Bonnie & Clyde

Chapter 11: Daisy

"My dad is killing me," Sammy said with a moan. She was going on and on about how 'abusive' her father was being since he first grounded her. The chores were 'over the top' and 'unreasonable,' and she 'just couldn't take it anymore.'

"You know what I had to do yesterday?" Sammy asked rhetorically. I didn't bother answering. "Clean the gutters! Who does that to their daughter?"

I rolled my eyes and let out a small laugh. Before Sammy could continue her tangent, the familiar bells of the store door opening chorused through the smoothie bar.

I looked up and found a very familiar, very lengthy man heading my way. As he approached we both smiled at one another.

I opened my mouth to say hello but he put his hand up to stop me. "I'm here to pay for the smoothie you so generously gave to me." He grinned at me and I had to suppress my own.

"Three days late?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow. I could feel Sammy's gaze as she slipped away from the counter, respectfully leaving me alone.

"I might not be a man of punctuation," he said, casually leaning on the counter. "But I am a man of my word."

I crossed my arms at him in a playful manner. "Your word? I don't recall you ever saying that you'd pay me."

"It was more of a mental word," he clarified. "To myself." He smirked at me. After a small beat he reached into his pocket and pulled out the perfect amount of bills and change that the smoothie had cost.

I watched as he slid his hand across the counter with the money underneath. I looked up at him with an amused expression plastered onto my face. I didn't know what to say aside from declining his offer.

"You really don't-" I began. But Clyde cut me off.

"Please," he said. "I don't want you doing any favors that I can't repay."

I laughed at that. "It was just a smoothie."

He flashed me a more serious look before saying, "It's not just for the smoothie." His voice was quieter and a little more intimate.

His gaze pierced through me and I was in a trance. It took everything in me to break it. I tore my gaze away and reached for the money. "Thank you," I said quietly. By the time I looked back up at him, his serious look was completely wiped away and was replaced with a playful smile.

He just watched me as I made each customer's smoothies. I felt his gaze never faltering as I made my way around the store, taking orders and cleaning tables. It wasn't until a gnawing in my chest forced me to stop what I was doing and head over to him.

I walked back behind the counter and started wiping the it so it would look like I was actually working. And not in fact deserting my job to talk to a boy.

I opened my mouth to say something but Clyde beat me to it.

"If you had to pick one place to travel to," he began. "One place you'd just drop everything for, a place that you'd do anything to get to," he looked at me. "Where would you go?"

I never thought that such a simple question would be so hard for me to answer.

I thought about it for a moment. I wanted to see everything. Go everywhere. But that wasn't exactly an answer. I thought harder and tried to string up the words that would do the question justice.

I stopped mindlessly wiping the counter and stared at the smooth surface. I honestly had no direction in life. No final destination. But I wanted one. And in that moment, I found it.

"Cold Spring, New York."

Clyde paused for a moment in thought. His brows furrowed together slightly as if he was trying to recall something. Lifting a hand to his chin, he rubbed it gently.