Blizzard Blackout

“Good for him,” I whispered uncaring, I glanced back at him and smiled. “Did you find sheets; Johnny found a bunch of beds.”

“We found a lot of flannel sheets and thermal night clothes,” Gena bent down to touch my head. “You’re a little hot; maybe you should drink some water?”

“That’d probably be good,” I said softly. “I think everyone found stuff for us tonight, Val and I found flash lights but we haven’t checked any stores.”

“Don’t worry, Matt and I said we would take the east wing, Johnny and Lacey get west wing, Zacky and Gena get North and you and Brian get south,” Val explained what she had come up until she realized I wasn’t feeling good and she backtracked. “Unless you don’t feel good, we’ll send someone—“she glanced at Michelle who wasn’t paying attention and then she glanced back at me. “—else.”

“Just feed me and give me water and I’ll feel better,” I told her sternly. “Plus I need some shoes. These are hurting my feet.”

“I’ll go get her some tennis shoes,” Johnny stood up, glancing down at my sandals that had beads in them. “How you made it this far in them is beyond me.”

“She wears a size seven,” Zacky told Johnny as he slipped off my sandals and threw them aside. “Okay, this is gross but do you want me to rub them?”

“No,” I shook my head; I didn’t feel quite right making someone else’s boyfriend, my best friend or not, rub my feet. “They’ll be fine, they’re much better now. Thank you.”

“Here babe,” Brian sat down a paper plate that had a grill cheese and lays potato chips on it. “Feeling any better?”

“Yeah,” I answered him distantly. “Much. Thanks.”

“No problem,” he smiled and glanced around at the faces that stared at him like he’d just admitted that he to, had turned gay. “What?”

“Nothing,” and a chorus of I don’t knows and I zoned rang around him. I smiled at my grill cheese as I picked it up and took a bite. It might be greasy and nasty looking but it was something I had craved since getting pregnant. When I finished my food, everyone followed Matt to Toys R’ Us, we all took two talkies, so that we had a circle to get in touch with each other, like Brian and I had Matt and Val’s double and Zacky and Gena’s, Zacky and Gena had Johnny and Lacey’s as well as ours, Johnny and Lacey had Zacky’s and Jimmy and Leana’s (though they were staying in the food court) and Jimmy had Matt and Val’s. So it circled, where everyone could get in touch with each other. When we had everything established, we all located to the center of the mall and scattered North, South, East and West to look for others that might have hid out in the mall.

“You feel any better?” Brian asked after a long silence between us. I glanced up at him, shocked that he seemed half descent to me. “Look, I told you I’m trying to change so could you help me out, meet me half way?”

“I feel better now that I’ve ate and I have on different shoes,” I answered him softly, glancing away from him. “Though Johnny could have gotten me some shoes that didn’t look like nurse shoes.”

“Non-slip grip,” Brian chuckled the same thing Johnny had said when he came back with the shoes. Johnny had claimed he didn’t want me falling in case there was a wet spot on the floor. “At least he was looking out for you?”

“Still,” I complained as we walked into the first store on the left, it was called Borders Books. “Hey! Anyone in here!?”

“I don’t think anyone is in here—“after a moment of silence, Brian broke it but was interrupted by something dropping to the ground behind us. We turned together and stared at the young teenage girl, staring with wide eyes at us from across the strip, she was at Hot Topic and she dropped a stack of posters to the ground. “Never mind.”

“I’m not alone?” the girl whispered with a growing smile on her face. “Oh thank God!”

“What’s your name, kid?” I walked over towards her, one hand on my stomach as I went. “I’m Kasey McDonald, this is Brian Haner.”

“I know who he is,” the girl smiled at us both and then cleared her throat. “I work here at Hot Topic; my name is Kayla Morison, huge fan by the way Mr. Haner.”