Last Time Around

Nick's P.O.V.

Sunday afternoon I was sitting in my room with nothing to do. I was just checking my emails. There is nothing much to do around here anymore because Kevin obviously lives with his wife in New Jersey and Joe has a home somewhere in L.A. But it's mom's birthday this week so everyone flew down to celebrate.

"Hey Nick," Joe popped his head in, "were going to the mall. I need some new skinny jeans. Wanna go?"
"What mall?"
"Westlake. It's really small so hopefully there won't be people there."
"Alright, I'll be down in five." I said and started to get ready.

***

"Ugh, where can I find some decent pants and shirts?" Joe mumbled.
We kept walking when we saw a PacSun just around the corner. Walking toward it, I was glancing through the windows of the other stores.
"Dude, isn't that your lady friend?" Joe said eagerly hitting me in my chest for my attention.
"My lady friend?" I asked and followed his stare. Inside Wet Seal I saw Samantha standing there, folding pants and shaking her head steadily to some music.
"Hm, Nick, I think we can find some pants in this lovely little store." Joe said nonchalantly and pulled me into the store. He shoved me toward the pants section and I was soon very close to her, maybe a few feet away.

"Well, either it's fate, or I would say you're stalking me." I said smiling.
She turned around to face me. I realized that she was bobbing her head but there wasn't any music playing in the store.
"I would go with the stalking part." She said and smiled as well when she turned to face me.
"Oh, okay then."
"What are you doing here?" Samantha asked putting a pair of jeans back onto the rack.
"Joe needs some new skinny jeans." I said. We both glanced over at him checking out some sunglasses that were for girls.
"He does know that this is a girl store right?" She asked chuckling a bit and I couldn't help but smile and laugh with her.
"Probably not. He'll figure it out soon enough." I told her.
"Here, tell him to try these." She said and handed me a pair of dark faded skinny jeans.
"Joe, come here." I called him over.
"Hey!" He said smiling at both of us. "Whoa, so you work here?" Joe asked.
"No, I just like to be nice and help fold the clothing in stores." She said sarcastically.
"But you're wearing a name tag." Joe pointed out. This made Samantha laugh really hard and I noticed she clutched her sides. "Ha ha, am I making your sides hurt?" Joe asked and poked Samantha in her ribs.
I hate how open he can be with girls. It's like it's nothing and all natural part of him. Why can't I be that sly with girls? But at least I know it's all playful or I ought to hit him again. Samantha began to sober up and I gave Joe the jeans to go try on. I followed her around the store as we did small talk and she cleaned things up.

Joe stumbled out of the stall. "These are girls pants!" He yelled. The pants weren't button, probably not even capable of it, and you could see his ankles as if he were wearing high waters. I tried so hard not to laugh, but Samantha felt free to let it out. I loved her laugh.
"I like talking to you." I said to her.
"I like talking to you too." She responded.
"Can we continue to talk?" I said, shocking myself with the amount of confidence in my voice.
She pondered for a second, fiddled with the tags on one of the shirts and then looked up at me. "Sure." She said. "My lunch break is in ten minutes."
"Great." I smiled.
"You guys are jerks!" Joe yelled at us when he came back out.

How am I gonna get rid of Joe?