Late Night Munch

11

August 29, 2020

The smell of wet dirt had been lingering for days before the sky began to sprinkle. Emma was halfway to the gas station when faint droplets of water hit her face. She ran the rest of the way, dry heaving and folding in half to catch her breath when she finally reached her destination.

"I told you to carry an umbrella." He chastised her.

"I quite enjoyed the rain." She lied straight through her teeth. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right.

He scoffed, "You were running."

"I was lightly jogging. There's a difference." She said.

"Mhm. Well I'm going to get a mop to clean up the mess you made."

She sheepishly smiled and apologized now realizing she left a wet, muddy trail leading from the door to the counter. Her shoes continued to squeak across the floor as she followed him towards the storage closet.

"Here, let me help." She said, taking the mop from his hands.

He didn't argue instead he said," I'll find you something to wear. I think I have a hoodie lying around somewhere."

What he failed to mention was that it was inside of his car.

"You're in charge." He jokingly yelled behind him.

"Of what-" She stood there stunned as she watched him run to his car, his hole-ridden umbrella barely keeping him dry. "I don't even know how to run the cash register." Emma yelled. The glass muffled her words, but it wasn't like it mattered. He was already running back inside with black fabric clutched to his chest.

Tucker struggled to wrangle his umbrella shut as the wind picked up speed outside. "Is it monsoon season already?" He muttered under his breath. "How will you get home?" He asked.

"You're already kicking me out." She said.

He laughed and handed her his hoodie, "Here and no I'm just worried."

"I'll be fine. The rain should eventually settle down." She snuggled into his over sized sweater, "I hope you know I'm never giving this back. Sorry, but I didn't make the rules." Emma said.

"We'll then let's make a deal. I'll trade you that hoodie for pictures. Do you mind being my muse until the storm calms down?" He raised his camera and a mischievous smile made it's way onto his face.

"You brought your camera!" She cheerfully exclaimed.

She made a 'hand it over' gesture, "Promise you won't laugh." He said.

"Yeah, yeah trust and all that jazz." She said, eager to get her hands on it.

Tucker rolled his eyes when he caught Emma holding in a snicker while she browsed through the camera roll. "Emma." He whined.

"I'm not laughing." She unconvincingly said. "You have some good ones in here."

He groaned," I know they're terrible."

"Well good thing you have me. I don't even mind modeling for free. You need all the help you can get." She teased. "So where do you want me?"

"Seriously?" He asked.

"Hey, if you can swallow down my mediocre sushi, I think I can manage posing for a couple hours." She said. "Also you might as well take pictures of your sweater while you can because it will be the last time you see it."

He fought back a smile, but she coaxed it out of him anyways.

She grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the snack aisle. "Take a picture of me with the love of my life."

Never in his life had he felt more jealous of a cheez-it's bag.

AN: The original idea took a back seat, but are we surprised lady's and gents. I think the conversation they're about to have is an important one and I didn't want to rush it since it has delicate material in it. I scraped the original chapter 11 that I wrote because the pacing seemed off, but hopefully you enjoyed this cute short version.

I'm currently picking and choosing the elements of the original chapter that I like and I'm going to rewrite the chapter now :P. Crossing my fingers it's up soon.

Question of the day: How are we feeling about their friendship/relationship?

As someone who reads slow burns it makes it frustrating, but so rewarding when we see them interact. I'd like nothing more to see them in a relationship, but they're both dealing with so much that sometimes just having someone who understands is enough.