Laney stood in the shoe department of the Peaceville mall pensively eyeing the heels in her hands. There was nothing wrong with them per say, they fit right and she could sort of walk in them without falling down every five steps. As far as heels go they were pretty comfortable and the shade of pink didn't make her want to gag.
The problem was that they weren't really her. Laney Penn just wasn't a heels kind of girl. Sure she had a secret love of boy bands and unicorns that her band mates would never ever find out but the extent of her girlyness stopped there. Laney would rather wear pants than skirts and the thought of wearing heels on any occasion made her cringe.
And yet here she was, the memory of a certain shoe commercial playing over in her head of a young woman strutting around in six inch stilettos, turning heads wherever she went. Even though she usually rolled her eyes at those sorts of commercials she had let it eat away at her subconscious until she figured she might as well give it a try. She finally made her decision to make the purchase when a familiar voice made her blood run cold.
"Laney Penn?" The incredulous voice of their arch enemy's vocalist sounded behind her. "Are you, like, buying heels?"
Laney stifled a groan, turning to meet Carrie's gaze with a glare.
"Ew they're not even your color, don't tell me you're actually going to buy those." Carrie said wrinkling her nose in distaste "Is this, like, for a gig or something?"
"No. Mind your own business Carrie." Laney's face reddened and she shoved the shoes into their box marching past the other girl toward the checkout counter. She placed the shoes on the counter keeping her eyes on the wall as the clerk rang her up.
"That'll be $62.50 honey." The woman said slipping the shoes into a bag.
Blanching a bit at the price, Laney pulled her cash out of her pocket and placed it on the counter anxious to leave.
"Oh you're a bit short sweetie." The clerk frowned apologetically.
"Huh?" Laney looked at the bills counting them quickly, two twenties and a wrinkled ten. Embarrassed she frantically searched her pockets for any extra cash.
Suddenly she felt a weight on her shoulder and a manicured hand reached out placing a crisp twenty on the counter. She turned to stare dumbfounded as Carrie accepted the change and grabbed the bag. Before she could fully comprehend what just happened the taller girl had gripped her wrist and lead her out of the shoe department at a brisk pace, stopping in front of one of the mall's many benches.
She let go of Laney's hand and dropped down onto the bench patting the space next to her and shaking the bag in Laney's direction. Uncertainly Laney took it and sat down brow furrowed in confusion. She stared down at the bag in her glancing back and forth from it to Carrie who stayed silent, staring at her with her hands folded in her lap and a small expectant smile on her face.
"Um…" Laney tried to find the right words, the absurdity of the situation finally catching up to her, "why did you uh…"
Carrie sat quietly waiting for Laney to finish her thought, her fingers tapped restlessly against her leg.
"Why did you do that?" Laney forced out weakly, "Uh help me that is, I mean, we're kind of… mortal enemies right?"
Carrie scoffed and rolled her eyes as if her motivation was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Because," she began suddenly she stopped, and pursed her lips in thought, as if a reason had never occurred to her "well…"
After a moment she straightened, turning so she was completely facing Laney, and pointed her finger at the other her.
"Who are you right now?" she said plainly, "Are you Laney Penn, or are you Grojband?"
"Um I'm… Laney Penn?" Laney said still lost.
"Right," Carrie said with a small smile, "and I don't have a problem with Laney Penn, I have a problem with Grojband."
"But I'm in Grojband." Laney stated her confusion growing with every word.
"Yeah but you're not Grojband." Carrie insisted, "I don't, like, have a problem with you on your own."
"Wait, really? Does that apply to all of us?"
"Ugh no." Carrie grimaced, "You and the other two are fine I guess but I still hate Riffin. He's the reason I hate Grojband, we've been enemies for, like, ever."
"Huh." Laney turned this new information over in her mind, still trying to wrap her head around Carrie's logic.
"So," Laney's thoughts were cut short as Carrie spoke up again, "since I paid for those are you going to tell me what they're for?" She leaned in expectantly, her breath smelling faintly of mint.
Laney sputtered at the sudden shift in conversation her cheeks reddening once again, "Wha- you only paid for part of them!" she blurted out, "A-and they aren't really for anything in particular…" Laney trailed off, avoiding eye contact by studying the back of her hands.
"Hmm…" Carrie narrowed her eyes, her gaze fixed intently on the other girl's face. Suddenly she drew in an excited breath bouncing in place, "Oh oh! I know that look! Is it for a boy? Someone in your band? Is it the short one? Oh or maybe the big one?"
Laney froze, trying to process Carrie's rapid fire questioning. Carrie gave a triumphant smile when the other girl stiffened knowing that she must have hit the nail on the head.
"What no I- wait the short-you mean Kin and Kon? No!" Laney looked up at Carrie an eyebrow raised.
The sincerity of Laney's statement seemed to catch Carrie off guard and she furrowed her brow in confusion.
"But, if it's not, like, one of them then…" suddenly her eyes widen and she slapped a hand over her mouth as a giggle burst from her lips, "Corey Riffin?" she squeaked her shoulders shaking from the force of her poorly contained laughter.
Laney's face flushed deep red and she clenched her fists, she should have known she would laugh. She stood up abruptly prepared to storm off and forget about the entire conversation but before she could take a single step Carrie's hand shot out and latched onto her wrist.
"Wait, don't leave," she pleaded trying to stifle her giggling, "I promise I'm not laughing at you, it's just, he's so…" She buried her face in her hands taking deep fluttery breaths to calm herself down.
"Oblivious?" Laney finished sourly dropping back down onto the bench with a sigh.
"Well yeah." Carrie said flatly, having finally caught her breath "I mean is he even into girly girls? How do you know he'd even notice if you started dressing up for him?"
Laney's frown deepened and she sunk in on herself. It was true that aside from a few friendly compliments, emphasis on the friend part, he never really seemed to show any interest in her when she dressed up. She swallowed the lump in her throat mentally berating herself for even thinking a new look might help.
Carrie frowned at Laney's reaction, regretting her word choice, she was only trying to be realistic. She hummed softly to herself trying to think of something encouraging to say to lighten the spoiled mood. Letting out a slow deep breath she leaned forward so her hair was hanging down inches from Laney's face.
"Laney Penn, you shouldn't have to change yourself for a boy." She said sincerely, smiling when Laney looked up at her. "If he doesn't like you for who you are then he's missing out." She stated matter of factly crossing her arms and nodding at her own words.
Laney blinked up at her, a blush slowly crawling across her face. A familiar fluttering feeling settled in her stomach and she tried not to think about all the ways Carrie suddenly reminded her of Corey.
After a moment of silence Carrie stood up smoothing out her skirt and stretching. "Well I guess I should, like, go. I need to get another new amp, long story don't ask." She paused, "I'll see you around Laney, and for what it's worth, I think you're totally cute."
Carrie gave her one last smile before turning and walking off towards the escalators. Laney stood up opening her mouth in the other girl's direction trying to find the right words. Closing her mouth she took a breath to steady herself and forced her voice to work.
"Hey!" Carrie stopped, turning back at Laney's call, "Um do you think, maybe, we could do this again?" she asked awkwardly closing the gap between them, "You know, hang out? Off the record?"
Carrie giggled taking a pen from her purse and pulling Laney's arm to herself. She writes something on the inside of Laney's wrist, before patting her hand and letting go.
"This better not end up written in some bathroom stall or something." She says warns lightly before tucking the pen back into her purse with a grin and walking away, stepping onto the escalator leading to the second floor.
Laney stared down at the phone number written neatly on her arm, before slowly taking out her cell phone and saving it. Biting her bottom lip she types a quick 'hey' into her phone and sends it, testing the number's authenticity. After a moment of doubt she gets a 'hi' in response and another text telling her to look up. She sees Carrie waving from the second floor and smiles.
With that she turns around, heading back to the shoe department to return the heels.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I wrote this a few months ago and decided to post it up somewhere more accessible than my tumblr uwu
This is my first ever fanfiction pretty much ever so its probably not the best but I thought it was decent enough to put online so here it is for you all, I'm not sure how well this is going to be formatted so hopefully it looks readable.
I have three parts written with a fourth and final one on the way as soon as new episodes start up and rekindle my love for Grojband.
Some reviews could help the story along as well if any of you actually want to see how it turns out ;)