Please Don't Cross Me, I Asked Nicely

We walked down the steps to the first floor, Nick's appearance causing me to take a sharp breath.

He wore a black, v-neck t-shirt with dark blue denim jeans, and his usual black and white converses. A dog tag rested on his neck as did a ring. I was more shocked at what he had on his back; an acoustic guitar. He was looking away from us.

He was..... a musician? I.... was speechless.

“Hey”, I mumbled in a shy tone.

His eyes flickered to me, then Mel.

“Hey, guys. Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yep, yep!” Mel replied enthusiastically.

Nick's eyes flickered to me. I stared back... it was as though his eyes said so much. I saw... something that I couldn't figure out. I tore my gaze, linking arms with Mel to distract myself.

“I'll lead the way”, I said with a smile plastered on my lips.

…

We arrived at the nearly empty school store, grabbing a small shopping basket. We walked to the supply section, Mel getting slightly different materials than Nick and I. I ended up buying a paper folder, two, one inch binders, two packs of dividers, a three inch binder, a zip-up binder, and six packs of notebook paper. Nick bought the same, minus the zip-up binder, whereas Mel only bought four, one inch binders, packs of dividers, and six packs of paper.

Of course, we paid for everything separately.

We walked to the lounge, Mel's mouth dropping at the sight. There was a bowling alley, laster tag section, as well as other activities to play like DDR, a karaoke section, and prize sections which served as something like a gift shop.

Two guys, one with an acoustic guitar, the other, holding nothing, spotted us and walked over, each with smiles. The one with the guitar spoke first.

“Hey, Nick! We're happy to see you, bro”, he said with slight enthusiasm.

“Thanks, Kevin. It's great to see you guys, too”, Nick replied. “Guys, these are my friends, Rosalina and Melanie. Rose, Mel, these are my brothers Kevin”, he pointed to the one who just spoke, “and Joe.” He pointed to the other guy who basically had his eyes on Mel.

Mel was completely oblivious.

“So, you ready, Nick? We-”, Kevin began, but Nick cut across him.

“Um, let me spend time with Rose and Mel, OK?” he asked.

“Can I join you guys?” Joe asked suddenly, tearing his gaze from Mel.

Nick's eyes flickered from us to Joe and back, them moving momentarily meeting mine again. I nodded.

“Sure”, Nick agreed, though it seemed reluctantly.

“Cool. OK, so, I'll be backstage getting ready, more like talking to Danielle. We'll meet back at around 6?” Kevin asked.

We all agreed, then separated. I could only hope nothing bad would happen tonight. I could only hope.