Sometimes, it's Better to Forget Responsibility

Chapter 1

Thirty minutes had passed, and not a single person had entered the store yet. Molly yawned, and rubbed her tired eyes. The small analogue clock blinked 11:30 at her, like it was mocking her. She barely had customers ever, anyways; who buys toys this late at night, besides for the oddballs that came into the store on occasion. What did that really matter when she needed the money, though? At least it was Friday, which meant she didn’t have school the next day.
Slow nights like this were her least favorite. She was bored, she didn’t get hardly any money, and she really needed the sleep she was missing out on. After all the action she’d been through, she thought she’d be alright with a few quiet days, but it seemed that every night after the museum incident, she wanted something exciting to happen again. She never thought of herself as an adventurous person before, but now she found that, perhaps, she was.
She was ever grateful that she had her friends around still. Giovanni had been, for the past few days, dropping by to talk to her. He could not hang out with her outright, though, because the police were suspicious still, trying to find the banzai bandits,and although they were onto Giovanni himself, he found it safest to lay low while they investigated. All in all, though, his spontaneous presence helped her immensely. The change in her mood the past week even was mentioned in passing by her sister, who never seemed to notice anything. Molly made note to tell Giovanni this the next time he snuck in to say hi.
As for Sylvie, he also stayed in touch with her. He had called her when he got to the hospital like she asked, and had been calling frequently since. He had healed wonderfully from everything he'd gone through at the museum, and was now out. He, like giovanni, had begun to talk to her more spontaneous, as he had research to catch up on. She grew a little lonely when she was at home without either of her friends, but when Sylvie called, he was also clearly lonely, although he refused to show it outright, and she supposed this was because he didn't have any other friends to confide in. It made her very grateful for the friends she had at school.
The clock on the desk now flashed midnight at her, and the closed thing she had to a customer was a woman who paused outside the shop and peered in, as if considering buying something, before she walked away. Against her better judgement, she felt herself beginning to nod off. She looked outside, hoping to spot another curious passerby to excite herself out of her grogginess. She didn't see anyone, and then she was both tired and frustrated. She only had to make it to 1:30, and then she could sleep, but the 12:05 on the clock seemed to laugh at her as it glowed.
Suddenly, someone dropped down in front of her. She cried out in fear, cut off by a panic "shhh!"
She looked up at the man. "Giovanni!" She exclaimed quietly, grinning, "I was hoping you'd come to visit!"
He chuckled. "Holdin' down the fort tonight, huh, Bear Trap?"
Molly sighed, "Every night." Her tired frown turned back into a smile, "But it's not so bad when you're around."
"Yeah, so, I was thinking: Let's ditch this place."
"What?"
"Yeah, I thought it over, let's all just have a sleepover! You been saying you want to get out of the house all week, so I figured this would work."
Molly laughed, "Giovanni, you're crazy! My dad wouldn't want me staying the night at your house!"
"Would your dad notice if you snuck out, though?" He asked with a sly grin.
"No," she answered slowly, "I suppose he wouldn't. My sister probably would take a while to realize it too."
"Yeah, so let's do it. We could grab that other kid too. That little brat with the sheep. Uh… What was his name?"
"Sylvie!" Molly cheered.
"Yeah, him. Even if he annoyed me to no end," Giovanni growled
"I think he needs someone to hang out with. He sounds really lonely. All he does is research things, and he always gets really excited and calls me to tell me all about it. But then he asked me about my day, and I tell him about school and the time I spend with my friends, and he sounds sad while we talk about it. Even sometimes when I tell him that you visited he sounds sad, and he doesn't like you that much."
Giovanni paused to take her words in. "Well… shoot. I don't want him to be sad, even if I like to make fun of him."
"You are inviting him to a sleepover," Molly pointed out, "That'd make him feel less lonely, I bet!"
"Oh, you're right!" Giovanni exclaimed, "Man, I am just great at cheering people up!"
Molly giggled, and stood up from the desk for the first time since her shift began. Finally, something very exciting was happening, and it wasn’t even a bad thing this time. Somehow, she found the energy she was looking for to keep her awake, and she felt less tired as she closed up the shop and followed Giovanni out into the darkened street. She looked up at the sky, taking in the stars barely visible beneath the lights of the city, which in themselves also held the beautiful appearance of the glittering nighttime sky. “So, what do we do now?” Molly asked Giovanni.
“Well, we better go find wherever that nerd is,” He supposed, “Sylvie, or whatever.”
“Yay!” Molly peeped with a chuckle.
“Where would he be now?” Giovanni muttered.
“Probably at home,” Molly plainly answered.
“Do you know where he lives?”
“Yeah, but it’s all the way across the city.”
“No big deal.”
Molly had Sylvie’s address written in her notepad on her phone so she wouldn’t forget it, and she pulled it up. She read it off to Giovanni who exclaimed “Of course!” as if he knew all along where Sylvie had been.
“How are we going to get there?” Molly asked.
“Same way everybody gets around. I have a car,” Giovanni remarked.
“You have a car?” Molly replied in surprise.
“Yeah, don’t most kids my age?” he asked, “I’m an adult, you know.”
“I just didn’t think you were responsible enough,” Molly explained.
Giovanni sneered, “No, I wasn’t the one that crashed one car three times.”
Molly laughed, “Yeah! That’s true.”
They stopped at a car parked on the side of the road a small distance from the store. “Is this yours?” Molly asked.
“Yeah, you can tell from the flames painted on the side.”
Indeed, she saw that the car was all black with flames painted down the sides. The flames appeared to be painted on sloppily, and if Giovanni hadn’t called them flames, it would have taken her a minute or two to figure out what they were. He must have painted them on himself. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the car. A tight squeeze of excitement resonated inside her as she climbed into the back seat of his car. There was a thrill in breaking the rules, in doing things for herself, in giving her family a sign that she was her own person, and she didn't need any of them to tell her how to live. She could make her own decisions and have her own opinions, and she had people who knew that. They encouraged it, in fact. She didn't need her dad or sister, here she was with people that would let her be her without her having to be more than she already was. It was relieving.
"You still sit in the back seat?" Giovanni asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," she answered, "Usually my sister sits up front. I'm more comfortable back here."
"You're welcome to sit up here," he offered.
Any other day, she would have said no, but tonight she hopped out of the back and into the front. She clicked her seat belt on, and then made sure it was firmly wrapped around her at Giovanni's request. After he made sure both of them were strapped in safely (safety is important) he smoothly began to drive off. Molly peered out her window, watching the streetlights they passed, the light wavering over them. They were the only things that were familiar on these new roads. Despite that, she was glad to be driving down new roads; this was a route she could get used to, no, wanted to get used to.
"You've been pretty quiet," Giovanni commented.
Molly shrugged in reply. "I'm just thinking."
"Thinking about what?" He asked.
"I, well…" She sighed, "It's hard to explain. I guess, all this happening, meeting you and Sylvie, and doing all this crazy stuff, it feels like I'm someone else. In a good way, though! Like, the person I was always trying to be, I'm am her now. Everything back home made me feel like I had to be someone else than who I was or who I wanted to be. I had to be that girl that made my dad and sister happy. But then, I met you. Everything changed after that. I could be myself and the person I wanted to be, and I think I'm the person I want to be right now even! You two made me realize that, and I guess Mera and that barrier guy did too, sort of, and-" she sighed, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you."
Giovanni was silent for a minute. "Geez, Bear Trap, it's hard to drive on the verge of tears. This hardly seems safe."
"I'm sorry!" She rushed in concern.
"Naw, it's okay, kiddo," Giovanni told her, "It was, well… You see, I'm not actually upset, not at you at least, I'm really happy you feel that was and I, and that other punk, too, I guess, are able to help you. You have seemed to be smiling more recently, and so I've been hoping maybe I was making an impact. I wasn't so sure of myself at first, but I want to help you, and knowing I have been is just so awesome. And I promise I'm not going to cry, and even if I am- I mean was- crying, it's not because I'm sad." He let out a strained chuckled, tightening and loosening his grip on the wheel. "I guess what I mean to say is, your welcome, but also thank you at the same time."
"Thank you?" She asked, "Why are you thanking me?"
"I feel meaningful, I guess."
"What?"
He shook his head again, with a confused grin. "I don't quite know how to explain it, it's just a nice feeling."
"Okay."
The rest of the drive was as quiet as the beginning, as they both mulled over what they had been told. It wasn't an awkward or strained kind of silence, but a respectful one. As one point in time, which neither of them really could remember, Giovanni had switched on the radio, which was playing loud music, but it was turned down significantly, so it was just a hum. It was background noise to Molly, who hardly noticed when it had been turned on and quickly tuned it out when she did. Even Giovanni forgot about it quickly, seeming to only have turned in on in an effort to feel like he was doing something worthwhile during the drive other than thinking.
The car slowed to a stop at the side of the road, outside a small apartment building. "We're here," Giovanni announced.
Molly stepped out of the car, feeling the sharp Taiga air nip at her hands and face, unprotected by her hoodie. She looked up at the building, scanning the windows, and how more were dark than lit. One light when out as she gazed up, and she remembered with a small jolt that it was around 12:30 in the morning.
"Do you know what room is his?" Giovanni inquired.
"Yeah, he said room 105," she recited, recalling his words from numerous conversations they held over the phone.
"Okay then, we're all set!" Giovanni exclaimed. Molly giggled in excitement through her shivering. Under his breath, Giovanni added, "I hope your ready for a night of excitement, nerd."