CHAPTER 9: LET'S GO TO THE MALL

It's now 4 o'clock. The last thing I have to do for the day is to get to the city to buy some things, including the organizer book thingy (this one's gonna stuck too) that I finally admit that I desperately need.

I take out my phone to call Chuck and he picks up immediately, like usual. "Hey," I chirp.

"'Sup?" Chuck asks, breathless. I guess he's still in practice.

"What are you doing?" I still ask just to make sure.

"Practice," He answers. Bingo. "What is it?" he asks.

"Nah," I say, "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 tell him, about to hang up when Chuck says,

"Hey, wait," Chuck says, "I'll call Allen," He says and he hangs up, though before letting out a silent 'fuck'.

"What the...?" I am 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 pick it up immediately. Don't tell me Chuck actually called the guy?

"'Sup?" I answer it nonchalantly.

"Where are you?" he asks immediately.

"Umh... Near Linguistic Faculty building. Why?" I answer hesitantly.

"Wait there," He says then hangs up. I frown. Don't tell me Chuck called him to come pick me up? I'm starting to get a little, no, a lot annoyed. Chuck's getting too far in keeping me checked out now he's even involving Allen!

I groan in frustration as I hesitantly look for a place to sit. I try 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 stops in front of me and Allen gets off from it. My eyes and mouth, of course, agape.

"Dude! How rich exactly are you?" I ask shamelessly, completely forgetting that I'm annoyed. I'm admiring the beauty as Allen approaches me silently, with an embarrassed smile. He takes my bag and my hand.

"Let's go," He says, dragging me to the car. He opens the passenger door for me and lets me in before opening the back door and putting my bag inside. He then sits behind the wheel, starting the engine and drives off. "Where are we going?" he then asks. 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 yell at him. Well I actually want to yell at Chuck, but since he's not here...

"Chuck only told me to pick you up and take you to the city. He's in a hurry," Allen explains on behalf of one of my dearest friends.

"You shouldn't have to..." I tell him, getting even more embarrassed but somehow glad that he did. He turns to look at me and smiles.

"I know," He says and I can feel my cheeks warming up for some unknown yet must be a bizarre reason. He turns his attention back on the road and asks again, "So where to?"

"Central City Mall," I mumble as I tell him while trying to get rid of the warm sensation on my cheek that I haven't had the opportunity to feel before. I groan mentally and decide to just stare at the road. It's a little after four on Wednesday, and traffic is hell as always.

"It'll take some time to get there," Allen says and I nod, though he can't see me, for sure. I can feel my eyes slowly getting heavier. Damn, this car is so freakin' comfortable. I mentally curse as I'm starting to doze off.

I'm starting to wake up when Allen gently taps on my shoulder. "We're here," He says softly and unfastens my seatbelt for me. I stretch my body, feeling quite refreshed but then I turn to Allen in embarrassment.

"Sorry," I say to him, grinning apologetically.

"It's okay," He smiles, though it's still the same different smile from this morning. "You must be tired."

"Kinda," I admit as we get off the car and walk into the mall.

Allen just smiles and ruffles my hair gently as we head straight to the office supply store to get my organizer book thingy (told ya!). Allen, who's trailing behind me, says nothing and just watches me picking up the most practical organizer book thingy to buy. He seems lost in his own thoughts when I happen to steal a glance at him. Quieter too. I feel kinda bad, for some reason, so I hurriedly choose one and pay for it.

Next we head 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'm getting some more for my own use and supply.

"Finished?" Allen who waits outside the store asks when I walk up to him. I nod and he checks his watch. "Dinner?" he asks again. I study his face. I still get that weird nagging feeling from this morning that's telling me that something's bugging Allen, but since he doesn't say anything, I let it go and just nodded willingly at his question.

"You buying?" I grin shamelessly and he laughs before taking my shopping bags from my hands and puts his hand over my shoulder and starts dragging me. I sigh exasperatedly. Now he even picks up Chuck's habit of dragging me by my neck here and there. But Allen's hand's gentler than Chuck's though. At least he tries not to suffocate me, so I let him. I'm too tired to struggle anyway.

By the way, he's taking me to dine at TGIF and I don't think I can grin wider than this. Heh heh heh. I love the steak here. But it's far too expensive for me so unless someone else's paying or I get a voucher, I'm not even getting anywhere near this place.

We sit facing each other and immediately order a ton of food (well, I'm the one who mostly order, shamelessly) and sit back as we wait for them. I occasionally make jokes, even lame ones, because I can still feel that Allen's somehow is a little down today. I don't like it when my friends are sad.

Maybe Allen notices that I'm actually trying to make him laugh because after a few too many bad jokes, he reaches out his big hand and gently caresses my hair while smiling. "Thank you," He says softly.

I can feel the strange warm feeling on my cheek come back as I realized that I got found out. I smile rather shyly (me? Shy? Huh?). Allen keeps staring at me and caressing my hair. It starts to feel kinda awkward and I can swear that I feel my cheeks getting even warmer now, almost burning. I can't just brush his hand away. I don't want to hurt him by doing so. Besides, it feels... nice...

Saved by the bell! I jump happily inside when my phone starts to ring and I immediately fish my pocket for it. Marsha is face-timing me.

"Hi!" I answer and I can see her glowing face on the screen. More radiant than usual. I'm about to ask but then Kenneth's face pops up beside her. Oh! So that's why! "You're in London?" I exclaim at her in jealousy.

"Hi Lee," Kenneth greets me sheepishly. I pout even more.

"Where are you right now? What are you doing?" so begins the interrogation. I roll my eyes at Marsha who just giggles and waits for me to answer.

"I'm about to have dinner at the Central City Mall," I tell her.

"Is Chuck with you?" Marsha asks again and I shake my head.

"I'm with Allen," I tell her while motioning for Allen to sit beside me so Marsha and Kenneth can see him too.

"Hi Sha." Allen greets her as he sits beside me, circling his hand around my shoulder. There it goes. The warmth is creeping up again to my cheek. Am I having a fever?

"Hi Allen. This is Kenneth, my boyfriend," She introduces the two.

"Hi. Nice to... uh... see you," Allen chuckles awkwardly.

"You too," Kenneth says. "You're filling in for Chuck?" he asks, teasing Allen while I pout and glare 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 jokes, pulling me closer to him which makes it quite hard to smack his head like I want to, so I settle with stomping on his foot.

"You guys are too much!" I complain as Allen groans though still smiling.

"But if it weren't for Allen, you won't be having a feast, right?" Kenneth teases me, stating the obvious. How does he know that Allen's paying anyway? Maybe my shamelessness is being seen through. Don't care! But I'm still going to pout. I like pouting, bite me!

"Thanks Allen," Marsha says to the jerk beside me. I glare 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 asks ever so sweetly. Who can reject that kind of request from such beauty anyway?

"The hell Sha? I'm not a brat!" I protest as Allen laughs and pull me even closer, ruffling my hair.

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

"I'll be happy to," Allen answers her with almost the same amount of sweetness that makes me roll my eyes in exasperation.

"Good for you, Lee!" Kenneth exclaims, happily mocking me. God, how much I want to punch that stupid grin off of his stupid face!

"You! Wait 'till you get back you ass!" I threaten him but he just laughs at me, like Marsha and Allen. I want to threaten him more, with more conviction, describing in an explicit way what I will do to him once I get a hold of his ass, but the waiter comes with our food so we quickly bid our goodbyes before Kenneth can tease me even more or Marsha gives me a speech about anything and everything.