This Is the World We Left for Dreamers and Believers

“I think that went okay.” Jared said rubbing the back of his neck. I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes. It went horrible. They’d said yes but it was also the most traumatizing ten minutes of my life to date. It’d gone like this; Dad meets guys, Dad makes assumptions, Dad asks who said daughter is fucking, awkward silence, Kennedy, Pat, and John all raise their hands and then burst into a fit of giggles, John explains the joke and then stops talking at the glare that is being shot at him from all sides of the room, Mom says its okay if they keep me out of trouble and I don’t come back Prego. That was never going to leave my memory. It was like a tape on repeat, over and over and over again. I need a brain cleaning.

“It wasn’t that bad Annabel!” Garret said, hugging me around my shoulders. I shook my head, pulling my hood up. They all talked around me while I dozed. The past week had been exhausting. Life hadn’t been this crazy in so long.

“Annaaaaaabellllllll! Wake upppp!” I yawned and pushed the hood off my head. Kennedy smiled down at me.

“Wal-Mart time?”

“Wal-Mart time.” He confirmed. We jumped out of the van and laced our arms together, skipping into the brightly lit store. We passed the candy aisle, Kennedy staring long fully. Ha. He was not getting sugar!

“Kenny! Look! Romo jerseys! We should each get one so we can match!!” I said, pointing. He shook his head and stepped away.

“I don’t know you.” I pouted and stomped my foot.

“Best friend! Don’t be mean!” He laughed and pulled me into a hug.

“We’re not getting Tony Homo jerseys.” I closed my eyes and laid my head on his chest. He smelled amazing, the scent of a new shower and something sweet.

“You two make just the cutest couple.” Say what? I turned to the voice where a short, old lady stood. It was one of those awkward moments where no one knew what to say other than ‘uhm thanks?” Kennedy beat me to it. Saying the words that had just crossed my mind.

“Yeah, thanks but we’re not together we’re just friends.” I explained.

“Well maybe you should change that. She’s a pretty girl.” The woman said to Kennedy. Blood rushed to my face, I looked at the floor un sure of what to do.

“That’s sweet. She is. Thank’s for the compliments and everything but we’ve gotta go.” Kennedy said using that natural charm of his. He enveloped her in a quick hug before waving and jerking on my hand, we ran through the clothes, stopping at the cd's, out of sight.

“Dude, what the shit was that?!” He shrugged, holding his stomach laughing.

“That was---the----most---awkward-----moment----of----our friendship.” He gasped. I glared at him. This was not funny.

“Annabel! Kennedy! What’s he laughing about?” Pat asked walking up to us, the others following with a cart load of stuff already.

“Some creeper old lady walked to us- and I’m not explaining this! Hmph.”

“Aww! She’s angry!” John said reaching to pull me into a hug. I jerked away, of all people he was the last one I wanted a hug from. Bastard.

“Do we need anything else?”

“Febreeze.” They all replied in unison. I walked away. Someone matched my steps, I looked over. He was like my known stalker.

“Can we talk?” John asked.

“About?”

“Us.” I laughed.

“Us? I didn’t know a ‘us’ existed.”

“Of course there is! I don’t walk around kissing just anyone!” He whispered looking around before his eyes met mine.

“Really? You could have fooled me.”

“I- I messed up didn’t I?” I looked over at him, his head bowed down, hair falling in front of his face. I was glad. His eyes were this amazing green that pulled you in and didn’t let go.

“Yes. It’s for the best though. Tour wouldn’t be half as much fun if we had something going on.” I said grabbing the purple topped Febreeze off the shelf.

“You really feel that way?” I shrugged.

“I guess. Jared and Daray make it work sure but their both so true to each other I don’t think they could lie about anything.”

“She’s coming with us on tour. He won’t have to lie.”

“Yay! Not the only girl on tour!” He laughed. We rounded the corner and found the guys playing with the clocks on the shelves.

“Who remembers that 10 things to do in Wal-Mart list?” Pat asked, the camera already out ready to catch what they were about to do. They all went down the line setting the alarm a minute from the time. We ran out of the aisle and stood in the next one over, Pat’s body was separated between the two aisles. We all flinched as the alarms went off in a loud, obnoxious harmony. Wal-Mart employees rushed over in a flurry of blue vests. We slowly backed away laughing.

“Maybe we should leave. John makes us look suspicious.” I said looking back at him. He mock glared and poked my side. I yelped backing slowly away from him. Pat had the camera trained on us.

“The new happy couple!” I turned and shook my head.

“Nope. According to a lady in here me and Kennedy make the cutest couple!” I said kissing Kennedy’s cheek. He stuck his tongue out at me and made a hand heart. I pulled away one of his heart pieces and replaced it with my own.

“We complete each other!” Kennedy yelled, gaining a few weary looks from others around us. We all laughed and walked to the check out line. There were a few questionable items in that cart, some I didn’t even want to imagine what they were going to use them for. Pat said something and walked to the bathroom, camera still in hand.

“Pat! Turn it off! No one wants to see that!!” I yelled, he turned back smirking at me. I was starting to wonder whether I was going to be the photographer chick or babysitter.