Elias had a tendency to be rather clumsy. So it really wasn't a surprise to anyone when he rushed into the store and slammed right into Randal.
"Why do you hang out with those Burn Boys?" Randal greeted Elias as he dusted himself off.

Elias looked sort of hurt; they were his friends after all.

"They're nice people, Randal. Much more than you know, so give them a chance. They're off drugs now, you know." Elias replied, proud of his new friends for their abstinence. Randal just scoffed.
"Plus, they believe in the Lord, who helped them through their troubles-"

"Go-bot," Randal interrupted "Those guys are so full of shit and pot and you've got your sights set on the wrong type of friends. Lemme guess; Jay was telling you about the time they saved existence from two renegade angels that look like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and fucked some chick named Bethany, right?" Elias cast his eyes to the floor. Score one for Randal Graves. "They came in here once, high as a fucking kite, trying to feed me the same bullshit. That's just what it is; bullshit. So get smart, don't believe everything a pot-head says, and stay away from them." Just then, Dante walked in. Just in time to see Elias storming off into the back room and slamming the door.

Dante sighed as the front door swung shut behind him. "What did you do now?"

Randal shrugged and returned to his place behind the counter. He began to fiddle with a price gun absently, then mumbled something more to himself than to Dante; "He shouldn't be hanging around those fuckers…"
"Your awfully protective over him all of a sudden." Dante teased while leaning against the counter while Randal snapped out of his daze.

Randal glared at Dante "What's that suppose to mean?"

Dante smirks softly and replied with a "Nothing."
"Alright jack ass, what did you come in here for anyway?" Randal quipped as he marked Dante's arm for 2.95. He always had to get the last word in. Clearly.

Dante rolled his eyes and peeled the sticker off.

"Did you order those 'Dick Nasty' videos? There's a high demand for them you know."

Thank God! A change of subject!

"God, how I wish I didn't! I'll never understand how Mr. Nasty got so popular. Watching a withered old man up to his knobby knees in fine young ladies is just depressing in my book."
"I guess they don't watch it for Mr. Nasty..."
"Now what are you implying?"
"Nothing."
"Fuck You."
"Anyway, order those tapes, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Randal muttered, and Dante was out the door.

As Dante made his way back into the Quick Stop, he ended up thinking of things he didn't want to think about, but thought of them regardless.

Dante was somewhat suspicious about what went on in RST Videos between Randal and Elias over the past few months.

And he questioned the one thing most people thought was evident about Randal Graves; his sexuality.

He'd always figured his best friend was a closet case, using the "pig tail pulling" approach to get Elias' attention back at Mooby's.

But now, Dante was noticing how much they spent time together… how they bicker like an old married couple more than ever before. What was going on in there? Were his accusations really true? He hoped not. He wasn't a homophobe or anything, but he wasn't sure how he would be able to handle that. Things would be different between the two of them. The three of them. But the suspicion was there, gnawing at his brain.

Meanwhile, back at RST, Randal moped while flipping through an old issue of Hustler, sitting on top of the counter, and not getting anything out of the pictures of alluring naked women before him. He couldn't get what Dante said out of his mind.

Why did he care so much about Elias? So what if he hanged around with a bunch of stoners?

Randal never really thought of Jay and Silent Bob as bad people before. He even kind of liked them. They were funny and had good taste in black metal. But it was starting to bug the ever loving shit out of him that Elias was always hanging out with them in the morning. Always laughing and flashing that goofy grin for them.

And not him.

Jealousy? Probably.

Dante was sort of right about Randal, to a degree. Sure, he loved Elias, for a reason beyond him. But was Randal Graves going to do anything about it?

Hell no!

One thing Randal learned from Dante was that falling for a co-worker only leads to heart brake...

Sighing Randal put away the Hustler he was loosing interest in and pulled out some gay porno and began looking through it. Only after making sure no one was looking, of coarse.

To Be Continued...