Losing Grip

Chapter 7➷ They're Practically an Old Married Couple

"Did you even move at all since I left you?" Arson asked when he found me half an hour later.

His suspicious eyes narrowed at me even though I was intentionally displaying the weary expression of someone who had been through every aisle of a store.

He did not look any less energetic than he had been earlier when we first arrived.

I ignored his question to ask my own. "Found what you were looking for?"

He waved a bag over his head as an answer. "What about you? Did you find anything interesting?" he asked me.

"No," I said with a shrug. I hadn't been looking for anything, so I found nothing.

"Want to get something to eat?"

Without waiting for an answer, he headed back the way he had come from after nodding for me to follow him. He had the talent to avoid bumping into other people. Although I walked in the same path he did, my shoulder seemed to be designed to nudge others.

As we walked past multiple stores, I watched people getting pulled into them by the 2000s pop music and the smiling employees.

Conversations animated every group that walked around us. Somehow, the air smelled like friendship. It seemed to be loaded with the thrill middle school students felt at the idea of buying new trends, and the reluctance of adults who still followed them inside every store, grumbling about the thousands of other—better—things they could be doing instead.

"Remember this weird girl, Brooklyn, we met at lunch that day?" Arson asked once we were within sight of the frozen yogurt parlor.

"Yeah?" I said, barely registering his words because I was staring down at my sneakers. Watching myself walk always made the process of walking feel a little more awkward than it already was.

"She seemed cool, didn't she?"

I shrugged. "I guess."

"Good."

I glanced up at his face to attempt to interpret his words from his expression. He was staring at two girls sitting by a water fountain at the center of the mall.

He started making wild motions in the air with his arms as if to shape snow angels without lying down. He drew their attention before I could stop him.

"What on earth are you doing?" I hissed, nudging him in the side when I noticed that the girls were heading toward us.

"You said Brooklyn seemed cool." He shrugged as if that was a good explanation. "I assumed you wouldn't mind if they joined us."

"Yeah, why would I mind having lunch with two strangers instead of going home?"

I distinguished Brooklyn from her friend by her eyes, once they reached Arson and me. Her eyes seemed just large and bright enough to invite those who beheld them to peek in and view her soul.

"Hi," said the girl beside Brooklyn, with a brief wave.

Her light brown shirt brought attention to her brown eyes. Her posture and figure claimed that she was likely an athlete.

"Good to see you again, Avery," Brooklyn said with a smile that illuminated her face. She then turned to Arson with a frown. "Arson."

If Arson was perplexed by her tone, he shrugged it off well. "What's up, Jayce?" he said to the other girl, holding up a hand until she high-fived him. "We were about to get some yogurt. Wanna come along?" After a few seconds of consideration, he added with a nod towards Brooklyn. "You can even invite your friend if you'd like."