"Can I have this?"
"No."
"What about this?"
"No."
"Can I have this, then?"
"N-- what are you even doing with that?!"
Snatching the item from Arlynn, Wally quickly replaced the box of condoms onto its rightful place on the shelf, ignoring her indignant cry of protest. He turned around, levelling the child with an annoyed glare.
"Don't. Touch. Anything."
Arlynn was unphased as she threw her head back with a dramatic sigh, "But I'm boooooored!"
Wally turned back around in pursuit of an item, making sure to keep watchful glances on Arlynn.
"I noticed." he said, moving onto the next aisle and checking to make sure the girl had followed.
"Can't we go to another store? This one is boring."
"What Walgreens have you ever been to that's fun?"
Arlynn sighed dramatically once more before falling quiet in a silent pout. Wally spared one last glance at her before drawing his gaze back to the shelves in search of an item.
"Where do they keep those things?" He muttered. Sparing a quick glance over his shoulder at the empty isle, Wally crouched down and began looking at the lower shelves.
Wait.
Wally whipped his head back around at the empty isle.
Crap.
He stood up, eyes scanning the surrounding area frantically.
"Kid?" he called. His heart just about stopped when he didn't recieve a reply. His walk sped up into a jog as he entered another isle.
"Kid!" He was yelling now, and people were beginning to stare, but Wally didn't care. Crap, he hadn't even had the kid for a full day and now he'd lost her.
"Kid! Arlynn!"
Then he heard a small, young, and relievingly familiar voice call out from an aisle nearby.
"Yeah?"
Wally just about sprinted to meet her, a wave of pure relief washing over him as he spotted the familiar head of golden hair.
"God, kid..." Wally sighed, "Don't...don't you ever do that again."
"'Kay!" Arlynn chirped, though it was obvious that she wasn't sure of what she had even done wrong.
"I found the toys!" she proclaimed excitedly, she then held up a small plain brown bear with a red bow that Wally hadn't even realized she'd been holding, "Hey, can I have this?"
Wally stared at the girl, relief giving way to frustration and annoyance.
"You-" Wally cut himself off to avoid saying something he knew he would regret. Taking a breath, he tried again, "Fine. You know what? Fine. You can have the toy, just...stay close, alright?"
Arlynn nodded with a wide grin, "'Kay!"
Wally wasn't convinced, "Arlynn, I'm serious."
"I know."
"Do not go anywhere. And I mean anywhere at all."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I won't go anywhere."
"Arlynn..."
"Wally!"
The two engaged in a brief stare off before Wally had to blink. He turned and started to walk off, expecting Arlynn to follow before thinking better of it and grabbing her hand.
"I'm not a baby." Arlynn protested though she made no real move to pull away.
"Yes. But you are a puppy. A hyperactive, wandering puppy, and I don't have a leash so this'll have to do."
It only took a few more minutes of roaming the aisles for Wally to finally find the dreaded item he was looking for.
"Pat..ter...ni...ty?" Arlynn read off the box. She looked up at Wally with a confused frown, "What's a patter-nity test, Wally?" she asked.
"Paternity." Wally corrected automatically, quickly drawing his gaze off of the object as he placed it into the small shopping basket he held in his other hand, "And it's not important."
Arlynn seemed to have forgotten her question already as she played with her bear. A fact that Wally was relieved for since if he had learned anything about Arlynn in short time he had known her, it was that she liked to ask questions, questions that Wally definitely did not have the desire or patience to answer at the moment.
He walked to the register at the front of the store, ignoring the cashier's skeptical look as he paid for the two items.
He and Arlynn walked back out of the Walgreens store and headed towards the bus stop, Arlynn thankfully unbothered by the cold despite the fact that her current attire was an oversized t-shirt and jogger pants.
"I'm gonna name him Bear." Arlynn proclaimed as she held out her new stuffed toy.
Wally spared the girl a side glance, "Bear?"
"Mmhm."
"So you have a Mr. Teddy, Ms. Unicorn, and now a Bear?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
Wally shrugged, "Well I thought that kids your age were supposed to be a little more, I don't know, creative."
Arlynn glared at the older man, "I am creative!" she protested.
"You're naming your teddy bear Bear." Wally deadpanned.
Arlynn gave him a look as if he were a complete idiot, "He's a bear, Wally. What else would I name him?"
"Yeah? Well you're a human and that's not your name. You could name him, like, Fluffy or something."
"Fluffy is a stupid name."
"At least it's creative."
"Creativity is stupid then."
"Geez, you're a little pessimistic for a four year old."
"I'm not a pest!"
"That's not what that-" Wally paused upon the absurd realization that he was arguing with a four year old on what to name her stuffed toy, "Forget it. Bear it is, then."
"I don't know, he looks more like a Fluffy to me..."
"Okay, now you're a pest." Wally didn't take the time to hear Arlynn's most likely indignant reply as they approached the bus stop. Still keeping a grip on her hand, he walked over to the bulletin, looking at the day's bus times.
"Dammit, we just missed it." he muttered, more to himself than Arlynn.
"Dammit." Arlynn echoed.
Wally took his gaze off the bulletin to stare at the child with wide eyes. Okay, note to self: Don't curse in front of the kid. "Um...let's not repeat that, 'kay?"
Arlynn shrugged, "So what do we do now?"
"Um, we wait, I guess." Wally replied.
"For how long?"
Wally glanced at the bus schedule once again, "About half an hour."
"How long is that?"
"Thirty minutes."
"That sounds like a really long time."
"It'll fly by." Wally lied, just as much to himself as he did Arlynn.
"Has it been thirty minutes yet?" Arlynn asked.
Wally gave the child a strange look, "No?"
"Like I said, a really long time." Arlynn repeated as she flopped down on the bench dramatically.
Wally rolled his eyes as he sat next to her, taking out his phone in an attempt to pass the time. The two sat like that for a while, Arlynn quietly playing with her toy as Wally beat (or demolished, really) through levels of angry birds on his phone.
...Well, maybe saying they were like that for a 'while' was a bit much...
"I'm bored." Arlynn declared after five minutes. Wally wasn't so surprised at the declaration than he was at Arlynn for taking so long to say it.
"Then entertain yourself." Wally replied.
"Can I play on your phone?"
"What? No. I'm about to beat this lev-- dam--darn it! Why won't this one stupid pig die?!"
Arlynn sighed her grip on her bear tight as she stared around aimlessly at her surroundings. A loud playful child's squeal caught her attention and Arlynn glanced to see a small (and slightly rundown) park a few blocks down the other side of the street.
"Can I play there then?" Arlynn asked, pointing a finger at the aforementioned location. Wally glanced up from his phone and his haze followed the direction of her finger.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because if you've watched any horror movie ever, the park is always the place the kid gets taken."
"That, or the bus stop," Arlynn retorted, "Besides, it's only down the street, I can just-"
"No."
"But-"
"No."
Arlynn crossed her arms as she let out an indignant huff, "Fine. Wouldn't expect an old man like you to have any fun anyway..." she grumbled.
That statement was enough to make Wally to forget all about using virtual birds as projectiles to kill green pigs.
"I'm sorry, did you just call me an old man?"
Arlynn shrugged.
"Kid, I'm literally 21."
Arlynn raised an eyebrow, "And I'm literally four."
"Okay, that's not--sure I may be older than you, but that doesn't mean I'm old."
"Whatever you say."
"I--you--I'm not old!"
"Sure."
"I'm not!"
"Okay."
"Are--are you patronizing me right now? Am I being patronized?"
"I don't know what that means." Arlynn replied honestly.
"You totally are!" Wally continued, ignoring Arlynn's statement, "I'll have you know that most would consider me very young."
"Yep, the older ones always do."
Wally balked, "You little-- you know what? You want to go to the park? Fine! We'll go to the park! But if we miss the next bus, that's completely on you!"
Arlynn beamed, "Okay!" Wally watched as she checked briefly to see the road was clear before skipping across it, making her way to the ..park. As he began to follow, an epiphany suddenly struck him.
Did I just get played by a four year old?
To Wally's (not) surprise, they ended up missing the bus. Again. And it also started raining. Pouring, actually.
"This isn't my fault." Arlynn insisted, holding Fluffy close to her chest as she tucked him under her shirt.
Wally sighed as a car went by, driving through a large puddle and drenching him completely. Luckily he was able to get his shopping bag out of the way. Hopefully his phone was okay...
"Except, yeah, it is." Wally replied, no small amount of bitterness in his tone.
"How is it my fault that you weren't paying attention?" Arlynn said, accusation in her tone.
"Well maybe I would have been paying attention if you hadn't had decided to pull another disappearing act!"
"I was playing hide and seek!"
"What part of 'the park is always the place the kid gets taken' don't you understand?! If I hadn't had been so occupied with trying to find you, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"
"Oh, so now the rain is my fault?!"
"Us being caught out in it is!"
Arlynn huffed, "Well maybe if you had a car like a normal person, we wouldn't be having this problem." she grumbled.
Wally turned around to glare at the girl, "Oh don't you dare try to turn this around on me." he hissed.
"All I'm saying is the obvious! What kind of person doesn't have a car?!"
"The kind who can't afford one and doesn't need one!"
"Well we could sure use one now!"
Wally rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Anyway, now thanks to a special someone, we have another thirty minutes until the next bus is scheduled to come. Put that on top of the rain and probably really bad traffic, and it'll probably take it a good hour and a half to get here."
A flash of lightning briefly lit up the stormy sky, followed by a loud roar of thunder.
Arlynn looked at Wally like he was a madman, "We can't wait out here for that long! We'll get struck by lightning and die or something!"
"Actually the chances of getting struck by lightning are-"
"I don't care!" Arlynn exclaimed, "Fluffy is getting wet, I'm getting wet, and it's cold. So can we go inside somewhere please?"
And so it was about ten minutes later that the two found themselves inside a nearby diner, both dripping wet and attracting attention from the few other patrons.
Neither Arlynn nor Wally paid any mind, however, as they slid into a booth.
Arlynn pulled Fluffy out from under her shirt, face falling once she saw that he was soaking wet despite her best efforts.
"Now his fur's gonna get all ruined." she complained.
"It's a toy from Walgreens. I can guarantee you that something was gonna get ruined sooner rather than later." Wally replied.
That did nothing to reassure Arlynn as she continued to stare sadly at her toy, "I'm sorry that Wally did this to you." she said.
"What? How is that my-"
"Afternoon." Wally and Arlynn looked up at the sound of a Californian accent. A curvy woman, clad in her waitress uniform, stood in front of their table. Her clearly dyed, platinum blonde hair was up in a neat bun as she stared at the two with her too blue eyes, framed by dark blue eyeshadow and ridiculously long fake eyelashes. Her juicy red lips curled into a fake cheerful smile.
"Can I get either of you any drinks?"
Wally was half-tempted to decline but got the distinct impression that if he did so, he and Arlynn would be kicked right out the door and back into the storm.
"Um, sure. I'll get a water." he replied.
The waitress raised a thin eyebrow, "Well it comes with a lemon in it, think you can handle that?"
The waitress--Jean, her nametag read-- turned to Arlynn before Wally could offer a reply, plastering on another forced grin, "And you, sweetheart?"
"I'll take an apple juice." Arlynn replied.
Once she was gone, Arlynn looked to Wally.
"I don't like her." she stated bluntly.
"Yeah," Wally replied, gazing at her retreating back, "Me neither."
"She looks like a clown." Arlynn observed.
Wally couldn't hold back a bark of laughter at that.
For those of you that caught it, yes, I quoted Supernatural. And I have no regrets.