Indigo Blues 🪼✔

2: Stealing Is Wrong

Nothing was more annoying that having a gnat buzzing in your ear. That was sometimes what Rose was to me. Damn her sweetness and love of science, but the girl could talk a storm into turning in the other direction just to get away from her.
"And so anyway, I told Amanda that Jones was really trying to go out with Sylvia, who is Amanda's sister. But she said-"
"Rose, honey, please be quiet. I can't hear myself think and if it's just a cheating scheme then tell Amanda the truth."
"Yeah, do that. And then when she hates you, you will feel great. Because the truth is, the truth sucks." a voice said from the doorway.
I gritted my teeth and looked up to find that dumb Tannus in the doorway, all crooked smile and six foot of muscley swagger in the doorway. Rose blatantly sighed outright and Tannus gave her a wink as he strode into the lab. I went back to looking through the microscope and adjusted the distance.
"What do you want, Tannus? We're in the middle of doing our jobs."
"You're working on jelly beans? What are you doing? Making sure the colors are right before they go in the bag or something?"
I looked up at him as he stared at me and then rolled my eyes at him. He could be so retarded sometimes.
"None of your business, Bracken. What do you want? Why are you stinking up my lab?"
"Chill out, Dr. Manchester. I just came to give you and your assistant your checks, unless you'd like to not get paid this week. And I happen to put deodorant on every day, thank you." He said with a frown on that chiseled face of his.
He held up the two envelopes and I walked over, reaching out to grab mine when he pulled it away from me. I tried again, again swiped away. I sighed and punched him in the gut and he doubled over so I could get my check and Rose's too.
"Why can't you be like everyone else here and just hire a mail clerk?" I growled, opening the envelope.
"I have one," he said, standing up straighter. "I just like to deliver the mail to this particular room for myself."
I sighed, still trying to figure out how fate could have been so cruel to me as for me not to see that Tannus Bracken was smart enough to be a chemist and the company's accountant.
Rose squeaked at her check, looking at the figure on it. She was still getting used to making over sixty dollars an hour as an assistant.
"Seriously though, what are you doing down here? Looks more like Willy Wonka's stuff than yours."
"It's an experiment so if you don't mind getting out of here..." I growled, pushing him towards the door.
He chuckled as I pushed him and looked behind his shoulder at me.
"Aw, come on, Delilah. Give me a peek..."
"I said out!"
I finally got him out of the lab and shut the door behind him.
Rose watched me as I went back to the microscope to look at it.
"Why are you so rude to him? He was just asking a question."
"You don't know him like I do. There's more to that guy than what he lets on. Believe me, you'd never be able to keep up with him."
Rose frowned a little but looked back at her check and smiled wide.

TANNUS
Delilah pushed me out of her lab and left me in the hallway. I frowned at the door and stuck my tongue out immaturely. I never cared much about the girl but I almost felt a little responsible for her. As a child, you remember some things and forget others. Delilah's six year old confession would forever be in my memory. Who ever heard of a girl that age having feelings like that? Of course, I was a kid so I didn't understand it all myself.
Dumping sand in her pants was the funniest thing I ever did and it was also the stupidest. Ever since then, Delilah made it her goal to hate me. I really don't understand what the big deal is, since it was so long ego, but women keep those sorts of feelings to themselves I guess.
Though, those jelly beans looked really tasty... Now I want something sweet. I went to the vending machine when I heard that other girl come out of the lab and I looked around the corner.
"Hey, Mom? Guess how much is on my check this week? I know! I can't believe how much money I am making. Tell Dad that he owes me... saying that it was dumb to become and assistant, hahaha..."
I lifted an eyebrow and then looked at the cracked door of Delilah's office. I smiled evilly and tiptoed to the door. I saw the back of the woman, delving into sexual act that her monkeys were performing. Why she didn't use rats like everyone else was beyond me. She had to get about a $1000 decrease in her pay to do that so that they could pay for the monkeys but she insisted.
I looked over and saw some jelly beans sitting on her desk. I smiled and walked over to them quietly. I opened up her notebooks and read some of the notes. This looked interesting... Absentmindedly (and that's true) I grabbed a jelly bean and threw it into my mouth. It tasted a little funny but I grabbed another and started chewing, turning with the notebook in my hand. This was some interesting stuff...I started to turn to ask Delilah if all this was true when she turned on me and screamed.
"Who the hell said you could read my stuff?!" she yelled, coming at me like a wild animal.
I yelped, stepping backwards. Apparently, one of the monkeys decided to have a little pee time and I slipped on the puddle, falling backwards. The book went into the air, pages flying out and Delilah was falling on top of me. By the time my arm made contact with the floor to soften the blow, Delilah was falling and I moved my arms to keep her from breaking it. My head fell back and I felt my body go numb with overwhelming pain.
The last thing I remember was Delilah hovering over me, her hands flying to my head and her assistant rushing to my aid.

DELILAH
If nothing could get any worse than Tannus sniffing around in my stuff, the dumb idiot wasn't watching where he was going and took a spill. He had grabbed me to brace himself but all his weight did was pull me down on top of him and the stupid dolt cracked his head on the floor. His brown eyes began to roll just as Rose came in and she ran over to me.
"What happened?!"
"I need you to go get first aid for me. And hurry."
I felt the back of his head for blood but all I felt was a knot. He passed out and I knew that he had a concussion. Then I smelled something sugary sweet on his breath and put my nose to his mouth to get a better smell. If he wasn't already passed out, I would have throttled him. That ass ate my jelly beans! Instead, I kicked him in the side and sat on a stool to wait for Rose.
The first aid team came in and I pointed at the unconscious Tannus when Oliver came in, Tannus' cousin.
"Is he okay?" he asked me as the first aid team took out some smelling salts.
"He has a concussion or so I think." I said, huffing.
Oliver looked at me with his chocolate brown eyes and I could tell he instantly knew that Tannus had done something to upset me.
"What did he do now?" he said with a sigh and a smirk.
"He ate my jelly beans."
Oliver looked at the jars of jelly beans and lifted an eyebrow.
"Um... and that's why you're mad?"
"He was looking at my research without my permission but he was also eating my jelly beans. Those are experimental." I said it was snarl at the unconscious troublemaker. "I turned and saw him and he slipped, falling."
"How long has he been out?"
"About fifteen minutes."
A man from the response team came up to us.
"He seems in pretty bad shape. He's slightly conscious but we need to take him to the hospital."
"The hospital?" I asked, looking at him. "He didn't hit the ground that hard. Gee wiz, you'd think the creep was dying or something."
"I'm fine..." I heard from the floor. "Get off me..."
Oliver and I walked over and saw him sitting up, his hand to his head.
"Are you alright?!" Oliver asked, seeming a little overly concerned for the meathead.
"Yeah... dizzy..."
"Sir, can you look at me here, please?" the response guy asked, taking a little pocket flashlight and shining it into Tannus' eye.
"Well? Is he okay? Can he get out of my lab?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
"Looks good for now. If you have any prolonged headaches or anything, you will need to go to the doctor." Tannus nodded and Oliver helped him up. "Don't let him go to sleep right now. Makes sure he eats something."
Oliver nodded and they team left.
Tannus looked at me with a frown.
"You're a coldhearted bitch, you know that Delilah?"
"Only to you babe."
He frowned even deeper at me as Oliver took him from the lab. I went and started picking up my papers when I looked over at where I had my stuff set up. I went rigid.
My purple jelly beans were gone.