User blog:SaenihpNnylf/Save Me The Last Dance Chapter 12

"Oh, Giggles, I told you that you were too distracted," Petunia said bandaging my finger then setting on cleaning the bloody mess I made. "We should probably shut down for the day, we can't have you making lemonade missing a finger." She decided once the blood was cleaned up.

"Yeah, we probably should," I agreed, cleaning up the lemons. "It's kind of funny though, years ago, I had my face ripped off and we kept going but I cut my finger off and it's all over."

"Well, we've changed since then," Petunia pointed out getting the tools. "So, help me take down the stand."

"Do you ladies want help with that?" Disco Bear asked, reminding us of his presence. Not that I forgot about it and Petunia likely hadn't either for entirely different reasons.

"No, we don't want your help. We can handle it on our own." Petunia said just as short as she always is with him. "Just go away and leave us alone."

When I was sure Petunia was not looking, I mouthed an apology before agreeing, "Yeah, just leave us alone." I knew he understood. I mean, I hoped he understood. If only he would have stopped giving me that look before Petunia saw it. She didn't. I didn't know if it was lucky or unlucky but he left.

No matter how many times I've done it, I felt a pang in my heart as I set to helping take the lemonade stand down and loading the wood into Petunia's car.

"So, I assume you don't want a ride?" Petunia asked, getting in the driver's seat of her car. I just nodded. "Alright, I'll drop the stuff off and meet you at city hall."

"Sounds good, see you at city hall," I said while she drove off, leaving a trail of environment destroying smog. Which, as tiring as walking is, is why I do it.

I started walking towards city hall, thinking about what happened. It did hurt to see my boyfriend flirt with another girl even though I told him to. It also hurt to say that about him and I'd bet I hurt him, too. Gosh, our relationship is so messed up. Is there any way it could get any worse? I don't think so.

I knew it was all my fault. I was such a dummy about how I handled our relationship out of fear but I knew I was trapped in it with no way out. Don't get me wrong, I love Disco Bear but I should have just been honest about it from the beginning.

Once I finally made it to city hall, Petunia was already there waiting for me. "Good, you made it. So, ready to turn in the money?"

"Yes, I'm ready," I said, a bit sad to have to give away our hard-earned money but it made it a bit easier that I knew from the beginning that the money wasn't ours to keep, it was Lumpy's.

We headed inside with our lemonade stand profits in a case so that it was less likely to wind up in Lifty and Shifty's paws. "Well, besides losing my finger, that was by far the best lemonade stand experience we've had."

"That it was. Though, the competition for that spot isn't very stiff. Looking back, I still can't believe I let you cut those lemons completely blind." Petunia laughed. It's weird how in this town we can laugh at stuff like that and it's okay.

In fact, I found myself laughing as well. "Yet somehow I kept all my fingers, though I did make lemonade out of one of your eyes. Didn't even realize until a customer pointed it out."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about it the next day." Petunia said, still laughing. "It's always great to hear funny stories like that." We both knew it wasn't supposed to be funny but it still was to us both. "It's good that we never have to hide anything like that from each other."

Of course she had to say that, unintentionally twisting the knife when I was already feeling down. I tried not to let it get to me. Not visibly at least. "Yeah, I'm glad, too."

Luckily, there wasn't anything else said on the subject as we headed to Lumpy's office and placed the case on the desk.

"How much did you get?" Lumpy asked, opening up the case to look at the coins and occasional bill.

"Twenty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents." Petunia answered him as he started to count the money. "I know it's not very much but we did our best."

"Why did you guys stop so early?" Lumpy asked once he was done counting the money. I hid my injured hand behind my back. Neither of us were prepared for that question. "How stupid do you think I am? Show me what's behind your back."

"None at all, Sir," I said answering his first question and, head hung down, I brought my hand out from behind my back.

Lumpy immediately noticed my missing finger. "You mean to tell me you shut down just because one of you lost a finger and just after you got out of jail? Do you want to be sent back in?"

"Please don't lock me up!" Petunia gasped, clearly having terrified flashbacks from when she visited me in jail just a few days ago.

Lumpy looked deep in thought about it before answering, "I won't, I still need you both to work for me. However, you will not be paid for your work for the rest of the week."

"The rest of the week?" Petunia gasped. "But what are we supposed to eat?"

"That's not my problem. You should have thought about that before you shut down for no good reason."

I wasn't too worried about that. I did have an affluent boyfriend who I was sure wouldn't let me starve. Of course, Petunia couldn't know that so I put on my best distressed face, "I… but…" I sighed rather convincingly. "Fine."

We both left, neither one of us happy about the situation as Petunia got in her car. "I really hate that moose," Petunia stated awfully fearless. "I think we made the right choice though. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I'll see you tomorrow, Petunia!" I called as she drove off, probably heading back home and I started my walk to my own house.

It wasn't very long into my walk that Cuddles caught up to me. "Hey Giggles, can I talk to you for a second?"

I was tempted to say no or just ignore him all together but saw no serious need to refuse it so I agreed, "Sure, we can talk."

"I was just thinking about us. We had so much fun while we were together. Would you like to be my girlfriend again?" Hmm… I was definitely not expecting that.

Well, whether I was dating Disco Bear or not, my answer would have been the same. "We must have different memories. I broke up with you for a reason and you've only got worse," I said, walking away from him.

"Fine, I get it. Just run back to Disco Bear," he emphasized making me stop in my tracks.

Of course, I went straight to the default. "I hate Disco Bear. You know that."

"I know you're lying to me," Cuddles said, so confident that it chilled me straight to the bone. I should have known better than to ask if things could get any worse. "I was there in the hospital, remember? I heard you pour you're your heart out to him. I was right outside the door the whole time!"

"I… ah…" I tried to think of a way out of this and found none so I sighed and asked. "What will it take for you to keep quiet about it?"

"Oh, I think I already made it clear what I want," he said, taking on a mischievous tone.