Dear Austin...
Let Go and Let Live Again
Suggestion: Put on Let Live, Ben Threw, Still YDG'n, and O.G. Loko by OM&M! Just listen to it while reading this chapter for good background music!
A note to my mom in case she woke up and an empty road later, the car full of three people pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Few cars were parked here and most of them were employees. Sure, there were a couple of late midnight shoppers, but they would be friends of the teenagers working the late shift. Maybe we had hit it lucky and have no shoppers at midnight. The roads were mostly empty anyways.
“Come on!” Austin pulled at my sleeve. A familiar car was spotted at the far side of the parking lot. I couldn’t help but grin. I knew she was a late at night girl. As Alan and Austin steered me into the bright halls of the store, I spotted Sara in her uniform.
“Rae!” She squealed and ran past Austin and Alan to meet me. I hugged her back. Alan and Austin hung around for a moment, waiting impatient.
“Hey! I didn’t think you’d be here!” I exclaimed. She shook her head veraciously. I had completely forgotten that my friend worked here!
“Seriously? I didn’t expect you at this hour! What do you guys need?” She asked me. Alan and Austin took a few steps to the side and whispered. Shrugging, I quickly explained the situation to her.
“Well whatever it is, we have literally NO customers right now. To be honest, me and the other three employees working right now would be up for entertainment.” Sara laughed. Squeaking footsteps alerted me to Alan and Austin walking over to the shopping cart area. Looking over my shoulder, I yelled back to Alan and Austin the message about the store being empty. They grinned like four year olds ready for trouble.
“Just don’t break anything.” With the final word, Sara went off to two other boys leaning against the counter. As I turned around, I saw Austin pushing a cart…and Alan riding shotgun in the basket. He looked as excited as a small puppy in the park.
“Come on!” Alan called once again and I followed. With simple pointing, Alan led us to the direction of the drinks section. Austin threw his wallet to Alan who caught it in nimble fingers and held up his hand for Austin to slow the cart.
Soon enough, six monsters were in Alan’s clutches. I shook my head. Checking out, we got a few laughs from the registers who scanned the items and handed them back to us with a few good-natured comments.
“Do you mind if we stay here a while? We’ve got an honorary initiation to complete.” Austin asked. Wait, this wasn’t over?!
“As long as you don’t kill anyone, you’re fine!” The boy with tussled brown hair joked. His name tag read Oli. The guy next to him had a tag that read Kellin. Sara stood happily amongst them. As soon as she saw the Monster in Alan’s hand, she threw me a questioning look. With two matching grins and my own confused thoughts, we wandered down to the far end of the shopping building. A long stretch of empty isle lay before us. Alan passed the green can to Austin, then another to me. I took it warily.
“Drink up!” Austin grinned and cracked the top with a fizz. I stared at mine warily. The two boys were watching me carefully.
“Don’t like it?” Alan asked as he took a deep gulp. I shook my head.
“I’ve never had one.” I replied truthfully. They gave me shocked expressions.
“WHAT?!” They yelled at once. I explained my situation to them with a few old, fond memories.
“I’m not good with caffeine. Last time I overdosed on sugar, it was bad! Bounced off the walls and I barely remember why I ended up sleeping with the Spanish Radio station on.” I reminisced. The two got a laugh out of it.
“We’ll carry you out of the crash.” Alan couldn’t help but shake his head full of ginger hair.
“Drink up and try to stay with us!” Austin shook his head and grinned. Sighing, I cracked the top and took a big swing. Suddenly, I could hear colors and see sounds.
“OH GOSH THAT WAS GREAT!” I cried out in my moments of joy. I could feel the buzz hit my system immediately. Alan climbed out of the cart and handed me a list. Austin took out his phone and was prepared with a timer.
“Get these items in fifteen minutes! GO!” They cried out. I could barely see the words on the little paper. My mind couldn’t even focus on what they were saying. I just heard a loud noise and took off running.
Let’s see. Toilet paper, brooms, soccer ball, scribbles, scribbles, and more scribbles. I think marshmallows were on the list as well, but I was running too quickly. I think it was a random assortment of items, but I didn’t know.
“PAPERPAPERPAPERPAPER.” I chanted automatically. Scrambling around the store, I found it and flung it out into the isle, screaming DONE! Around and around, I found each item on the list. Kellin, Oli, and Sara did nothing to stop it. In fact, they were cheering me on and helped me collect the items.
But I didn’t stop until I found the marshmallows. Finally, I had the list that was crumpled in my hand and stopped. The energy burst that the monster gave me had crashed my system-hard. I didn’t think energy drinks were supposed to do that, but then again, my body didn’t take to caffeine overloads very well. My mind was a little foggy and I felt the bad desire for another drink.
I sat down in the middle of the dry ingredients isle and felt the floor fall beside me. Curling into a ball, I clutched the bag of marshmallows to my side. Monster made me do weird things.
“That’s a record!” Austin cried out in glee as they finally found me. I was barely awake.
“Four minutes and ten seconds!” Alan laughed. He leaned forward to grasp the bag of fluffy heaven and I pulled it tighter to me.
“No….my precious….” I slurred out the words. Alan backed away before taking another Monster and handing it to me. At the sound of the can touching the floor, my eyes fluttered open. My hand reached for it, but the cement blocks holding it down wouldn’t allow it to open the top.
Austin reached down and exchanged the marshmallows for the Monster. The bag was thrown into the cart as I sipped the Monster. I didn’t get the instant rush this time, but after a moment I was back on my feet and begging to know what was next. I was on my toes, bouncing up and down.
Oli, Kellin, and Sara found us in the isle. The three were anxious to know what was happening as well. Sara just shook her head at the sight of the can in my hands.
“Oh not the Mexican radio station again!” She cried out. I laughed for a moment while Alan and Austin cleared their throats.
“For the final part of the initiation, we will have cart races. Us against the employees. To even the odds, since you three know the store very well, we have hypered up Raelyn. Does this sound fair?” Austin asked. Kellin grinned and elbowed his two companions.
“You’re on!” He called. The three of us met up at the far end of the grocery store. Alan produced two different lists with specific items. They were both folded up and sealed with tape. I couldn’t stop bouncing on my toes.
The rules were simple. One person steered the cart, one person sat in it, and the third person couldn’t pull things off the shelf and couldn’t steal things from the other team, but could hop in the carts and do anything else. They just couldn’t touch any items. Whoever was in the cart couldn’t hop out. The first team with all their members back at the finish line with all the correct items won.
For our team, Alan sat in the cart, Austin steered, and I was the runner-for obvious reasons. On the employees’ team, it was Kellin in the cart, Sara steering, and Oli running.
Lining up at the starting position, we eyed each other down and the clock. As soon as it hit 1:30, our time would start. Staring at Oli, I grinned a vicious smile. He choked and the clock rang. We were off to the start.
On our list of twenty items, we first got the three items easily. It was key lime yogurt, strawberry shampoo, and a back scratcher. We worked smoothly together as a team. I ran ahead and spotted the items, Austin pushed Alan to the items, which he grabbed off the shelf without stopping, and then threw them into the cart. I spotted the other team running down the hall, cheering wildly. I had a brilliant, caffeinated, hyper-powered idea.
“IDEAIDEAIDEAIDEA!” I chanted to them. They looked at me. Shaking all over, I sprinted down the hall while they others took off for the other items.
I ran behind Sara’s shopping cart while they searched for strawberries. Oli turned behind, cursed, and yelled for them to move. The crazed look on my face gave them enough warning. As I neared their cart, I took a flying leap, yelling, “KAMIKAZE!” and landed in their basket. Sara yelped, letting go of the cart. Kellin stared wildly as their cart went down one isle and their group split up.
It was the dry food isle. I spotted the orange dish cleaner, another item on our list. Standing up, I took an acrobatic leap out of the cart and pulled on the handle to slow it down.
“LEEDLE LEEDLE LEE!!!” I yelled to my other group. It was the signal to let them know where I found an item. I could hear the pounding footsteps.
This was way too much fun!
“Hey!” Kellin protested as I took the opposing team’s cart and started to push it. He snagged a broom and started attempting to beat me over the head with it. Before Oli and Sara found me, I managed to force the cart six isles down. Austin and Alan met up. There was only three items left.
By the time we had gotten the three items, my energy drink had worn off and I was crashing-hard. We barely manage to cross the finish line before the other team. We exchanged laughs between the six of us.
“I swear, she came out of nowhere!” Oli exclaimed. Alan and Kellin were high fiving from their carts that they refused to leave. As we put back all the items and helped clean up the store, we all laughed and grew closer.
“Raelyn Croft, you are now an honorary Of Mice and Men member!” Alan and Austin congratulated me. By the time we were done, we vowed to meet again sometime so we could do another rematch round for the employees to regain their honor.
Austin and Alan had to drag me back to the car. I couldn’t help but think of what had just happened. It was about 2:00 in the morning.
“That was fun!” I let out a shaky laugh as I crawled into the back of the car. Austin hopped in back with me and caught my limp form as I fell over. Alan turned the key and back out of the lot. We caught Kellin, Oli, and Sara waving to us.
“Let go and let live again!” Alan laughed. Austin stroked my hair as I finally started to fall asleep. I couldn’t agree more with the statement.
A note to my mom in case she woke up and an empty road later, the car full of three people pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Few cars were parked here and most of them were employees. Sure, there were a couple of late midnight shoppers, but they would be friends of the teenagers working the late shift. Maybe we had hit it lucky and have no shoppers at midnight. The roads were mostly empty anyways.
“Come on!” Austin pulled at my sleeve. A familiar car was spotted at the far side of the parking lot. I couldn’t help but grin. I knew she was a late at night girl. As Alan and Austin steered me into the bright halls of the store, I spotted Sara in her uniform.
“Rae!” She squealed and ran past Austin and Alan to meet me. I hugged her back. Alan and Austin hung around for a moment, waiting impatient.
“Hey! I didn’t think you’d be here!” I exclaimed. She shook her head veraciously. I had completely forgotten that my friend worked here!
“Seriously? I didn’t expect you at this hour! What do you guys need?” She asked me. Alan and Austin took a few steps to the side and whispered. Shrugging, I quickly explained the situation to her.
“Well whatever it is, we have literally NO customers right now. To be honest, me and the other three employees working right now would be up for entertainment.” Sara laughed. Squeaking footsteps alerted me to Alan and Austin walking over to the shopping cart area. Looking over my shoulder, I yelled back to Alan and Austin the message about the store being empty. They grinned like four year olds ready for trouble.
“Just don’t break anything.” With the final word, Sara went off to two other boys leaning against the counter. As I turned around, I saw Austin pushing a cart…and Alan riding shotgun in the basket. He looked as excited as a small puppy in the park.
“Come on!” Alan called once again and I followed. With simple pointing, Alan led us to the direction of the drinks section. Austin threw his wallet to Alan who caught it in nimble fingers and held up his hand for Austin to slow the cart.
Soon enough, six monsters were in Alan’s clutches. I shook my head. Checking out, we got a few laughs from the registers who scanned the items and handed them back to us with a few good-natured comments.
“Do you mind if we stay here a while? We’ve got an honorary initiation to complete.” Austin asked. Wait, this wasn’t over?!
“As long as you don’t kill anyone, you’re fine!” The boy with tussled brown hair joked. His name tag read Oli. The guy next to him had a tag that read Kellin. Sara stood happily amongst them. As soon as she saw the Monster in Alan’s hand, she threw me a questioning look. With two matching grins and my own confused thoughts, we wandered down to the far end of the shopping building. A long stretch of empty isle lay before us. Alan passed the green can to Austin, then another to me. I took it warily.
“Drink up!” Austin grinned and cracked the top with a fizz. I stared at mine warily. The two boys were watching me carefully.
“Don’t like it?” Alan asked as he took a deep gulp. I shook my head.
“I’ve never had one.” I replied truthfully. They gave me shocked expressions.
“WHAT?!” They yelled at once. I explained my situation to them with a few old, fond memories.
“I’m not good with caffeine. Last time I overdosed on sugar, it was bad! Bounced off the walls and I barely remember why I ended up sleeping with the Spanish Radio station on.” I reminisced. The two got a laugh out of it.
“We’ll carry you out of the crash.” Alan couldn’t help but shake his head full of ginger hair.
“Drink up and try to stay with us!” Austin shook his head and grinned. Sighing, I cracked the top and took a big swing. Suddenly, I could hear colors and see sounds.
“OH GOSH THAT WAS GREAT!” I cried out in my moments of joy. I could feel the buzz hit my system immediately. Alan climbed out of the cart and handed me a list. Austin took out his phone and was prepared with a timer.
“Get these items in fifteen minutes! GO!” They cried out. I could barely see the words on the little paper. My mind couldn’t even focus on what they were saying. I just heard a loud noise and took off running.
Let’s see. Toilet paper, brooms, soccer ball, scribbles, scribbles, and more scribbles. I think marshmallows were on the list as well, but I was running too quickly. I think it was a random assortment of items, but I didn’t know.
“PAPERPAPERPAPERPAPER.” I chanted automatically. Scrambling around the store, I found it and flung it out into the isle, screaming DONE! Around and around, I found each item on the list. Kellin, Oli, and Sara did nothing to stop it. In fact, they were cheering me on and helped me collect the items.
But I didn’t stop until I found the marshmallows. Finally, I had the list that was crumpled in my hand and stopped. The energy burst that the monster gave me had crashed my system-hard. I didn’t think energy drinks were supposed to do that, but then again, my body didn’t take to caffeine overloads very well. My mind was a little foggy and I felt the bad desire for another drink.
I sat down in the middle of the dry ingredients isle and felt the floor fall beside me. Curling into a ball, I clutched the bag of marshmallows to my side. Monster made me do weird things.
“That’s a record!” Austin cried out in glee as they finally found me. I was barely awake.
“Four minutes and ten seconds!” Alan laughed. He leaned forward to grasp the bag of fluffy heaven and I pulled it tighter to me.
“No….my precious….” I slurred out the words. Alan backed away before taking another Monster and handing it to me. At the sound of the can touching the floor, my eyes fluttered open. My hand reached for it, but the cement blocks holding it down wouldn’t allow it to open the top.
Austin reached down and exchanged the marshmallows for the Monster. The bag was thrown into the cart as I sipped the Monster. I didn’t get the instant rush this time, but after a moment I was back on my feet and begging to know what was next. I was on my toes, bouncing up and down.
Oli, Kellin, and Sara found us in the isle. The three were anxious to know what was happening as well. Sara just shook her head at the sight of the can in my hands.
“Oh not the Mexican radio station again!” She cried out. I laughed for a moment while Alan and Austin cleared their throats.
“For the final part of the initiation, we will have cart races. Us against the employees. To even the odds, since you three know the store very well, we have hypered up Raelyn. Does this sound fair?” Austin asked. Kellin grinned and elbowed his two companions.
“You’re on!” He called. The three of us met up at the far end of the grocery store. Alan produced two different lists with specific items. They were both folded up and sealed with tape. I couldn’t stop bouncing on my toes.
The rules were simple. One person steered the cart, one person sat in it, and the third person couldn’t pull things off the shelf and couldn’t steal things from the other team, but could hop in the carts and do anything else. They just couldn’t touch any items. Whoever was in the cart couldn’t hop out. The first team with all their members back at the finish line with all the correct items won.
For our team, Alan sat in the cart, Austin steered, and I was the runner-for obvious reasons. On the employees’ team, it was Kellin in the cart, Sara steering, and Oli running.
Lining up at the starting position, we eyed each other down and the clock. As soon as it hit 1:30, our time would start. Staring at Oli, I grinned a vicious smile. He choked and the clock rang. We were off to the start.
On our list of twenty items, we first got the three items easily. It was key lime yogurt, strawberry shampoo, and a back scratcher. We worked smoothly together as a team. I ran ahead and spotted the items, Austin pushed Alan to the items, which he grabbed off the shelf without stopping, and then threw them into the cart. I spotted the other team running down the hall, cheering wildly. I had a brilliant, caffeinated, hyper-powered idea.
“IDEAIDEAIDEAIDEA!” I chanted to them. They looked at me. Shaking all over, I sprinted down the hall while they others took off for the other items.
I ran behind Sara’s shopping cart while they searched for strawberries. Oli turned behind, cursed, and yelled for them to move. The crazed look on my face gave them enough warning. As I neared their cart, I took a flying leap, yelling, “KAMIKAZE!” and landed in their basket. Sara yelped, letting go of the cart. Kellin stared wildly as their cart went down one isle and their group split up.
It was the dry food isle. I spotted the orange dish cleaner, another item on our list. Standing up, I took an acrobatic leap out of the cart and pulled on the handle to slow it down.
“LEEDLE LEEDLE LEE!!!” I yelled to my other group. It was the signal to let them know where I found an item. I could hear the pounding footsteps.
This was way too much fun!
“Hey!” Kellin protested as I took the opposing team’s cart and started to push it. He snagged a broom and started attempting to beat me over the head with it. Before Oli and Sara found me, I managed to force the cart six isles down. Austin and Alan met up. There was only three items left.
By the time we had gotten the three items, my energy drink had worn off and I was crashing-hard. We barely manage to cross the finish line before the other team. We exchanged laughs between the six of us.
“I swear, she came out of nowhere!” Oli exclaimed. Alan and Kellin were high fiving from their carts that they refused to leave. As we put back all the items and helped clean up the store, we all laughed and grew closer.
“Raelyn Croft, you are now an honorary Of Mice and Men member!” Alan and Austin congratulated me. By the time we were done, we vowed to meet again sometime so we could do another rematch round for the employees to regain their honor.
Austin and Alan had to drag me back to the car. I couldn’t help but think of what had just happened. It was about 2:00 in the morning.
“That was fun!” I let out a shaky laugh as I crawled into the back of the car. Austin hopped in back with me and caught my limp form as I fell over. Alan turned the key and back out of the lot. We caught Kellin, Oli, and Sara waving to us.
“Let go and let live again!” Alan laughed. Austin stroked my hair as I finally started to fall asleep. I couldn’t agree more with the statement.
Notes
Sorry this was a really long chapter! I'm just trying to make up for the few days I missed, so I'm really sorry about that! How'd you like it? Now we find out the initiation for Raelyn!
Rate/Comment/Subscribe!!
This story has completely captured my full attention over the last few hours. I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I finish it. This is wonderful. I adore your writing and characters. Rae and Austin's relationship and the bond between Alan and lp are the most adorable freaking things ever. I've been laughing, wanting to cry, and majorly fangirling. This is beautiful and I love it so much. And the appearance of all of the various band members made me incredibly happy!
Okay back to reading.
10/2/15