"Tony!"
"Hey, Tony, come over here, quick."
Fiona waved at a man in a blue police uniform by the roadside. She was acting like a lucky cat now, her hand waving incessantly, a fake smile plastered on her face.
Tony stepped out of the patrol car. His police coat wrapped his body tightly, the collar turned up.
Walking on the morning street, he carried an air of toughness that said, "I am the order."
But the moment he saw Fiona smiling at him, regardless of what that smile meant, he seemed to instantly turn into a wagging dog tail.
"Here, still hot." Fiona handed two breakfasts to Tony.
Tony looked down at the bag, then at Fiona. He seemed to see the Virgin Mary descending on the South Side of Chicago.
"You—is this for me? Two?"
"You're a customer too, and the other one is for your partner." Fiona could only cough awkwardly.
But Tony's brain seemed to automatically filter out some things, his tone dragging out a long note.
"Mmhmm, right, I'm your customer too~"
He added silently in his heart, "The most loyal kind."
Fiona: "—"
Fiona rolled her eyes inwardly countless times. She wanted to turn around and run away immediately.
But she couldn't. She had to brace herself and find topics to chat about.
"Do you usually patrol this area too?"
Tony didn't think this was awkward chat and started answering seriously: "No, actually I'm responsible for—to—of course, I just happened to be passing by now."
Fiona gave an "oh." "Then are you cold?"
As soon as she said this, she regretted it, wishing she could strangle her past self from a second ago.
Tony seemed to hear the most beautiful language in the world. He immediately puffed out his chest and secretly held his breath a little.
"Not cold, not cold at all."
Next, the two went through several such Q&As again, topics revolving around the weather and work.
Fiona's face was almost stiff from smiling, but Tony felt the gloomy morning sky was exceptionally bright today—Fiona initiated conversation with him, cared about his work, and specifically called him over!
So, no matter how awkward the chat or how lame the reasons, in Tony's filtered eyes, they became signals that Fiona was starting to rely on him and care about him.
"Hey, come on, man!" A bearded man queuing behind Tony finally couldn't hold back.
He raised his hand and pointed at his watch. "If you want to pick her up, can you wait until she closes the stall? My stomach is starving flat, and I'm almost late for work!"
The bearded man's words drew chuckles and agreement from people queuing behind.
Fiona felt even more awkward. Tony coughed, but he subconsciously straightened his back to the utmost.
"Alright, I'm going back to patrol."
Tony took a step back, but his gaze was still fixed on Fiona.
"Ahem... Fiona, are you free this noon? I know a new place, their vegetable salad is very good. Maybe we can have lunch together."
Saying this, his eyes were full of expectation.
Fiona's expression froze on her face. She started glancing sideways at Lip next to her.
Lip was bending over to help a customer get coffee. Hearing Tony's words, he immediately looked up, putting on a face of extreme regret: "Oh, this noon? That's too unfortunate... Fiona, did you forget? We have to go restock at noon. That boss is only free at noon, right, Fiona?"
He deliberately emphasized a few words.
"Right, right, right." Fiona nodded immediately, while looking back at Tony.
"Tony, I'm really sorry, this noon really won't work."
Fiona was afraid Tony would set another time, so this time she spoke first.
"That—next time, definitely next time. I'll find you to set a time then, okay?" She gave Tony an empty check.
Disappointment flashed across Tony's face, but the words "definitely next time" and "I'll find you" instantly ignited his hope.
"OK, it's a deal." Tony showed a sunny big boy smile.
"I'll wait for your news. Find me anytime if you need anything!"
Carrying the burger, he turned and walked towards the conspicuous police car at the street corner, exuding a revitalized energy.
When Tony opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, his partner rolled his eyes almost to the sky.
"Shit, Tony, what the hell is wrong with you?" His partner said while starting the car.
"She's obviously using you, using your uniform as a talisman for her small stall. Can't you see? Those people in line, and those vendors nearby, their eyes were all staring."
Tony was silent for a while. Just when his partner thought Tony had suddenly enlightened...
"Brother, you don't understand anything."
"Huh? I don't understand anything? Don't understand how you're being played around by this Gallagher girl?"
"No no no," Tony shook his head. "Using? If she didn't have me in her heart at all, she wouldn't even think of using me. So many people in the South Side, why did she call me?"
His partner opened his mouth, feeling he was persuading a fool, a pure fool.
Tony seemed not to notice his expression, still outputting his love philosophy: "This shows that when Fiona encounters trouble, the first person she thinks of is me. This shows I'm special to her. This is a start, do you understand? I feel like I'm going to succeed!"
His partner looked at him for two seconds, finally spitting out one sentence: "You really are a fcking pure-hearted police dog."
After speaking, he couldn't be bothered with the lovesick Tony anymore, driving the police car towards their patrol area.
As the police car gradually disappeared at the street corner, diagonally opposite Fiona's breakfast stall, at the location with the best position at the subway entrance, an old stall owner nicknamed "Big Mouth Ray" spat fiercely.
"Fck!"
This Big Mouth Ray was considered the most senior stall owner on this street.
Before Fiona and Shane came, his double patty juicy hot dog was the sales king of breakfast stalls on this street.
But for more than a week, his business had dropped by at least 30%.
The hooligan who went to find trouble with Fiona yesterday was sent by him to test the waters.
Originally thinking that since the Asian kid who looked like he could fight wasn't there, he could scare this woman and the new student kid. Maybe he could drive them away, or at least get some benefits from them.
Unexpectedly—
"Fck, no wonder they dare to be so arrogant, turns out they know cops."
"Knowing cops shouldn't be a big deal, right? Those cops can't come every day; they have to patrol," a small hot dog vendor next to him said.
"You know shit," Big Mouth Ray stared at Fiona and Lip.
"That cop doesn't need to come every day. If he comes two or three times a week, stands in front of your stall in that skin for a few minutes, asks some nonsense, checks this and that, do you think customers would still dare to come over? They'd fcking run faster than rabbits!"
Several neighboring vendors exchanged glances, seeing the same helplessness in each other's eyes. Their business had also decreased because of Shane's stall.
"Then what can we do? Report them for setting up a stall without a license?"
"Report? Are you an idiot? Once reported, the dog noses of those bullshit departments will all fcking smell their way here. By then, every single one on this street, don't even think about opening here."
Silence.
Finally, Big Mouth Ray sighed, "Damn, earning some money is better than earning no money. That's all we can do. Or wait for them to make some mistake themselves, and we'll give them a push."
He temporarily accepted it.
Survival on the streets is sometimes that simple and direct. Whoever has a "harder" background stands firmer.
On the other street, not until the police car completely disappeared at the intersection did Fiona finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Taking advantage of the gap with no customers, Lip handed her a cup of water and asked, "How on earth did you call Tony over?"
Given Fiona's attitude of avoiding Tony whenever possible, getting Tony to come here voluntarily... he dared not imagine what reason Fiona used.