‘That’ Side Character Chapter 61: Lolita Saves the Day

After school that day you prepared to scope out your house to see if it was safe for you to go in and get your things, while Kenma tagged along for emotional support. 

“Apple to Pie, do you read me?” you asked into your fist as you crouched low behind a wall near your house.

“I’m not doing this,” Kenma said from behind you as he hunched over to keep as hidden as possible- but not wanting to be too into it.

“Come on. This is a necessity,” you whispered harshly, looking over your shoulder.

“No,” he replied, “just look. Is he home or not?”

“Wait,” you said, crawling closer and looking around the corner at the house.

There was a long pause as you stared at the quiet and still house in front of you.

“I don’t know,” you replied.

Kenma’s face fell.

“Well how are you going to tell if he’s home?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” you said again.

“What’s the point in doing this?” Kenma asked. The poor guy was getting dragged along to all of your adventures when he really just wanted to play his PSP instead.

“I still need clothes,” you hissed.

“Then go up to a window and look in. I’ll stay here,” he said.

“Ok. Roger. Over and out,” you said, then got up and ninja ran to the mailbox and hid behind it.

It didn’t hide you one bit but you felt like you were stealth personified.

You looked back to the wall where Kenma was hiding and gave him the thumbs up and he just nodded but still with a deadpan look on his face.

Keeping low, you snuck up to the front window by the door and looked in.

You couldn’t see any shoes of your dad’s or his bag or anything so you pressed your ear to the glass and listened.

All was quiet.

But that wasn’t a good indicator. Your dad wouldn’t have been talking if no one else was around anyway.

“I think the coast is clear,” you said once you had run back to Kenma, “I’m gonna grab as much as I can and then clear out.”

He nodded.

“I’ll stay here and wait for you.”

“Ok, keep a look out,” you said.

He nodded again and waited for you to go before pulling his PSP out and sitting down with back to the wall. 

Grabbing for Jeff- your set of keys on the keychain, you ran for the front door and jammed the key into the lock and turned, throwing the door open quiet loudly.

You figured that if your dad was there then he would call out to see who it was and you could just grab the door, slam it shut, and run.

But as luck would have it, the house remained in peaceful quiet and you stood there panting for a second with the door open.

That sprint to the front door, combined with the stress of not knowing if your dad was there or not, had really got your blood pumping and it was going to take you a while to settle down after this one.

Now that the coast was clear- you were confident it was- you ran for the stairs and bounded up them two at a time to get to your room.

Usually, it would take you ages to get ready for anything- event, or holiday, but this time you just grabbed everything in your drawers and just shoved the clothes into the bags that you had found under your bed.

You were packed and ready to go within 5 minutes. 

With a quick zip up of each bag you threw them over your shoulders and ran for the stairs.

The front door was still open as you barreled down the staircase and you ran through then quickly closed the door behind you, making sure it was locked, and then ran back to Kenma with heart pounding.

“I did it. I did it. I’m free!” you gasped, still a little shocked that you were actually going to go through with this.

Kenma paused his game, put it in his pocket, then stood up and took your bags from you.

You didn’t think it was fair that he carry both so you fought to keep one bag and then you headed back to his house.

He had said it was fine for you to stay with him but in your heart of hearts you knew you probably shouldn’t. 

You didn’t want to become a burden on his family as well.

……………………………..

Later that afternoon you had work and so went with your head high and a soft hum on your lips.

“Sunshine,” Lolita greeted you at the door, bubbling with her own internal excitement- as she was going to invite you to come shopping with her on the weekend so she could buy you an outfit for the prom.

“I did it. I left.” You grinned at her, feeling so light.

“You left?” she asked.

“Yes… I’ve left home. I haven’t told my dad but I just can’t live there anymore. He doesn’t care about me anyway so he’s not going to care. He’ll just be angry that he doesn’t have someone to tell off every time he’s home,” you said sadly.

Lolita’s face contorted with compassion as she listened to you.

“No one should have to go through that, sweetness,” she said softly, “I support your decision.”

“Thanks,” you said with teary eyes.

“So you have a place to stay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m staying with Kozu, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea because I don’t want his family to end up hating me if I’m there all the time but I don’t know where else to go? Maybe I could live at some kind of teen shelter or something?”

Lolita frowned.

“No, honey, I won’t have that. You can come and live with me. I have a studio flat attached to the side of my house and the current tenant is moving out in the next week. Please stay with me. I won’t charge you rent until you have a good stable job and can get your feet under you,” she said kindly.

“Oh! Really?! You’d let me stay with you?” you asked hopefully, “that would be really great… if you won’t get annoyed with me being there?”

“It’s a separate living space, sunshine, we’ll have our own space but at least you’ll be safe.”

“Oh! That’s even better! But I want to pay something at least? Or maybe clean or something? I don’t want you to hate me and call me a slacker or whatever.”

“Sweetness, I’ve already told you I could never hate you,” she said with a soft chuckle and a shake of her head, “I do care about you… and speaking of caring about you, would you come shopping with me on the weekend?”

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