Chapter 21: Shopping Liaisons
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Anthony strolled down the isles of the CD store searching for the new 50 Cent CD. It had just come out that day and he had to have it. When they had split up from the girls, he and Max had split off from the rest of the boys and shot for the CD store. Max had run off to the heavy metal section but Anthony had a mission. If only one CD existed on the planet, he would be the one to get it. Finally, he saw it at the very end of the shelf - the last CD.
I'll have to thank Andie for having an emotional crisis right when she did, he thought and walked towards the end of the isle.
Another young man had just entered the section but Anthony ignored him. They both reached for the CD at the same time. Their hands stopped and they looked up at each other, both sizing the other up. The other man towered over Anthony and had jet-black hair with hard eyes to match. Even at six two, Anthony had to look up.
"Uh, dude, I saw that first," Anthony said, grabbing the CD from the shelf.
"Just because you had your slimy hand on it doesn't mean you saw if first," the giant sneered.
Anthony narrowed his eyes. "Look, Fezzik, my hand isn't slimy, and you don't know who you're dealing with." He wiped his hands on his pants self-consciously.
The hard eyes went cold, but Anthony could see a fire growing in his eyes. "You know, it's kind of dangerous to mess around with mutants." He snapped his fingers and a small fire grew as if his hands were a lighter by them selves.
Anthony laughed and crossed his arms. "What a coincidence." He said. Raising his hand he grabbed the flame from his opponents and it died. A cocky grin spread across his face.
"Sorry, to disappoint you, Fezzik, I control the four elements, one being fire and that means that your power is worthless."
"Can I help you gentlemen?" One of the store clerks stood at the opening of the isle, hands on hips and tapping her foot.
"Back off!" They yelled in unison.
Her jaw dropped and with a little sniffle she stomped away.
Just then Christina came running down one end of the isle, but she couldn't stop. She slammed right into Anthony's back. He lurched forward and dropped the CD. With a sickening crack his foot crushed it, case and all.
"Sorry," she said in a quiet voice. "I couldn't stop."
They all stared down at the remains of the CD, mouths slightly agape.
What irony.
The focus of their fight was now completely demolished, and Anthony had been the one to do it. Max now entered the isle, and he could not help but grin. They all resembled fish.
"Wow, what travesty happened here?" He asked.
"He broke my CD!"
"What?" Anthony shouted. "In the first place-"
"I said go away!" They were cut short by the loud yell.
No one had to think twice about whom it belonged to. Andie had a very distinct voice. Anthony turned and ran out of the store and everyone followed him, even the giant. Leaning against the balcony, a young man who obviously thought that no woman could ever resist him insistently rubbed Andie's arm trying to get close to her. Andie tried to shove him away, but he had a strong grip. Her face had twisted into a grimace and her fists had curled into balls. They could see her jaws tighten.
"Come on baby," he said with a smile. "How can you reject me before you even know me?"
Andie rolled her eyes and pushed again. "If you don't let go of me you are going to regret it."
The young man shook his head. "And just what are you gonna do?"
At that point, Anthony tapped him on the shoulder. "It's not what she's gonna do to ya it's what I'm gonna do to ya."
"Oh, a guard dog. How sweet."
"I can handle this myself, Anthony," Andie said. She really didn't mind though, it was nice to know he wasn't a total jerk.
"Sure ya can, small one," Anthony replied.
Andie's mouth dropped. "Well, I'm older than you-"
"Well, I'm bigger." Anthony shot back.
Andie stomped her foot exasperated. "You're impossible!"
"Well, you're being ridiculous," Anthony said. "Not that I like you or anything, Andrea, but I don't want to see you get hurt. It's time to go, Ms. Daugherty." He grabbed her by her small arm and pulled her away from her offender.
"Munchkin?"
Andie stopped dead in her tracks, her blue eyes wide. She turned to face the voice and found herself staring up at the giant.
"Jamie!"
Her face brightened and she ran and threw her arms around his neck laughing like a little child. She dropped to the floor and punched him in the arm.
"Okay mister where on God's green earth have you been? I've been searching forever and I find you in a mall of all places."
A smile spread across his face. "Oh yeah, hey sis how are you? Good? So am I...thanks for asking! But you didn't ask did you? Because you were insensitive and yelled at me."
Anthony's mouth dropped. "The ogre is your brother?" He asked. "Well I can see the family resemblance."
"She calls you Jamie?" Andie's attacker asked. "Oh, James Asher Daugherty, I get it."
"Yeah, who are you, and how do you know him," Andie asked.
"Oh, I'm Sterling and we're in the Brotherhood." He said.
Andie turned to her brother slowly. She did not want to believe what she had just heard. Please no, she begged. Asher could not be on the enemy's side; everything was supposed to end happily - all the storybooks said so. "You're . . . part of the Brotherhood?" Her blue eyes already watered.
"Is that a problem?" He asked slowly.
Sterling stepped beside Asher. "Why? You gonna do something about it?"
Andie stepped back for a moment trying to breath.
My brother.
The enemy.
Her world shook on it's edges, threatening to come crashing down on top of her. The one solid foundation in her life had just unhinged. Why did it have to happen this way? Andie's hands shook and she put a hand to her mouth for a moment, then she turned back to Asher.
"You can't be in The Brotherhood." She said. The hard-set tone of her voice implicated that she would not budge on the matter, but Asher had no intention of moving either.
Asher's eyes came together and he let out a huff. "Uh, last time I checked, I am the oldest, thus the smartest, and if I-"
"Smartest, pah!" Andie crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Max chuckled under his breath. She looked like a mom looming over her dirt-covered child, waiting for an explanation.
"Yes, smarter." Asher said.
Andie's eyes went soft again. Her arms dropped to her sides. Time for a change of tactics. "Asher," she whined. "Why . . . the Brotherhood is just a group of lazy, lamo, self-pitying, self-centered, losers with no leadership and no focus. You're better than that!"
"Hey!" Andie's eyes popped as Pietro Maximoff appeared in their group as if he'd been teleported. "We're not self-pitying losers, and I'm their leader so back off."
"As I said, no leadership - oh wait, correction - bad leadership." Andie shot back.
Pietro glared at the small girl in front of him. She met his gaze with her eyebrows raised and her hands on her hips as if to say "bring it on."
"Listen, Andrea, why don't you just go do your nails and hair like normal girls do?"
Andie put her hand in his face. "I'm not talking to you anymore. We're done." She pointed at Asher with her other hand. "Now, back to you, mister." She sounded like a little girl who had been left out of a game.
But the conversation had not ended for Pietro. No one stuck a hand in his face. He grabbed Andie by the wrist. "Get that hand out of my-"
Before he even finished his sentence, he found himself staring up Andie. Her blue eyes almost glowed with anger and her jaw had set again.
I wasn't fast enough, he thought. This is the second time I wasn't fast enough. My world is coming to an end. Pietro turned to look at his teammates.
Sterling's eyes glowed yellow and a feral growl had started in his throat.
"Andie, I think you should just go," Asher said.
"I've searched for you for five years and this is the reaction I get?" Andie's voice flowed soft, like the river. She felt the tears come to her eyes but she inhaled deeply, driving them away.
"I didn't ask you to look for me-"
"But I did. Asher, you're my brother, and I love you."
"Aw, ain't that nice," Sterling said with a roll of his eyes.
"Andie, I've moved on. I'm not the same person I was back there. I can't be your big brother anymore. You think you can just drop in and tell me how to live my life? You don't even know what I've been through."
Andie did not respond. She let go of Pietro's arm and continued looking at Asher. If her heart had broken, he could not see it on her face. It had turned to ice, completely set in a hard immovable look, unwilling to let anything melt it away. Her body showed no sign of a struggle to control her emotions for it had frozen over too. She swallowed and stepped over Pietro towards Anthony and Max.
"You want to be alone again? Well, fine." She ripped the locket he had given her from around her neck and threw it on the ground near his feet.
Suddenly, she grabbed Anthony by the shirt, yanked him down the whole fourteen inches to her level and kissed him, right in front of everybody. She felt a startling cool sensation that made her heart jump, and she almost could not believe what she had just done.
Andie had never kissed a guy before.
She let him go and harnessed her thrashing emotions. "Let's get out of here." Andie walked to the stairs while Anthony stood for a moment with a dumb look plastered to his face.
Asher narrowed his eyes and glared at Anthony. The coals had gone colder than before. Anthony put his hands up. "Hey, she kissed me." He stopped. "She kissed me." A smiled touched his lips. He turned and followed Andie down the stairs.
Score, he thought.
Pietro stood rubbing his back and shrugged. "I guess this would be a good time to mention that your sister's a mutant and that she's one of the fruitilicious X-Geeks." He said.
Asher bent down, picked up the locket, and walked away.