chapter five
bubblegum bitch.

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Agent Coulson was not having the time of her life when Juno kept accidentally hitting her kennel against something as she tried to sneak out the back door. The nerves and excitement were eating her up too fast she had forgotten to be careful. It was in her mind yet her subconscious made her do everything except for be comfortable. Door frames, tables, the walls, the staircase railing. She had a backpack and a duffel bag that looked pretty small but held so much of her stuff inside.

She figured her mom might have gone in the living room again since she wasn't in her room as she walked passed and couldn't risk her seeing her.

She had changed into sweatpants and put on another pair of white socks over her bandage before she put her red converse on and rushed to leave. She wasn't a loud person so she didn't worry too much about making too much noise, her drunken mother would not be able to notice the small thuds. At least she hadn't noticed when Juno had snuck out through the back door before.

That or she chose to ignore it or simply did not care.

She made it to the kitchen, successfully avoiding the living room and made it to the back door until she heard a loud crash. She stopped in her tracks and turned around, scanning the dark room for anything that could have made the noise. Not seeing anything besides darkness and hearing nothing but shuffling in the living room she decided it was her mother again and went out the back door.

The night was still and it was silent besides the chirping of crickets as she walked on the side of her house to meet Eli who had already been in the driveway. She didn't expect to see him that quickly.

"Sorry we are not taking Demetri's car," he spoke the second he saw her.

He had been outside his car and rushed to help her with her stuff. She thanked him and lifted her cat to her face and apologized to her. "Im sure this has been an odd night for you, I'm sorry but it will be okay in a bit."

"You're bringing her?" Eli asked as she put the cat in the back seat and he closed the trunk.

"Am I not supposed to?" she asked, shutting the door and making it to the passenger side.

"No no I was just wondering."

"I can't leave her by herself," she spoke before they sat in the car and adjusted.

"Where are we going first?" Eli asked, holding her hand and running his thumb over her knuckles. He didn't bring up the tears that were still visible on her face. "Do you want to go where we planned or somewhere different?"

"I want to go to Seattle," she said quickly. "I think its unfair to go to the places they want to go to after we left them."

"Seattle it is then," he smiled and kissed the back of her hand.

♡ ♥ ♡

They decided to go to a gas station first. It would be stupid to go to another state with only a half tank of gas and expecting to make it there without the worry of being stranded. While Eli pumped gas, Juno was tasked with going inside and getting snacks. As soon as she walked in she went straight to the person working behind the register.

"Hello," she said as he looked at her. He seemed to be in his twenties, tall, dark hair, Juno missed the look he was giving her because she was too busy looking around. "I might have a lot of snacks, can I put them here even when I'm not done?"

"Sure," he smiled at her.

"Thanks!"

She bent down and grabbed a few packs of watermelon and mint gum that was in a shelf underneath the register before turning and leaving. She grabbed some chips, cookies, and like three different bags off beef jerky before making it back to the register. She left for drinks, getting fountain drinks and energy drinks and espresso in cans, before determining if she should get water or not. She decided not too. Juno realized the more she walked the more painful the pain in her leg had gotten. So she made her way to the register and decided she was done.

The boy had put everything in bags already and she looked at the pin pad and saw nothing rung up.

"Hey are you going to scan them?" she asked.

"Nah," he said, winking. "Its on the house."  

Weird. Can they even do that?

"I have to pay for something, this is a lot of stuff," she frowned.

He shrugged and scanned the two fountain drinks and gave her her total. She figured this would save them money and though she felt guilty, she didnt say anything and paid.

"Thank you!" she spoke before grabbing her bags and heading out the door. She had started to subconsciously limp.

"Anytime," he called back before the door could close.

"That guy in there is really nice," Juno said as she approached the car and leaned against it with their snacks and drinks in her hand. She took a sip of her fountain drink, a diet coke to be exact, and never once looked away from Eli who was filling up gas. "He gave me some of this for free."

"Hm," he hummed, looking behind her suspiciously at the doors of the gas station before finishing up the gas.

"Hm," she hummed back, looking around them. "Do you want me to drive so you can sleep?"

"Thats alright," he said as she put the snacks in the back and checked on Agent Coulson. He took his drink that Juno had sat on the roof of the car and took a sip. "I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

She gave her cat a kiss on the head as Eli got into the drivers seat and sanitized his hands. The cat was still sleeping so Juno pulled away and closed the door. She grabbed her drink from the roof as Eli had done before and took sips as she went around to get into the passenger seat. As soon as she closed the door Eli locked her door and told her to hurry and put her seat belt on.  She did it without question and looked at him. He was staring straight ahead as he put the car in drive and began to leave.

Juno caught sight of the man Eli was staring at, he was tall yet hunched over and had a tan jacket. His eyes were wide and there was a smile on his face as he watched them leave and she immediately looked away.

"That guy is creepy," she muttered.

"Tell me about it," he replied.

They said nothing as Eli drove to the nearest freeway.

"So what did you get?" Eli asked as he went onto the freeway, not exactly knowing where he was going but didnt say anything. Hopefully they were going the right way to Seattle. They didnt dare speak more about the creepy man at the gas station.

"Gum, beef jerky, chips, cookies, some energy drinks, and a thing of cards," she spoke as she counted off her fingers. "I would've got water bottles but I remembered I have two in my bag that we can just fill up at like a mall or something."

♡ ♥ ♡

The sky had begun to get brighter and more cars had started to come out, going to work and school they supposed. It was nice to see other cars besides the semi trucks they had seen the last two hours. Yet Juno couldn't help but bring her fingers up to her lips and bite her nails.

"What's wrong?" Eli asked, taking a brief look at her before immediately looking at the road.

"Im sorry we're going to miss graduation," she apologized. "I know you wanted to go."

He shook his head and scoffed making her look at him with pure confusion.

"I didn't want to go," he replied, bringing his hand up to his lip subconsciously. "My mom wanted me too. I would rather die than go up and face a big crowd."

She frowned and linked her arm with his that had been rested on the center console.

"Do you think she'll be mad?"

"Probably."

"Do you think she'll track us?"

"I don't think she even knows how," he chuckled. "But for safety I turned my location off for everything and blocked her on social media."

She laughed with him and laid her head back. A piece of gum was blown into a bubble between her lips. She was getting hungry but refused to eat the snacks until it was really needed yet Eli could hear her tummy rumbling.

"Do you want to go get breakfast?" he asked, chuckling to himself when her stomach grumbled again.

"Sure, which gas station are you going to?"

"I was thinking more like a restaurant," he shrugged and looked st her as they stopped at a red light in a city none of them had been too. "Will Agent Coulson be okay with that?"

"I have a bag to hide her in," she grinned.

does anybody else get the ick when you're reading a fic and the author just writes the person so out of character. like obviously its not going to be the exact same character because its fanfiction but it feels like its a whole different person with the characters name and face and it feels so off.