"AGAIN?!" Lacey heard someone yell from outside. It was 6:30 a.m, who on earth was making so much noise now. Lacey had come in early to get a start on cleaning through the storeroom. They had a lot of old equipment they didn't use anymore.

"I can't believe this is happening!" She heard another yell. She ran to the window to see who it was. It was the twins from across the road they were shouting at a delivery man.

Lacey thought it would be best if she went out there to cool down the situation. She knew the feeling of dealing with shit delivery drivers too well.

She opened the shop door and walked across the road. "What's wrong? You two are creating quite the scene." She laughed.

One of the brothers, George, she thought, leaned down and whispered to her. "This has been the third time we have had our new products stolen."

"Shit." Lacey muttered.

"We won't work with your shitty company again!" Fred shouted at the delivery man. The man had a blank face as the tall ginger got really close. It was as if he heard nothing. "The fucking third time is beyond a joke!"

"Fred, calm down." George pulled his brother away. "You know how people have been swarming around the place every time we announce a new product."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so in your face every time you bring out a new product."

"Not helping Lace." George gave her a glare. "But how else are we meant to create a buzz about a product? The buzz is what makes them sell."

Lacey thought for a moment: what could they do? Especially with people swarming the place, always watching. She'd hated to be in the situation. She did what she liked someone to do if she was in that situation. Help.

"Why don't you use my shop?"

"What?" They both turned to her in confusion.

"Like you could send the delivery to my store instead. I'm only located across the road and it wouldn't take long in the morning to move them into your store. Plus, no one's watching a sweet shop for joke shop products."

The boys thought for a moment. "Okay," George nodded. "But why are you helping us?"

"Because you helped me when I needed it most. Now I'm returning the favour." Lacey smiled. They had helped her and her father a lot. Sales had recently gone up since the new sweets. Even cutting the profit with the twins, she was earning a good amount. It wasn't huge, but better than how they were before.

"Okay, thank you. I'll go sort some stuff out with a different delivery company. I'll let you know the details once it's sorted." George looked relieved and ran inside the shop to deal with the important things.

"Thank you Lace, you have no idea the shit we've been through with this." He nodded towards the delivery man, getting back into his van.

She hated when they would call her Lace, but she sucked it up and pretended like she never heard it. "It's fine, just let me know what I need to do." She smiled. "I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be 'round to tell you the details." He smiled back. Lacey made her way back over the road. "Thank you again!" Fred shouted. She smiled at him and headed back into the store.

Lacey was in the back making chocolate-covered strawberries when she heard the shop door open.

"Lacey!" she heard Chris shout her name. Lacey quickly took off her gloves and headed into the front of the store. "Fred wanted you." Chris rolled his eyes, obviously not happy with Fred's presence.

"Hi." Lacey smiled.

"Hey," He smiled back. "Are you able to be here early Wednesday morning? I know it's soon, but we really need to get these products on the shelves."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. What time?"

"That's the thing," He chuckled. "It's a bit early, 4:30."

"4:30 a.m? Shit, okay." Lacey nodded. She felt it was her duty to return the favour, even if it meant missing out on a good night's sleep. She hadn't been too kind to them in the past, and they still helped her and her father.

"I'm sorry, it just gives us enough time to sort it all out in the shop too."

"It's fine, I'll see you then."

"Thank you again. See you Wednesday." Fred smiled and left the sweet shop.

"What was that about?" Chris watched as Fred headed back to the shop across the road, giving Lacey the side eye.

"Oh, they've had a few problems with their deliveries getting stolen, so I offered to help them. They can use the shop as a safe place to get them delivered to."

"Are you joking, Lacey?"

"No, why?"

"You shouldn't be helping them."

"What do you expect me to do, Chris? They helped me and dad out. I can't just not help."

"Whatever." Chris groaned, going into the back. He wasn't happy with the new arrangement at all.

—

Wednesday soon came around. Lacey had trouble getting up and had to rush to the store before the delivery got there. She knew she should have just stayed at the shop; she hadn't stayed there since her father got sick. Lacey liked to stay with him so she could keep an eye on him. Lacey would hate herself if something happened when she wasn't around.

As soon as she got to the shop, one of the twins was sitting on the floor outside of the shop, looking worried. "Sorry," Lacey apologised. "I'm so sorry, I hope I'm not too late." She quickly jimmied the key into the door, opening it.

"It's fine, I've only been here 10 minutes." He chuckled, getting up off the floor, dusting off his clothes and heading into the shop.

"10 minutes? Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Lacey felt guilty. It was extremely chilly this time of year.

"Hey it's fine, I'll live." He smiled. "Which way to the back?" He asked.

"This way." Lacey guided him through the store into the back. "Here we are." She opened the back door, putting a chair against the door to keep it open.

"Not here yet then." He sighed, taking a quick look outside.

"Take a seat," she gestured to the small white table with three wooden mismatched chairs. "You're Fred right?" She hoped it was him, otherwise she would look like an idiot yet again. She had a hard time telling them apart.

"Yes." He nodded, slightly impressed. "You got it right this time."

"In my defence, you two look exactly alike." Lacey laughed.

"Not exactly! Want me to teach you a way to tell us apart?"

"Yes, honestly, that would help." Lacey giggled.

"Okay, you see here." Fred turned his face and pointed to his nose. "We both have slightly different noses. Mine is a little straighter and George's is more arched."

"That's such an excellent trick, thank you." she took a mental note. "I've been telling you apart by your faces, yours is slightly rounder." Lacey pointed out.

"What?" Fred scoffed. "My face isn't round." Her comment had offended him.

"Well, it isn't super round, just rounder than your brothers." She laughed.

"Well thanks for that, I'll lay off the sweets then."

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that." She awkwardly laughed, feeling bad. "I just meant-"

"Don't worry, I'm just winding you up, mum tells us apart from that too." Fred laughed.

The van interrupted their conversation by pulling up. They both quickly got up, going to the back door.

Fred dealt with the driver whilst Lacey stood back and watched. The men both went to the back of the van and checked the stock. Lacey slowly walked around to the back, scared that someone had stolen the products again and her plan had failed.

The back of the van opened, and there were boxes upon boxes filled with their products. Lacey watched as Fred's face lit up. He looked relieved.

"Fuck yes!" He cheered, heading into the van to look into the boxes. The products were all there, they had stolen nothing this time.

He quickly jumped down and hugged Lacey. She hated the weird physical contact so early in the morning, but she patted his back. "Thank you!" He grinned.

"Come on, let's get these in." She laughed, pulling away from the hug.

Lacey and Fred quickly got to work unpacking the van. Once they were almost done, George and another ginger boy turned up. He slightly resembled the twins.

"Is everything here?" George asked nervously.

"Everything." Fred grinned.

"That's amazing!" George cheered, quickly opening a box to check. "Want to hear some even better news?"

"What?"

"We fucking caught them!" The other ginger cheered, not being able to keep his excitement in.

"What? How?" Fred was amazed. Lacey stood back, amused by their excitement.

"Well, the plan worked. Lee drove the fake truck down the road, whilst me, Harry and Ron cornered him. Percy set the whole thing up. Guess his brain comes in useful sometimes." George looked extremely happy everything had worked out. It felt like a foreign language to Lacey. She had no clue who any of them were.

"Fucking hell! We have to celebrate!" Fred cheered.

"Yes! Product launch party Friday night?"

"You read my mind, Georgie." Fred turned to Lacey. "You should come, we couldn't have done this without you." Fred grinned.

"Yeah, you should," George smiled. "It'll be a laugh, just a couple of beers and some music, nothing too crazy."

"Okay, yeah, I'll come." Lacey smiled. If there weren't going to be loads of people she didn't know, she didn't mind. She deserved to have a fun time once in a while.