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The pink-haired girl slams the car door open just as the blonde is finished parking in front of the grocery store. “Get your ass up, we need to bake those cupcakes fast!” she yells, but Arlo takes his sweet time and grunts as he closes the door shut only to fix his turtleneck sweater. She doesn’t take this well and instead stomps over to yank his wrist, and his hands fumble with his keys to lock the car.
“Remi, we have time. The club meeting isn’t until tomorrow, and we have two hours before the sun even sets," the man says in exasperation. They reach the entrance of the shop, and she elbows his ribs. Of course, no reaction rises from him. He only smirks as she makes her annoyance obvious with a pout.
“Ok, but all the others are waiting for us! Even Seraphina is there, so we need to hurry,” she urges. “Besides, look at the sky. It’s going to rain soon!”
She does have a point. Arlo cranes his neck to take a look, and surely enough, the sky is now more gray than when they set off driving. “Fine. Just don’t cry for me when you buy the wrong brand or drop and break something, Pinky.”
“Are you ser-”
He tunes out her voice and walks inside. Damn him! she thinks. “Wait for me, you asshat!”
The pair of god-tiers pass right by a crouched person and walk into the store to buy various things: vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, anything they can use to bake desserts for the Safehouse. When they reach the chocolate section, Arlo thinks she “took an abysmal amount” of chocolate chips. She ignores him and drops the product in the cart anyway.
She’s just like Rei, he thinks. The trio used to shop like this, just buying whatever looked useful or tasty. Somehow, they would make it work when they brought all the ingredients home to bake. Sometimes the cookies would bake rock hard or a batch of brownies would come out too runny, but usually the three ended up devouring the plates anyway.
Arlo tries to not think of what they are missing now.
“Ok! I think we are set,” Remi huffs. Their cart is filled to the brim. Arlo cringes at the thought of carrying everything back to the car.
“Remi, are you sure we can have all of that into the car? It’s going to rain soon.” Remi glares at him. “Nonsense! We will just speedrun this whole trip like we were supposed to in the first place,” she says with a shit-eating grin. Then, she drives the cart to the cashier while standing on it like a five-year old.
God, the things he does for his mentor’s little sister.
When they reach the cashier, it is just them. Arlo stares at the entrance door and sees small droplets latched onto the glass. He thinks they may not make it without damaging some of their goods, but he tries to not ruin Remi’s excitement.
“H-Hello! How are you,” the cashier asks with more enthusiasm than Arlo expects. The two make eye contact out of habit to say good, and you? , but instead Remi’s eyes widen in recognition. “Evie?!”
The girl gave a wry smile. “Hi! I didn’t. Um. Expect to see you guys here!” Arlo breaks eye contact to drop their pile of groceries onto the black conveyor. “I didn’t know you worked here,” he comments.
“Ah, I try to keep my work life separate from school and stuff. Keeps everything cute and private, you know?” she says as she packs all the items in grocery bags. From the bullies, she leaves unsaid.
“That’s a good habit. I don’t like people meddling into my business either,” Arlo says. He pulls out his credit card and swipes it into the scanner.
Suddenly, he hears droplets of water clang against the glass doors, and both he and Remi wince. He wonders whether all of this will be worth it or not. “Evie, do you have a safe way to go home?” she asks.
“Oh, I have a bike. My shift is about to end soon, so I’ll be able to clock out and go home!”
Right. Because going out there in the pouring rain is safe. Remi must think the same because she asks, “Do you even have a jacket?? We can drive you and prop the bike on Arlo’s car!”
Evie waves her hands humbly. “N-nonono it’s totally okay! I wouldn’t want to be a bother or anything, it wouldn’t be the first time I rode my bike home while it was raining.” Ah, she’s done packing the groceries. Remi’s eyes are furrowed. Arlo sees exactly what is about to happen. The Shrimp is going to aggressively persuade a girl into getting kidnapped.
“Take our car! I insist,” she says with a smile too wide.
See? So predictable.
“It’s really fi-“
Two minutes later, all three are holding plastic bags and heading to the entrance.
“Evie, do you want my hoodie? I’m good with the rain,” Remi says and stops before the entrance. Evie declines, expressing how they needed to hurry into the car so that they could get home . Besides, she likes the feel of water hitting her face. Though she’s not so sure if she likes to be soaked thoroughly through her clothes and hair, too.
Remi counts three, two, one! before the three sprint to the car, Arlo unlocking all the doors right as they arrive so they can shove the canned goods and bags in. The eggs are carefully placed among the mess of groceries so they wouldn’t crush and spill.
After they are done packing and shoving everything into the back, Arlo urges them into the backseats as he shuts the door, and they comply. He then runs to the front, slams the door open and close, and turns on the car by inserting his keys.
Just as the car starts up, he looks in the mirror and sees Evie staring somewhere past him. Remi also notices and follows her line of gaze. “Hey, what’s u-“ she says before stopping herself with a gasp. Arlo’s eyebrows bend in concern as he, too, looks in the direction they’re facing.
A figure wearing a hoodie and shorts is sitting down next to the entrance door, completely drenched. Arlo can’t tell if the hoodie was black or gray because of just how much water is dripping off of the person. They are hugging their legs, and he can’t see their facial features because of the black hair flattened against their face.
Wait. Black hair?
“I-is that John?!” Evie panics. Remi quickly pushes the door open and rushes to him, and the other girl follows. Shit, the blond thinks as he yanks out his keys and shoves his door open and close again. He keeps the most distance from the other boy out of them all, but none of them are too keen on touching him.
After all, the last time Remi was, it earned her a slap to the face.
“Hello?” Remi shouts. Even if she is only around three feet away from him, the pouring rain is too damn loud. It’s also starting to fog. Arlo hopes he can safely drive the two home.
Evie stands still, uncertain of what to do. Arlo does too for the same reason, however the girl eventually walks over to the boy and alarm bells ring in the blond’s head. He grabs her hand and asks, “What are you doing?”
“Well… he doesn't look so great, no? I- I need to check if he’s responsive. Regardless of our history with him, it wouldn’t be right to just, well, leave him here,” she says meekly yet with determination in her eyes. He still doesn’t let go.
“Even if he does realize that we are here calling for him, can you predict what he will do next? Did you forget how violent and out of control he is at school? What will he be willing to do outside of Vaughn’s protection? ” he scolds. “And I can’t drive him. I need to keep you guys safe, and I can’t do that if he throws a tantrum in the car while I’m trying to dri-“
He abruptly cuts himself off when Remi rests her hand on his pleadingly. “Arlo, please. Can we at least check if he’s ok?”
Christ, he thinks. He’s going soft, succumbing to those eyes that resemble endless pits of kindness. “Fine,” he digresses and lets go of Evie’s arm. She goes on to crouch at John’s level and speaks; “Hello, John? Can you hear me?”
No response.
“Hello..?” She waves her hands in front of his eyes.
Again, no response. Is he under the effects of an ability?
Remi goes and squats down the same level as the girl, and there is no trace of the worship Evie usually holds near a royal. The ex-queen shakes the boy’s shoulder. “Hey! You awake, John?”
What was she thinking, saying his name and touching him after Arlo’s warning?
Though, there was still no response.
Evie moves her hand to gently lift his hair away from his eyes. They stare far away into nothing, unseeing of the three figures surrounding him. Is… is he dissociating? Evie thinks.
Remi has the same train of thought and looks around to see if he used any form of transportation to get here. Instead, all she sees is Arlo’s car, so John most likely walked by foot to this store. From where, she does not know, but that doesn’t matter because right now they need to prevent him from reaching hypothermia. At this point, she doubts his body could regulate itself with how drenched he was, so she activates her lightning and carries him like he’s a damn damsel in distress. He still does not react.
“We’re getting him somewhere. To the dorms or your house, We can figure that out in the car,” she commands before running to the car without warning. Splashes of water echo under her every step as Arlo blankly looks ahead. He feels a hand grip onto his wrist and pull him to the same direction as Remi. He has no choice but to follow as he doubts there is any convincing the two otherwise at this point.
As all of them get seated in the car and lock the doors, Arlo starts the car and looks in the mirror. Remi is taking off the black-haired man’s hoodie, and without it he only wears a tank top. He hasn’t stopped staring into nothing. Well, Arlo thinks bitterly, at least he won’t distract me while I’m driving.
“Evie. Are you fine if I drive you to my house?” he asks.
“I- I wouldn’t want to inco-“
“I’m asking because I don’t want us getting into a car crash from driving in this fog.”
Her voice dies out. She doesn’t know if she could handle being in Arlo’s house because he’s a freaking god-tier and I’m just this insignificant low-tier, but she doesn’t want him to have trouble driving, either. “Y-yeah, ok. Let me just text my dad real quick,” she relents as she pulls out her phone.
Arlo pinches his nose and sighs. He would drive John back to the dorms, but again, he does not want to endanger his schoolmates. He wonders just how this day had turned into… whatever this is.
“He says it’s fine.”
“Alright.”
Arlo doesn’t risk turning on the news in case John gains awareness. He doubts it would be helpful while driving, anyway. The four teenagers drive back to his apartment, unknowing of what will later ensue. But for now they sit in silence, the only sounds heard from the rain hitting the glass and Arlo’s windshield squeaking its window clean.