𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐫, 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐫 | 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

08. boobies and chupa chups.

Finally getting out of the house I get dressed again, the heat limiting what I can wear without getting heatstroke.

Once dressed I check my phone that's charged up a significant amount I see Kie's texts. Looking at the time I've got ten minutes before they pick me up and we head off to the junkyard.

Braiding my hair so it doesn't get in my way I jog down the stairs and run into my mother cutting up the sausage rolls.

"Want some?" She asks with a warm smile. Her dark hair perfectly done, like usual. She's always so perfect. It's annoying. She's like a robot.

I nod, "Yes, please. I've got to head at the door in a second, though."

"Well just take this," she fishes out a paper bag and then puts the sausage roll inside. "I'll see you in a few days. Call me if you need me, remember Robbie is just down the road. And Midsummer's coming up, so be ready." She reminds me.

"Do I really have to go? Because I would rather donate a kidney whilst wide awake than go to that. The people there are awful."

My Mum sees something out the window, I follow her eyes and see the van pulled up out front of my house. My Mum hands over the paper bag, "You be safe, hey?"

"I'm always safe. No need to worry." I lean in and hug her briefly before grabbing the paper bag and walking out the front door, and down to the van. The shower helped with the weight resting on my shoulders.

The door is opened for me and I crawl in. "You know I have a psychotic boyfriend stalking me, and this isn't quite stealthy." I smile and sit down.

"Boy do we have news for you," Kie smiles. And then spills every detail of our new realisations.

The plan, at its core, is very easy.

- Use boobies to distract a creepy guard/general criminal and gross man.

- Let Pope, John B and JJ steal this thing.

- Drive away with thing.

- Don't get caught.

Easy.

But it never is, is it? Life always fucks you up the arse. Every time.

My knees bounce as my mind runs in circles, mostly. Thoughts swing around, coming back so I can stress about them again in further detail. The ethos my first therapist taught me was to take life one day at a time. I'd didn't get myself banned from her, my Dad didn't appreciate his twelve-year-old seeing a shrink. Despite the school, I went to heavily suggesting I see one, the little bubbly girl quickly turned into a cynic. Her advice of taking each day as is, tackling each issue as it presents itself is a fucking awful idea. It may work for when you're little, but I should look at the bigger picture more often.

I crunch up the paper bag my sausage roll came in a feel something small and hard inside. Looking inside I see a lollipop, a small smile spreads across my face. Pulling it out strawberries and cream Chupa Chup, I wrestle with the plastic for a second before managing to tug it off.

John B pulls on the side of the dusty road. I adjust my shorts—the text Kie sent me outlined that we were trying to catch a creepy man's attention. So I made sure to wear a tight top.

It's what women are good for. At least according to Rafe.

Pope and JJ begin to bicker amongst themselves, I put the hardened sugar between my teeth and slide past JJ. Whatever they're fighting about, I honestly don't care. Bigger fish, and all that. My eyes catch the rearview mirror as I slide past JJ, his eyes stare at my arse. I speed up a little, not wanting him to ogle for longer than absolutely necessary.