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༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁶. 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒!
𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓 show up for work the next day. Robin and Steve sat waiting at the counter, confused. They'd received no call, no indication that she wouldn't be coming in. They simply waited and waited and waited, to no avail. No girl skidding in on roller-blades, no profuse apologies, no wide grin laughing at them; no Rain at all. It was all quite worrying. "Do you think we should try to contact her?" Robin asked Steve when the mall's large yellow and blue clock hit fifteen-past-three. It was unlike Rain to even be late, let alone miss an entire day of work unannounced. Robin knew that Rain's job was important to her. She wouldn't just risk losing it.
Steve tapped his hand on the counter, glancing around the mall. But Rain didn't come running up to them in her sailor's uniform with her curly hair tied back and an Ahoy hat sitting on her head. There was no sign of the happy girl amongst the sea of people. "Maybe she's just sick." The both of them knew it was unlikely—she'd been perfectly healthy the day before, spare the hangover.
Robin didn't like the idea of Rain being sick and alone. But she didn't have Rain's number—there was no need, since they saw each other at work every day—and she wouldn't be able to drop by to see how she was doing. "Yeah, you're probably right." She rubbed a finger over her lips before turning to serve a man lining up. It didn't keep Rain off her mind for the rest of the day.
Work was incredibly slow without the bubbly girl by their sides, and seemed to drag on for hours longer than usual. There were no playful arguments, no teasing Steve about just about everything, no jesting about height. There was only Robin and Steve serving ice cream and striking marks on the board whenever he embarrassed himself in front of a girl—but without any of the beautiful joy that was Rainbow. It was the strangest day.
Then the boy in the Camp Knowhere cap and lame graphic tee entered the parlour, and started insistently ringing the service bell while Robin sat up on one of the counters listening to one of Rain's mixtapes through her Walkman headphones. The irritating sound made Robin practically throw the headphones off in frustration. "It works, dingus," drawled Robin as she stepped up to the counter, already in an irritated mood due to Rainbow's absence. "Can I help you?" Her Ahoy! hat was lopsided on her head—there was no Rain to fix it upright this time.
"Hi," said the kid with a wide grin.
Robin blinked at him, unimpressed. "Hi." Serving customers without Rain there was already boring enough, dealing with annoying kids alone was a whole other level.
