BAD IDEA ► SWEET PEA

― s e v e n t e e n. Secret Santa

|| CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ||

The joyous Christmas season was dawning upon us but I just hope that I will be able to enjoy it this year. With everything that has happened this year, there was not much to celebrate.

Dad has set up a booth outside of Pop's to sell Christmas trees to earn some extra cash. For some reason dad's insurance completely skipped over his hospital bills. Luckily I did not have the same problem so that was one less problem to worry about. Still, we owed the hospital a shit ton of money. Dad was still recovering and his job was not really even paying enough to sustain us that we had to resort to working during the holidays. It was a sad sight to see my dad suffering like this.

Archie and I have been helping out with the booth so that dad did not have to do all the work. It would tremendously help lighten the work load on him as well.

I did not mind helping out even though it meant being out in the freezing cold for several hours or having to work two different jobs in a day. Working for my dad meant that I was working two jobs. In the morning, I would work for my dad then at night, I would work at the Whyte Wyrm. It was easy to juggle two jobs since it was the Christmas break and school was out.

Of course working two jobs was tiring but it was not like I had anything else better to do. Both jobs were pretty laid back, plus I get to see my friends without being grilled for being a slacker. I get to see him.

It was the highlight of my day. Whenever I heard the revving of motorcycles, it meant that I would get to see him. At least I hoped that among the Southside Serpents that came to Pop's that one of them would be him.

And when it was, my day is made.

"Kenna."

"Oh hey, Sweet Pea," I beamed.

He approached the cashier counter where I was tending to. He was with a few other Southside Serpents who went ahead into the diner while he stayed behind.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he scanned his surroundings curiously. The entire lawn of Pop's was covered in an array of Christmas trees.

"Selling Christmas trees for my dad," I replied.

He nodded with interest.

"Alright, I have to catch up with the guys. Talk to you later?" He said.

"I'm not going anywhere," I gestured around me.

"Great. Catch you later!" He waved goodbye and headed into Pop's. It was like a phantom limb. Although Pop removed the bell whenever someone opened the door I still cringed as I expected the bell to ring. But there was nothing. I needed to convince myself that.

About an hour passed. We had a few sales and I was finishing up with a customer when the Serpents poured out of Pop's with Sweet Pea amongst them. He approached me with a cup in his hand.

Sweet Pea waited for me to finish up with the customer before speaking up, "You look like you're freezing," he passed me the cup.

It was a steaming cup of hot chocolate which warmed up my hands upon contact. I felt a smile blooming on my face.

"Thanks. Is that your super power?" I replied, "Homeostatic response?"