Next thing she knew, a bag tapped on her cheek. Dona blinked blurrily at it. It almost felt like she fell asleep again for a second, but she wasn’t sure. “What?”

“Looks like we messed up an order.”

“We?”

“I ordered it. Allison made it. Neither of us realized that I hate everything in it.’

Charity then. Great. She pushed the bag over closer to him. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Ah. To prideful to accept help. Classic.” He sprawled himself on the other bench only to half roll off. His arm hooked on the top of the bench and he dragged himself up only to have his shoulder bash the table. “Whoa.”

“You’re drunk. That’s what’s happening right?”

“I am,” he pointed at something that didn’t exist in front of him, “not. I did medicate. Double medicate. Or forgot to take it. I can’t remember which”

“Maybe I’m drunk. Or just hallucinating.”

“Life is but a hallucination.”

“Thanks,” Dona drawled out.

“Welcome.” He pushed the bag closer to her. “There’s a variety in there. I wasn’t sure if you had any dietary restriction. I’d have given you money, but I feel like you would have left it.”

“I would have bought a coat.”

“Fair enough.”

“You better get a coat anyway,” Allison said. She threw another bag into Key’s lap.

He blinked down at it. “Oh. That’s where that went?”

Allison ignored him. Instead, she asked, “Do you seriously not have a coat?”

“Didn’t need one,” Dona said.

“Well, congrats, you really need one now.” Allison slid herself in-between Key’s legs.

He blinked up at her as she slid herself between his sprawled legs. “And you’re here now.”

“The drive through is a goner ‘cause of the shit ton of snow. So, unless someone comes through that,” she jabbed her thumb towards the door, “I’ve got nothing to do. I can do whatever the hell I want seeing as none of the cameras work with you here anyway.”

“Oh they don’t? Cool. Why?”

“You tell me, my dude. You’re the one that’s supposed to be like a has-been god or something right?”

“Honey, I’m worse. I’m retired.”

“God, that is worse. That means you chose this life.”

“I’m sensing some anger today.”

“Oh please. I’m barely legally able to work and I’m already hating it. My CIS classes are totally going to make me fail my high school classes cause how do they expect me to be in like three places at once? Oh, fucking Tanner wants to pretend to be, like, my actual dad when he’s only a step-dad. Like, he can’t yell at me for failing history. My mom barely even cares.”

“Ouch, yeah?”

“Yeah, like, he thinks that he can just waltz into my life and control it by being my dad. Like, I don’t care about my ex-dad, so why should I care about this new dad?”

“Definitely.”

“And then Mom is all like, care about this man because I care about him and, like, don’t I get to choose if I like him or not?”

“Of course.”

“Tell that to my mom,” Allison said then shrugged. “I don’t know, man. How’s your relationship with your parents?”

“I think that I was banished by my dad. That or I am my dad. Or I was dating him before I existed.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck indeed.”

“That sucks, my dude.” She turned to Dona. “So what about you? Any parent troubles?”

“I honestly haven’t understood anything about this conversation. Like, I’m hearing words but,” she swept her hand over her head, “gone there.”

Allison nodded at her. “I get that.”

Dona waited for them to start some other random conversation, but they both stayed silent. Key reached into the bag still on his chest. He pulled out a few fries and started nibbling at them. Allison started sucking at a strawberry shake and tapping something on her phone.

And, what the heck, there was no use in wasting food right? They both had their own, so she pulled out a burgers from her own bag. It was clearly the more expensive type because they came in boxes not just wrappers. She could smell the lettuce even before opening it, which was a bad sign honestly. If she could actually smell something as boring as lettuce and it actually made her mouth water, how long had it been since she ate something even remotely fresh like a vegetable?

One small bite led to another bigger one until she practically shoved the rest into her mouth. She scooped up the shreds of lettuce from the bottom of the box and stuffed that into her mouth too. Her stomach was already cramping up, but she pulled out the grilled chicken sandwich anyway.

The man poured some of his fries into the empty box and she took bites of then in between much smaller, much slower, bites of the second sandwich.

“Why are you helping me?” she asked.

“Multiple reasons. One of which, we’ve all needed help once.” His movements seemed smoother, but way slower, like he was moving through an entire vat of molasses.

“You okay? You suddenly seem…” She gestured at something and nothing at the same time.

“Meds really hitting.”

“They must be pretty powerful stuff to change things that quick.”

“They are. Mostly, I feel sick. They aren’t agreeing with me lately.” He bashed his head on the wall behind him and slid further down until his legs were completely pressed against Allison.

Allison waved her hand in front of his face, but he didn’t respond.

“Well, he’s dead,” she said before going back to slurping down her shake.

“You seem okay with that.”

“You get used to him passing out. Plus, I’m more worried about you. You know this place isn’t 24 hour right?”

“I knew that. I’m just waiting for the storm to die down some is all.”

Allison said, “Well, my dude, I hope you’re really ready to dig that sucker out because your car is completely buried.”

“So it is snowing outside?”

“Uh, yeah? Do you seriously not remember?”

“I don’t know. Life is kinda blurry right now.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly kidding about the concussion thing earlier,” Allison said,. “Listen, I legit live in a homeless shelter. My mom kinda helps run it, so I can get you in no problem. Well, not really ‘cause we aren’t actually open but you can come as like a friend if you want. It’s better than risking driving around in the ice with a head injury.”

“I don’t need more help.”

“Oh yeah?” She leveled her with a look. “You know it’s ten below. Like, ten below zero, not freezing. Do you want to be prideful or do you want to not freeze to death? Or how about getting off the road before you kill someone else?”

Dona couldn’t make eye contact, so she finished off her chicken sandwich instead. She took the closest shake and started dipping the fries in the chocolate shake. Most of the whip cream had already melted, so she shoved it to the side to keep a bit more chocolate plus fry purity.