CHAPTER 9: LET’S GO TO THE MALL

It was 4 o’clock. The last thing I had to do for the day was to get to the city to buy some things, including the organizer book thingy (this one’s gonna stuck too) that I finally admitted that I desperately needed.

I took out my phone to call Chuck and he picked up immediately, like usual. “Hey,” I chirped.

“‘Sup?” Chuck asked, breathless. I guess he was still in practice.

“What are you doing?” I still asked just to make sure.

“Practice,” he answered. Bingo. “What is it?” he asked.

“Nah,” I said, “I’m going to the city. Thought I’d ask you to go with me. But you obviously can’t, so, see you tomorrow?” I told him, about to hung up when Chuck said,

“Hey, wait,” Chuck said, “I’ll call Allen,” he hurriedly told me and hung up, though before letting out a silent ‘fuck’.

“What the…?” I was at loss and kinda irritated to be honest.

Why does he need to call Allen?

I scratch my head as I walk outside the building and onto the warm afternoon breeze. I am heading towards the campus’ gate and when I’m halfway there, my phone starts to ring. It’s Allen. I picked it up immediately. Don’t tell me Chuck actually called the guy?

“‘Sup?” I answered it nonchalantly.

“Where are you?” he asked immediately.

“Umh… Near Linguistic Faculty building. Why?” I answered hesitantly.

“Wait there,” he said, then hung up. I frowned.

Don’t tell me Chuck called him to come pick me up?

I was starting to get a little, no, a lot annoyed. Chuck’s getting too far in keeping me checked out now he was even involving Allen!

I groaned in frustration as I hesitantly looked for a place to sit. I tried calling Allen to make him stop doing whatever Chuck told him to do, but he’s not picking up my calls. After a few more minutes of trying to call Allen, a black 2015 Ford convertible stopped in front of me and Allen got off of it. My eyes and mouth, of course, agape.

“Dude! How rich exactly are you?” I asked excitedly, completely forgetting that I was annoyed. I was admiring the beauty as Allen approached me silently, with an embarrassed smile. He took my bag and my hand.

“Let’s go,” he said, dragging me to the car. He opened the passenger door for me and let me in before opening the back door and putting my bag inside. He then sat behind the wheel, starting the engine and driving off. “Where are we going?” he then asked.

I hit his arm in annoyance.

“You don’t even know where you’re taking me and you bother getting your car from the dorm?” I almost yelled at him. Well I actually wanted to yell at Chuck, but since he was not available…

“Chuck only told me to pick you up and take you to the city. He’s in a hurry,” Allen explained on behalf of one of my dearest friends.

“You shouldn’t have to…” I told him, getting even more embarrassed but somehow glad that he did. He turned to look at me and smiled.

“I know,” he said and I could feel my cheeks warming up for some unknown yet must be a bizarre reason. He turned his attention back on the road and asked again, “So where to?”

“Central City Mall,” I mumbled as I told him while trying to get rid of the warm sensation on my cheek that I hadn’t had the opportunity to feel before. I groaned mentally and decided to just stare at the road. It was a little after four on Wednesday, and traffic was hell as always.

“It’ll take some time to get there,” Allen said and I nodded, though he couldn’t see me, for sure. I could feel my eyes slowly getting heavier. Damn, this car was so freakin’ comfortable. I mentally cursed as I started to doze off.

I started to wake up when Allen gently tapped on my shoulder. “We’re here,” he said softly and unfastened my seatbelt for me. I stretched my body, feeling quite refreshed but then I turned to Allen in embarrassment.

“Sorry,” I said to him, flashing, probably, my embarrassed grin.

“It’s okay,” he smiled, though it’s still the same, different smile from this morning. “You must be exhausted.”

“Kinda,” I admitted as we got out of the car and walked into the mall.

Allen just smiled and ruffled my hair gently as we headed straight to the office supply store to get my organizer book thingy (told ya!). Allen, who was trailing behind me, said nothing and just watched me picking up the most practical organizer book thingy to buy. He seemed lost in his own thoughts when I happened to steal a glance at him. Quieter too. I felt kinda bad, for some reason, so I hurriedly chose one and paid for it.

Next we headed to the garment store to buy some garment for me to use to fix the fencing team’s uniform and some sewing kit. I ran out of threads a long time ago so I was getting some more for my own use and supply.

“Finished?” Allen, who waited outside the store, asked when I walked up to him. I nodded and he checked his watch. “Dinner?” he asked again. I studied his face. I still got that weird nagging feeling from this morning that was telling me that something was bugging Allen, but since he didn’t say anything, I let it go and just nodded readily at his question.

“You buying?” I grinned shamelessly and he laughed before taking my shopping bags from my hands and putting his hand over my shoulder and starting dragging me. I sighed exasperatedly. Now he even picked up Chuck’s habit of dragging me by my neck here and there. But Allen’s hands were gentler than Chuck’s though. At least he tried not to suffocate me, so I let him. I was too tired to struggle anyway.

By the way, he was taking me to dine at TGIF and I didn’t think I could grin wider than this. Heh heh heh. I loved the steak here. But it was far too expensive for me so unless someone else was paying or I got a voucher, I was not even getting anywhere near this place.

We sat facing each other and immediately ordered a ton of food (well, I was the one who mostly ordered, shamelessly) and sat back as we waited for them. I occasionally made jokes, even lame ones, because I could still feel that Allen was somehow a little down today. I didn’t like it when my friends were sad.

Maybe Allen noticed that I was actually trying to make him laugh because after a few too many bad jokes, he reached out his big hand and gently caressed my hair while smiling.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

I could feel the strange warm feeling on my cheek came back, as I realized that I got found out. I smiled, feeling rather shy (me? Shy? Huh?). Allen kept staring at me and caressing my hair. It started to feel kinda awkward and I could swear that I felt my cheeks getting even warmer, almost burning. I couldn’t just brush his hand away. I didn’t want to hurt him by doing so. Besides, it felt… nice…

Saved by the bell!

I jumped happily inside when my phone started to ring and I immediately fished it out of my pocket. Marsha was face-timing me.

“Hi!” I answered and I could see her glowing face on the screen. More radiant than usual. I was about to ask but then Kenneth’s face popped up beside her. Oh! So that’s why! “You’re in London?” I exclaimed at her in jealousy.

“Hi Lee,” Kenneth greeted me sheepishly. I pouted even more.

“Where are you right now? What are you doing?” so began the interrogation. I rolled my eyes at Marsha who just giggled and waited for me to answer.

“I’m about to have dinner at the Central City Mall,” I told her.

“Is Chuck with you?” Marsha asked again and I shook my head.

“I’m with Allen,” I told her while motioning for Allen to sit beside me so Marsha and Kenneth could see him too.

“Hi Sha,” Allen greeted her as he sat beside me, circling his hand around my shoulder. There it was. The warmth was creeping up again to my cheek. Was I having a fever?

“Hi Allen. This is Kenneth, my boyfriend,” she introduced the two.

“Hi. Nice to… uh… see you,” Allen chuckled.

“You too,” Kenneth greeted back, waving his hand and grinning like the lunatic he was. “You’re filling in for Chuck?” he asked, teasing Allen while I pouted and glared at my other good friend. Not as good as Chuck and Marsha, but close to it. We’ve known each other since he went out with Marsha, six years ago, give or take.

“Yeah. That bastard has practice so I’m stuck babysitting,” Allen joked, pulling me closer to him which made it quite hard to smack his head like I wanted to, so I settled with stomping on his foot.

“You guys are too much!” I complained as Allen groaned though still smiling.

“But if it weren’t for Allen, you wouldn’t be having a feast, right?” Kenneth teased me, stating the obvious. How did he know that Allen was paying anyway? Maybe my shamelessness was being seen through.

Don’t care!

But I was still going to pout. I liked pouting, bite me!

“Thanks Allen,” Marsha said to the jerk beside me. I glared at her. “I won’t be back for at least two weeks and Chuck’s also busy. He’s also going to go back home for a few days sooner or later. Mind keeping an eye on Lee for us?” she asked ever so sweetly. Who could reject that kind of request from such beauty anyway?

“The hell Sha? I’m not a brat!” I protested as Allen laughed and pulled me even closer, ruffling my hair.

Yep. I was definitely having a slight fever, I thought as the warmth was coming back to my cheek.

“I’ll be happy to,” Allen answered her with almost the same amount of sweetness that made me roll my eyes in exasperation.

“Good for you, Lee!” Kenneth exclaimed, happily mocking me. God, how much I wanted to punch that stupid grin off of his stupid face!

“You! Wait ’till you get back you ass!” I threatened him but he just laughed at me, like Marsha and Allen. I wanted to threaten him more, with more conviction, describing in an explicit way what I would do to him once I got a hold of his ass, but the waiter came with our food so we quickly bid our goodbyes before Kenneth could tease me even more or Marsha gave me a speech about anything and everything.