All Of The Little Things

Chapter 8-01

Chapter 8-01

"Are you sure about this?" Joel asked from where he sat on the couch. My flask of milkshake resided in one hand while the other hovered over the touchpad of his laptop.

"Yes." I gave a small nod from where I sat on the carpet. I was making Pluto jump on Vinnie's head, my skelly-ton doggy punishing my traitorous dino pal.

"Once I hit buy that's it. It's a lot of money, Asa. It will take up a big portion of your monthly spending money."

Joel had been true to his word. These last few days he had been amazing. He had become my bestest friend in the whole wide world, as well as the firm but doting hand I had spent a good portion of my life craving. When my first paycheque had come through—almost a grand including tips! That was more money than I had ever had to myself at one time—he had helped me figure out how to make it last the month.

He had started by deducting what I owed from the grand total and having me pay my sister and Kyle back. I also owed Quinn, my best friend—could I have two bestest friends?—some too because I had forgotten that I had bullied her into buying me shoes that lighted up last week on the promise that I would pay her back.

He had then worked out an estimate of what I would need for work and everyday life and then what I would be paying my sister in contribution to bills. It wasn't much. Just a little bit to help her now that I was working but I agreed with her when she said it was a step towards becoming more responsible. Joel had agreed too. He had also worked out a percentage to put aside so that I could start saving for my future.

That last one sounded boring but I stopped caring after Joel said that I would still have enough money left over to buy my dinosaur.

"I only wanted a job so I could buy it, Joel," I whined, frowning at Vinnie as he hit poor Pluto in the face with his tail. He was a nasty little long neck, sometimes. "If I don't get my giant dino then my eyes will be super tired for nothing and my ears will hurt from all the music for nothing and that guy would have grabbed my butt for nothing."

"What guy grabbed your butt?" Joel's head snapped towards me, his eyes darkening.

"Some drunk one," I shrugged. "Kyle said not to worry about it." I had been relieved from the bar for my break and it had happened when I had stepped out from behind it to go make chocolate toast. Joel had bought me my own jar of chocolate spread just so I could have chocolate toast at work.

"If it happens again," Joel said darkly. "Come and get me right away."

I nodded. "KayKay. Did you buy it yet?"

Joel stared at me for a few seconds with a small frown before he shook his head and hit a few keys on the laptop. "It should be delivered sometime tomorrow."

I nodded with a yawn. We had both worked last night. We had both been on shift until three in the morning and Joel had offered to let me sleep at his place so we could spend today together. It had been fun.

I hadn't been tired because I had been drinking Redbulls at work so Joel had brought his bed blankets down to the living room, lay them on the floor with pillows and we had watched Rick and Morty together, eating burnt microwave popcorn until we had both fallen asleep.

"Can we do somethi—Vinnie! You can't so that!"

"What did he do?" Joel asked in amusement, eyeing my naughty dino.

"He bited Pluto's nose. How's Pluto gonna sniff out the cookies if he can't smell? How, Joel, how?"

"Maybe Vinnie should be given a time out to think about his actions."

I nodded in agreement. If they wanted to be naughty and fight, then fine! But I didn't deserve to be punished by having no cookies by it!

"Time out forever," I ordered Vinnie as I scuttled over to Joel on my hands and knees, shoving Vinnie into his jacket pocket.

"Forever? That's a little harsh, don't you think?"

I went to shake my head no but paused. "Does forever mean night times, too?"

"I think so," Joel said, pokerfaced. His eyes gleamed with humour. "How about five minutes and then I will help you search for cookies until Pluto's nose is all better."

"Really?" I hugged his legs, earning a chuckle. "You'd be a great Daddy. Giving lotsa cookies is the number one rule to being a great one, I promise."

"Somehow," Joel said. "I doubt that."

Joel didn't have any cookies. We searched high and low but they were all so very gone. It made me sad. So sad, in fact, that Joel suggested we go and buy some. I had forgiven Vinnie by then and the walk we took to the corner shop was spent holding onto the back of Joel's jacket with one hand and Vinnie in the other.

I didn't want to embarrass Joel by holding his hand; I wasn't even sure if he would have let me in public. He let me when it was just us two. He held it last night when I scared myself thinking about clowns.

We got a few odd looks but nobody said anything. I don't know why but some people found Joel scary. I didn't but that was because I think I knew the secretest truth that Joel was a cuddly giant bear. He was like my giant dino except for a giant bear instead.

"I need to find a cool name for my dino, Joel," I told him as we entered the shop. Vinnie got a little scared so I tucked him into the hood of Joel's jacket, letting him hitch a ride.

"What about Mortimer?" Joel asked as he smiled brightly at the shopkeeper, a kindly looking old lady, before scanning the shelves.

"Mortimer?" I frowned. "Nuh-hu. No likey."

"What exactly are you going to do with a six-foot dinosaur? It's not like you'll be able to take him around with you like Pluto."

I didn't answer him straight away. Instead, I opened a packet of skittles, scooping a few into my mouth. "Cwuddles," I said around a mouthful.