Chapter 9: Interruptin’ Romance
"Thish is sho goooood!" Persimmon moaned as her plump lips wrapped around the white plastic spoon I snagged from the break room. She ate the Chi Chi with gusto, her lips smacking together as she sucked hard on her utensil. Pulling out the spoon from her mouth I watched as a strand of saliva was bridged between her moist lips and the recently licked clean utensil. How can a girl make eating prison food look so sexy?
"I'm glad you like it, the last time I tried making some for my sister and her friend they almost threw up." I smiled, my eyes drifting over to the still very queasy looking Abby. Her eyes looked at the chocolate-skinned girl with concern as she watched her dip her spoon back into the bowl to take another scoop of the concoction.
"How do you like that sh—s-stuff, hehe?" Abby gave me an apologetic look as she corrected her words. I gave her a small smirk before turning to hear Persimmon's answer as I was curious myself. Prison food is an acquired taste after all and had it not been for Dad cramming the shit down my throat as a kid I doubt I'd even like it.
"Hmm, oh my family is like super uptight about junk food so when I found out Ethan can make a heart attack in a bowl I knew I had to try it. The best way to describe the taste is like all the junk food of the world had a gangbang in my mouth." Me and Abbs both grimaced at that description, my hands reaching toward the Switch left on the counter. Tapping the power button my face was bathed in the blue light of the display screen, my fingers immediately clicking on Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
"And how did you come to this agreement between you two?" Abby asked as she peered over my shoulder, her eyes watching as I immediately clicked the multiplayer option. Another cool thing about Huck's is how crazy good the wifi is, like I've been to bigger towns and cities and no one can compare to the internet here. I don't know why a gas station in a small town of around 800 like ours would have a need for fiber optic cable to be laid but I ain't gonna complain about it when it allows me to play games with zero lag.
"She came in one night and when she reached the checkout counter with her arms filled with snacks her stomach growled. Instead of letting such a poor girl starve, I thought I'd help out—" An elbow landed in my side as Persimmon glowered at me, her ebony eyes trying to bore holes through my face.
"He's lyin', I had to practically beg him to let me borrow the microwave and he only agreed after I offered up my baby!" She cried crocodile tears as she looked at her pink bedazzled console, the gems adding a nice grip to the device. Currently I was in a match with a guy playing a busted little electric rat while I was playing as a little boxer from the Bronx. Instead of picking the meta pick, I went off of pure nostalgia, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out being one of the only games I got to play as a kid. Yes, Dad had an old Nintendo console, and along with Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros, they were the only access I had to video games unless I biked down to the Rivera Arcade or stayed at Ricky's house and played on his console. The nights when we had to quietly play in the dark to avoid the wrath of Ms. Nash would always be fond memories.
"Sorry, not sorry plus after that night I haven't once charged you for any of the ingredients we use." I gave the woman a cheeky grin to which she responded with another elbow to my ribs. Wincing at the sharp jolt of pain I could only look down to see Little Mac faring even worse than me. I was close to getting knocked off the platform but I had one trick up my sleeve, a K-O that I delivered to my opponent with the fury only a Little Mac main can give.
"You really like playing Mac don't you?" She asked between bites of Chi Chi, her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel as she leaned over to look at the screen. My eyes were immediately drawn to her large chest, the funbags hidden behind a thick black sweater. What lay beneath the fabric could only be speculated upon but by how large they were I could guess they were a work of art. The thought of her large ebony tits wrapped around my dick created an uncomfortable feeling in my pants as I hid the growing erection behind the counter. Intrusive thoughts go away!
"Y-yeah, he's someone who uh, kind of speaks to me I guess." I muttered as I watched Mac fly off the stage into a completely unrecoverable position. The feeling of losing a stock stung a little less when I realized I still held the lead with my second stock being completely fresh while his was sitting at around 40%.
"And how does a fictional boxer from the Bronx speak to you?" Persimmon asked as she gave me an inquisitive look, her soft round eyes were only enhanced by the magnifying effect of her glasses lenses.
"He doesn't give up when he gets knocked down ." I grinned as I landed a clean Dynamite Uppercut, the other player panicking as he tried to escape. What followed was a rather one-sided pummeling as I grinned like an idiot. It felt great beating people with characters that weren't popular.
"Uhuh, well thanks for the meal but I've got to go to work so I'll be taking this." She snatched the bedazzled switch out of my hands as I landed the last K-O punch for the win, a sigh of relief escaping my lips. Persimmon always did this and some nights if I was still fighting someone she would take it in the middle of a match making me lose. Even without playing the game but once every so often when she visited I got good through the sink-or-swim approach of her harsh time limit. In any engagement or game I play the goal is to win and win quickly with this demon leaning over my shoulder.
"Have fun~!" I practically sang those words, the thought of another person working longer than me filling me with a deep sense of joy. Call it sadistic or cruel, I just call it being honest with myself. Persimmon never really told me what kind of job she had but she was definitely a graveyard shift worker as it was nearly 11:00 PM now. The only response the girl gave me was the middle finger as she trudged past the sliding doors and into the cool night air. A minute and a half later the sound of her little Honda Civic pulling out of the parking lot hit my ears.
"She's pretty cool, isn't she?" It was meant to be a compliment but the tone Abby said it in made it a dangerous question with only one right answer. Dad always said women like to play these little games called bullshit tests and here and now the black-haired girl sitting on the counter next to me was doing just that.
"Not as cool as you." I could only give myself a mental pat on the back as I watched her souring expression return to the beautiful bubbly look she always had. Go, Ethan, it's your birthday, go, Ethan, it's your birthday!
"Hahaha, when did you become such a smooth talker, Ethan?" She scooched her doughy ass across the counter as she leaned toward me, her hand pushing against my chest and the red work vest covering it and my t-shirt.
"Well it all started when this really cute girl started workin' with me—you won't tell her right?" I leaned in with a conspiratorial look as I covered my mouth to hide it from our nonexistent company. My other hand linked around the girl's thin waist as a cute squeal left her lips. Our breaths intermingled as our lips were within striking distance for a kiss.
"I don't know, I think I might need a little bribe to keep me from talkin'…" She leaned forward, her pouty pink lips puckering for a kiss. I leaned in too, my heart pounding in my chest. Abby looked stunning under the fluorescent light of the gas station, her glossy raven hair gleaming in the light.
Before our lips could make contact however the roar of an engine starting up interrupted us. My eyes turning to scan the parking lot as I saw something I didn't expect to see. My idiot of a sister had Elsie in her lap as she blared the horn and flashed the headlights of Dad's car, the thing lurching forward into one of the parking spaces closest to the store entrance. Both of them had cigarettes glowing alight in their mouths, and pale looks on their faces. Just what in the hell is going on?
(Clara's POV 15 minutes earlier):
Betty purred as we entered Huck's parking lot, the entrance we took allowed us to avoid getting seen through the front windows of the storefront with our headlights on. My grip on the grey two-spoke steering wheel tightened like a vice, the soft glow of the speedometer's display illuminating my white knuckle grip. I felt sick, my body shaking like a leaf as I flicked off the headlights.
The sole of my right foot pressed against the break while my left pushed in the clutch. My hand put the stick in second gear and followed by engaging the parking brake. Turning the ignition off I finally released the clutch and brake, the car was now truly parked. Dad's lessons really paid off and all it took was me crying in the driver's seat while he yelled at me like the times he tried helping me with math homework.
"Ugh—Else hand me the pack of cigs in the glove box." I groaned as I rested my head against the cool grey plastic of the steering wheel. My hand flipped up the center console as I pulled out a cheap red lighter. The hiss of the striker filled the air as the interior of the car was bathed in the soft light of the flickering flame growing from its tip.
"Only if you light me up too." Elsie reached for the glove box, the hinges groaning as the thing fell with little resistance before coming to an abrupt, jolting stop. Inside was Dad's favorite brand, Lucky Strike Red 100's, another thing Ethan had religiously kept stocked in the vehicle waiting for the day Dad would come home. E himself had stuck to smoking the cheapest cigarette brands so when I snagged one behind his back every now and then I only ever got the cheap stuff.
"We're in way over our heads aren't we?" I asked as I grabbed the butt of a cigarette from the freshly opened pack she held in her hands. Placing it in my mouth I brought the lighter up before igniting the tip, a deep breath filling my lungs as the smoke burned down my throat.
My hand reached out with the lighter, the assumption in my head being that Elsie would use it to light up her own cig. The girl had other plans though as the cigarette hanging off her lips was brought closer to my own, our faces growing dangerously close. The glow of my own cigarette illuminated her glossy lips as she lit the tip of hers with mine, my face heating up as we were only seperated by the length of our cigs.
"No, we need to be here." She gave me a smirk as she saw the blush growing across the bridge of my nose. How she wasn't pissing her pants afraid left me dumbfounded, we were stalking my brother in a car we weren't meant to be in.
My eyes drifted to the glowing white light of the glass windows, the inside of the store displayed with crystal clear detail. Ethan leaned behind the counter, a stupid grin growing on his face, his eyes staring dreamily at the person sitting on the counter beside him. I recognized the girl sitting to his right, Abby sat her fat ass across the counter as she played with a strand of her raven hair. The girl had a stupid grin on her face as she looked back at E with hearts in her eyes, an uncomfortable feeling welling up in the pit of my stomach at the sight.
They chatted happily, Abby giggling and using her laughter as an excuse to land playful shoves against his chest and shoulder. Ethan's grin grew teasing as he wrapped his arm around her waist, the girl squealing in a silent scream to us as a red blush grew across her face. Me and Else sat there shell shocked, a sense of despair growing in our hearts. We were too late, this whole trip had been pointless—
"Fuck this." The girl sitting next to me reached for the door handle, and when the door clicked free of its latch she kicked it open. My eyes widened as I watched the girl march across the dimly lit parking lot, her eyes turning back to me with honey-colored fire in them.
I wanted to follow, to get out and go save my brother from the clutches of that black-haired bimbo. My hand reached for the handle, and yet I never touched it. The thought of confessing my love to my brother was already a daunting task in of itself and the thought of adding in a girl who's into him watching me do it was too much to bare.
Else stared at me for a few seconds, a look of resignation growing on her face before fiery determination took its place. She stepped back toward's the car and my driver's side door in particular. Yanking it open I was exposed to a rush of cool night air, goosebumps growing across my skin as I shuddered.
"I—I cant't Else, he looks happy with her!" I pleaded as the short girl grabbed hold of my arm, her fingers sinking into my flesh.
"We can make him happier together than she ever could!" She hissed at me, and I found myself staring face to face with her glaring eyes. I only looked away when the scene inside the gas station shifted. The sight of Ethan pulling Abby across the counter filled my vision. She was saying something to him, her cheeks redder than a tomato. E wasn't faring any better as he nodded dumbly, his lips quirking into the dopiest smile ever. They were going to kiss, their lips growing dangerously close to each other as they looked into one another's eyes.
"Ugh—damnit get back in!" I yanked the girls wrist as her eyes widened. Elsie's plump ass landed across my lap, but I didn't have time to admire the sensation as I put my foot on the brake pedal and clutch.
Putting the stick in neutral Betty roared to life as I turned the key in the ignition. Before their lips could meet in a kiss Ethan pulled back, his eyes scanning the parking lot looking for the origin of the sound. I flicked the headlights onto the bright beams, my hand laying into the horn as my arm coiled around Else's large boobs. Taking my foot off the clutch pedal I released the manual parking brake before pressing back down on the clutch and shifting the stick in first gear. Pressing the gas pedal while easing up on the clutch the car rolled forward, the horn blaring like a bugle during a cavalry charge.
"You're crazy!" Elsie giggled like she was at an amusement park. Her eyes took in the shocked look spreading over Ethan's face as he watched Dad's car roll right up to the front door in one of the parking spots lining the gas station's curb.
"I-I am." I stuttered out the admittance with a squeaky voice, my body shuddering like I'd been electrocuted. Ethan rounded the counter, his face a mask of bewilderment as he exited the automatic sliding doors of the store. He didn't look mad but I couldn't help but grip the steering wheel with a death grip, the girl in my lap growing awful quiet all of the sudden. God, please don't make this difficult!