Counting Down The Days To Go

It was Monday morning. Again. I had a wonderful time with Amanda and Chanel yesterday at the mall but I was dreading yet another week of school. Everything was just so routine and I was sick of it. The only thing that I look forward to on a school day is to see Mike.

I scrambled around to put on some face powder and some eyeliner before I grabbed my bag and rushed out of my house.

“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” I bid my parents goodbye before I walked out of the door. My parents were rarely at home but they’ve finally gotten a week off work and I was glad that we finally had some time together.

Walking out of the door, I saw Mike sitting inside his car waiting for me. Yeah, he was still giving me rides to school. He insisted on it so why not? I mean, this was an opportunity to hang out with Mike even more. So my precious baby was locked away in the garage and I only use her during the weekends now.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what happened. I promise I won’t be late again,” I told Mike as I slid into the passenger seat.

“It’s okay. I woke up late too. As a matter of fact, I just reached your house and you came rushing out of the door. So how was your weekend?” Mike asked.

“It was fun. On Saturday I went out with Aiden, this friend of mine. Then on Sunday, I went out with Amanda and Chanel. I hanged out at the mall on both days though,” I filled Mike in on my weekend escapades.

“I like what you did with your hair,” Mike said.

I blushed a little bit. He noticed!

“Thanks. So how was your weekend?” I asked. Mike had been out of town with his parents for god-knows-what reason. He was being all mysterious about it but I think it was a family-bonding thing.

“It was okay. I was thinking, could we drop by the mall after school today? I need to get some new guitar strings,” Mike said.

“Sure.”

***

I walked out into the school parking lot right after the last period to see Mike standing by his car already. How did he get there so fast? I had no idea.

“You’re fast!” I said, stating the obvious to Mike. He only shrugged and gave me a smirk.

“I have my ways, Crystal. I have my ways,” Mike said.

I gave a small laugh and entered the car.

Within minutes, we arrived at the mall. Mike switched off the radio and we stepped out of the car. We went up to the shop where he bought his guitar to buy some new guitar strings. It was done in a matter of few minutes as Mike wasn’t fussy and he knew what he wanted.

As we came down the escalator, I caught sight of a newly-opened jewelry shop.

“Can we go there for a minute?” I asked Mike. It had been quite a long while since I bought some jewelry and from the looks of the colorful banners, there was a sale gong on at the shop.

I stopped at one of those displays outside the shop and peered into the glass case. There was an assortment of rings but I spotted one that seemed to outshine the others. It was silver, with a pink heart-shaped stone set in the centre. In other words, it was a beauty. Ever since I was a young girl, rings were always my favorite accessory
.
“Which one do you like?” Mike asked.

“This one,” I said, pointing to the ring I was eyeing.

“Good afternoon, Miss. What can I help you with?” A snooty looking sales-woman asked me.

“It’s okay. I’m just looking around,” I said politely with a fake smile. I don’t know why, but I just don’t like those fake sales-people that would give you huge smiles and seemingly helpful ‘suggestions’ just to sell their stuff.

“Let’s go,” I said to Mike.

He nodded and we turned to leave the shop.

“Do you want to go home now?” Mike asked.

I shrugged and said, “Up to you.” I was still thinking about the ring I just saw and how badly I wanted it. But wouldn’t it be pathetic to buy a ring for yourself?

While I was still thinking about the ring, Mike pulled my hand gently into another direction.

“Where are we going?” I asked him in bewilderment.

“There,” Mike said, pointing to one of those photo booths.

“We are taking pictures?” I asked. That was so middle school. I used to come here with my friends and take goofy pictures but we stopped a few years ago.

“I know it’s childish. But it’d be fun, I promise.” He tried to assure me.

“Alright,” I said. It would be fun to take goofy pictures with Mike. Him and me, in an enclosed space, posing for one picture after another. And it would give me a reason to keep a picture of Mike somewhere in my room.

Mike put in some coins into the slot and we started taking pictures. The seat was quite small so I was almost sitting on his lap, not that I minded though. We stuck out our tongues for the first picture. Followed by bunny ears, wide-eyes, fish faces and other funny poses we could think of. In one of the pictures though, we just smiled and acted normal. Mike leant into me a little and placed one of his arms around my shoulder.

After we took the pictures, we came out of the booth giggling like two small children. Mike took the strips of pictures and we looked over them together. To pretty much sum it up, we looked retarded! In the last picture, when we were smiling and acting normal, Mike sort of leant into me a little bit and it almost looked as if he was kissing my cheek. That was my favorite out of the lot.

“Why don’t each of us take a copy?” Mike asked.

I nodded and he handed me a strip of pictures. I gently tucked it inside my wallet. When I get home, those pictures are going into my diary.

“Thanks,” I told Mike.

“For?” He asked.

“For suggesting that we took the pictures,” I said with a smile.