Ignorance

There is saying that goes, "Don't hate the player, hate the game." However, in the case of Ethan's game, it was near impossible to hate the game. But it was always possible to hate the player. The game was fun to all who played it, with the exception of those who lead extremely boring lives and find no pleasure in the simple things in life. If there was ever a reason to despise Ethan's game, it would be due to one of the players. I, on the other hand, never truly found a reason to despise the game. I found it extremely enjoyable; even though there were moments where I didn't like the things I had to do. However, this never made me dislike the game or those playing.

I ran throughout the large building, searching for the house and bedding department. I grinned wildly when I finally found it before climbing up on a living room display and sat on a large futon that was bright red. I made myself comfortable as the others filed in and sat down around me.

"So all of you know all the rules, right?" Kai asked Girl on Fire.

"Dude, please. We've been playing this game longer than you have," Joseph bluntly stated.

"Just checking," Kai said simply before rolling his eyes at me.

"Well, let's get this started. One, two, three, not it!" I said.

I listened to the various exclamations around me very carefully before smiling slyly and slowly turning my head Ben, who was squeezing his eyes shut in defeat. "Benjamin Johanson, you, sir, are it."

He rolled his eyes at me before leaning forward, placing his elbows on his knees while he placed his palms over his eyes and started counting. I giggled once before jumping off the display and running away from the scene, not paying attention to those behind me. I closed my eyes to be met with a brief moment of darkness before opening them, taking in the fresh and fake smell of the air in the store. I ran through the men's department, ignoring the strange looks I received, before running into the personal hygiene aisle. I smirked to myself and calmly began walking up and down the aisle, knowing Ben wouldn't go anywhere near where tampons and pads were displayed. I chuckled when I saw a flash of red pass by the aisle. Ben had not even bothered to look down the aisle I was "hiding" in. I smirked to myself as I picked up and inspected a blue box of tampons. I stared at the box as I pulled the vibrating phone out of my box.

"Yo," I answered.

"Ben found Hero," Kai stated. I groaned into the phone before hanging up and started walking back to the bedding department.

I climbed back on to the display, automatically glaring at Hero, who was smirking at me, as I sat on Kai's lap.

"I'm screwed," I muttered as I crossed my arms.

"Babe, you have no idea," Hero laughed.

"What's wrong?" Ricky asked.

"Whenever Hero is it, he always goes after Noel and he always catches her," Toby explained.

"And I have hidden in every single fucking place possible in Target, excluding the bathrooms because that's not allowed, and he always finds me," I pouted.

"Okay! Can I give my dare now?" Ben interrupted.

"Oh, shit. Yeah, dude, bring it," Hero smiled.

"Okay. I dare you to walk around the store with your pants off and ask passing employees to help you find them."

"Sweet. Freedom," Hero smirked as he stood up and started unzipping his pants.

"Ooh! Boxer briefs. Hero, I had no idea," Divine giggled.

"Noel knew," Hero winked at me.

"I'd prefer it if we kept that part of our lives in private, thank you," I smiled, not looking at him.

"Oh, darling, you know you can't resist," Hero smiled before hopping off the display and walked away. Toby gave us an amused glance before walking off behind Hero.

"He's a character, isn't he," Ethan stated after a moment.

"That's Heroin Biley for you," Kai said as he twirled my hair between his fingers.

"So that's his real name?" Arik asked.

"You were there during the entire concert right?" Divine asked.

They all nodded.

"So you saw the live interview? I know it focused on Noel but it did say how he got his name."

"We saw. It just seems…" Ben trailed off.

"Too tragic to be real?" I finished.

He stared into my eyes for a moment before looking at Kai's hand on my thigh and looking away as he nodded. I looked down at the floor as I shifted on Kai's lap. He stared at me in confusion but I shook my head at him.

"We all have our tragic little stories," Khan said softly.

"Oh, please. I'm sure I've had a worse life than you have. What's your tragic tale?" Joseph scoffed.

Khan stared over at Joseph passively. There was no emotion on his clean and smooth face. He smoothed his black hair back so it was tucked behind his left ear without looking away from Joseph. Joseph slowly leaned forward, not bothering to break the gaze between him and Khan.

"Shut up, Joseph. If you've had such a fucked up life, let's hear your story," I said, causing him to look at me in shock.

"You should know," he simply stated.

"Oh please don't tell me I'm your story," I scoffed. "Because if that's the case, you should feel pathetic if you think that's bad. Khan has had horrible moments in his life and he doesn't need a little boy telling him that it was nothing."

"Excuse me?" Joseph claimed.

"Yes, excuse you. Stop feeling so sorry for yourself and get your head out of your ass," I said angrily as Hero and Toby walked up with confused expressions.

"Kid?" Hero asked in a concerned tone as he pulled on his pants.

"I'm not sure I want to be here anymore," I said as I crossed my arms.

"No, I don't give a fuck what just happened. I want my chance to play," Hero said.

"Come on, we all know you're going to find me in like thirty seconds."

"Maybe if you weren't such a horrible hider, you wouldn't be found in thirty seconds."

"I'm not a horrible hider," I pouted.

He smirked as he leaned down to reach my face level. He kissed my check once before whispering, "Prove it."

I narrowed my eyes at him as I stated, "Bring it on."

"So we're cheerleaders now? Shut up and count," Kai said as he stood up. Hero grinned wickedly at me before covering his eyes to start counting.

I pouted at the remaining people still sitting on the display before turning around and running off silently in hopes that Hero wouldn't hear what direction I went in. I stopped in the middle of a four way walking aisle, looking in each direction. I glanced to the right to see the edge of Divine’s purple skirt flash as she ran in the direction of the electronics area. I stared after her absently, my mind panicking at the thought that I was running out of time and I had basically no idea where to hide. A sly grin crept on my face as I turned to the left and followed the beeping sounds that came from the front. I swiftly walked to the front and scanned the cashiers. I walked over to a boy with long brown hair and light blue eyes and nonchalantly sat down on the floor next to his feet.

"Hi?" he asked uncertainly.

"I'm sorry, I know this is weird. But my friends and I are playing Dare Hide and Seek and the guy who is 'it' right now is determined on catching me," I explained in a soft voice.

"Oh," he laughed quietly, "I totally understand. What's this guy look like, I'll warn you if he comes this way."

"He's wearing a black elbow sleeve shirt, black jeans, a black hat, and white shoes," I explained.

"Really," he stated more than asked. "Because there he goes right now," he said as his eyes followed what I'm sure was Hero.

"You know he looks exactly like Hero from Tithe," he said.

"Um, that would be because he is Hero from Tithe," I said nervously.

"No shit?" the guy asked me as he looked down.

"No shit."

"So how do you know him?" he asked before looking up.

"I'm their makeup artist. Nothing big," I shrugged as played with the star charm on my bracelet.

"That's huge. You get to be with one of the biggest bands of the nation. Do they give you free music lessons or let you be on the album?"

"I wrote the song Desolation. But I didn't think it was that great. I mean, I love music. But if I work in it like that all the time, I don't think I'd love it the same way," I said as I scratched my head.

"I suppose I understand you," he said, his eyes scanning the area in front of him. "He is dead set on finding you, girl."

"But he won't, right?" I grinned.

"Hell no," he chuckled. "It looks like he found somebody else though."

"Who?"

"Please tell me that's Joseph Shaw."

"Probably."

"I used to know him. He didn't like me," he said as his eyebrows furrowed together.

"When did you know him?"

"Like, five years ago or something. He never flat out said it, but I knew he didn't like me."

"I've known Joseph that long," I trailed off.

"Really? Well, I'm Vincent Phillips."

"Vincent?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah?" he replied with uncertainty.

"As in, starry night?"

"Noel?" he asked with eyes wide.

We stared at each other with widen eyes. I ignored the buzzing that came from my back pocket. I slowly stood up so I was at the same height level as Vince. I let out a gasp of surprise before wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Who would have thought that rich boy Vincent would work at Target?" I laughed.

"You'd be surprised how much things can change," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't I know it," I agreed. "What time do you get off?"

"Not until four but I have a break in thirty minutes."

"We should still be here. I'll come back to talk to you then and when I'm hiding."

"Cool," he laughed before I turned around to walk back to the display.

"Noelani Anastasia Lennon, what the hell?" Hero snapped as I sat on the red couch.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"We had a system working perfectly for us!"

"Ha! Working for you, you mean."

"Yes! Exactly," he pouted.

"Poor baby. Give Joseph the damn dare already."

Joseph quickly took his gaze off of me to look at Hero, who already caught him staring me. Hero placed an evil grin on his face before he slowly turned his head to stare at Kai's fingers that were twirling my hair. I looked at him with a suspicious glare before looking down at Kai's hand to Joseph. My jaw dropped slightly at what Hero was planning.

"Heroin Biley, if you do it, I swear that I will make your life Hell," I threatened.

"Oh, like you could," he laughed.

"Hero, I mean it!"

"What's going on?" everyone inquired.

"Hero!" I warned loudly.

"I dare you, Joseph Shaw, to make out with Noel for two whole minutes!" Hero exclaimed with an evil smile.

"Ugh!" I groaned before throwing my head dramatically.

I felt one of Kai's fingers slightly tug at my hair as the other hand tightly gripped one of my thighs. I pursed my lips at his grip as I glared at the ceiling. I heard Kai growl in my ear, "No."

"You don't have any say in this, baby blue," Hero smirked.

"I hate you so fucking much," I said as I stared at the ceiling.

"No, you don't. That's the beauty of it," Hero laughed.

"Can you give him a different dare?" Ben asked.

"It's already said out loud, it has to be done. Isn't that one of the rules, Ethan?" Divine spoke up.

"She's got a point. Whether people like it or not, Joe and Ani have to," Ethan agreed.

I sighed loudly before lifting my head to look at Joseph properly. He was staring at the floor and rubbing his hand nervously. Kai didn't seem to want to let me go from his grip and Ben was glaring viciously at both Kai and Joseph. I licked my lips before shaking my head, realizing I was finally agreeing with it. I gave Kai a pointed look and he slowly and reluctantly took his hands off of me. I knelt down on the floor and walked on my knees towards Joseph. I put my hands on his knees, which caused him to glance up at me. I gave him a small smile before turning my head to stare at Khan.

"You have a stop watch or something?" I asked. He nodded before pulling out his phone. He fiddled with it for a few seconds before staring back up at me, signaling he had it all ready.

I turned back towards Joseph. "You ready for this?"

He quickly glanced at Ben before looking at me. He nodded his head once very slowly before licking his lips. I sighed softly before leaning up to bring my lips to his. I heard Khan press a button on his cell phone.

Joseph's lips were softer than what I believed them to be. Due to his constant chain smoking and lack of lip balm, I always had the impression that his lips were constantly chapped, especially since his lips looked that way. Joseph moved his mouth in a hypnotic motion against mine. His hands remained at his knees but he placed the tips of his fingertips over my hands. From his hands and knees, I could feel his entire body shaking. Besides his body trembling from underneath my fingertips, I could feel the burning glare coming from Ben and Kai. I pressed my palms into Joseph's knees as I felt his tongue shyly ask permission to enter my mouth. I opened my mouth slightly wider, allowing his tongue to dance with mine, as I slowly started to tremble myself. He gently bit at my bottom lip, causing me to gasp quietly. I felt Joseph smirk against my lips as his hands moved up to tangle them in my hair. I licked at his lips before kissing them softly as I heard the alarm coming from Khan's phone.

"Two minutes," Khan spoke softly.

I pulled away from Joseph, feeling embarrassed. As I pulled away, I combed my hair out with my fingers, trying to ignore the dazed look on his face, even though he seemed to have a smirk permanently painted on his face. I sat down next to Toby, not feeling up to be anywhere near Joseph, Ben, or Kai. I crossed my arms as I pointedly ignored the glare coming from Kai.

"Dude, if I was a guy, I'd have a total boner right now," Divine spoke up.

Toby shook his head at her with a small smile on her face as he placed a hand on my shoulder. He leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Don't worry about it."

Joseph cleared his throat noisily after Arik snapped his fingers in Joseph's face with a smirk. "So...shall I start counting?"

"Whatever," I said as I stood up. "Hero, I know where you sleep."

He gave me a small smile before standing up with me to walk in the opposite direction as Joseph started counting. I turned around to look at Kai, who was giving me a hard stare as he stood there with his arms crossed. I dropped my head down before turning to walk back to the front of the store. I licked my lips as I reached Vincent before I sat down on the floor next to his feet.

"What's wrong, sweet pea?" he asked without looking at me.

"You know, it always freaked me out how you could always tell when something is wrong," I said as I played with my charm bracelet.

"I'm a pro at knowing when something is wrong, believe me," he said.

"Should I even bother asking what that line was about?"

"Absolutely not," he grinned.

"Deal. It's just that Kai likes me, I think Joseph likes me, and Ben keeps acting like he's jealous but he hates me," I explained.

"Didn't you and him have a thing a few years ago?"

"Yeah, but that was years ago."

"Just because he's a guy doesn't mean he forgot how he felt about you. Or, who knows, how he still feels about you."

"I guess," I nodded.

"So who am I looking out for again?"

"Joseph Shaw."

"Dick," Vincent said simply.

"Alright?" I laughed.

"He was an ass, sweet pea."

"Yeah."

"So what did he do to make you all unresponsive?"

"The dare. He had to kiss me for two minutes. I fucking hate Hero now."

"I would too. So how was it? Terrible?" he laughed.

"Surprisingly, no. But I just couldn't stand the way Kai looked at me after."

"How did he look at you?" he said before holding a finger up, signaling that a customer was coming up. I remained silent until he bid the customer a goodbye.

"Like he was angry. That he resented me for kissing Joseph."

"A dare is a dare. And you had no say on the dare. And if he can't understand that, then he needs a brain check. Besides, it's not like you're his girl, right?"

"I'm not," I trailed off.

"Oh my god, you totally kissed him," Vincent laughed as he shook his head.

"Again, creepy."

"Deal with it," he smiled before another customer walked up.

I took out my buzzing cell phone as he scanned the various items the customer put on the conveyor belt. I opened my new text message that informed me that there was some disagreement on who Joseph found. I sighed before shutting my cell phone closed before standing up. The blond woman, who was standing there, waiting for Vincent to finish, stared at me incredulously before looking at him.

"There always has to be a fucking disagreement with Joseph," I explained.

"Rough," he said as he typed in numbers in the register.

"See you later, Vince," I said as I walked away.

I walked over to the shoe section, where apparently everyone had congregated. Joseph was sitting on the small chair provided there as Kai stood there angrily with his arms crossed. Toby and Ethan seemed to be the one listening on both sides of the story.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I found this asshole hiding over here and he said I cheated. I found him, how the fuck could I cheat on that?" Joseph snapped.

"You were peeking!" Kai yelled.

"Kai! There's no need to yell," I said.

"Of course, let's all just listen to the mediator," Kai muttered.

"Stop being a fucking dick for two seconds of your life," I snapped at him. "Guys, let's just stop playing, this is getting tiring."

"I agree. You all have gotten less fun since we were teens," Ethan grimaced.

"And here I thought we were all going to try to be friends. Epic fail," I sighed as I shook my head before turning around to walk away.

I heard the sounds of footsteps following behind me as I made my way to the children's toy section. I pulled a giant rubber ball out of the wire basket and bounced it a few times before looking up to stare at the one who followed me. I balanced the ball between my hip and my right arm as I placed my left hand on my hip.

"What do you want, Ben?" I asked.

"Just to talk."

"Talk."

"Don't be that way."

"What way?"

"The attitude."

"I don't have an attitude."

"Yes, you do."

"Don't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!" I snapped.

"Then what the hell is that?"

"I didn't have an attitude until you told me I did."

"Ani, I'm so sorry."

"For?" I said as I bounced the ball again.

"For what I did to you. I didn't want it to end that way."

"But it did. Fate. And its okay, Ben."

"I hurt you."

"Like I hurt you. We're equal."

"You didn't hurt me until I hurt you."

"Ben. It's okay. I'm over it, really."

"Because of that song?"

I sighed. I bounced the ball on the floor a few times before answering him without looking at him. "Yeah. Because of that song."

"It was beautiful."

"As was the one you wrote. What was it called again? 'Die, Bitch, Die' or something?"

"That wasn't about you," he denied.

"'Rainy nights, stormy nights. You brought this on yourself. I love your eyes, so haunting green. I want to fucking rip them out,'" I quoted.

"Not about you."

"Please, Ben. You were the only person to refer to my eye color as haunting," I scoffed.

"Okay, I'll admit it: I was hurt."

"And I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

"As is yours."

"So, are you okay? You sure?" he asked nervously.

"Ben, will you fucking please stop bugging me about this? I am absolutely positive that I am over you, okay?" I snapped.

I turned around, pausing for a moment as I saw Joseph standing there with his hands in his pockets. I walked right past him, ignoring his stare, before making my way to the makeup department, where I knew Divine would be. I thought it over in my head on what I would say to her about the whole situation. I pursed my lips as I stared at the red, blue, and purple ball in my hands. I bounced it a few times before pausing to look at the small girl who was staring at me from behind a stand of DVDs. I smiled softly at her before holding out the ball to her. She smiled shyly before slowly making her way over to me and taking the ball from my hands. She stared at it for a few seconds before bouncing it twice. She grinned up at me before running towards her mom, her dress floating up as she ran away. I smiled softly at her retreating form before sighing and continuing my way to find Divine.