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“You're such a prick, Kip.” She said it goodnaturedly, when he told her to stop bothering her while he worked. He wasn't actually working, he just wanted to be left alone.His head shot up in surprise.For months now Vee had bothered him, pushing against the walls he'd built up. More often than not she was stronger than those walls and she'd get him to begrudgingly engage in conversation with her.She'd learned about bits and pieces of his life and told him all about hers. She filled him in on things he'd never bothered learning about their coworkers and in return he told her about the employee manual she'd never bothered reading.Vee was pretty sure they were friends.But still he was standoffish and just plain rude. Still he built up walls as if they stood a chance against her. And now, after months, when he dished it out, she threw it right back. Part of him was impressed and the rest of him was annoyed. “If I'm such a prick why do you insist on bothering me?” “Because we're friends.”“No we're not.”“Uh huh.” “Uh uh.”That went on for a minute before either one of them found a more coherent argument.“We can't be friends,” Kip said smugly, as if he'd found a gotcha that would make Vee concede, “because I don't like you.”That should have hurt Vee's feelings but it didn't. Prison and retail had taught her that not everyone could like her.Vee rolled her eyes. “I don't like you either, dumbass. We're still friends.”“I don't think friendship works that way.”She leaned over the corner to look him in the eye, accidentally brushing against his hand and stabbing herself. She didn't flinch away though, there were worse things than a little bit of pain. Like being alone. “You've read the manual, there are new rules here. We don't have to like each other, we're in retail jail. I have your back and I know deep down you have mine. That makes us friends.”Kip looked at her with a mixture of confusion and frustration. “Why would you ever trust me?”“Because you helped me with the vending machine when I first got here.”“So you would get out of my way.”Vee shrugged. “Okay, so you did it for a selfish reason. I think, selfishly, you want a friend in here. I think you want to know you have someone you can trust. Someone you can talk shit with. I want that too. I wouldn't trust you on the outside. But the rules are different in here.”“Fine,” he said, still guarded. “But you better not try to hug me again.”“Deal.”