Losing Touch

One week later and I back to my normal self. I could actually taste food again and I was ready to get out of the house.

“So, you’re sure you’re well enough to get out of the house?” John asked cautiously. I glared at him.

“I am one hundred percent positive, Cornelius.” Garrett snickered as I called John by his middle name.

“Shut up Daniel!” John said causing me, Pat, Olivia, and Eric to all laugh. Soon, we all had grabbed the things we found necessary to make a trip to Arden and we headed out into the various cars. On the way there, John handed me one of his earbuds for his iPod and we listened to “Come Back Down” by Ivory, “Transalanticism” by Death Cab for Cutie, and “Gossip” by Breathe Carolina.

“We’re here!” Olivia sing-songed. I pulled out the earbud and threw open the car door and popped my back. As I stretched my back a bit more, I felt John’s arms wrap around my midsection and I smiled. I turned around and kissed him on the cheek. We quickly transitioned into holding hands as we gathered with the rest of the gang and headed into the always busy mall.

I took a deep breath as I looked around at the assorted bunch of shoppers, window or not, that were walking around and stopping into random stores. I even saw two girls with The Maine shirts, and I squeezed John’s hand and pointed when I saw them. We were all just thankful that they didn’t see us and make our outing to the mall a bit awkward. As much as the guys, Olivia, Morgan, Nina, and I loved the fans - this was our time to relax and hang out before my surgery next week.

“So, where are we off to Mrs. Ohhh?” Halvo asked. I chuckled, it had been too long since someone had called me ‘Mrs. Ohhh’.

“Let’s go to the Apple Store. I am in major need of a new iPod dammit.” I said as we all walked there. We walked in and I immediately went straight to the iPod touches. I smiled and looked up at John, who just sighed. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist. “Yay!” I said in celebration. This was a major upgrade for me, the iPod I had now was just an old, pink second generation iPod Nano. So we asked the guy working there to get us one and we waited as we scanned the room for our friends.

Pat was on one of the computers set up for kids playing some random game. Garrett and Nina were messing around on a Mac, and Jared was next to them playing with an iPhone. We turned to the other side of the store to find Olivia and Halvo watching some random demo video, and they looked quite amused. After chuckling a bit, I found Kennedy and Morgan trying to find a cover for Morgan’s iPhone.

“Okay, here’s your thirty-two gigabyte iPod touch.” The employee said as he handed it over to me.

“Thank you.” I said as we made our way into the surprisingly short line. John paid for it, and then we walked out of the store with everybody else in tow. “John, your choice.”

He thought for a bit, and then he started looking mischievous. “Disney store.” He said simply, and I heard Garrett groan. I giggled, and we all went off to one of my favorite stores. It never failed to make me feel like the little seven year old girl walking in and thinking everything seemed so big, and that everything in the store was magical.

As we approached the store, I got a bit excited and squeezed John’s hand which caused him to laugh as I skipped into the store. Needless to say, the mothers and employees stared at me a bit funny. But what can I say? I love the Disney Store, even if I am twenty years old.

John and I separated (for once) and went to opposite sides of the store. While he was interested in a sword fight that had occurred between him and Pat, I was busy looking at all of the plush toys they kept in the back of the store by the screen where they advertised their movies and played songs. I smiled and picked up a small Wall-E and Eva and decided I was going to buy them for me and John. As child-like as it was, it’s just the way John and I function.

“Okay! Are we done here now!?” Garrett complained as he saw the bag I was carrying.

“Garrett! Shut up!” Nina said and I laughed.

“I’m done, but you might want to check with Pat and my husband over there.” I said and pointed to the two grown men fighting each other with plastic swords.

“Hey! Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbo! Get over here and let’s go!” Garrett said as Pat and John stopped and put the swords up. I laughed as John strode back over to me.

“Were we that stupid looking?”

“When aren’t you?” I said playfully. John grabbed his chest.

“That one hurt Zo. Kiss me and make it better?” he said suggestively as we stepped out of the store.

I laughed and shook my head. “Not this time, buddy.” I said with a wink as I kissed his cheek. “I guess I lied.” I said as we all gathered together in a small group close to the Disney store.

“Garrett, your turn.” John stated.

“f.y.e. baby!” he said and we all smiled. Of course, we would all get excited about a CD and DVD store. Music was a major part in all of our lives.

We all smiled and quickened our pace as we sped walked to the beloved chain CD store. Once we reached the entrance, we all broadened our smiles. We rushed in and started searching around for bands we liked. But I went straight to the Pop section and went to the M’s. I quickly found the band I had been looking for. I smiled as I saw only one copy of “The Way We Talk” and one copy of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”. After I was done feeling proud of my best friends and husband, I walked on and found the F’s.

“Finally!” I said as I picked up a copy of ‘Take This to Your Grave” by Fall Out Boy. I had seen it here before, but when I came back there were none left. So I took this opportunity to buy it before I wouldn’t be able to buy it at all. I shuffled over to the counter and bought it while everyone else was still looking for CD’s by bands they liked. Before we left the store, Garrett had scored three CD’s, Jared bought two, John bought five, Pat got some candy (and we’re gonna pay like hell for it later), Kenny had bought only one CD, Morgan got two DVD’s, Nina got a candy bar and CD, Eric got a DVD and CD, and Olivia bought a concert DVD.

We all walked out; quite happy with our purchases as we decided to call it quits and go home. Once we got into the car, John’s hand was immediately intertwined with mine and I smiled and leaned my head on his shoulder. He offered his earbud again, and I accepted it and heard that “The World Has Its Shine (But I Would Drop It on A Dime)” by Cobra Starship was on.

Halfway into the song, I remembered the Wall-E and Eva I bought.

“John, guess what I got us.” I said playfully.

“What babe?” he said smiling, just happy to be living life with me.

I grabbed the bag and pulled them out and he laughed. “Here, you get Wall-E.” I said youthfully as I handed it to him.

“So you get Eva?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He chuckled and I hugged Eva to my chest I leaned my head back down to John’s right shoulder.

But the voice in the back of my head couldn’t stop saying “This won’t last long.”