Back at the mall...
"Well, it took me a bit longer than I was hoping; but I finally got done preparing my bowl now." Pinky said as she walked over to the booth-table where the blue-haired mechanic was sitting by his lonesome; and from the looks of his bowl of ice cream in front of him, it didn't appear that anything inside of it was touched. "Oh, and it seems you have decided to wait for me, hmm? You know, you really didn't have to if you didn't want to."
"I could've; but I wanted to be a gentleman and wait." Tim said as he picked up his spoon off of his napkin next to him.
Pinky gave a light chuckle to what her friend had just said. "Oh, you truly are too kind a person, Tim." She jokingly said, before sitting down in the seat that was right across the table from Tim, placing her own bowl down in front of herself once seated. "So, um...anyway; now that both of us are here, shall we...get to know each other a little better?"
"Alright; so, um...should I start, or should you?" The blue-haired asked, only to receive silence from his new friend; but it was clear from the look in her eye, and the cute smile she was giving him, that she was urging him to start first. "Very well; so, what do you want to know first about me then?"
"Well...anything, really; but I guess if you want where to start with first, then I'd probably say..." The prep paused for a second to think about it, until an idea came to her. "How was it like to have been enrolled in a school like the Royal Academy? From what I've heard, that school's probably one of the most fun ones to be a part of."
"That's what they all say, actually; like how they say that Simport's the 'best town to go to for a party', when in reality, it's just another town, anywhere." Tim looks up from his bowl, only to see the now somewhat disheartened look on his new friend's face, causing himself to feel a bit discouraged upon seeing it. "But, either way, it's pretty much like every other school, through and through; the classes are the same as any other school, the work you receive is above average, and the only 'fun' you actually get is when someone decides to throw a house party, invites you to one of the clubs around here, or when Spring Break comes."
"Oh..." The prep said softly, clearly disappointed to hear this; but then her friend smiled, hoping to help her perk up a little.
"Now, when it came to students there, or in other words 'my classmates', they're usually the ones who'd kickstart doing anything that's considered fun; and most of them were house parties." Tim's smile then weakens a little. "Unfortunately, most of those parties tend to involve having a keg somewhere in the mix, and I'm not really much of a drinker compared to everyone else that I know; so, I don't tend to go to them all that much, unless Chaz gets invited, then I'd go."
"Chaz?"
"He's my best friend and work-partner; we're both mechanics working at his dad's auto-shop. As a matter of fact, we're actually hoping that we'll be able to start to start our very own auto-shop together, one of these days."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Tim's smile then faltered into a frown as he began tapping his spoon against the side of the bowl. "The only downside is that neither of us can afford the equipment or the building in order to make that dream a reality for us; and even if we can afford all of it, there aren't any vacant buildings we can use for an actual auto-shop in general, since most of them don't have a rectangular passageway for us to use as a garage door, nor were any of them actually big enough for us to fit a car inside of them; so, for now, we're stuck working at his dad's auto-shop until further notice."
"You'll probably get there one of these days."
"I sure hope so..." Tim took another scoop of his ice cream, deciding to ask her a question himself now. "So...uh, hey, you've mentioned to me before that you've once taken consideration in working here at your cousin's parlor, but it never ended up happening; so, if you don't work out here, then where do you work?"
"Do you know how most malls would tend to have, like, one of those big department stores at the very end; or, well, one of the ends, I mean?" After the prep receives a nod from the mechanic, she continues. "I am both the cashier and the bagger there; and sometimes, I like to buy whatever's blue there, so I can look fashionable."
"You really seem to like the color blue a lot, don't you?"
Pinky then chuckled to the mechanic's question. "Well, it is; and it's also the color that I look the hottest in." She replied, as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Almost all my clothes are blue; like my t-shirts, pants, skirts, pajamas, bathing suit, winter clothes, and even my shoes and high-heels; and if you don't believe me, I tend to take pictures of myself in every new outfit I buy. Do you want to see for yourself?"
"I don't see why not." Tim then took the phone from the prep's hands and began looking through the gallery, seeing each and every outfit that the girl had taken a selfie in. "Hmm...you weren't kidding when you said that you wore and bought everything in blue; and I gotta say, you look pretty nice in most of these, Pinky."
"Oh, well...thank you, Tim." The prep said through a chuckle, while blushing and looking away from Tim. "You're probably the only boy in my life who has ever given me that compliment; not even Preston said that to me."
"Preston?"
"Oh, he's just one of my classmates, that's all."
"Is he your...boyfriend though?" Tim asked, raising an eyebrow at the prep.
"No, but he is dating my best friend, BeeBee; and all I can tell you about their relationship, as a whole, is that I'm actually surprised that they're still together at this point." Pinky answered, before placing her spoon aside on the napkin near her bowl. "But I guess, in hindsight, they're pretty much made for each other; because they can be both crazy as hell."
"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say about your friends."
"I know, but..." Pinky took a bit of a pause for a minute to collect her thoughts on the matter, hoping to word everything so that the mechanic doesn't end up thinking she's saying this out of spite for no reason. Eventually, she began to speak. "Truthfully, BeeBee is the less crazy out of the both of them; she tends to tell people that she's the 'Princess of all the Bunnies', and even going as far as to claim any rabbit she comes across as her 'Royal subjects'."
"The Princess of all Bunnies?"
"Yeah." The prep answered while nodding her head. "When she was a kid, her parents would leave her at home, by herself, while they're at work; and that left BeeBee with nobody to talk to other than the rabbits who'd sneak into her backyard to eat at her mother's garden. One day, BeeBee decided to take one of them into her house so that she can keep it as a pet; but unfortunately, for her parents, every single one of those rabbits who came into her yard that day decided to follow her in; and after a few tea parties with them, as well as her growing tendency to act like all 'Princess'-like during her youth, BeeBee 'declared' herself as 'The Bunny Princess' ever since." She then taps the side of her bowl with her spoon for a second, before continuing to talk. "Well, despite her flaws, I do consider my best friend, since she was probably the first girl to have actually talked with me when I first got enrolled at Simport Prep."
"What her boyfriend, though?"
"Preston is just...an asshole; he always thinks about himself and takes zero consideration of the people around him. One time, he and BeeBee went on a vacation to a ski-resort somewhere up in Canada; and he tried to shut it down by vandalizing the hot tub there, then tried to claim that a yeti showed up there instead." Pinky paused again so that she can eat another spoonful of her ice cream. "Also, he claimed that a yeti kidnapped him, which I find bullshit; but no matter how many times I tell him so, he keeps on insisting that it's true."
"Well, some people around here believe that the whole 'Evelyn Gray' situation back in 2010 was true."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah; despite everything about it is clearly made up." Tim said while rolling his eyes. "I mean, seriously, I don't see how anyone can believe that eight years ago, a woman disappeared via a portal that takes people to a dimension full of nightmares created by some evil dude with a magical crown, had actually happened."
"I know, right?" Pinky asked softly while rolling her eyes, before eating another spoonful of ice cream.
"Um, back on topic...I'd probably say Preston is kind of a jerk than someone who's crazy; and he also sounds like a bit of a vandal too."
"That too, which makes me wonder why BeeBee's still dating him." The prep then frowned after saying that. "Uh...don't tell her I told you that if you ever happen to come across her."
"I...don't even know what she looks like; so, I don't think you'd have to worry about that."
"She's not hard to miss; her usual attire is always that a pink dress with that headband with the bunny ears on it."
"That...definitely makes it easy to tell who she is amongst a large crowd of people." Tim stated as he eats the last spoonful of ice cream from his bowl.
Pinky then looks down at her bowl, seeing that there's no more ice cream left in it. "Well, it looks like we're both done." She commented, before scooting out of her seat and picking up her bowl. "Do you want any more, or are you done?"
"I think I'm done." Tim replied as he got out of his seat, picking up his own bowl while he did. "So, do you want to, like, do anything now?"
"What's there to do?"
"Well, we have a whole mall to ourselves for, like, one night only; so, if want to go to one of the stores and do something in one of them, we can always-"
"Why not all of them?" Pinky asked, catching the mechanic off-guard.
"W-What?"
"Like you said, we got an entire mall to ourselves; so, let's not just hang out in one store, let's seize the day and go for all of them." The prep then gave her new friend a smile, before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Shall we enjoy this night together?"
Tim just silently stared at the prep for a few good seconds, not so sure with how to answer that question, since this whole scenario seems like a situation that Chaz should be in, not him; but since this girl was starting to like him, and he was liking her back, he smiled and finally replied. "Alright then." He told her. "Let's enjoy this night for all that it's worth."
"Awesome."
After they dealt with cleaning the dishes that they used for their meals, Tim and Pinky went back to where the maintenance-room was so that they can turn on the rest of the mall's power. One by one, they turned on each of the six generators, causing each and every section of the mall's ceiling-lights to turn on. None of the lights in any of the stores turned on; because just like the ice cream parlor, they'd have to activate the power-boxes that were inside of them in order to get any of them up and running.
Once all the generators were activated, Tim and Pinky stepped out of the maintenance-room and looked around the fully lit mall around them, all while the song 'Only Girl (In the World)' by Rihanna began playing on the radio up above. "Are you ready, Tim?" The latter of the duo asked.
"I'm ready." Tim answered; and after that was said, they were off.
The store that the two went off to first was one of the nearby clothes stores. Obviously, it wasn't Tim's idea; but since he couldn't help but be a gentleman towards this girl, he decided that Pinky should be the one to pick where they should go first; and since the store she picked has animal hats, he felt like it was a win for him regardless. For the most part, neither of them wound up taking anything from the store, since they both knew if they did, they'd be robbing it; but that didn't stop them from still trying on some of the stuff that was there, and they even took pictures of each other in some of the outfits that they find. Needless to say, it was a fun way to kick off their rendezvous through the mall.
After they were done in their first store, the two went off to another one that was close by; the sports store. They mostly spent time playing catch with a basketball that was just left on the counter, traveling around the store while tossing it back and forth with each other; and thankfully not knocking anything over or breaking anything while they were doing so. Eventually, they found themselves bouncing on two separate trampolines that were in the middle of the store, where Pinky could see a basketball-net hanging on the top of the wall behind Tim.
"Do you think I can make that?" The prep asked, eyeing the net.
Tim glanced behind himself for a second, before facing his friend in front of him. "You can try if you want." He simply answered as he continued to bounce on his own trampoline.
"Alright...here we go..." Pinky took one high leap into the air and launched the ball over the mechanic's head, sending it straight for the net; and after hitting against the side of the hoop, it fell right through it, much to the duo's surprise. "Holy shit, I actually got it in!" The prep then exclaimed.
"Way to go, Pinky!" The two then double high-fived each other as they continued to bounce on their trampolines some more.
Eventually, after a few more minutes in the sports store, the two made their way to the next spot in the mall; the arcade. During their time there, they challenged each other at some of the games that were there; first, they started off with the 'Asteroids' game, where Tim won, thanks to having played it a lot while at Gino's Pizzeria on multiple occasions; then they tried out the 'Street Fighter 2' game, where Tim win again, as he had a few experiences playing against James at it in the past; and then last but not least, they tried the 'Plane vs Eye' game...where Pinky somehow won, much to Tim's surprise. The prep jumped for joy, while the mechanic just stared at the arcade-machine with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"H-How does a girl like you know how to play 'Plane vs Eye'?!" Tim exclaimed, after swiftly turning to face the rich girl next to him.
"Well, one of my classmates used to play this on his laptop all the time during lunch." Pinky replied while giving her friend a smug look. "I guess you can say that sitting and watching him play really paid off."
Tim then turns his head towards the store that was just across the corridor from the arcade, getting an idea in his head after noticing it. "Say, Pinky, do you know how to ride of bicycle or a skateboard?"
"Me and BeeBee go out rollerblading at times, if that counts."
"Thank God that place sells roller-skates there too then." The mechanic then began to head over towards the arcade's entrance, before glancing behind himself at the prep behind him. "Come on, dude; I've got something totally awesome for us to do." After that was said, the duo exited the arcade and headed to their next store.
After some time was spent inside the bike-store, which was the place that Tim noticed a mere seconds ago, the duo came out of the store riding on two separate items; the mechanic was on an orange bicycle, while his friend came out wearing dark blue roller-skates with a matching blue helmet. "We're not taking these for ourselves, are we?" Pinky asked as she was trying to gain some balance on her skates.
"We're not." Tim answered as he was circling around the bench that his friend was leaning again. "The store tends to let their customers test out their bikes, skateboards, or even skates, all the time; but just as long as they don't travel far with them. Chaz and I used to come here all the time back in high school, and we've always raced each other around the fountain whenever we wanted to try out some of the bikes."
"So, do you want to race to the fountain?"
"Well, it depends if you-"
"I'M RACING YOU THERE ANYWAY!!!" Pinky suddenly shouts, interrupting the mechanic in the middle of his sentence and zooming right passed him.
"Hey!" Tim then shouts, as he began pedaling after her. "Not if I beat you there first!"
Without an attempt to slow down, the duo raced through the corridor as fast as they could in order to beat each other at their little race, until eventually, Pinky arrived at the fountain first; but unfortunately, Tim was going too fast in order for him to operate the breaks on his bike. Within seconds, Tim ended up colliding with an incoming bench, causing him to fly off his bike and landing face-first into the fountain. The prep could only watch in horror as all of this happened right before her very eyes.
"Ah, shit..." Pinky muttered, before skating over to the edge of the fountain, where the mechanic was now sitting himself up out of the water, his clothes drenched and a fish now stuck in his mouth. "Tim, are you alright?!"
After spitting the fish out of his mouth, the mechanic then responds. "This is exactly what happened the last time me and Chaz had a race in here." He stated with a hint of a sheepish chuckle, causing the prep to roll her eyes and laugh.
Once they were pretty much through with their rendezvous through the mall, Tim and Pinky decided to spend the rest of the night at a furniture store that was close to the mall's intersection, just so they can rest up after all the fun they've had; but not before returning to the maintenance-room one last time so that they can turn off the mall's power, since they didn't want to waste the building's energy overnight. They mostly spent the rest of the night sitting on one of the couches and pretending that the star pattern that was on the store's ceiling were actual stars. Granted, it seemed like a pretty boring way to end a night like this, especially after all the fun that they've had minutes ago; but for them, this felt like the most perfect way that they could end tonight.
"Hey, Tim...do you mind if I tell you something?" Pinky asked as she kept her eyes focused on the ceiling above.
"Sure." The mechanic answered, before turning his head to look at his friend. "What is it?"
Pinky then turned her head to look at the boy sitting next to her, and then smiled. "Thanks for...giving me what is probably the best night of my life." She told him in a soft tone. "I felt like today was going to be one of the worst days of my life, thanks to that stupid bitch I've encountered at the beach earlier today; but then you came along and turned it all around for me."
Tim then smiled at what the girl had said. "Your welcome, Pinky." He softly said back, before rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "Say, if you ever want to, like, hang out again...you know, like, after tonight, or...some other time after tonight, I'm willing to-"
It was at this moment, Tim immediately stopped in his words, feeling a quick kiss to the cheek from the prep. 'D-Did this girl just kiss me?' He asked himself in his own thoughts, before leaning back on the couch. He was about to say something, before turning head and seeing that the prep was slowly falling asleep, leaning against his shoulder. 'Wow...what a night this turned out to be; Chaz and Summer broke up, and I ended up with this girl whom I've just met tonight; and this girl just kissed me out of the blue. I-I mean, it's nice; but knowing that my own best friend just got dumped earlier today...I-I just don't even know how to even feel about all of this...' He then glanced over to the prep one last time, before slowly closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep himself. 'Ah, screw it...I'll think about all of this in the morning...'
Note: So, that brings us to the end of the 'Tim and Pinky are trapped at the mall during a hurricane' subplot; and like I said in the previous chapter, I was very excited to do this specific one, mainly because of the second part of this chapter. Heck, every part of this chapter was actually fun to make. Although, admittedly, the last section with them in the furniture store was a bit of a last minute decision for me to add, but I wanted to end this subplot on a good, and yet cute, note; also, I didn't want to end up saving it for a later chapter.
Anyway, now that's out of the way, let's tasks a look at what reviews we have...
lordgemini: Yeah, I'll admit, the part where Tim and Pinky grabbing each other's hand while reaching for the paper-towels was a bit cliche; but I couldn't help but add it in anyway. Although, I was going to add Tim running behind the counter to give her the towels himself...and then slip on the ice cream on the ground and land face-first into one of the ice cream bins in one of those display-counter things; but ultimately, I chose the less comedic route, and saved it for this chapter instead.
That should it for now, my fellow readers. I'm not sure if we're still gonna be in the storm in the next chapter or not; but until next time, stay safe and have a wonderful day.
