Avery waved away the fisherman's apologies.
"No problem, dude, I know sales get pretty shaky with winter coming up. Still, you know where to find me if you're ever craving!"
He
had noticed the rather large bump on Ryder's forehead, he'd just decided not to say anything about it.
"Huh, so that's what happened... Hey, don't try and change the subject on me!" Avery said with a small pout,
"Though, since there's no incriminating evidence, yet... I guess I'll let you off the hook, this time."
He grinned, content to let the issue pass, for now.
"Anyways," he continued,
"yeah, I was talking to the Mayor about that, yesterday. She said-"
Avery paused and scratched his head, smile leaving his face momentarily as he looked up in thought. What did she say, again?
"Uh, she said... I forgot what she said. Well, I'm sure she'll make an announcement about it soon, right? I don't really know what's going on, but she probably knows what to do."
And like that, the smile returned, the boy laughing at his own forgetfulness. Just then, a small mewling sounded from below them, and he looked down to catch sight of Mingming, purring happily next to Ryder's box of bread.
"Ah, that's Mingming," he said, and reached down to stroke its' fur,
"She's Clover's cat. Speaking of Clover, I don't see her, anywhere." Avery looked down the shoreline, but there was no Clover in sight; Mingming must've decided to run off again. The cat in question just continued to purr, but kept looking at the box of bread, seemingly enchanted by the smell.
"C'mon, I already gave you some bread, yesterday. If you eat too much of it, you're gonna get fat," Avery said with the sternest look he could muster, but it was getting increasingly harder to resist the cat's big, glossy eyes and constant purring. There was a visible effort to resist the cat's charms, but, in the end, he was a goofy, smiling mess.
"Aww, fine, just a bit won't hurt. Just don't tell Clover."
Taking a muffin out of one of the other boxes, he broke off a piece and held it out for the cat, who promptly gave it a curious sniff and scarfed it down, giving a satisfied meow before scampering off.
"Hey, be grateful! That's coming out of my paycheck!" Avery called after it. He shook his head, before breaking the muffin in half and handing a piece to Ryder.
"Well, you might as well take this," he said with a grin, biting into the other half,
"On me." He glanced down at his watch as he ate, and almost spit out his muffin when he did.
"Aw, shoot! It's almost 10! Sorry Ryder, gotta run, I'll catch you next time," he said. Avery shoved the rest of the muffin into his mouth as he gathered up his bakery boxes, stuffing them into his backpack before slinging it over his shoulders and taking off. Just like him to lose track of the time, huh? He'd have to start running to stay on schedule... As he ran back up the path from the beach to his house, however, he saw two people standing outside: Milli and Ryan, by the looks of it. Pretty odd, seeing the two of them, together. Or seeing Milli with anyone, for that matter. He was just about to call out to them when he noticed something else that was odd.
"Is Milli... limping?" he thought, brow furrowing just a bit. It wouldn't have been the first time that she'd tripped and fallen, but still... he hustled over to the scene.
"Morning Ryan," he greeted, jogging over,
"Milli, you alright?" One look at the damage on her knee told him the answer to that, though, as there was blood already seeping through the makeshift bandage that was covering it. Her knees were shaking from the effort of standing up; it must've been a rough fall.
"Woah, that looks bad. Here, let me help you to your house," he said, offering his shoulder for her to lean on. The fact that Ryan hadn't helped her out already bugged him a little, but getting Milli back to her house to rest came first. Maybe she'd had one of her 'meltdowns' in front of him. He knew how much she beat herself up over them, though; he wouldn't ask, yet.
