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It's been about four days and he still hasn't gotten used to Rib- Riley being alive. Nor has he really registered the fact that they are out, in the real world.
Every time he looks in a mirror he expects to see that purple rabbit, but instead it's a regular human man. Well, with dark bags under his eyes, fading purple hair, and depression really sinking in, but a normal human man.
The one thing he does miss is the constant stimulation. Of course it was overwhelming at best, but it gave him something to focus on, it gave him a distraction. Now the world feels dull compared to the eye straining colors he's used to. Now his house feels ominous and silent compared to the constant noise. He feels incredibly understimulated, which means less distractions, which means thinking. Thinking is never a good thing.
Long story short, he can't fucking sleep. At all. Maybe for a few minutes, and then the silence gets to him, then he wakes up. Or he's hit with a nightmare. How kind.
Riley suggested melatonin. Felix doubts it will work, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't work, then maybe he'll have to resort to desperate measures. He pictures hitting his head with a shovel to knock himself out.
So, here he is, walking down the street with hands in his pockets and earbuds in, music blasting in his ears enough to risk hearing loss. Maybe being outside will wake him up and rid of the constant exhaustion, then the exercise will tire him out when he gets home so he can crash. Sounds real nice.
There's a corner store he enjoys going to. Cigarettes and energy drinks are cheap, the rock music they play over the speakers doesn't suck, and the person at the register is always particularly nice to him. Plus, it constantly smells like incense, usually jasmine or lavender.
And there's also over the counter drugs, like melatonin, and Tylenol, which he finds he's needed a lot over the past few days with the amount of headaches and overall pains he's getting.
He closes his eyes, a sudden sense of anxiety, dread, or something else heavy in his chest being awfully distracting. That's also been happening a lot recently. He thinks it's his body hating him for coming back.
He breathes in the early autumn air, almost passing the thin line between too hot and too cold, but the chilly breeze pulls it over. He never realized how much he missed smelling the air. Okay, this is getting too sentimental. Maybe he'll pick up Riley something, like a monster or a-
Bump.
Someone just ran into him. Were they not watching where they were going? He glares over his shoulder before facing in their direction, pulling out one of his earbuds.
“Watch it!”
“Oh shit, sorry!”
It feels like something bangs at his ribcage. That voice is way too familiar. His mind goes back to blinding color and noise. A jester hat with bells.
They stare at each other for a few moments, passing the point where it's awkward. But their memories jog. His music is toned out despite the volume.
She even looks like that jester. Short dark hair, pale skin, wide eyes paired with round glasses. Her crochet sweater is red with both a yellow and blue sleeve, the hems are blue as well. God, she looks just like that jester.
The short woman stares up at him with her lips pressed tightly together, wide eyes staring straight into his soul like she's dissecting him. Then she hums. “Soo… how do you feel about rabbits?” She tilts her head, looking up and to the side.
His heart pounds against his chest, rolling his eyes and staring at the road. “So, how ya’ feel about clowns?” He grins as he looks back down at her, a smile creeping at her lips.
“It's jester, idiot.” She holds a laugh.
He rolls his eyes again. “Sure sure, whatever you say, Pom-pom.”
And then they stare at each other again, taking the other in. She's short, like, just below his shoulders short. Her eyes look almost like a caramel color, her glasses have matt dark brown rims. Her curtain bangs threaten to cover her eyes at any moment, framing her face, her part off to her left side. Her baggy jeans sort of flare out at the bottom, almost swallowing up her black combat boots, which he realizes are platforms. Her sweater has a wide neck, not quite off the shoulder but close, showing off her black high neck tank underneath.
He's taking her in too much. Got it. He quickly sucks in a breath.
“So, what have you been up to, Poms?” Felix takes a few steps towards the brick wall of a building, leaning his back against it, a curious grin on his face.
She shrugs, following him over and leaning against the wall as well. “Nothin’ much, just getting my bearings. You?” Pomni leans forward, looking up at him with a similar smirk to his.
“Ah, you know, eating shitty takeout.” He shrugs. “Where were you headed on this fine evening?”
“It's five thirty.” She holds a snort. “I was going to head to the thrift, but it's closed.” Pom leans back against the wall, hands in the pockets of her jeans. “What about you?”
“Gonna get a few things from the corner store, nothing much.” He closes his eyes, shrugging before looking back at her. She stares up at him, an unasked question radiating around her. “What? You wanna come with or something?”
“Yeah, I'm really craving a coffee.” She huffs out a sheepish smile, pushing some hair behind her ear.
Felix sighs, pretending to be against the idea of her following. “Yeah, yeah, come on.” He pushes off the wall and begins walking, Pomni not far behind, and soon right next to him.
They walk in silence for a minute or so. Something still pounds at his chest, his breathing feels oddly constricted. Odd.
“Oh, I don't know your name!” She suddenly turns to him, pointing upwards at nothing.
“Felix.” Okay, he answered that way too fast. Creepy.
“Well greetings Felix. I'm Christine.” She smiles up at him, her expression bright.
“Formalities, gross.” He fakes a shiver, giving back a joking grin.
The two arrive at the corner store, and the door opens with a ding of a bell, classic. Christine starts looking around while Felix rounds a row of shelves and towards the fridges, staring inside the one with stickers of multiple energy drink brands on the glass. He opens the sliding door, grabbing a monster he's never tried before, pink with purple accents. He reads the flavor, “Punk Punch. Huh, cool.” Then he shrugs, leaning down to grab another that he knows Riley likes, the white one, a classic, an icon.
Christine rounds the shelves from the other end, looking inside all the fridges, then at Felix. “Those are bad for you, ya know.” She grins up at him, one hand in her pocket as she walks towards him.
“Oh no, are you a health teacher now?” He mocks offence. He'd place a hand to his chest and the other to his forehead if his hands weren't occupied.
“Nah, I'm kidding with you.” She raises a shoulder as she turns to the fridge next to it, stocked with coffee and tea. She slides the door open and pulls out one of the Starbucks cans.
He grimaces. “Oh, you like those?” His expression is no short of “disgusted but trying to hide it”.
“Could say the same thing to you, Jax.” Christine closes the door and crossed her arms. “What’d you even need two for?”
Ah, shit, he knew that she'd say something eventually. “Maybe I wanna stock up.” He shrugs casually. Yeah, so nonchalant, go get 'em Jaxy.
He begins walking towards the register, and she follows suit. “I think you're hiding something~” She drags in the same tone as when he said something similar. “Does the purple rabbit have a… gasp NO! This cannot be!” Christine giggles and teases Felix all the way to the register, which is maximum ten feet away.
Felix just sighs, hiding the small smirk on his face as the lady from behind the register notices him in front of her, her expression immediately changing. He leans against the tall counter and places the two drinks in front of her, his cheek in his palm, an almost bored expression on his face.
“Hey you~ you’re wanting your usual?” She’s seen him here so often that he has a usual at a corner store. That’s kind of pathetic…
“Yeah, sure.” He stands up straight and pulls his wallet out of his hoodie pocket, having to struggle with the t-shirt on top before he can reach his hands in.
The lady begins typing away at the register. “Two, one for your friend I assume.” She motions to the two monsters, and his face heats up, both at the tone she said “friend” and that Christine is right behind him and she will definitely ask “who is this friend?”
“Yeah.” He chokes out, looking down at Christine, who’s now standing beside him, which scared him a little, especially with that smug look on her face.
“Friend?” God dammit. He knew it.
He sucks in air through his teeth. “Just a friend from high school.” He rolls his head to the side, hoping he looks neutral and nonchalant.
She glares up at him, humming. “Alright, alright.” She shrugs, turning around to look at the snacks on the shelves.
The lady behind the register finishes typing numbers, reaching back behind her to grab a pack of cigarettes, typing those numbers in as well. He doesn’t even have to ask anymore. “That’ll be 11.47.” She speaks in that customer service voice, then looks back up at him expectantly.
He blinks. “Oh. You got melatonin too?”
“Oh, of course!” She turns around and grabs a small container of melatonin gummies. “Here.”
“Gummies…” Felix mumbles under his breath, he'd prefer pills, but he doesn't exactly need more prescriptions.
The keys tap loudly. “Alright, your total is 17.89.” She eyes him as he digs through his wallet. Felix hands her a ten, a five, and two ones, cursing under his breath that he forgot a dollar. “Don’t worry about it, cutie.” She winks at him, taking the money from his fingers, brushing his skin as she does so. She opens the register and places the money inside, smiling at him.
He tries to suppress the shiver down his spine as he grins back, grabbing the two cans and the pack. “Thanks.” He grins a little wider as he turns his back on her.
“See you, boy~” She coos at him, giving a little wave despite him not seeing it.
Felix groans internally, walking over to Pom with a relaxed smile on his face. “Whacha lookin’ at?” He leans down, right next to her ear, and she jumps with a squeak.
“Fuck!” She almost hit him in the face. “Jesus! Don’t do that.” Christine huffs, a hand to her chest as she looks back to the shelf. “I don’t know if I want this or that.” She points at two things, a pack of two small glazed cakes and a pack of four cosmic brownies.
Felix hums for a moment. “I’d get the brownies, but that's just me.” He shrugs
“Sure, I get more for the same price.” She also shrugs, grabbing the plastic, then looking back at the prices. A few cents off. “Same-ish.”
Christine walks up to the counter, placing the coffee and the brownies down, looking slightly upwards at the blonde behind the register. She swears that she gave her a stink eye.
“Good afternoon.” The blonde greets plainly.
“Afternoon.” Christine nods, pressing her lips together as she pulls out a ten dollar bill.
The lady types the numbers in, looking bored, or irritated. “9.85.” She speaks blankly, almost yanking the bill from Christine's hands. She begins digging through the register for her change. “So, how do you know Felix?”
She's slightly taken aback, but she kind of expected it. “We're just old friends.” She shrugs it off.
The blonde glares at her, handing Christine her change. “Uh-huh.” She hums, then turns away.
Christine looks at her, sort of baffled. Jeez, what fucked up her day?
She turns to Felix, who's glaring at the lady behind the register before looking down at her with a significantly softer stare. “Let's go.” He nods to the door, and she nods at him.
They leave the store, the door opening and closing with a ring of a bell. The cloud filled sky makes everything real bright, forcing her to squint.
Felix suddenly sighs. “Did she give you any problems.” He speaks, not a question.
Christine sputters a bit, when did he care? “Ah, uh, not really? She just asked me how I knew you. And she was kinda glaring at me weird.” She shrugs.
He groans, a hand to his face. “Fuck.” He mumbles, Christine barely catching it.
“What?” She looks up at him, and his eyes almost scramble for something else to look at.
“Nothing, she's just… I swear she's obsessed with me.” He sighs, closing his eyes in defeat.
“Oh, you like, know her?” Christine asks. She didn't think he would be the kind to endure something like that.
Felix rolls his eyes. “Unfortunately…” He groans again, looking straight ahead. “We went to the same college.” Wow, she didn't see him as the type to go to college, either. “If love at first sight was real, she'd be the textbook definition. She's been ogling me since I first met her.”
Christine tries to hold in a laugh, she really tried, but a snort comes out anyway. “Jeez, you really are a ladies man, huh?” She almost didn't catch his face becoming a shade redder.
“Yeah, here's the point where you shut your mouth.” He doesn't look at her, in fact, he looks in the opposite direction of her.
She really wants to take a dig at him, something about how she's surprised a girl would like a trashy looking guy like him, but she decides against it. Also because she also likes trashy, pathetic looking guys. Is she calling him pathetic and trashy? Yeah, kind of. Is she saying she likes him? Absolutely not! Why would you ever think that! Okay, we get it.