Chapter 2: Shopping Mall

"Aww!" Brenda squeals loudly. I cringe at her voice as she digs her talon-I mean hand, into Mason's arm. "Look at this cute bear!" She shoves her phone at me. "Take a picture of us!"

"How do you ask?" I snap. She glowers at me.

"Please." She barks.

"Like you mean it." I say.

"Just take the picture please, Nate." Mason says. I look at him and he gives me a painful, pleading look. I roll my eyes.

Why the hell does he date her?

I stand back and wait until they're ready.

It's twenty eight degrees outside and she's wearing a mini skirt and a loose white tank top. Mason stands facing me, his arm around her waist, and she stands to the side, both of her hands on her left shoulder, her blonde hair flicked over her shoulder. She lifts her right leg up so high that her heel touched her butt, and looks at me with a smile that looks like a grimace or a sneer.

I take the picture and shove her phone at her.

"Can we leave?" I blurt, looking at Mason.

"No!" Brenda says her voice higher than Whitney Houston went while singing. I shudder.

"I'll take a cab." I say.

"No, just stay with us." Mason says.

"Yeah, who's going to take our photo if you're not here?" Brenda bats her eyes at me, trying to look cute.

"Is there something in your eye?" I snap. She stops, glaring at me. I smile smugly, and then I sigh. "It's a shopping mall, Brenda, not a fucking Christmas light show. You don't need to take a photo in front of everything."

"I need to make a new Instagram post and it's not selfie day." She snaps. "Let's go Macy." She grabs Mason with her talon-I mean hand, and marches out of hot topic.

Why the hell did she want to take a photo in hot topic?

Rolling my eyes, I shove my hands in my pockets and follow them to the next store, Victoria Secret.

"Oh fuck no." I say. "I'm not going in there."

"Why?" Mason teases. "Scared?"

"No." I growl. "But I'm not going to go with you while your bubbly Barbie girlfriend picks out hot pink thongs. I'll never go into Victoria's Secret, even if I got a wife and she wanted to go in. I'll sit there and play temple run." I point to the chairs in the middle of the hall between stores.

"I am not a bubbly Barbie!" Brenda says, flicking her hair over her shoulder "Come on Nathan, maybe you will meet a girl!"

"I'm not going to meet any girl with you around. You're like bug repellent with your-"

"Okay, you can stay out here." Mason cuts me off, shooting me a flat look before pulling his girlfriend into the store. I scowl, plopping down on one of the couches. I tug my phone from my pocket and open up Temple Run. After a couple moments, it loads, and I start playing. I swipe my thumb all over the screen, and after a couple moments, the app crashes and I let out a swear.

I almost beat my high score.

Pissed, I check my bank account, which takes a couple minutes to load.

In savings I've got four hundred dollars.

I bite my lip, sign out, and stand up. I glance at Victoria Secret.

Brenda will probably have Mason in there for an hour, so I shove my phone in my pocket and walk across the mall.

I go down the escalator and finish my trek when I reach t-mobile, walking inside.

"Can I help you?" A guy asks. He's not helping anybody. I walk over to him.

"I need a new phone." I say. "I'm ready to throw mine at a wall."

He laughs. "What kind of phone do you have?"

I bite my lip.

"And iPhone three."

His eyes widen, and then he looks like he's going to laugh. He suppresses it, nodding.

"Okay, what kind of phone are you looking for?"

"Can I get an iPhone 6?" I ask.

"Sure, what color?"

"Uh...space gray?" I ask.

He nods, walking into the back. He comes back with the iPhone 6 and opens the box.

_____

"Where the hell have you been?" Mason half growls when I find them in Bath and Body Works.

I picked one of the girliest stores and found them on my first try.

I smile smugly at my success.

"I was getting a new phone." I say as Brenda picks up a bottle of perfume and sniffs it.

She looks satisfied and then soaks herself in it.

"You got a new phone?" Mason asks, cringing when the scent of probably the nastiest perfume I've ever felt wafts up our noses.

I cough, choking on it, and back up a few feet.

"Yes." I say. "iPhone six." I add. "Can I we go now? I want to lay in bed."

"You need a girlfriend." Brenda snaps.

"You need testosterone so you won't sound like my brothers hamster." I reiterate, looking at Mason. "Can we go now?"

"You know who you should date?" Mason asks.

"Who?" I ask, cursing mentally for sounding eager.

While I'm fully aware I'm going to die alone, it doesn't mean I want to die alone.

"Odeletta." He smirks.

I frown.

"Who the fuck is that?"

"The girl from French."

"You mean the girl who bruised me in two different spots?" I grimace.

He gives me a flat look.

"I bet she was just in a bad mood. She's not really like that."

"I've never seen a female with such a dark style." I respond. "I mean, come on! The black jeans, the black boots, the blood red shirt, and the black jacket? Not to mention her dark, short, wavy hair, and her brown eyes."

Brenda and Mason are both looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"You like her!" Mason says.

I scoff loudly. "I do not."

Brenda squeals loudly, causing both of us to jump, and a teenage girl nearby to glare.

"Yes you do! Oh my god, maybe you can finally lose your virginity!" She claps her hand and I feel my face heat up with embarrassment.

"Maybe you can finally lose your STD." I snap. "Oh wait, you were born with AIDS, and that's not treatable." I tap my chin. "Too bad your Mom is a whore."

"Whoa dude, that was fucking rude." Some guy nearby says to me.

"Was I talking to you?" I reply, glaring at him.

"You need a girlfriend so badly. You are the most bitter person I know." Brenda folds her arms across her chest. "And I don't have AIDS, and at least I've been touched by the opposite sex."

"I've been touched by a female." I snap.

"Yeah? Who was your first kiss?" She replies. "And don't say that girl from elementary. Everyone knows those don't count. It has to be high school."

"You-"

"Hey!" Mason says. "Isn't that her?" He points outside the store at some girl who's passing.

I turn around. She's wearing a black beanie on her head. There's black skinny jeans, a black belt, black heeled boots, a black t-shirt, and a black leather jacket.

"That's Oda-whatever?" Brenda squeals. "Oh my God, I'm going to get you a date!"

She drops her bottle of perfume back into the plastic container it was in and runs out of the shop. My eyes widen and I follow her, Mason right on my heels.

She runs up to the girl, grabbing her arm.

The girl whips around, a fire in her eyes.

"Hi! I'm Brenda!" Brenda squeals loudly. "What's your name? Do you want a date? I know a guy who really needs a girlfriend!"

Her hand is still gripping her wrist.

It's definitely not Odeletta. I mean, she's blonde, for fucks sake. Her face forms into a snarl and she rips her talon-I mean hand, from her grip.

"Do you want a boyfriend?" Brenda squeals. "Oh my god, you're so pretty. If we threw in some pink, you'd be gorgeous! Come on, let's go shopping!"

She looks disgusted, but she doesn't say anything.

"You sound like a cat." the girl says. She completely English. "And I have a boyfriend." Brenda's face falls. "Don't touch me ever again, now I have to go bathe in boiling bleach."

The turns around and stalks away, and I find myself keeling forward, my hands on my knees, choking on air as I laugh.

Brenda turns around.

"She is not the right girl for you! She's a...a bully!"

I start laughing harder at Brenda's inability to say 'bitch'.

"Well good, that wasn't her." Mason says.

"What?" Brenda screeches.

"God, you sound like a fucking parrot." I snap. "Can you talk like a normal person?"

"You let me make a fool of myself like that?" She whines to Mason. "That's so mean!"

"I didn't know it wasn't her." He defends.

"Well...well, well I'm going home!"

She turns around and fake cries so loud that people in stores come out to see what's happening.

"Brenda! Wait baby, I love you!" Mason chases after her.

I sigh slowly.

I hate third wheeling.

_____