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“Dale!” The curly haired boy looked away from Bonnie to see Skylar jogging towards him. She enveloped him into a hug,catching him off guard. “I just heard..” He staggers backwards for a second, not knowing how exactly to react. It’s overwhelming, everyone coming to you and saying sorry, hugginging you and being told that your late boss/mother figure left her store to you in her will. Bonnie steps back giving them some space.
“You the one who found her?” A familiar voice speaks, but Dale doesn't register who it is until Skylar releases him and looks in the group’s direction.
He sighs, “,,Yeah.”
“Open the place up and let’s have some fun.” Sean looks up at the supermarket sign. He can’t be serious. Even Bonnie looks at him with disappointment skewed across her face.
“Back off, Sean.” Dale looks at him, face mixed with disgust, anger and grief. Sean’s buddies who stood behind him exchange glances.
“What do you care? It’s not your store.” Sean scoffs.
“Yeah, it is.” Dale glares at him, then drops it, “All of it.”
“What are you talking about?” Skylar asks calmly.
“Gracie gave it to me.” He still doesn’t believe that he deserves the store, whatsoever, he’s still mad at himself for everything he said to her, he still can’t believe she’s gone.
“Worked out for you then, huh?” Sean smirks, stepping towards him. Dale looks at him. He’s not at all surprised, Sean’s an asshole. He pauses, looking away before decking him.
“Dale!” Skylar and Bonnie rush over immediately to separate the two. Skylar’s barely strong enough to hold Dale back but pushes him in the opposite direction.
“You’re lucky I don’t take you out right here-” Bonnie puts a hand on Sean’s chest, pushing him back towards his group.
“Get out of here Sean.” Skylar scolds, having to push Dale back again. She leads Dale back into the store, trusting Bonnie to keep him under control. They walk back to the back office and she sits Dale down. “Let me see your hand.” Dale looks away, but complies. She gently checks over his hand, to make sure he didn't hurt himself. “It might be a little sore but you’ll be fine.” Dale nodded,letting his hand return so he could look at it himself before rising. “What’re you doing?”
“I’m gonna go work on the store, that's all I can do.” Dale avoids eye contact and walks back through the aisles. She follows him. They talk for a while, sorting through what Gracie had yet to get stocked. They didn't realize how long they had been in there until Mitch Cafferty entered the store. It was starting to get dark.
“What do you want, Mitchell?” Dale looks at the taller man.
“Just visiting.” Dale rolls his eyes as Mitch walks towards them. “Hey, sweetie? Do you mind giving um,” he gestures to himself and Dale, “Me and my man here a little privacy?” She looks to Dale, to assess the situation.
“It's okay.” Dale nods, looking back down. She glances back and forth between them before sighing.
“I’ll be back in a second.” As she exits the store, Mitch puts a hand on Dale’s shoulder and starts walking him towards the back of the store.
“So, I heard you and I are gonna be partners now.”
“And where’d you get that?” Dale says irritably.
“Well,” He turns them down an aisle. “If you’re gonna be running the store, you’re gonna need protection.”
“From who? Jonah’s in jail.” Mitch chuckles softly as he pushes Dale against an aisle, flipping his pocket knife out and holding it to his throat.
“This has nothing to do with Jonah.” Mitch looks Dale dead in the eyes, “Don't make the same mistake Gracie made. I get half the cut.” a beat, “Or those people out there are gonna be putting flowers and candles on the sidewalk for you.” he pulls the blade away and taps the boy on the nose with the flat side, “kay? See you tomorrow.” Dale looks at him, trying to hold in his anger as Mitch continues to speak. “And the next day, and the next day..” He looks down, then retreats into the back office again.
As soon as Mitch walks out, Skylar comes back inside. “Dale?” She called. She was about to walk to the back when Dale walked out of one of the aisles.
“Hey, sorry, I had to do something real quick.” He gives a slight smile. She nods.
“What was all that about? He didn’t hurt you did he?” Dale shook his head.
“Just business.”
“You’re not doing business with Mitchell Cafferty, are you?”
“No.” He shook his head, “That was the whole point.” He puts his hands in his pockets.
“Why don't we go home? Get some rest.” She gives a comforting smile. He looks away.
“I actually have to go talk to someone before we go home. I’ll meet you there?” Dale offers. Skylar pauses for a second before nodding.
“Please be careful.” Dale nods. “I’ll see you when you get home, then?”
“Yeah.” They walk out together, parting ways after Dale locks the store. As Skyler left towards home, she turned to check on Dale, and ever so slightly, she could have sworn that she saw the imprint of a gun tucked into the back of his jeans.
Dale walked to a familiar location, pulling a flashlight out as he passed the gate, and approached Mitch, who smoked against an abandoned car in front of one of the fire pits. He had been taken out there before when he originally got roped in with Jonah and Mitch, so it would make sense he was there.
“Who is that?” Mitch squints into the light in front of him. Dale lowers the light just enough to focus and raise the gun at him. And he pulls the trigger.
Skylar was making dinner when Dale returned. He’s exhausted, but he doesn’t want to go to sleep. He just needed to rest a bit. “Dale?” Skylar stepped out of the kitchen to see Dale closing and locking the door. “Hey…” Dale gave her a smirk in response. “I made dinner..”
“Not hungry.”
“Dale,” Skylar looked at him worriedly, “You need to eat something.” He sighed and nodded, but Skylar didn't move, “Hey,” She looked him over, “Are you,, are you okay?”
“M’fine.” Dale nods, avoiding eye contact as always. A hand caressed his face. He looked back up to her, “What are you doing?”
“You know you can talk to me, right?” She asked. “I know i haven't been the best to you-”
“Skylar..”
“It's true.” She sighs. “I just want to be here for you, you deserve it.” Dale looks down. He disagrees.
“No, I don't.” Dale sighed.
“You do, Dale.”
“How would you know?” She looks down. “How do you know whether I’m a good person or not?”
“I just know.” She sighs. “Look at everything you’ve done for me, for Gracie, for the Greens..” Dale shakes his head and walks towards the door.
“No, you shouldn’t hang around me anymore… You don’t-”
“Dale, stop.” Skylar pushes herself between him and the door, resting a hand on his chest. “Talk to me.” She looks into his eyes for a moment before looking down, “Please… I just want to understand. Just between you and me. Please.” Dale’s quiet for a moment.
“..I killed someone.” He says quietly. Skylar’s eyes widen.
“Dale..” She paused, “when?”
“Tonight.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“..why?”
“Because he killed Gracie.” Skylar looked down at her hand.
“Dale..”
“I’ll go.”
“No! That’s not what I was going to say. We’re not done, okay?” He sighed. “We all do things we shouldn’t. I’m not trying to justify that you were right, I don't know your situation..” She looks up at him, “We can work through this. You’ve had so much happen to you, you just.. You need someone to be there for you, to make sure you know you’ll be okay.” Dale keeps his head down, she starts to speak again, “I want to be that someone.”
“Why?” Dale glances up at her for a second.
“Because I care about you.” Skylar smiles lightly before letting her hand fall from his chest. “The food’s gonna get cold.” Dale nods.
“Yeah. let's eat.” He pauses, grabbing her arm as she walks towards the kitchen. “..Thank you.”
“Anytime.”