She's Got a Warped Frame of Mind
Lunchtime Run In
After that I choked up; Jasper hung up on me upon hearing where I was in the US. It wasn’t anywhere in Washington, that was for sure- I didn’t know whether he was expecting for me to be or not. Either way, tears flowed from my eyes as a dull ache began to pound in my head, the rush of blood against my temples made me feel alive again.
I let some time pass, to calm down before I walked out of the dressing room and back out into the rails upon rails of merchandise; zigzagging to and fro through the unorganized clutter. Head down, I made my way into the main stretch of the mall, in search of a bathroom to use.
Only when I was going through the food court, did I pick my head up a bit to avoid bumping into a person in the most crowded part of the whole entire mall. I pulled my long sleeves to my thin white cotton over shirt down around my wrists and hands before crossing my arms in front of my body. My hair covered my face as I tried to remain invisible, unnoticed amongst the sea of teens who call the mall “home.” I however, didn’t feel the desire to stay around to chat in large groups either-
I winced an arm or elbow, or the hell if I knew, was shoved into my head; more specifically my cheek. I yelped as I regained my balanced and covered the spot with my cloth covered hand. I blinked as I tried to move my jaw, assessing the damage as the inflictor’s hands came towards me while his apologizing voice met my ears.
“… Are you okay, I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to- I swear!” The guy’s hands found my hair and pushed it out of the way.
“What are you doing Jared? Geeze you need to be more damn careful!” I recognized that voice as being the bond, surfer-esque looking guy from earlier. I looked up into the eyes of the blue-eyes that captivated me earlier that day.
“Sorry” This Jared, whispered as his free hand moved the hair that fell in front of his face from out of his eyes.
“Oh hi, Hanley!” I mentally groaned.
“It’s alright.” I snapped my gaze away from the blue eyed man named Jared and looked back down with reddened cheeks due to the embarrassment of being caught staring.
“What did you do to her?” Eric, aka Mr. Red head, chuckled coming to stand next to his friend.
“I didn’t do it on purpose!” He burst out in objection to doing something horrible on purpose; his rough fingers caressed my sore cheek. I shied away, stepping backwards a few steps while giving them an uneasy half smile.
As I watched the two boys argue back and forth in front of me I kept taking little steps further and further away, hoping to just be able to disappear as they were distracted. I only heard bits and pieces as their hushed yet demanding voices came in bits and pieces into my ears but it was enough to make me try to get away asap.
‘What are you doing?’ my mind screamed at me as I turned swiftly on my heel and tried sneaking further away into the crowd. Too bad I didn’t see that little kid underneath my feet at the time. I tripped over my own two feet as I tried to maneuver my fall so as to avoid crushing the little boy underneath me. “Whoa” was spoken in my ear as a pair of arms wrapped around my middle and kept me upright- the same could not be said of the kid who was crying on the ceramic floor below our feet.
Suddenly I was all too aware of the flexing arms around me, how they encircled me tightly; flexing, strong….
The crying little boy jumped up and ran in the opposite direction back to a pair of women who were animatedly talking to one another as they slowly wandered through the cafeteria crowd, monotonously picking up one food then pausing before doing the same with the opposite foot.
The arms suddenly dropped from my waist as a deep red flush came over my cheeks. I stepped back a few steps, this time not running anyone over, as I tried to avoid looking at Jared; he was stepping back a couple steps as well.
“Eat with us” Next thing I knew I was being dragged by Eric over to a large table filled with 5 other boys, he pulled out a chair for me and then sat down next to me. A large pile of every food imaginable was stacked in the middle with each of the boys already shoving bite full’s into their mouths- “Take whatever you want…” Eric spoke loudly over the clamor going on around us.
Slowly my hand inched towards a small bag of Mc Donald’s French fries; I drug the bag over the smooth surface of the table top before gingerly picking one of the salty fried potato sticks and placing it on my tongue.
I let some time pass, to calm down before I walked out of the dressing room and back out into the rails upon rails of merchandise; zigzagging to and fro through the unorganized clutter. Head down, I made my way into the main stretch of the mall, in search of a bathroom to use.
Only when I was going through the food court, did I pick my head up a bit to avoid bumping into a person in the most crowded part of the whole entire mall. I pulled my long sleeves to my thin white cotton over shirt down around my wrists and hands before crossing my arms in front of my body. My hair covered my face as I tried to remain invisible, unnoticed amongst the sea of teens who call the mall “home.” I however, didn’t feel the desire to stay around to chat in large groups either-
I winced an arm or elbow, or the hell if I knew, was shoved into my head; more specifically my cheek. I yelped as I regained my balanced and covered the spot with my cloth covered hand. I blinked as I tried to move my jaw, assessing the damage as the inflictor’s hands came towards me while his apologizing voice met my ears.
“… Are you okay, I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to- I swear!” The guy’s hands found my hair and pushed it out of the way.
“What are you doing Jared? Geeze you need to be more damn careful!” I recognized that voice as being the bond, surfer-esque looking guy from earlier. I looked up into the eyes of the blue-eyes that captivated me earlier that day.
“Sorry” This Jared, whispered as his free hand moved the hair that fell in front of his face from out of his eyes.
“Oh hi, Hanley!” I mentally groaned.
“It’s alright.” I snapped my gaze away from the blue eyed man named Jared and looked back down with reddened cheeks due to the embarrassment of being caught staring.
“What did you do to her?” Eric, aka Mr. Red head, chuckled coming to stand next to his friend.
“I didn’t do it on purpose!” He burst out in objection to doing something horrible on purpose; his rough fingers caressed my sore cheek. I shied away, stepping backwards a few steps while giving them an uneasy half smile.
As I watched the two boys argue back and forth in front of me I kept taking little steps further and further away, hoping to just be able to disappear as they were distracted. I only heard bits and pieces as their hushed yet demanding voices came in bits and pieces into my ears but it was enough to make me try to get away asap.
‘What are you doing?’ my mind screamed at me as I turned swiftly on my heel and tried sneaking further away into the crowd. Too bad I didn’t see that little kid underneath my feet at the time. I tripped over my own two feet as I tried to maneuver my fall so as to avoid crushing the little boy underneath me. “Whoa” was spoken in my ear as a pair of arms wrapped around my middle and kept me upright- the same could not be said of the kid who was crying on the ceramic floor below our feet.
Suddenly I was all too aware of the flexing arms around me, how they encircled me tightly; flexing, strong….
The crying little boy jumped up and ran in the opposite direction back to a pair of women who were animatedly talking to one another as they slowly wandered through the cafeteria crowd, monotonously picking up one food then pausing before doing the same with the opposite foot.
The arms suddenly dropped from my waist as a deep red flush came over my cheeks. I stepped back a few steps, this time not running anyone over, as I tried to avoid looking at Jared; he was stepping back a couple steps as well.
“Eat with us” Next thing I knew I was being dragged by Eric over to a large table filled with 5 other boys, he pulled out a chair for me and then sat down next to me. A large pile of every food imaginable was stacked in the middle with each of the boys already shoving bite full’s into their mouths- “Take whatever you want…” Eric spoke loudly over the clamor going on around us.
Slowly my hand inched towards a small bag of Mc Donald’s French fries; I drug the bag over the smooth surface of the table top before gingerly picking one of the salty fried potato sticks and placing it on my tongue.