Pretty Punk Cherry

18 ⭑ You want me, don't you?

"Not fair." I murmured, flushing red and feeling heat creep up my neck.

"No, you're not being fair to yourself. I say you go to both because you deserve to go to both, and since I have to go, you can now argue with the wall, okay?" Jess leaned forward and surprisingly pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose, "Just kissin' it better. I will see you tomorrow night?" he stepped back, snatched his coat from the counter and pointed at me.

"O-kay?" I winced, not knowing my answer.

"Oh brother. I'm outta here." He yanked on his coat and snorted as he pushed passed me, "Treat yourself! Have fun! Bye Oliver!"

"Bye, Jessie!" When I turned around, Oliver was sat across the store in the window display, sipping on a juice box.

We'd had a really good day.

It made me really happy to see him act like a kid. Sipping on juice boxes, running around the store, dancing to music I played in the store.

He was growing up so fast.

"Hey, Ollie? Can you come're?" I said, pulling up my stool and sitting down behind the counter.

"Sure." Ollie hopped down and ran over.

"Up, up." I helped him up onto the check out counter, so he could sit down too.

"That guy is nice. Is he your boyfriend?" Ollie asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Um, no." I laughed slightly. I never thought I'd hear my brother ask me that to be honest, and it made me realize that there was a chance Jess and I could become something real.

And that was insane.

"But... Jess does wanna take my on a date tomorrow night." I continued, clearing my throat, "And I was wondering if you could manage two sleeps without me instead of one? I know you'll miss me, and I know that it might be scary to be all by yourself with mom, but this is something important to me."

Oliver swallowed the last of his juice in the box, curiously asking, "Will you be there when I wake up?"

"Yep!" I nodded surely, "If I go to the sleepover tonight then, I'll see you tomorrow morning and be with you until I have to go to work again. And then-well the hate isn't overnight but I'll be home late tomorrow night."

"I stay at home alone with mama all the time. It's okay." Oliver shrugged, "It's just mom." his young brain didn't exactly comprehend a lot of the stuff my mother did that was wrong, so I couldn't blame him for not caring, but I was glad that I asked.

It was genuinely just my mom. While she was crazy, the most she was gonna make him do that I didn't like was pray before bed or do his chores.

It just made me feel guilty to leave him around her for too long by himself.

But he had a point.

"Can you bring me home some candy from the party? 'Cause if there's candy then you've gotta go." My brother said, nodding his head quickly.

"I will absolutely bring you home candy from the party! And I'll tell you what, we'll pig out on it together when I get home, okay?" I stood back up, giving him a kiss on the forehead, "You are the coolest little brother ever, you know that?"

"Yep!" Ollie hopped off of the counter and then ran toward the record aisles again.

Excited about both of my upcoming endeavors, I took a deep breath and suppressed it so that I could clean up things before clocking out.

To my shock though, I soon heard a commotion and when I looked up from the register, Harlow, Niko and Mikey were all walking right inside.

Niko and Mikey of course were wrestling, where as Harlow looked miserable, sunglasses over his eyes and an unlit cigarette between his lips.