The Fault in Our Tumblr

Chapter Four

I got up "early" for once, remembering my mall engagements with Ishmael and how it was going to take a little while to get to the mall from my place. The nearest Barnes and Nobel in a mall was the next state over, which seemed a bit odd but I lived close enough to the state line that driving that distance wasn't that big of a deal. It was about eight in the morning, not really that early but early for my summer plans, when I rushed downstairs still in my pajamas. 

"Mom, hey, Mom!" I called, trying to find her in the not so large but not so small house that we owned. 

"Henry, I'm in the kitchen there is no need to yell." She called back to me, directing me to her current position. 

I hurried into the kitchen, sliding across the clean tile in my socks. "Hey, can you take me to the mall today? I want to pick up a book and I wanted to meet up with Ishmael. You know, hang out and stuff." I knew it was short notice, but usually if I wanted to go somewhere on the fly and it involved interaction my mom was pretty cool about it. 

My mom looked at me over the frames of her reading glasses and sat down some thick book that she had been gleaning over quite intensely. "The mall with Ishmael. What time did you want to be there?"

"I was hoping noon. Sorry I didn't say something sooner; but Ishmael's brother came back home last night for a little while I guess, and Ishmael's pretty ticked about him being there. I guess he makes fun of Ishmael's stuttering issue." I shrugged, walking over to the kitchen island my mom was seated at. 

I could tell by the look on my mom's face that she was debating something or other within herself before she nodded slowly and removed her glasses. "All right. Go get ready and we'll head out. I am assuming you want to head to Barnes and Nobel to pick up this book, so that means we're headed West. So hurry so we won't keep Ishmael waiting."

"Thanks, mom. You're really the best." I smiled, darting off up the stairs to get changed. I chose some shorts and a pop culture t-shirt, having learned my lesson from the day before with the massive afternoon heat wave. Ohio was funny like that. Bipolar weather all year round. But I wasn't taking my chances so I grabbed a thin jacket just in case. 

I hesitated to check up on my Tumblr, but decided to just get my laptop out quickly and check up for just a second. I scrolled through a couple posts, finding some blog from an old public school friend about how he wanted to become a YouTube gamer like all of the other gamers and do great things. Etcetera. Etcetera. On my girlish account, some explosion of who's better 1D vs JB had torn my feed apart so I decided it wasn't even worth looking over. As for my cat Tumblr, well I could never see anything wrong with my cat Tumblr. It was always perfect. I just wished that Patrice would have updated something, anything! Even a simple 'Oh, I'm not dead by the way' would have been nice. 

"Henry, we need to get going if we want to make it on time!" I heard my mom yell up at me. 

Gently, I closed my laptop and grabbed my wallet along with my cell phone before heading downstairs. "Okay. Let's get going then. I'm ready." 

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It was basically a straight shot to the mall if you took the interstate, and that was what we did. Simple route, country view, farm land of course. The only problem was that I got car sick for the most part pretty easily, but I tried to stay focused on the road and not think about the underlying nausea that tried to well up inside me. 

I stared out the window, trying to focus on the flatness of the land. Good old, boring Ohio. You never did know what you could expect. As we crossed over the state line, I sighed with some relief knowing we were almost there. The moments passed by as I got closer and closer to getting my hands on another absurd cat book recommended by a random stranger online. Sounds really abnormal, I know.