The bus pulled up to the curb of Rivertown Mall, right outside the mall entrance that was next to Sears. Everyone piled off of the bus, moving effectively past the group that was trying to get on the bus at the same time. Gina ducked and dodged through people, trying hard to catch up with her long-legged friend. She wondered if the reason she was walking so fast was because she didn't want to be caught standing anywhere near the Galbadian cowboy, but in any case she felt she should slow down, since they had people in tow.
Sharon took a deep breath, and took off Gina's headphones with a sigh. She was going to be a good tour guide, and she was going to have fun while doing it, too. Upon entering one of the lobbies of the mall, she stopped in front of the Mountain Dew vending machines and turned around with a wide smile. Da Hypaa was going to shine today, not the Sharii who despised a certain person's guts.
"WELCOME ALL, TO THE WONDERFUL SHOPS OF RIVERTOWN MALL!" Sharon bellowed in her best announcer voice, drawing attention from all sorts of people who were milling around in the area. She handed the Walkman back to Gina. "Today, Tour Guide Hypaa will be at your service, to let you newcomers know of the many sights and sounds this beautiful mall has to offer."
Gina smiled but looked around her self-consciously, thinking that Sharon was doing her job a bit too well. Of course, she knew her best friend didn't give a hoot as to what other people thought of her when she was having fun. Squall, however, was staring at her as if she had lost her mind at last, and probably would've snuck off to head back to campus if he even had the slightest idea of what bus to take to get back.
Sharon led them through the usual path she and Gina would take, going past Payless and Kay-Bee and glorifying the Starbucks Coffee for their frappuchinos and caramel apple ciders. Zell couldn't help himself and bought himself a cider along with a couple of equally sweet coffee cakes and devoured it all before they had gotten very far from the kiosk. Gina also helped the tour group towards Rue 21, a store that she and Sharon recently started whoring out for their sales and style of clothing.
The colorful college student skipped through the long hallways of the mall, indicating almost every store as if she had lived there from the day she was born. It was understandable, seeing as though this place was the only real source of entertainment GVSU students had if they weren't mobile. Gina made sure that the group didn't get separated... or Squall didn't run off, either way. Not to mention she tried to keep the distance between Sharon and Irvine as far as she could manage without getting too far away.
"So, enjoying yourself thus far?" Gina spoke up, also taking the job of talking to the cowboy since Sharon probably wouldn't spare him a civil word.
"Oh, quite," Irvine replied, flashing a grin that made Gina blush. "How can't I, when two ladies are taking the task to show us around?"
Gina made a mental note to try to build up her endurance to frequent flirty behavior, especially if she wanted to not be reduced to a puddle every time he talked. "Oh yeah, let me apologize for Sharii-chan." she started. "She's not always like that."
Irvine blinked. "Like what? How she's acting now or the heaping amounts of gratitude she shows me?"
"Regarding you, I meant. Sharii's usually hyper and bubbly all while kinda being headstrong." Gina took her Emily cat hat she bought from Hot Topic off of her head, now that she was warming up. "There's two things I know that cause Sharii to get ugly, and that's if you threaten her pride or threaten me. She's really protective, like a big sister of sorts, even if I'm the oldest." She laughed. "But, yeah... just wanted to let you know that, just in case you never get to see what Sharii-chan's really like."
He nodded. "Well, I certainly didn't know all of that, and probably wouldn't have if you hadn't indulged me."
Gina scratched her head. "But I dunno, I can't really give you a reason for why she's treating you like crap. Okay well, I can kinda understand, since you two didn't exactly get off to a good start. But still, even with all of that factored in, it confuses me. I mean, you are the kind of guy Sharii would usually have a crush on."
"I am?" Now the conversation was taking an interesting turn.
"Yeah. First off, you have the accent, and there's this guy on this show that we really like watching that has one similar to yours, and Sharii's been known to crush on him to the point of near obsession. Then, I think she has a thing for cowboy hats, since she has a collection of them herself. You just probably haven't seen them yet because it's been too cold for her to wear them. And... well, lemme shut up, because Sharii wouldn't be too happy that you knew even that much about her," Gina explained apologetically.
"No, it's alright. I've already got a better enough picture on her from just that much info." Irvine said, and turned his attention towards the hyperactive tour guide up front. So, there was a possibility that she could be attracted to him. Even if it was the same as a snowball's chance in hell, it was still a possibility. Not that he wanted to hook up with her or anything; it was all just a game like it had always been, just with a slightly different turn. Sharon did make it interesting, which was for sure. But it still didn't add up. She seemed to express a genuine hatred for him, and did everything in her power to stay away from him or to dish out some verbal pain. Well... it was something to contemplate if he was ever bored.
Meanwhile, Sharon had led them all the way to the end of the mall, and they rode the escalator up to the top near FYE to survey the second floor. Zell played the part of an excited tourist perfectly, wanting to go in almost every single store and come out of another. Squall seemed a little bit more tolerant of the whole situation, and the anti-social barrier that was constantly up around him seemed to lighten up some. They came to a stop in front of Barnes and Noble while Sharon came up with a sentence or two about it.
"And this is Rivertown Mall's very own Barnes and Noble booksellers, a fabulous place for not only bookworms, but for coffee lovers alike," Sharon chirped. "Gina and I came here often, especially when I was collecting a lot of manga... and I still do. Hey man, that reminds me, this damn place still puts my Sailormoon manga in the kids section! What the hell is up with that, man? Dude, I swear, I should really get a hold of the management and let them know what's up because I'm not gonna-"
"Can we go in?" Squall interrupted, surprising everyone since these were the first words he'd uttered since they began on the whole mall escapade. He was looking inside the store with much interest, and Gina was really glad he finally started getting into the whole thing.
"Uh... yeah, sure!" Sharon smiled, and led the group inside the huge bookstore. Inside, the group split off. Sharon dropped her tour guide job for a moment to make a beeline towards the manga section, with Zell following close behind. Irvine went in a similar direction, stopping at the small section of board games to survey the selection. Gina looked all around for Squall, since it seemed that the moment they stepped into the store, he'd disappeared. Oh, I hope he didn't use this as a ploy to run away or something. She shrugged it off and walked to the back of the store, making her way around the tables crowded with books on sale until she came to a familiar section, and grinned.
The Anne Rice collection. Gina remembered the first time she and Sharon had discovered this place that they sat down on the floor in the middle of the aisle and just reflected on the Vampire Chronicles, the books that they've been reading since high school. Between the two girls, they probably owned them all, but they still liked looking over the selection to make sure they didn't miss any along the way. She examined the new covers of a lot of the books she already owned, and almost envied how they were spruced up fancily ever since they had become popular.
Looking up when she realized someone else was also in the aisle, she almost died when she recognized it to be Squall. He was busily studying the back of "The Vampire Lestat", oblivious to the girl that managed to gape at him for the second time that day. Gina didn't really want to disturb him, but it was the chance to actually try to start a conversation with the silent character.
"So, you like Anne Rice, too?"
Squall looked up as if waking from a dream. "Umm... yeah, I do."
Gina racked her brain to keep it going. "That's cool. Sharii and I started reading them back in 12th grade, and we really enjoy the Vampire Chronicles."
"I haven't really had a chance to read a lot of her works, but what I have so far, I like," Squall stated, slipping the book back into the open space on the shelf. "The way she writes makes the whole story flow in a way that keeps you coming back. Not to mention the characters she comes up with draw you into their world."
Gina tried not to start cheesing like a fool. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I pretty much like almost all of the vampires in the stories, but I think my all time favorite is Louie. Both the movie and the books really amplify his angsty background and life."
Squall gave her a slightly amused look. "This is the first time I've seen someone so happy over angst."
Gina blushed furiously and tried to make her mouth stop turning upward so hard. "Heh... well, I can't really help it. I don't know why, but angst is very amusing to me... not real angst, of course," She quickly covered for herself. Gina didn't want Squall closing up on her because he thought she would start laughing at his life story or something, even if she already did when she thought he was just a video game character. "But when it's fictional, it serves as a real good development for the character... better than almost any other turn of events, when you think about it. It helps you understand certain motivations or behavioral patterns that may develop in the future if something goes wrong, ya know? Not to mention it's kinda sexy," She stopped abruptly. Did I just say that I thought angst was... oh lord. She hoped that he wouldn't put two and two together and realize that she was inadvertently hinting towards the fact that she was attracted to him.
The brown-haired male lifted an eyebrow and started to say something, until Irvine stuck his head around the corner and distracted him.
"Sorry to interrupt, folks, but our trip to the bookstore has been cut short because Sharon made an offhanded comment about a video game store and sent Zell rushing like a bat outta hell to get there."
Squall sighed and placed his hand to his forehead again. "So much for staying in one place. We'd better get going before he runs somewhere else."
Gina nodded and followed Irvine out, her head still somewhat spinning over her victory in having an actual conversation with "Mr. Silent-Angst", as Sharon always liked to dub him. Just a little bit more work, and she hoped she could get him talking easier so it wasn't like she had to pry the words out of him.
They arrived in the already crowding GameStop, another frequent hangout of the best friends, for obvious reasons. Video games made up more than half of their 5-hour conversations, and they were always on the lookout for more good titles.
Zell was furiously pounding on the controller of the Game Cube display, trying to win a match in the widely popular Soul Calibur 3D fighting game. "C'mon... c'mon... WHAT? AGH!" He moaned as his character was pummeled into the ground for what seemed like the 32948734th time. "I give up."
Sharon let out a laugh. "It's about time, man. You've been getting your ass owned for the past ten minutes. I give you props for determination, though. I would've given up after the 4th try or so."
Gina smiled herself and wandered over to the Playstation 2 section, going over titles that she had seen last time she came, but keeping an eye out for a couple of new games she noted she wanted. Irvine picked up where Zell left off, trying his hand at beating the CPU down. Squall stood in the center of the store, looking around sort of awkwardly. He didn't play video games like Zell did, so he felt a bit out of place. He let his crystal blue eyes drift up to the television near the ceiling that was constantly playing previews of numerous games. He started to look away, until he saw something that he'd never thought he'd see.
A chocobo. In a video game. Squall stared on in shock as he looked at the familiar bird, digitized in almost an exact replica of how he remembered them. How would they know what a chocobo looks like?
Sharon stood off to the side, smirking at Irvine's sad attempts at beating down his opponent Nightmare, then casually looked to the rest of the party until she saw Squall staring up at the TV with his mouth open as if it was the Second Coming. Furrowing her brow, she took a look at what he was so interested in, and almost had a heart attack when she realized what it was. Oh, fucking shit!
"HEY SQUALL, WHAT BE UP IN THIS HIZZY?!" Sharon jumped in front of him suddenly, shocking him completely out of his daze. She realized that what she said was stupid and totally uncalled for, but drastic times called for drastic measures.
"Ah, umm..." He blinked at her, startled not only by her sudden burst but by what he thought he saw on the TV above her.
"You want Gina to come over? Good idea!" she interrupted, loud enough for her best friend to look over quizzically. "HEY, G-FUU! SQUALL HERE IS BORED, SO YOU'D BETTER KEEP HIM HAPPY!"
Gina didn't know what was going on. One minute she was looking at promising new RPGs, the next Sharon was calling her over in a panicked frenzy. She walked to them, staring at Sharon like she had lost her mind. "Uh, Sharii-chan? What are you yelling ab-"
Zell was the next person to cut in on the scene, shouting to Gina from the back of the store where the Playstation titles were. "Hey, Gina! Do you know anything about how many games these Final Fantasy series goes through? I see an awful lot over here."
Both Gina and Sharon moved at the speed of light to Zell's position, temporarily forgetting about "keeping Squall company". Gina reached out and pulled Zell's arm rather forcefully away from the shelf, while Sharon scanned the selection and removed Final Fantasy VIII and stashed it behind a rather large Diablo II box on the other side.
"Wow, what's going on?" Zell asked, confused at Gina's urgency.
"Umm... well, the truth is... uh... the series really sucks." Gina lied as well as she could manage. "Sorry I pulled you over so quick, but ya know... I didn't want to say anything near the people because I don't want to cause any ruckus with Final Fantasy fans. You know how it is."
Sharon nodded slightly at Gina's quick cover, and mentally kicked herself for even bringing them into a video game store, of all places. What if it was Final Fantasy VIII playing on that television screen instead of X? She didn't even want to think about it. Then, she also realized that they should get out of there fast, just in case it did appear on the TV or something else around the place caught their eye. Not to mention if other hardcore FFVIII fans happened to walk in the store.
"Well, look at the time." Sharon emphasized by glancing at her watch. "We'd better get a move on so you all can see the rest of the mall, or at least the arcade! Wouldn't want it to close on us, now would we?" She backed up towards the entrance, and without thinking, grabbed Irvine's arm away from the Game Cube and out with her. Gina smiled her best one yet, and followed the two out. Zell brushed off the whole weirdness of the recent turn of events, and called out for them to wait up. Squall took a final glance up at the TV, but it had already gone to another video game. Maybe I was just seeing things... he summed up, as he turned and followed the group out to where they were waiting by the mall's elevator to the first floor.