Living Next Door To Alice

5/ The Runaway

TW: mention of depression and alcohol abuse.

Ever since Polly had sat foot into the Wyrm, it had been her to go to whenever she felt like escaping the real world for a bit. Especially the arcade side of the bar with her new favorite game Burger Chef had been a perfect way to distract herself.

And honestly? She was pretty good at it. Just when she was about to beat her own personal record, she heard a familiar voice echoing behind her.

"Be careful, I didn't mean to get you addicted." Sweet Pea made his way over to the blonde he had spotted when he had ordered his drink.

Polly paused her game and looked behind her, seeing the dark haired boy approaching her.

"Hey, Noah. You're here!" She smiled brightly and caught her heart jumping a little.

She wasn't even sure why she was so happy to see him. Could it be because the last time they spend each other she had felt carefree for a moment?

"I am here almost every day. How are you doing? Feeling better?" He leaned against the game with his arms, and for the first time she could notice his muscular arms.

Though, what really caught her attention were his sweet and inviting eyes. As much as she had trouble being honest at home about how she was feeling, as easy it was with someone she had only seen once before.

"No, I'm feeling awful. Nothing a drink can't fix though." Polly grinned and gestured to her cocktail, which tasted surprisingly good for a bar that was mostly known because of the special kinds of beer they had.

"Are you even twenty-one yet?" Sweet Pea raised his eye brow suspiciously.

Not that he would tell her to stop if she wasn't, but that would mean he needed to look out for her just a little bit more.

"What are you, my mother?" Polly rolled her eyes a little annoyed, figuring that maybe he was here to keep an eye on her and not to keep her company.

If she wanted someone to tell her what to do and what she shouldn't she would have taken her Mom with her.

"Okay, okay relax. Just trying to look out for you." He chuckled a little by her feistiness and the look on her face softened a tad when she realized that he wasn't here to cut her off or send her home.

"You want to talk about it?" His questions was genuine, which she could read in his eyes, but she still hesitated.

Did she wanted to open that door and spill all the things that were bothering her? At this point she wasn't even sure how to bring that to words.

"No, I just want to have fun tonight. You wanna cheer me up?" She perked up a little as she made her decision to forget instead of facing her emotions.

The first time they had met he had done a very good job to spread a smile on her face and she hoped that it would be the same this time.

"Yeah, sure. Would love to. Come on, let's play another round then." He placed his hand on her lower waist so he could stand next to her as they fixated on the Burger Chef game.

His touch felt warm on her body, even though the skin to skin contact was still separated by the cotton of her t-shirt. She looked at him and smiled, and to her surprise he gave her a very warm smile in return.

"You almost got the high score! One more burger!" He encouraged her, after playing for over an hour now. His hands were placed on her hips as he stood behind her.

Sweet Pea was tall enough to look over her shoulder and before they both knew it he basically had his arms wrapped around her waist. Neither of them really seemed to notice how close they were to one another, as they were too focused on breaking the record.