Greaser

30. Town Adventures

N I A L L

I draped my wrist over the steering wheel, glancing over at Mary who had her window down. Her hair being blown across her face. "I heard there’s a farmers market." I broke the silence that had taken over the car since we left the motel fifteen minutes ago. "In town, I mean. There’s a farmers market in town."

"We could get some groceries." She grinned, "So we don’t have to keep ordering in pizza and eating vending machine snacks."

"You mean give up our five star meals?" I chuckled, gripping her hand in mine. The one that wasn’t draped over the steering wheel.

She nodded, her face looking particularly glowing when the sun rays bounced off. Her eyes sparkled every time she smiled, so that was nothing new. But each time it still made me giddy.

"Poor baby. I know you really like the Twinkies, and Doritos for dinner." She laughed, "Think about how much healthier we would be if we just cut those foods out now? Tony would have so much more energy if we got some fruit and vegetables." She raised her eye brows as she nodded in my direction. "We will have so much more energy." She suggested.

"What do mean!" I laughed, "Tony has more than enough energy!"

"He barely wants to get outta bed!" She let out with a laugh, shaking her head. "I was just making a suggestion, that’s all" she picked off some fuzz that happened to stick to the soft black fabric.

"Tony really likes bananas." I stated back, pulling over to park the car in an empty space on the street.

"Do you see that over there?" I followed her extended arm all the way to the tip of her finger to see she was pointing at a large body of water, and a large space of sand.

"See what?" I smirked, pulling the key out of the ignition. She shot me a glare, rolling her eyes with a smile. "I’m just kidding, baby. What about the beach?" I pried, giving her a smile as I jumped out of the car. Standing in front of it till she got out and stood beside me.

"Living next to it would be something great, i mean it could be." She quickly adds, "Tony could play in the sand and swim before dinner. It would-"

"Be something great?" I cut in, laughing slightly as I sighed. Entwining our fingers as i led us down to the intersection further down the block where all the people were gathered.

"So about this house thing." I trailed off, almost mumbling my words. "W-what have you- I mean what do you have in mind about it? Like- what kind of house do you want?" I scratched the back of my neck with my free hand.

"Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?" She giggled to herself quietly, looking over in my direction after containing her little laughs.

I shrugged, "It's just crazy." I blankly stated, "we would have our own room... tony would have his own room. Unless of course we can only afford a one bedroom house. Which then of course we would give Tony the room right? Cause i mean i don’t want him to sleep on the couch."

"You've really thought this through huh?" I looked down at her, nodding. How could i not think about it? Living at the motel has been fun, but it’s getting too cramped and i think all of us could use some time away from each other. I think mostly Tony is the one who really needs alone time more than any of us. I’ve been on top of him for nine years and he seems to really be enjoying the time at Aubrey's.

"Small house." She cut through my thoughts, "with a large front window." Her smile grew a little wider before continuing "and a semi large kitchen. Because after all ill be grocery shopping for two boys." She stopped in her tracks looking at the various jams that sat out on the table.

"Are you saying we eat too much?" I laughed, pointing at one of the red colored jam that sat in one of the mason jars. "Strawberry. I picked that up once at the store back in Rockland and Tony went nuts for it." I shoved my hands in my pockets, watching as she paid for a couple of jars of jam. All different flavors. "Do you have a bathing suit?" I smiled, looking over at her as she shrugged in response.

"Wasn’t my first priority."

"Maybe we should get you one. Or you’ll be swimming naked later tonight."

"What do you mean? There isn’t a pool back at the motel." Her face had confusion written all over it.

I chuckled, tossing my arm around her shoulders and taking the small bag with the jam inside. "I never said there was. But there is a beach fifteen minutes away."

"Tony wouldn't be so happy that we didn't take him swimming with us."

I shrugged, looking in Mary's direction. “Who says we have to tell him? Put our swimming suits under our clothes... Tell him we are going to check out some jobs in town." i grinned, "And if we are lucky, he won't catch on."

"You bring up a good argument, Horan." she picked up her pace and walked a few inches in front of me as she approached the ice cream stand. "What do you want?"

"Chocolate cone." I shrugged, quickly pulling out a few dollars before she had the chance to pay. She turned her head to look at me, frowning before handing me the small chocolate cone.

"You've paid for enough already."

I smirked, shaking my head in response. "I took this money from your stache so technically you paid. Your money just happened to come out of my pocket." I laughed, walking along beside her as we made our way to the other side of the street.

"What kind of fruit do you like, Ni?"

"Apples, I guess. But I'm not one to favor a kind of fruit." she rolled her eyes picking up a few apples and putting them in the plastic bag with the bananas she threw in for Tony.

"You know this town actually isn't too bad."

"Yeah, it's small and I wouldn't have to worry about Tony too much. I was talkin’ to Aubrey’s aunt and she said Aubrey lives in town here too with her parents. She’s just staying with her till they get back from vacation."

"So Tony will have a friend in town!" she happily repeated back. I nodded, throwing a few pears into the bag. "But you're still gonna worry about Tony. Even in a small town." All I bothered to do was shrug, and lightly tilt my head in agreement because I know that was true. Because I worried about him when he was just down the skywalk, a few rooms away with a friend. It's something I'll always do I guess. I've basically become a father for my little brother, and worrying about him was just habit at this point.

Of course, now I have Mary. I'll be worrying about her too, and sometimes I know she will reason with me on why to let Tony go to a friends. Being happy isn't all that bad. I should have tried it earlier.

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Sorry for any mistakes you find. I took up writing this on mobile because i dont have my computer nor internet right now.

So had to use my phone! ah smart phones are lovely, eh?

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xx-A