Ick. Bonding. [Allison]

Ronni couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She’d hoped that not having money would have gotten her out of this, but whatever. It stung her quite a bit and she just glowered at the sidewalk while responding. She tried to shrug it off, but it still nagged at her—she wasn’t even good enough to buy her own snack. “Whatever you say, Allison.”

It was a step up. At first Ronni refused to even remember the girl’s name and instead called her “you” or “hey bitch.” How Allison had stood her for so long without demanding another partner was beyond Ronni. But whatever. The girl seemed like the type to just let things slide off her shoulders. Or maybe she was keeping it all pent up until she had Ronni alone somewhere and could wail on her. Puh. Like Ronni would let that little waif beat her up. No way no how.

At least things were now progressing toward something similar to acquaintanceship.

Maybe there was hope for Ronni yet.

The little red-head rolled her eyes again and huffed slightly. “Like I would even be able to eat the whole fucking menu. That would just be a giant waste of food just for fucking spite,” she quipped back, though the edge was taking out of her tone and she sounded just a little sarcastic, but with an underlining lace of. . . was it good-natured teasing? It was hard to tell, Ronni was just so against friends.

Allison’s mood was near contagious. Ronni wasn’t sure how she managed to stay so bubbly all the time, but it was becoming more and more difficult for Ronni to stay sullen and angry. She was trying really hard, too. Her hands were shoved deep into her jacket pocket and she walked a few steps behind Allison, glowering at anything and anyone who so much as crossed her path. But the more she watched and listen to her. . . companion, the harder it was to keep it up.

When Allison tripped, Ronni instinctively took an extra-long step forward and extended her arm, but the blonde seemed to catch herself and Ronni quickly retracted her arm, determined not to look concerned at all. However, Ronni had been waiting for it. All that skipping and twirling, she was going to eat shit eventually.

“Didn’t see what?” Ronni replied coyly, shoving her hands back into her jacket pocket.

Ronni looked away from Allison for a second and took a breath. Then, she removed a hand from her pocket just long enough to make a zipping motion over her mouth. “It’s not like I’d let people know I’m having weirdos like you pay for my fucking meals,” she commented blithely and with a shrug of her shoulders. Her swear count had been cut down quite a bit, but she couldn’t help but slip a few in there sometimes.

For some reason, she didn’t feel like swearing a whole lot. Maybe it was because there was no one around to chide her for it. Maybe it was because she was in a good mood. Whatever the case, it was probably a relief for those around her who would rather not hear that kind of sailor talk.

Swear jar? Ronni scoffed. “Really wouldn’t do you a whole lotta good,” she muttered. Not like she had the money to just fork over for every time she swore. Maybe if it was pennies. She could do a penny swear jar. She found pennies lying around all the fucking time. No one wanted them—but she’d take them. “I’d still swear up a fucking storm. Habits are hard to break, y’know?”

This was the most chatty that Ronni had felt in a long time.

It was weird.

She was always hungry, but she decided not to say that. Well—she wasn’t always like, starving. But she always had that little nagging feeling in her gut, telling her that she needed to eat a little more. At school it was always put to the side as they actually had pretty decent meals and she could always bully someone out of their leftovers, but for the most part she always feels a little hungry. “I can eat,” she replied with a shrug. Good enough.

Ronni had to really suppress the urge to kick Allison in the back of the leg when she grabbed her hand and started sprinting down the road. It was hard. She really wanted to. What made it more difficult was the fact that they were, indeed, running and it was hard to find the time to run and kick at the same time.

Somehow she managed to keep up, and she wondered how this chick could have so much boundless energy, and what had possibly possessed Ronni to agree to this. And what had she just called her? Ro-Ro? What the fuck? That wasn’t her name. She wouldn’t even accept it as a nickname! When she finally stopped, Ronni pulled her hand back and rubbed her wrist—the chick had grip, Ronni had to give her that. "Don’t ever call me that again. . . fucking Ro-Ro. . . ,” she muttered, glaring at Allison.

Her anger was abated only by the fact that Allison was acting funny. She let her hands fall back into her jacket pocket and watched Allison for a second. Before she could ask, Allison mentioned driections. Ronni cocked and eyebrow, but said nothing—she barely had the chance: Allison was already dashing across the street.

“Fucking weirdo,” Ronni muttered under her breath.

Allison ran up to some guy to ask for directions and Ronni’s heart fell just a couple centimeters. Did this girl have no sense of self-preservation at all? Like—that guy just screamed dirt bag—the way he stood up against the wall, that greasy look, and the leer he gave her—well fuck. Now he had her by the arm. Ronni rolled her eyes and sighed. Helpless people—you couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.

She started jogging across the street, brow furrowed and teeth grinding against each other. Outnumbered this punk would move on, but not before Ronni had a piece of him. At least Allison had the presence of mind to fight back, but he was in her way.

“Hey douchebag, pick on someone your own fucking size,” she snarled, striding right up to him and swinging her leg in a wide arc. He was distracted long enough by pretty little Allison and her arrival that she managed to nail him right in the family jewels and he crumpled over, coughing and wheezing. Ronni stood over him for a few seconds, eyes narrowed, then kicked him again for good measure, right in the guy. “Fucking shit-faced jackass.”

Angrily, she turned to Allison and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her back across the street. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and it didn’t seem like she would stop any time soon. She didn’t even know where they were going now—she just wanted to get Allison and herself away. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Again with the swear jar comment. Ronni didn’t find it at all amusing even though Allison for some reason thought it would work. Even if they had one Ronni would probably never pay up. Ever. So despite all of her cursing, it would probably never fill up.

Because it was a fucking stupid concept.

Ronni opted to just ignore the comment and keep walking. It didn’t have anything to do with the situation at hand, anyway. They had to leave before the guy’s buddies showed up—if he had any. Ronni hadn’t noticed anyone—or before the guy got back up and decided to enact revenge. Though Ronni seriously doubted that he would be getting back up for a few more minutes: she was pretty confident that she’d hit him good enough to do some damage.

Her grip on Allison’s wrist slackened with distance, and she immediately regretted it: Allison wasted no time in attacking Ronni with a tight hug. “Not a hugger, not a hugger!” she hissed through clench teeth, her body stiff as a board for the entire length of the bear hug. She even held her breath, waiting for it to end.

Finally her feet touched the ground again and Ronni let her breath out. Her back now hurt, as did her ribs and she glared at Allison for a second while she straightened her bunched up shirt. The little waif had more strength in her than Ronni would have credited her, but she was more concerned about the serious lack of personal space. “Please don’t do that,” she muttered, finally turning her gaze away from Allison to pick up some stray things that had fallen out of her pack.

However, she kind of liked all of the praise.

Actually, she really liked all of the praise.

“You were already going to buy us food,” she pointed out, finally gathering herself enough to straighten up and have a real conversation with Allison. Kicking that guy had felt so good she was in a better mood now and her swearing had switched from constant to casual. A lot of stress had melted away, along with the guy’s balls. “It’s no big deal, anyway. Just learned to fend for myself, y’know. Lots of jackasses on the street, especially when you spend most of your time there. Now I’m hungry, can we find somewhere to eat?”

Man, this chick was going to make Ronni roll her eyes out of her head. However, she was in a much better mood now that she’d taken her frustrations out and even managed to crack a little smile.

It helped, of course, that she was having her ego stroked.

“Stop looking at me like that you freak, you’re weirding me the fuck out,” she snorted, looking away from Allison after being stared at with those big, bugging eyes. She had half a mind to just push Allison’s face away, but that was a little too violent for someone who was only mildly irritating and not doing anything really wrong.

Besides, she was getting a free meal.

It was better not to ruin that.

“In and out?” Ronni repeated. The name was vaguely familiar, as if she’d heard of it a long time ago. Before she even had time to ask for clarification—and ask how she managed to know where it was when they had just run around at a random direction, but whatever Ronni knew her way around town too—she was being grabbed and manhandled again. Great—her favorite fucking thing. She protested and hobbled along behind Allison.

A growl cut through the night air. “I said don’t drag me!”

Ronni didn’t have much time to fight it, though. Just as Allison had said, it was certainly right around the corner. They were greeted by the warmth of the interior and Ronni stumbled in, finally managing to pry her arm out of Allison’s vice-like grip. Jesus Christ that girl knew how to hold on. Ronni shot her a terribly nasty look and met her at the counter before glancing at the menu herself. Now she was definitely thinking about ordering a bunch of stuff.

Ah—that was it. This place looked pretty familiar, too. Something out of her childhood. Her and her dad didn’t eat out a whole lot anymore, instead relying on buying cheap stuff from grocery stores. Usually, for the same price as eating out once, they could get their own burger patties and buns and eat for five days. However, when her mom was still alive. . . .

She forced the thought from her mind and ordered. “Just gimme a Double-Double with fries and a large drink.” This was probably going to be the most elaborate meal she’d eaten in weeks.

Ronni made a face and tried her best to resist the urge to kick this girl in the shin. Her personality was too over the top for Ronni’s comfort. Allison needed to take a real chill-pill or else she wasn’t going to be able to handle this anymore. “If you so much as try to pick me, I won’t be held responsible for any bodily harm I would inflict on you,” she snorted. “You have been warned.”

Carry her—puh. She looked too fucking weak to carry her, even if Ronni was smaller than your average person.

Just when Ronni didn’t think this bitch could get any weirder, she started singing and acting like a fucking crazy person. Ronni was certain the cashier didn’t appreciate it, and Ronni sure as fuck didn’t appreciate it, either. She was in public with this chick, after all! Everyone would probably start to think she was fucking insane, too. She might not have felt right kicking Allison in the shin, but her antics were just going way too far.

So instead, she decided to step on Allison’s foot. Not too hard, of course. She didn’t want to severely injure her.

“Act like a fucking normal person, won’t you?” she hissed through clenched teeth, ignoring the uneasy looks the cashier was giving some of their other coworkers. Probably wondering if they should scold her.

Somewhat reluctantly, the cashier handed over a couple cups after Allison forked over the plastic. Ronni snatched hers from Allison in a huff and then stomped off toward the soda machine. She had been in a good mood, but Allison was just fucking weird it had turned her sour again. Not quite as sour as when the night first started, but still a little irritated. She filled her cup with Dr. Pepper and took some of her frustrations out by angrily putting on the lid and jabbing the straw in the little hole.

Then, she leaned against an open counter, sucking at the straw and her drink, and just glared at Allison for a little bit.

Though she hadn’t originally been paying attention, Ronni spotted Allison come marching over to her like a girl on a mission. Ronni raised her eyebrows, a little concerned that Allison was going to hurt herself or, you know, make Ronni hurt her for her, but when she finally made it over to where Ronni was sulking, she looked—almost defeated.

The next two works to come out of her mouth were surprising, but also satisfying.

Ronni raised her eyebrows and lowered her drink. “I am?” she asked a little dubiously. Among the things that Ronni had been called, “cool” was not among them. Usually it was more colorful and derogatory language aimed at her, very rarely compliments.

It was nice.

Even though she was being a total bitch.

She found it hard to look at Allison as she delivered her mini-speech. All this girl wanted was her approval? Why? That didn’t make any sense. Ronni fell silent and just stared into space after the little speech, completely diffused and feeling something she didn’t often feel—a tiny little twinge of guilt. Allison was being nothing but nice, and all she was doing was throwing it back in her face and using her for a quick meal. No one usually made her feel this low, but somehow, Allison had managed it.

Allison fetched the food and Ronni took her sweet time making her way toward the table her companion had picked out. She sat where Allison had dumped her food and could already feel her mouth watering as the scent of the fries and burgers wafted up into her nose, telling her stomach that food was finally on its way.

After pulling her food close to her like some sort of vulture, she glanced up at Allison. “You shouldn’t want to be my friend,” she said, her tone that of a prophetic warning. Realizing she forgot something, she quickly got up and fetched a bunch of ketchup, then sat back down to start on her delicious food.

She’d have to save some fries for her dad.

“The last thing you want is for me to think you’re cool. I’m not cool,” she muttered after stuffing a succulent bite of burger in her mouth. Pity, she couldn’t fully enjoy its flavor right now. “I’m tough because I live on the streets. Because I have to be tough. I can’t let people push me around. So I’ve got the habit of being mean to everyone I meet.”

Ronni looked up from her burger. “You shouldn’t want to be like me.”

Ronni narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. Allison’s reasoning didn’t make a whole ton of fucking sense, but there was some truth to it. Ronni thought she was the shit, and it was kind of nice to know someone else thought she was the shit, but Allison was such a wholesome, naïve, crazy girl. She deserved a friend that wasn’t going to yell at her all the time or stomp on her foot.

But whatever. If she really wanted Ronni as a friend, Ronni supposed she could try to be more tolerant of her shenanigans. At least she wouldn’t be bored.

She watched Allison with a furrowed brow as she dabbed daintily at her burger, soaking up all the excess grease and meat juices. That was weird. The grease was what made the burger taste so good. She kept her mouth shut, though, and just rolled her eyes instead. Her mouth was watering and she really wanted to eat her giant-ass burger. She could feel her stomach gurgle in anticipation.

That first bite was like heaven had thrown a party in her mouth. A satisfied sigh found its way around the big bite and Ronni leaned back, chewing slowly so as to savor that one bite. Because after this bite, she was just going to hork it down as fast as she could. Ronni never felt as hungry as when she was actually eating. Usually it was just a slight pang in her gut, something she could ignore—but when there was food in front of her, it turned into a ravenous rock that just tore at her stomach.

“Oh my fucking god I haven’t had a burger in so long,” she murmured after swallowing her first bite. Then—the horking started. She took bite after bite, chewing the minimum amount of times possible to keep from choking.

However, she had to slow down. Ronni hadn’t been aware of it, since she usually ate in peace and quiet, but being talked to while she was eating was quite irritating. But she’d already made a vow to give Allison a chance, so why not start now. She swallowed the bite she had in her mouth and took up the time to slather a couple of French fries in ketchup. “I guess,” she shrugged. “Happens every couple days. No real outstanding story.”

Well. There was one.

Ronni devoured those fries she’d been dipping in ketchup and then continued. “There was this one guy—big guy. Real big guy. Like you sitting on my shoulders big. Body-builder type. Runs into me like some giant monkey—but the thing about him was he had a talkin’ bug on his shoulder. A real talking bug! Heard it myself!”

Shrugging, Ronni dumped the rest of her fries into her empty burger box and closed the lid. As much as she wanted to finish them, she wanted to save them for her dad more. He’d be a tad upset if she didn’t save some for him. Well, not if she didn’t tell him but she wanted to. She had to do nice things for him occasionally. He was trying hard, despite what others might think. And what Ronni sometimes thought.

“I don’t know. I never asked. It never came up,” she explained, sucking down a bunch of her soda. She wanted to refill it before she left, so she had to drink as much as she could until then. Which would have to be soon: her dad would start to worry if she didn’t come home.

She looked up with exasperation at Allison. “Really, fairies?” she asked. But Allison just continued. Even Ronni knew that she was describing Tinker Bell—or someone similar to her and she just shook her head and scratched at her hairline. This girl was crazy sometimes. But she couldn’t really blame her—after all, she was telling her that she had seen a talking bug. She probably wouldn’t have believed it either.

If she hadn’t heard it.

“No, no. It was just a bug. Like a dragonfly. It sat on his shoulder like a pet and he told me it talks so I told him to prove it and when he set it down on my shoulder it said hi to me. I guess it had to be in contact with you to speak or something but it really spoke,” she explained almost desperately.

Ronni decided not to mention the fact that it also attacked her with a big bubble that turned into a bunch of ice shards.

Ronni was pretty skeptical. Sure Allison said she believed her—and at least kind of sounded like she meant it—but did she really? Or did she think she was crazy? Hmph. Ronni hid her distaste by shoving the rest of her burger in her mouth. Maybe she’d recommend coming here again with her dad, once they had a bit more cash on-hand than they did now.

“Well good,” she muttered, though she was still skeptical. “Cuz it happened. And then it blue these giant bubbles and pelted me with little ice needles or something. Got my clothes all bloody.”

Stupid bug.

She looked up when Allison groaned, her expression relaxing a little bit. She swallowed a few mouthfuls of soda before looking around for a clock on the wall. After spotting one, she sighed and pushed her chair out a bit. “I should be going home anyway,” she assured Allison. She boxed up what fries she’d saved for her dad and stood up. “My dad doesn’t like it when I’m out this late anyway. Gets all worried, ‘fraid he’s gonna find me a fucking ditch or something.”

Allison was trying to suggest something, so Ronni stopped to watch her. Meet the guy again? Ronni certainly hoped she wouldn’t. But whatever. She rolled her eyes, but managed a good-natured grin. “Yeah okay. Bird noises. It’s a plan,” she agreed sarcastically. What were bird noises going to do? She would look ridiculous and Allison wouldn’t hear her anyway.

“I’ll see you at school, mmk?” she called over her shoulder while walking to the fountain. She downed what was left in the cup, then refilled it before she left. At least it wasn’t too bad. However, she felt a little bad for yelling at Allison.

Oh well. Time to go home anyway. She waved bye to Allison, then headed for home.