I Love Your Bubblegum Smile

When Harley woke up the next morning, she was attacked by woodpeckers. At least, that’s what her head felt like.

Her vision was blurry, and it was too goddamn bright for a weekday morning. Harley yawned and stretched, before shifting uncomfortably in her bed.

She hadn’t even remembered going to sleep the previous night, but as she groggily opened her eyes. she realized that Travis was no longer with her.

She groaned loudly, as she propped herself onto her elbows and eyed the room sleepily. A small glass of water and what appeared to be two dark red pills of Tylenol sat on her bedside table, and her gold shoes from the night before were resting by the door.

This seemed to trigger the memories of last night, which caused Harley to groan again. Harley forced herself to get up, suddenly feeling sweaty, sticky, annoyed and pissed off, and went to shower.

On the way to the shower, Harley glanced at herself in the mirror and frowned. She was still in her black dress from the night before, and her hair was messed up from her escapade with Travis. Her cherry red lipstick had ended up smearing on her face in her sleep, and her eyes were practically glued shut.

Harley sighed, before undressing and stepping into the cold shower.

After showering, and getting dressed in a Glamour Kills t-shirt and skinny jeans, Harley walked towards the bed and flipped the channels on her small flat screen television, searching through the en-suite movies.

Finding nothing interesting, she settled on a movie on Lifetime, before snuggling back into her bed.

She was just getting comfortable under her white duvet, when a soft knocking noise was heard from the door.

Frowning, Harley padded towards the door—not even bothering to look through the peep hole—before swinging the door open.

In front of her stood a very perky Lisa, who looked both excited and not the least bit hungover. Her blonde hair fell in silky waves along her shoulders, and her bluish green eyes held no regrets. She was dressed in a jean miniskirt and a low-cut tank top.

“Are you ready to go?” She chirped, looking not the least bit surprised at Harley’s hungover appearance.

Harley flinched at the volume of Lisa’s voice, and stared at her hazily. Her mind slowly began to put the puzzle pieces together, and she remembered that she had agreed to go with Lisa to the mall the night before.

“Hold on one second,” Harley muttered unsteadily, before walking back to the television and turning it off.

She slipped on some flip-flops, not exactly sure what color they were, before walking back to Lisa.

She flashed a pearly-white smile, before the two girls walked in silence to the elevator. Lisa began to babble about what a great time she had at the restaurant last night, but Harley tuned her out.

Eventually, they reached the ground floor and Lisa walked towards a large group of people.

It took Harley a few seconds to realize that the large group of people was her[/i[ large group of people, and she stumbled after Lisa in an attempt to catch up.

”You look like shit,” Jack stated, as soon as Harley had stopped in front of the group.

“Your face looks like shit.” Harley muttered back, not even bothering to come up with an actual comeback.

“No seriously,” Jack deadpanned, “you realize you’re wearing a neon orange top with purple pants and green shoes, right? You look absolutely hung over.”

“Fuck off,” Harley growled back, flipping him the finger. He only laughed.

“Want my shades?” He asked, taking off the large brown shades that were perched on the bridge of his nose.

“Please?” Harley chuckled, taking the sunglasses from Jack and slipping them on. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Jack grinned, “How much alcohol did you consume anyway?”

“Who says I consumed any alcohol?” Jack sent her a knowing look, “A couple glasses. Enough to get me drunk.”

“What did you do after the date? I want details!” Jack squealed, earning looks from Marky, Vinny and a couple of other guys who were chatting nearby.

“I’ll tell you later,” Harley said, letting Jack know that it wasn’t something she wanted to talk about in front of prying ears.

“Oh my god.” Jack said, before opening his mouth to scream at the top of his lungs. “SOME SHIT MUST HAVE GONE DOWN.”

It was all Harley could do not to hide her face in embarrassment.

__________________________________________________

At the mall, it was evident that not everyone wanted to be there.

By the first half hour, some of the crew members were already complaining about their feet as Lisa continued to point at different stores.

“I don’t want to fucking shop anymore.” Zack groaned, and Vinny was quick to agree.

“Well you guys can go to the food court or something,” Lisa dismissed them with a wave of her perfectly manicured hand. “Alex, I want to go to Forever 21!”

“I’m kind of hungry, Lisa.” Alex said, and it was clear that he wanted to go with the guys.

“But Al-ex!” Lisa whined, tugging on his shirtsleeve like a small child. Harley found this quite comical. “I want to go shop at Forever 21!”

Danny, Evan and Zack sent him each sympathetic looks as they walked towards the food court, leaving Rian, Kara, Jack, Lisa, Alex and Harley to shop by themselves.

Alex sighed, before steering the group in the general direction of Forever 21. Thankfully, it was a weekday, so all the adults were at work and all the children were wasting their lives away by sitting on their asses at home and playing video games.

This left the mall virtually empty, except for a few stray pedestrians who had nothing better to do with their time.

“So,” Jack said, falling in step beside Harley as they walked behind Lisa and Alex. Making sure that they were out of earshot, he continued. “What happened?”

The group had reached Forever 21, but Jack and Harley decided to wait outside on the nearby bench, so that Harley could spill the details to Jack. She swore he was such a girl sometimes.

Alex, Lisa, Kara and Rian decided to shop, probably because Lisa and Kara had forced them all to. By the time they sat down, Jack was itching to know.

“What happened?” He repeated, looking her straight in the eye.

Harley glanced around, noticing that their only company was an old many fumbling in his pocket for a lighter, and began to tell her tale. She talked for a good half an hour, starting at the part where she had dressed Alex and ended at the part where she had fallen asleep. Jack nodded and laughed in all the right places, and shouted out in horror at other, all the while listening intently.

Once she had finished, he wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

“Holy shit.” Was his courteous reply, “I think you guys were meant to be together.”

“What are you talking about?” Harley snapped, feeling the blood leave her body and rush up towards her cheeks.

“You like Alex, Harley!” Jack said, smirking at his conclusion.

“No I don’t!” She replied hastily, looking into Forever 21 where Lisa and Alex were paying for a stack of clothes.

“You’ve liked him all along.” Jack stated bluntly, “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. The sexual tension between you two is so thick you could cut it with a knife!”

“Jack!” She hissed, completely mortified. “I don’t like Alex.”

“I give you two weeks before you guys are all over each other.”

“We don’t even like each other. Hell, we barely tolerate each other sometimes.” Harley argued. “Plus, he has Lisa and I have Travis. I’m pretty sure he’s happy with her...and I’m definitely happy with Travis.”

“Sure.” Jack replied smugly, as the rest of the group approached them.

“Ready to go?” Lisa asked enthusiastically.

“Of course,” Harley said, sending a death glare at Jack before following Lisa to the next store.

____________________________________________________

“No way in hell am I going in there.”

“Please, Alex?”

“No Lisa, I am not risking my manliness to go into that store.”

“It’s just Victoria’s Secret,” Lisa sighed exasperatedly, “I need some knew underwear.”

“Well you can go on without me,” Alex crossed his arms over his chest, “this is where I draw the line.”

“But Alex, I need something for tonight.” Lisa smiled, as Alex’s eyes lit up.

Kara had already dragged Rian into the store, which left Alex, Lisa, Jack and Harley. Harley frowned as Lisa said this. This was all so sick.

“Okay,” Alex said finally, and Lisa giggled, bouncing up and down.

“I’m going to stay out here.” Harley said, deciding to walk towards the nearby bench.

“You haven’t bought anything yet! You need to get stuff for yourself as well!” Lisa called after her, causing Harley to freeze.

“I um...” Harley coughed uncomfortably, feeling the tips of her ears turn red, “I don’t need anything.”

“Of course you do!” Lisa chirped, before walking towards Harley and literally dragging her towards the door.

Soon, Harley found herself stuck uncomfortably between Jack and Alex while staring at a rack of black lace bras. Alex was waiting for Lisa to pick out a bra in her bra size, while Jack kept commenting on Lisa’s ’ titty holders.’

“You should go look around,” Lisa called over her shoulder at Harley, but Harley stayed where she was. Seeing this, Lisa frowned.

“Oh come on,” Lisa frowned, placing her hands over her hips, “it’s not like you don’t have anything to buy. What does Travis like?”

“Excuse me?” Harley’s face turned bright red.

“It’s obvious you haven’t got laid yet. Take this as an opportunity to get something sexy for when you and Travis finally have sex.”

Harley’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. Her face was burning, and she couldn’t dare look up. Jack snickered nearby. How could Lisa do this?

“U-um...nothanksIthinkIwilljuststayhere.” Harley muttered, stringing her words together.

“Seriously?” Lisa looked at her, realizing that she was not going to do anything, “Okay, then. What size are you, 34...no probably a 36 B or a C? You look like a C....hmmm. Okay, you’d probably look good in blue, because everyone looks good and blue, and maybe black or red...”

Lisa trailed off, grabbing skimpy articles of clothing off hangers in a flurry. All Harley could do was watch as Lisa shoved a handful of lingerie at Harley.

“Go try these on,” she said, gesturing towards the changing room where a bored looking attendant was waiting.

“Yeah, Harley,” Jack mocked, picking up what only could be described as a thong, “go try these on.”

“I don’t...” She looked around, noticing everyone watching her. “I...”

With a sigh of defeat, Harley walked towards the changing room. Lisa cheered, before picking out her selection of clothing and dragging Alex towards the changing room.

As Harley stepped into the booth, she faintly heard Alex muttering to Lisa.

“Why do I have to be here?”

“Because you’re helping me decide which underwear to buy.” Harley realized that the changing room attendant must have let Jack and Alex in the changing area as well.

“How’s it fitting Harley?” Lisa called from the stall beside her. Harley blushed, glad that the boys could not see her behind the curtain.

“Fine,” She muttered to herself, struggling to get into the next outfit.

This was torture. Maybe, she could pretend like she was trying on the outfits, but instead she could just sit there and not try on anything.

Deciding that was the best idea, Harley was about to take off her outfit when she heard Lisa’s voice.

“Are you almost done?” Lisa called, her voice muffled by the wall separating them.

“Yeah, I just need to—“ Harley was cut off as the curtain that enclosed her in the changing stall whipped open and Lisa smiled at her.

Harley shrieked, before covering herself quickly and pulling the curtain back into its rightful position.

“What the hell are you doing?” Harley shrieked, blushing a million shades of red.

“I thought you were finished,” Lisa said innocently, and Harley could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

“Finished my ass!” Harley scowled, and she could hear Jack’s laughter on the other side of the curtain.

“I’m sorry, Harley,” Lisa giggled. Harley sighed, and quickly undressed and redressed in her proper attire.

After folding the pile of lingerie, she whipped away the curtain and sent a glare at Lisa, who smiled sweetly in return.

Jack looked as though he was trying not to laugh, but had a huge grin on his face that gave away his intentions. Alex on the other hand, kept his gaze on the floor while trying not to show his cherry-red face.

“Are you ready to go?” Lisa asked, walking towards the checkout with a handful of underwear.

“Sure,” Harley said, looking back at the lingerie.

Oh, why the fuck not?

“Actually,” Harley paused, “Can I get a few things?”

Lisa raised her eyebrows in surprise, but smirked. Jack continued to chuckle silently as they headed towards the checkout, this time with lingerie in hand. Alex looked like he wanted to kill himself.

This was going to be a long day.