapy rag at his head, "Clean the rack when you're done getting all the donuts put away?"

"Yeah," he yawned, and stretched his back and it gave a satisfying crack.

Within thirty minutes, they'd closed up the store, and were locking the back door as they left, walking down the street.

"Still don't have anything to rush home to?", Sadie asked him as she stuck her hands in her pockets, nudging his leg.

"Nope," he sighed, scratching his nose, "Nothin' in the slightest."

"So I guess the house is all yours this week again?"

"Yeah. Just like last week...and the week before that," he muttered, grabbing for his headphones, sliding them on as they reached the intersection where they would go their separate ways to go home.

Sadie sighed, wondering if she hit a nerve, and gave him a small goodbye, "See you tomorrow."

Lars clearly didn't hear her, the Japanese metal music already blaring loudly from the headset again. And he clearly wasn't paying attention to the road, as he stormed across it, and Sadie whirled her head around in time to scream his name when she saw what was coming.

The driver of the car slammed on the brakes, and Lars managed to hear the tires screech painfully, and turned his head right before the bumper struck him at a glancing blow, and he fell to the ground sharply with a high pitched yelp.

The driver immediately got out of their car, hurrying over to the teen laying spread-eagle on the ground as Sadie rushed over, looking horrified, "Lars! Oh my god!", she nearly choked.

Lars had been knocked out for less than fifteen seconds, came to, remained stunned on the ground, looking around in a daze, then groaned, rubbing his head, "Ouch, that really smarted," he muttered, and was slowly starting to sit up.

"I'm calling an ambulance!", the driver yelped.

"Wh-what, wait, no!", Lars yelped, "I'm fine, y'see!"