The next time that I'm at work, I stand behind the counter drawing Dex again. I can't stop thinking about how he called me beautiful the day before. I draw him the moment that he was saying those words to me, so that I won't ever forget that moment. He really called me beautiful. I know that he didn't mean it romantically because he's dating Amber and in love with Gabby but it still felt nice to hear.

I don't even believe it myself but it still lit me on fire to hear him say that to me.

Now that I've had a full day to recover from drawing the mural outline on Sunday, my hand is totally able to quickly sketch out the moment in the park where Dex called me beautiful. Maybe I should have complimented him in return to make things even but anybody who has ever met him can tell that he already knows how good looking he is. There is not an ounce of physical insecurity in his eyes.

Granted, I'm suspecting that he has insecurity in other ways. Sure, he knows that he's drop dead gorgeous but from what I've heard Sage say about him, he tries really hard to keep up a specific image with his friends. I don't know if that means that he's insecure about his real personality and that's why he creates this fearless persona. It could also be that he just wants that reputation and it doesn't have to do with an insecurity issue at all.

I'm sketching out his nose when the bell dings on top of the door as somebody comes into the store area, so I shut the sketch pad and look up. It's a group of three guys that immediately go toward the fridge that's freshly stocked with energy drinks. When there are people in the store, I like to look busy even though I'm really not. I grab a cleaning rag from under the counter and start absently wiping down the counter that I already cleaned about half an hour ago.

When those three guys come back up to the front, they're each carrying a can of Monster Energy Drink.

"Do you need a bag?" I ask in my most well-rehearsed customer service voice, which is about an octave higher than my normal voice. The tall guy in the front shakes his head as I start scanning the three cans.

"You're Robby the Robber's sister, aren't you?" He asks me as I'm ringing up the last of the three cans. I immediately frown, not appreciating how this guy starts a conversation.

"No," I eventually lie. I hate that I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm related to Robby but I am. I love him to death but I really don't want to be associated with him.

"He owes us a lot of money," Another one of the three guys adds, giving me a pointed look. The way that they're looking at me, I find it overwhelmingly obvious that they aren't here just for the energy drinks. I don't like where this situation is headed.

Obviously, they don't believe that I'm not his sister, so I give up on that. "Well, he doesn't have any money and he's in jail so I guess that you're fucked."

I try to memorize what they look like just in case they try to cause any trouble. We have security cameras in here but they're crappy and it's almost impossible to identify anybody on them. The first one has dark hair and a freckle on his neck. Blue eyes, a round face.

The second one has curly auburn hair, gray eyes, forehead acne, square jaw, high cheek bones.

"Well, since he's not here and you're his sister, we think that you owe us that money now," The dark haired one informs me slowly as he leans against the counter on his elbows. "We heard that he got two grand from that old fucker in Grandview, so that's 500 each. You owe us 1500 dollars."

It suddenly becomes clear that these guys are the guys that were with Robby when he robbed that antiques shop. They are the reason that my brother is in jail—other than my brother himself. This situation just got much worse, and ten times more tense.

"I'm not giving you any money," I assure all three of them. The third one is bald but he's young so I guess it's by choice. His eyes are dark and he's got a tattoo on his cheekbone of what looks like a cross. "So I think that you should probably leave before we have a problem."

"Well, we've already got a problem, little lady," The front man informs me with a disgusting little smile. "Our problem is that you won't give us our money and if we need to resolve that ourselves, we'll just take it from your register and you can explain that to your boss."

"No, you won't," I stand my ground. I'm pretty afraid right now but there's a baseball bat under the counter and a gun. I know how to shoot a gun but I'll go for the bat if I have to because I really don't want to touch that gun. "I'm going to call the police."

The bald one starts walking around the counter. He's got about half of a foot of height on me and if I don't move fast, he could snap me like a twig. I can't fight, I've never been in a fight before. Not even with one person, my own size. I'm depending on the weapons under the counter to keep me alive right now.

The talker laughs and the red headed guy starts walking to the other side of the counter to stop my chances of escaping, which I wasn't going to do anyway. "Do you really think that you stand a chance three against one? Just give us the money and we'll get out of your hair. Let's not make this messy."

I grab the baseball bat and in one quick motion, I jab the end of it right toward the red head's genitals as hard as I can. He immediately goes to the ground, huddled in the fetal position and groaning but I'm sure that won't keep him down for long. I turn with the bat ready to swing at the bald guy but he is quicker than me. I should have gone for him first so that he didn't see it coming.

He grabs the end of the bat with his large fist before it hits him and then he is quick to yank the bat out of my hands and it hits the ground. Now, I'm defenseless and he doesn't waste any time. The big bald guy throws his fist to my face and just with one punch, I'm on the ground.

"Okay. I guess we'll do this the hard way," The talker sighs. The redhead is up again and going for the cash register, so I try to get back up to stop him despite the sharp, and strong, pain throbbing in my head. The bald one backhands me but he hits the other side of my face this time. What a considerate guy, not to hit me twice in the same place.

"Stay down," He suggests. I hear the register ding as the redhead opens it up and I watch from the ground as he takes the money. I want to keep fighting but I can't reach the gun from here and I know that if I try to get up, the bald guy will just hit me again or something.

I just lay on the ground, helpless until he gets all of the money that he wants and they all start walking out of the store.

"Thank you for your time," The talker smiles at me like the fucking psychopath that he is. I'm not done fighting though. I didn't want to use the gun but they've destroyed my brother. And the bald asshole hit me twice, so I don't feel bad when I pull the gun out and turn off the safety.

It's some work to get myself to stand up because I'm feeling dizzy and really tired now but by the time that I'm standing up with the gun ready to fire, the three guys are halfway to the door to get outside.

I don't offer them a warning or anything because I'm thinking about Robby rotting in jail and they're all getting off free. I know that they didn't physically stab the guy but they're still at fault for causing the situation. I shoot the gun, aiming at the floor of the store by their feet. I'm thankful for the shooting lessons my dad gave me when I was in high school for self-defense because after the loud 'boom' of the gunshot, I hear one of them shout in pain.

It's the bald one that I hit, I'm not sure where exactly, but I see some blood coming from his foot.

"She fucking shot me!" He yells, falling to the floor.

"I'll fucking shoot you again, asshole," I warn him, keeping the gun held up and aimed at all three of those mother fuckers. "My brother is locked away because of you little shits, so I won't be feeling too sympathetic if my aim isn't so good and I miss your foot next time. Let's not make this messy, right? Drop the money and get out of here before you lose a knee cap."

They clearly don't have any weapons of their own, which is a major relief for me, because if they did then this would be the perfect time to pull that out but they all just look like deer stuck in headlights now. It doesn't take them long to understand that they have no more leverage, so the brown-haired one who liked to talk lowers the money to the ground and then he and the redheaded one help lift up the bald guy. They don't say anything else to me as they help their limping friend out of the store. When they're finally gone, I lock the door and then I call the cops.

My head still really hurts and I'm so dizzy that once the cops are on their way, I lay back down on the floor of the store to wait for them to get here.

It takes a long time to get the report filled out and everything. I sit on the counter of the store and recant the story to the police officers. My face must look pretty beat up just from one punch and one slap because the policemen think that it's necessary to call a paramedic to make sure that I'm okay. They also assure me that I won't be in trouble for shooting the guy because it was self-defense. Despite the fact that they were walking away from me when I shot him, which is a relief to me.

When I hear the ding above the door again, I assume that it's another cop that they called but when I look over, I'm extremely surprised to see Javier walking into the store.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him. The police woman standing by the door was about to tell him to leave but when she realizes that I know him, she lets him come inside. The paramedics are still checking my eyes and cleaning up the blood that apparently has dried on my face.

"I was passing by and saw the cop cars," He comes over to the counter. "And I know that you work here. What the hell happened?"

I want to know how he knows that I work here. Maybe it came up in a conversation with Sage for some reason. That's not important right now though. "I got punched in the face and then I shot the guy in the foot, so no biggie. I'm alive."

"You got robbed? Do you want me to call anybody for you or anything?" He asks me curiously.

"I got attempted robbed," I correct him. "They gave the money back when I shot him in the foot. And no, I'm fine. I mean, my head hurts, but I'm fine."

"You don't have a concussion," The paramedic that has been examining my face tells me. "Just get home, take some aspirin and put some ice on your eye. It's definitely going to bruise but you'll be alright."

"Okay. Thanks. Am I good to go now then?" I ask the paramedic and then look over to the cop who has been looking over the footage.

"Yes, Miss Clarke, you can leave. Thank you for your time," The officer confirms.

"Thanks. I'll draw up some sketches of them after I take a nap, and I can drop them off at the station later," I suggest to the officers. Like I said, I don't think that they'll be able to get them off of that video and I'm not going to let them get away with this just because this convenience store can't afford good cameras.

"Hey, can I at least give you a ride home?" Javier offers after I've hopped off of the counter and I start walking toward the door.

"Yeah, that would actually be great," I decide because I'd have to walk all the way home and my head is still pounding. "Thanks."

We leave the store together and Javier leads me over to his car. When we get inside and he starts backing out of the parking lot. "So, if you want, I know that Dex has some serious pain killers from his drag racing accident. He won't use all of them, if you want to stop over there and grab some of his pills."

"Do I really look that bad?" I ask Javier as I flip down the visor on the top of the car so that I can look in the window thing that's usually on the back of those. I see the answer for myself—yes, I do look that bad. My left eye is already a dark purple and blue color, it's swollen so badly that I'm surprised that I can still see out of that eye. Where the bald guy slapped me, there's a short gash of dried blood.

"It's pretty bad," He assures me. "And Dex's house isn't too far away, we'll stop over there. I can't believe you really shot somebody."

I don't want to go to Dex's house. I don't want anybody to see me like this, especially not him. Just yesterday, he had called me beautiful and now, he's going to see me looking like this, like I have an ingrown moldy grape growing in my face. "He pissed me off. He deserved it."

"Oh, yeah, he definitely deserved it," He agrees with me. "But you shot him. Damn. You just don't seem like the kind of person who would shoot anybody, no matter how awful or deserving they are."

"I've got my breaking points," I assure him. "And apparently, getting punched in the face is one of them."

"Do you think that you could get a copy of that security footage? I think that everybody would love to see that happen," He asks me hopefully. My and Dex's neighborhood isn't far from the convenience store, so we are quick to arrive at Dex's house.

"I'm not sure. I guess that I could try," I shrug at him. It was pretty badass of me and I'd kind of want to see that footage as well.

I stay in the car, hoping that Javier will just go in without me to grab the painkillers and then just take me home but when he gets out of the car, he realizes that I'm not getting out as well and then leans down and says, "I have to tell him what happened to get the drugs, and then he'll come out here to see it, so he's going to see your black eye either way, you might as well come inside."

I open my mouth to tell him that I'm fine without the drugs despite the pounding headache that's still throbbing in my skull but he's already shutting his door and walking up to the door of the house that I'd dropped Dex off at once before. Reluctantly, I get out of the car and follow Javier onto the porch just as he's knocking on the front door.

We wait there for a long moment until the door is opened by a blonde girl about a foot shorter than me. She's got blue eyes like Dex but they're not quite the same.

"Hi, Javi," The girl greets Javier without really noticing. "Dex is in his room."

"Thanks, Violet," He steps into the house and I follow him.

"Whoa," The girl says when she looks at me. "What happened to you?"

"She's had a rough day," Javier answers for me as the girl, who seems to be maybe around thirteen years old, goes back into the living room to watch TV.

"Looks like you got hit in the head with a truck full of concrete," She informs me but Javier shakes his head at me.

"It's not that bad," He promises me and then he takes me up a flight of carpeted stairs and then down a thin hallway until we reach a white door that's shut.

Javier knocks on the door. "Dex, you in there?"

"Yeah, come in," Dex calls from the other side of the door.

As Javier opens up the door, he turns back around to me and says, "You always have to knock and wait for the go ahead. Walked in on him jerking off once, and so now I always knock."

"That's not something that you ever have to bring up in any situation ever," Dex scolds his friend, which just makes Javier laugh, and then when Dex sees my face, he looks so freaked out that he could have just seen his parents having sex or something of that caliber.

"I'm fine," I assure him. He'd been sitting at his desk but my swelling eye makes him stand up to get closer to investigate the monstrosity. "I just got punched one time, it's not that bad."

"Who the fuck punched you? John Cena?" He asks me.

"I know that you still have some pain meds from your shoulder, so I figured you could help her out," Javier adds.

"Yeah, sure," Dex goes back to his desk and opens up the top drawer. His room is small, but clean. I didn't expect it to be clean. No dishes, food, or clothes on the ground. There's a few movie posters on the gray walls but it's all very neat. "So what happened?"

"You guessed it. It was John Cena," I inform him sarcastically. "But it's totally fine because I shot him in the foot."

"Seriously," He looks at me, now holding a pill bottle.

"It was one of Robby's friends," I finally admit to him. "They wanted the money that Robby stole from that store, and I wouldn't let them take it out of the register. So he punched me and when they were leaving, I shot one of them in the foot so that they wouldn't leave with the money. The end."

"And you're okay?"

I like that he's worried about me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assure him. "They didn't get the money and the paramedics said that I don't have a concussion, so I'm okay to go take a nap. Which is really what I want to do right now."

"Well, then you're in luck. These will knock you out, just don't take them on an empty stomach. Have you put ice on it?" He asks me curiously.

"Not yet, but I will when I get home. I'm sure that it'll only last a few days. Anyway, thanks for the drugs."

I'm really tired so we don't stay long and soon, Javier is driving me back to my house. "Thanks for the ride," I tell him when we're pulling into my driveway. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," He quickly answers. "Do you want any help? I don't have anything planned to do today, so I can help you make lunch or something."

"I'm good. I know that I look dead but I promise, I can manage," I assure him. I know that we had that weird drunken moment on Friday night but I hadn't realized how nice he was. I always thought that all of Dex and Tyson's friends were jerks and disgusting, mostly just based off of Jake. I'm glad that he's been so helpful today though. "See you around."

"Sure, see you around," He agrees and then waits for me to get inside before he starts driving away.

I know that Dex said not to take these pills on an empty stomach but I'm so tired so I just grab a banana to eat in my room before taking the pills and falling asleep, knowing that I'm going to have a very unpleasant phone call with my brother tomorrow morning.