Vento Oreo

14

"I'm gonna go into town. You guys want anything?" I ask.

We had landed on Sardinia a few minutes ago, and healed the others along the way.

"Oh! Can you get more snacks?" Narancia requests.

I nod. "Anything else?"

No one else says anything, so I make my way towards the road, but stop. Crouching down, I reach into my bag and toss a Tide To-Go pen to Mista, who is closest to me.

"You may want to clean yourselves up. There's blood all over you guys." I continue my leave. "I'll meet you at Costa Smerelda."

Walking up to the road, I signal for a taxi.

"Take me to the nearest laundry place, please." I say, entering the car. 

They nod and begin driving. The whole ride is silent until the car stops, reaching my destination.

Looking up to see how much I have to pay, my eyes narrow in confusion.

"Hey, mister. . ." I speak up, "I think there's something wrong with your meter. It has an extra digit."

"Huh?" They look back at me. "What are you implying. . . Why would I use a meter that is broken? Do you think I'm a dishonest person?"

The driver begins to bombard me with questions, making my expression turn suspicious.

"What's it to ya, anyways?"

"What's it to me? It means that I'll have to pay ten times the original amount!" I raise my voice, scooting to the edge of my seat.

"So? I'm sure you're stacked." They reason, starting getting on my nerves.

Before anything outrageous happens, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Bringing out my wallet, my hand fishes in for some money.

"Fine then." I agree in a calm tone. "Here, I'll even give you one hundred times the amount. After all, you must really need some money if you're that desperate. Do you have a family to take care of too? I can give you more if that's the case. It must also be hard paying for doctor's appointments in your situation. Would you like me to send a doctor to check up on you every now and then? I can even send your kids a tutor if you have any."

I begin to list off offer after offer.

This visibly ticks them off.

"Oh, and my parents have connections with many people and companies. Do you want me to offer a job interview for you-?"

"Shut up!" They cut me off.

My eyes widen in surprise.

The driver hands me a majority of the money, keeping ten percent of it.

"Here. Fine, take it! Now get out!"

Before I knew it, they had kicked me out of their car and drove off.

"What's up with them? I just wanted to be nice." I ask myself with my brows raised, only smile and laugh under my breath.

Pride is the weakness of many people.

Besides, I lied for like half of the things I said.

I go into the building and put my old clothes in a washing machine, putting it on the fastest setting. Earlier, I had changed out of my previous set of clothing in the key room's closet. 

The cycle soon finishes and I then insert them into the dryer. Once again, I use the fastest setting 

I quickly stuff them in my bag and run off to a convenience store. Hurriedly, I take a bunch of random bags of chips, along with some chocolate, candy, and drinks, then pay.