The only good thing about the pouring rain was that at the very least it had gotten the bowl of mac and cheese off of the front of her shirt.

  The drive was silent. Peafully silent as she looked out of the water streaked window into the grey afternoon streaked with the headlights and taillights of fellow motorists also navigating the rain.

  The scoooosh of tires turning through the growing layer of water that covered the road and soft patter as it exploded onto the windows, the shattered window let in gusts of cold wind but she put the heater on full blast and the stranger driving did not object.

  ‘I never even asked his name’, She realized still more than a little nervous that the kindness was all an elaborate ploy to axe murder her.

  But another one of her little quirks was her ability to read people. She had no bad feelings about the stranger and followed her gut because he was right. She was going to freeze out there in the rain.

  Well that and she didn't see any other option other than going right back home.

  Guilt did cover her chest and cheeks. The burn of shame at how she had treated him as he trudged forward committed to helping her.

  She had been a bitch. A complete and total asshole to him.

  Sure she was having a bad day but she held the belief that having a bad day and being an asshole just means you're an asshole because you're only kind when it's easy to be.

  She hugged herself, the wet long sleeve shirt clinging to her arms as she moved the wet ropes of her hair out of her eyes and looked at the stranger.

  His nose was crooked. Not as though he was born with it that way, his nose was bent in the center. As though it had been broken and he had not bothered to set it or it was set badly.

  He had a puffy mane of auburn curls that crowned his head and covered his eyes like a sheep dog. He had a young face though, he looked to be somewhere close to her own age but she couldn’t tell.

  She was horrible at meeting new people, talking, and socializing. Even under normal circumstances these were far from normal. He periodically glanced over at her with a kind smile but said nothing as though he had put the ball in her court.

  She looked at him for a moment before clearing her throat and finally speaking.

  “thank you for helping me out”, The words came from her mouth quietly, they sounded meek as they rolled off of her tongue.

  The stranger didn’t take his eyes off the road as he smiled and said “Well I would be less than fucking chippy if I was barefoot in the freezing rain”

  She nodded awkwardly as she drew her knees into her chest and looked out of the windshield as the wipers squealed and protested, working overtime to clear the windshield of excess water.

  The stranger cast a quick glance at her as the car cut through the waterlogged streets and said “I’m Olliver by the way, most of my friends just call me Olly”

  “Abby”, Abby said simply as the car made a right turn into the parking lot. It did not matter where in the world you visited a Walmart, the parking lots were almost always the same she found. An endless sea of cars and neat white lines to mark where to park. The standing white signs marking the row numbers and the center entrance with the automatic doors.

  “I can’t go in”, Abby said quietly as she wiggled her mismatched toes against the fabric of the seat.

  “Why not?”, Olly asked as he fought his way into a space close to the front of the store.

  “No shoes”

  Olly sat back into the seat as his face screwed into one of concentration. He had already done this twice and she knew he was thinking. He chewed on his lip when he did this. A scratch of the jaw and sigh before right back to thinking.

  He did this for several moments before saying “So wear mine”

  Abby shook her head no wide eyed with disbelief and said “I don’t want your smelly shoes on my bare feet”

  Olly laughed and said “But you'll walk barefoot on the street that no doubt has garbage juice and urine on it?”

  Her jaw dropped as she realized the truth in his words. Her feet were no doubt covered in a colony of nasty bacteria. She could practically feel them as she sat there. Squirming, Multiplying. Existing on her skin.

  She dragged the bottom of her feet against the seat as she tried not to freak out at the thought of who…or whats urine she had maybe stepped in.

  Olly broke the silence by saying “ Look beggars can't be choosers, who's stepping in the dirty road water? Me or you?”

  Abby was horrified by her options at present. She hated the thought of germs on her skin, in her body. Her mom had once licked her ice cream cone before handing it to her and she had done the reasonable thing….she threw it away.

  And now she had to choose which germs she wanted on her skin. His or the mystery piss puddles that now scattered her vision of the street like landmines.

  “I’ll just wait in the car”, She sighed defeated.

  “you need fresh clothes and I have no fucking clue how girl sizes work”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  She sighed exhausted at that realization as well.

  No money.

  No shoes.

  no fresh clothes.

  Nothing.

  “I can’t pay for clothes. I have no damn money guy!”, She snapped as her frustration boiled oer again at her situation.

  It was fucking bullshit, how dumb could she be. She should have waited for his drunk ass to fall asleep and packed a bag. She could have stolen his debit card and hit an atm before he even woke up and she would have been long gone way ahead of the whole running away game.

  We couldn't that to him.

  Instead he was no doubt seething at her disrespect.

  What would he do if she came sulking back defeated.

  Mouse meets trap.

  Olly nodded before clamping another cigarrette in between his teeth and saying “Look its not any of my fucking buisness, but here is how I see it”, The cigarrette jumped around animatedly in his mouth as he spoke, He paused and opened that beat up and scuffed zippo with a sharp tink and touched the flame to the cigarrette before taking a deep pull and blowing the smoke away from her.

  “You’re back is against the wall right now. So are you gonna let life fuck you up or are you gonna start doing something about it?”, The words came out harsh and blunt as Olly took another drag causing the cherry of the cigarette to illuminate the cab.

  “Hate to fucking break it to you toots but guess what? Life is a real motherfucker sometimes. You can’t drag yourself out of a hole and not get a little dirt on your hands. You have to do something but either way it’s going to suck but doing nothing is going to make it worse for yourself so what's it gonna be?”

  The bluntness of his words left her speechless as she stared at him. She wanted to tell him to go to hell. She wanted to slap that smug look off of his crooked face. Spit at him.

  Did he just call her toots?!

  She stared at him seething. She wanted to let him have it.

  But she wasn’t mad at him. She was just mad at everything .

  But he was right. She had to make a choice and she had to do so now. If she stayed frozen with fear she was ..well screwed.

  “I’m not going back”, She said stiffly clenching her fists against her knees

  Olly pulled the cigarette again and reached down without a word, unlacing his beat up converse and handing them to her.

  She stared at the black canvas sneakers, her breath caught in her throat.

  His shoes were strange. He had putten studs through the canvas, like the jewlry people wear when they get face piercings. He had given his shoes piercings.

  She slid her feet into the sneakers trying to hold back the disgust that rolled through her as she pulled the laces and tied them around her feet. His feet were larger than hers by a lot so the shoes barely stayed on even when she tied them as tight as she could get the sneakers tied.

  Olly peeled the socks off of his feet and set them on the dash before crushing the cigarette in the ashtray and saying “alright let's get you some dry clothes and phone”

  “But you only have fifty dollars “

  “Oh I never said we were going to pay for anything”

  Abby’s words failed her as she struggled to find the right words to protest the lunacy this man had proposed but before she could speak he cut her off and said

  “Its super easy, they can’t stop you and the cops here have more on their plate to deal with than shoplifting. Besides the tag to the car isn’t even mine so fuck it. Just be cool”

  She could have scoffed at this man's proposed Idea to..Steal?!

  “Stealing is not what good people do Mr. ‘I hope so’ “, She said in disbelief.

  “These rich cock suckers steal from you every fucking day and no one says shit about that. Boohoo some corpo dickhead won’t make seven figures this year”, He said calmly as he turned the ignition off and put the keys in his jacket pocket.

  Abby looked at him like a fish out of water, she had never stolen anything. She wouldn’t even step on bugs because it was mean and he wanted her to just waltz out like it wasn’t coming out of someone's paycheck?

  “Olly it’s wrong”

  “No it's necessary. Hands this is dirt.”

  Now she was scared, if she got caught they would send her right back home and she couldn’t go back. As bad as it sucked she was finally free.

  ‘but how are you gonna stay free?’

  She sighed a deep sigh as the rain slowed to a misting drizzle and looked at the boy with his dumb crooked nose and said “they really can’t stop us?”

  “Not even without shoes”, He said smiling that same smug grin and opening the car door and stepping out into the drizzle.

  If the wet blacktop was cold he did not show it as he strided confidently towards the door with his hands in the pockets of the faded leather jacket .

  Abby looked at him walking towards the door for a moment before deciding to join. She could no longer afford to be afraid.

  She got out of the car and ran to catch up to him. It was made difficult by the fact she was practically wearing clown shoes as she caught up.

  This clowns shows

  “Won’t they kick you out for no shoes?”, Abby asked worried as she nearly jogged to keep up with his enormous strides.

  “They deal with crackheads finger painting with shit in the bathroom. They don’t get paid enough to give a fuck.”, Olly said with a cool confidence as the double doors opened blasting them with a cold jet of air.

  If Olly was afraid he didn’t show it at all as he casually walked barefooted past the greeter.

  The chubby bald black man shook his head and scoffed but said nothing as Olly walked right past the greeter. She walked next to Olly who leaned towards her and said “If anyone walks straight towards us with a customer service smile just ignore them. Like pretend they aren’t there”

  Abby was confused and the look she shot him said as much as Olly’s bare feet padded on the brown floor of the supermarket. They walked past layaway easter items stacked near the entrance, hit a left weaving in between shoppers and carts and strait to the hardwood of the clothing aisle.

  Abby thought she didn’t give a damn for societal rules by painting her toe nails wierd…No this man did not give a single solitary fuck about any judgment thrust his way. But people didn’t even do a double take of him as he walked past them not even wearing shoes.

  Nobody gave a fuck.

  Olly stood in the women's section looking at her expectantly before she realized. If it was a cartoon a lightbulb would have started dinging over her head.,

  ‘I have to pick my clothes’

  She was no stranger to clothes shopping at walmart. She was a simple girl who wore comfortable clothes. Even right now the shirt she was wearing was just a generic long sleeve with no decal from walmart. How Ironic.

  She went to the wall of folded long sleeves and grabbed one orange long sleeve before Olly’s chuckling behind her interrupted her.

  “Live a Little, you need more than one set right?”

  This guy was like a devil on her shoulder. She could not wrap her head around this boy. He wanted to be a good person..He seemed like one. He had helped her….so she thought but now she was stealing with a total stranger in a walmart. She reached forward and took the stack.

  A thrill shot through her, a giddy excitement as she realized she was actually doing this. She didn’t count the shirts as she clutched them to her chest.

  “But Olly, how are we gonna get the phone?”She asked nervously as she stared a hole into the floor at the shaggy boys feet.

  He just shrugged and said “I dont know I’ve never stolen anything with a sensor before” as if he was talking about something as casual as what to have for dinner.

  Abby regarded him with wide eyes before looking around to make sure no one was listening and hissed at him in a whisper “are you fucking crazy? we’re gonna get caught”

  “Nope”

  “What do you mean ‘nope’?!

  “wait how old are you?”

  “17..why does that even matter?!”

  “so if some dimwit touches you say he fondled a boob and you want to press charges”

  His smug grin looked down at her as she felt the heat rush to her face at the thought of such a predicament.

  He didn’t give her the chance to speak before “Nobody even wants to be suspected of sexually assaulting a minor. I bet you fifty bucks that bag boy will let go of you like you are made out of molten lava”

  Abby’s embarrassment gave way to the gears turning inside of her head. He was absolutely right. She could do this. Even if it was wrong.

  “I don’t think you’re doing a very good job at being a good person”, She whispered to him as a gnawing sickness of nervousness tore through her stomach.

  “No I'm just not a sheep. No gods, No masters. If I gave a fuck about the law you would still be cold and wet with no opprotunity at getting out of this shit your in. So I bend a few rules and get you taken care of. That is being good in my book”

  She wasn’t looking at him but she could feel that smug grin looking down at the top of her head as she nodded. She sure couldn’t pay for it.

  Abby quickly gathered the clothes she needed before Olly gestured for her to follow. She followed him through the isles before he stopped in front of the gray plastic tubs.

  He casually took the arm full of clothes and dumped them inside before walking back the way they had come and cutting right the the beer. He casually put a large blue box that said modello into the bin and closed it again. He looked at her with a smile the size of the store and started walking again.

  Abby scoffed and said “Really?”

  “Eeets modello tiiime”, He said in a fake mexican accent. As they walked He whispered to Abby.

  “Don’t look. The lady behind us with the nearly empty cart? That's a fake shopper. She's been following us since the tub.”

  The nerves gnawed at Abby’s insides as she looked up at him for a game plan.

  “Don’t worry. She legally can’t do anything but snitch on us. They will try to check our receipts at the door. Just keep walking.”

  “But the phone?”Abby asked.

  “yeah sorry chief you got to know when to fold em”, Olly said shooting her another grin.

  “Oh but we just had to shoplift the beer”

  “Fuck yeah we did, I can’t buy it yet”, He said as though it was most obvious thing in the world “I had a fake ID buuut it sort of got taken at the jail”

  Abby was not in the least bit surprised that this guy had been to jail before. I mean holy shit his fingers were sticky.

  As they confidently strided towards the exit she asked the shaggy boy “so how old are you?”

  “17”

  The greeter stepped in front of them with a wide smile and said “After noon guys can I -”

  “Piss off”, Olly said as he walked past the greeter. No shoes on, the tinkling of glass bottles audible from inside of the large grey tub and out of the door with no intention to ever return.