I yawned, leaning back on the counter top with my hands placed behind my head. I scratched at my hair, lazily scanning over the scene set before me. It was extremely boring around the music shop, not many costumers and I had little interest in sticking around while Ally put away boxes. I looked down at my watch, licking my lips before hoping off the counter with a huff. My partner was busy with her work, dashing up and down the stairs to put the boxes into storage when I walked out the door. I would have told her bye or something, but I didn't want to bother her.
We hadn't been partners for that long and already we had set together an amazing group. Dez, the camera man, Trish, the manager, Ally, the songwriter, and me (Austin, the rock star. It was so much fun to get to work with my friends while living out my dreams; I honestly don't know what more I could possibly ask for.
"Ice Cream!" I squealed with joy, sliding my way over to the cart, holding up a finger and pleading for a Cookie Dough serving. Okay, maybe there were some things I could still ask for.
"Here you go." The regular Ice Cream man gave me my cone, wrapping the treat in a napkin.
I grinned pleasantly, taking a large bite out of the top, paying the man before prancing over to a table near the fountain. I took a seat, cuddling up to my cone happily, "Oh, Ice Cream. I love you!" I chomped down on the frozen desert, whimpering and pulling back when the cold reached my teeth. Ouch! Heh. They always did say that love hurts. I threw the napkin to the side of the table, disregarding the mess I was making. My feet kicked back and forth underneath the table as I continued to nibble at the sweet, looking around at all the mall goers. One couple flew on by, hands locked and smiling. Awh! Then Surfer Dude passed by, carrying a large bucket.
"Hey, Austin!" He called to me with a friendly wave, approaching the table, giving that same chilled out smile. Wow. Miami people were awesome!
"'Sup?" I bobbed my head upward in greeting, licking at the melted ice cream that stained the area around my mouth.
"Not much, man." He nodded. "Hey…" He set his bucket down beside the table, leaning towards me, "What kind of ice cream you got there?"
"Cookie Dough."
"You gonna finish it?"
"Yeah." I cocked a brow, pulling my ice cream back in a defensive way, covering the visibility of it only slightly with my other hand.
"Hey," He stood back, holding up both hands as if innocent, "Just asking. Oh well. I gotta go get this," He picked up the bucket, patting the side of it, "back to the shop."
"What's in.."
"You don't need to know."
I watched, confused as Surfer Dude walked away, his bucket swinging heavily back and forth on his side. He was staring at me suspiciously, until he ran into a pole. That's when it lost all seriousness and I burst out laughing. I didn't feel like helping him, the people around us could get that, so I just finished off my ice cream with one big gulp, going on my merry way. Man. This is so boring! Where was everyone? Oh, that's right, Dez is taking his trip to Antarctica and Trish is working at the…well…I don't know where she was working now. I shrugged, stopping in the middle of the mall, looking around, scratching the back of my head. Hey, look! It's Dallas!
We're not close, but I know he's Ally's crush. I know he works at the Library, and I know he's not exactly the sharpest pencil in the box. But there was seriously no one to hang out with and as a fellow guy, he just had to know something to do! I walked up to the boy, nodding coolly as a greeting, "Hey, man."
"Oh hey." He offered up a crooked smile, his teeth partially showing and flipped some hair from his face. "'Sup?" He leaned against the pillar he was standing by, shoving his hands in his pockets. Like I said, we weren't great friend. But we knew each other and that had to count as something, after all, you make new friends everyday.
"That's the problem," I sighed, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, shoving my thumbs into the waist line of my pants, shrugging sadly, "Nothing's up!"
He looked up, startled with wide eyes, searching the area above. I cocked a brow, watching him, "I didn't mean literally."
"Oh! Whoo, man. You really had me goin' there." He hit my shoulder, smiling happily. I couldn't help but crack a smile. It was hard to watch such friendly people being all friendly and stuff without trying to be super nice back. Sure, Dallas was a lot dumber than me, not dumber than Dez, dumber than me, but that didn't mean we couldn't be cool. He worked at a Library. I hardly ever read books. He has tan skin. I have light skin. He has brown hair. I have blonde hair. He can't dance. I'm a great dancer. How much more alike can we get!
"Wanna go to the beach?" I looked around, chewing on the inside of my cheek, trying to act like I didn't notice how blankly he was staring at me.
"Awh, I can't, you see, I work at the.."
"Yeah, I know."
"You do?"
"I know more about you than you'd think."
He nodded, smiling then stopped, showing a confused expression, "Wait, what?"
"Nothing," I waved him off, smacking my lips in somewhat disappointment, "I'll catch you later."
"You going to see Ally?"
"I guess so." I shrugged.
"Can you give this to her," He held out a broken pencil, grinning sheepishly, "She let me borrow it the other day, I was going to give it back, but I forgot."
"Why is it…? How do you…?"
"You see.."
"I don't wanna know." I shook my head, shoving the snapped pencil into my pocket. I looked over at the boy once again, searching his face with my gaze. He was blanked out already, so it seemed, staring past me with a hunched back, hands in pockets, a stupid smile on his face and a little twinkle in his deep brown eyes. I stared at him for a moment, trying to tell what he was looking at without actually turning around.
"What're you looking at?" I blinked rapidly when Dallas spoke up, cringing his nose like a girl would when acting cute. I looked around in circles, pointing a finger at my chest finally with a cocked brow. "Yeah, you. Who else would I be talking to?"
"Oh, eheh," I laughed nervously, sliding a hand behind my neck and scratching at the skin in surprise. I hadn't realized he was actually looking at me the whole time. Had we made any eye contact, then I assume it would have been different. But maybe it wouldn't have. What am I saying? I gotta get out of here, "Well, uh…bye!" I waved as I jogged away, only turning back once to see the boy watching me with his arms crossed over his chest. That was a weird encounter. He was so…strange. But why did I feel like he was judging me the whole time? Why did I feel like he was being stupider than he already was? Why did I feel all…gooey when I looked into his eyes? This day was not going well for me at all. First boredom, then creeped out, how could it possibly get any worse? I just couldn't get why Dallas was acting so simple, the way Ally described him was very extraordinary, and awesome. Was it something I did? Maybe I should tell Ally. She'd know what was going on.
"I don't know what's going on." Ally talked loudly as she piled boxes onto one another beside the main entrance, barely looking at me as I hopped onto the counter top of the store. "Maybe Dallas is just going through something. He works really hard.."
"He works at a Library."
"And I'm sure it's a tough job!" My partner took up for her crush, turning to me with a curt nod and a not so sly smile, "Look, all I'm saying is that..what happened with you and Dallas wasn't strange. He's just that cute all the time."
"I never said he was cute." Although he sure was acting it.
"But you were implying it." Ally checked off some thing on a paper, setting her clip board onto the counter next to me, sighing a bit with an easy smile, "So what you were staring at him? You stare at Dez all the time."
"Yeah…you're right." I grinned, placing my hands on my knees. Ally had gotten the completely wrong idea from this entire discussion. All I wanted to know was why Dallas was so…blank, but I guess Ally refused to admit that to herself. After all, he did say "Libary" instead of "Library". I was still mildly confused on what exactly what was happening and why I was even talking about this, but I smiled anyways, nodding happily enough.
"I'm always right," Ally scoffed, flipping her hair, "I was just kidding, don't feel offended. Really, I wasn't trying to be cocky." She gripped onto her clip board, looking at me innocently and stiffly.
"I know, Ally," I rolled my eyes amusingly, "Have you worked on that new song yet?"
"No, sorry," Ally hit the palm of her hand to her forehead, groaning, "I've been too busy with work here. With my dad off on his, all expenses paid, vacation, I haven't been able to get anything done. The store has been really hectic lately."
I looked around, noticing that there was only two or three costumers. I cocked a brow and pondered for a moment. Why was Ally making up excuses? Was it because she didn't want me to know about her secretly secret awesome song THAT SHE ALREADY CAME UP WITH AND DIDN'T WANT ME TO KNOW ABOUT? Nah. Ally wasn't that good at lying. Or was she? She could be lying to me right now? What if she was? What if she was lying to me about everything this whole time and she really just wasn't a good truth teller? What if she really was a fat guy with a beard and toe hair! That'd be so…awesome!
"Austin. Austin? Austin! Are you even listening to me?"
"Huh? What? No." I flinched, looking at my agitated partner and chuckled. I shrugged off her expression, poking at her chin, "Have you ever thought about growing a beard?"
The rest of the day came down to me exploring Ally's shop. Not like there was really much to explore. Sigh. Oh well. I headed to the top of the stairs, where we normally practiced, and slouched down in a bean bag chair across the room from the piano. I leaned my head back and tried to stare out the window backwards before my eyes started hurting and I got a headache. I wiped at my eyes, scoffing coolly as I opened up the fridge for a soda.
"Oh shit!" I grabbed my heart, slamming the fridge door with a leaping step backwards.
"Ouch! Hey, that wasn't very nice you know!" A chilly Dez slid out of the fridge, popping his back with a satisfied expression.
"I thought you were in Antarctica! Why are you in Ally's fridge?"
"I can't go to Antarctica! It's like, below zero degrees over there. I'd freeze. Duh, everyone knows that." Dez waved his hand at me, rolling his eyes with the smuggest smile I had ever seen.
I couldn't find it in myself to be scared anymore, I simply waved off his words, chuckling right along with his remark. I should have figured that he would pull something off like this; after all, it was in fact Dez. Hm. Well, it was quite smart..the plan he made out. He had food, he had transportation, somehow, and he didn't even have to pay for it. I don't think that ally would be too happy when she noticed that her potato salad was completely soaked in Dez's feet juices. Or…whatever you'd call them; I'm sure his feet were clean. Kind of. Hopefully. I think. Maybe…oh well. Not my problem. I shrugged in the middle of my laugh, hitting my friends shoulder.
"I'll be taking a trip to Hawaii next." He nodded with certainty.
"Let me guess," I pursed my lips, "the beach?"
"No. Hawaii."
"Whatever you say." I grinned, shrugging in a more pleasant mood. I twirled on my heel, plopping onto the piano seat, hitting the higher keys. I played a small melody, nothing to brag about, but it was still pretty rocking. Dez took up the seat next to me, hitting low notes that matched along with mine. We played in unison, creating a barely reasonable melody, rhythm and beat. I got bored and turned around on the seat, leaning on my knees.
"What's up?" Dez looked over, passed his shoulder and cocked a brow. I shrugged, biting down on my lower lip with a hesitation to my reply.
I ran the palm of my hand over my face, shrugging lazily, " Well, you know Dallas?"
"Ally's "uber cute" crush?"
"Yeah, him." I nodded, pointing to him with a nod, "I talked to him today. He was…I don't know."
"Loopy?" Dez said as he pursed his lips, twirling strands of his hair around his fingers before poking at his own cheeks, so obviously amusing himself.
"Nah. Just…" I sighed, thinking for a moment, just barely muttering my words in the least audible manner possible, fiddling with my fingers, "strange."