Chapter 4
The next morning, Kim played with her cereal as she innocently asked, "So, how was it with Jason last night?"
Aisha was practically beaming, "It was great!"
"Yeah?" Kim asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "What did you two do?"
Aisha gave her a sassy look, "We didn't do that."
"Oh?"
"We just talked a lot, amongst other things."
Kim smiled at her friend, "Did you at least have fun?" Aisha beamed again in response. "Good; as long as you two are happy, I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, Kim," she replied, glancing up at the people who just walked in. "Hey Skull, wanna join us?"
Kim willed her blush as bay as she turned around to see Skull standing there with a bagel sandwich in one hand, sipping a cup of coffee.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise before replying, "If that's ok with you, Kim."
She felt her stomach drop. Was he just saying that to be polite or was he looking for an excuse to say no? "Of course; the more, the merrier!" she replied, trying to keep her tone light.
"Got any fun plans today?" Aisha asked as she stabbed her fork into some cantaloupe.
Skull shrugged as he sat down between the two girls, "Not sure; there is some lecture thing this afternoon on how the community has changed since the late nineties and how the funding from this weekend is going to be used."
"Well, that doesn't sound like fun," Kim teased as he took a bite out of his sandwich. He smirked as he chewed his food; she was somewhat surprised when she realized his table manners got slightly better.
"What are you two up to?" He asked with a few last bites still in his mouth. Again, slightly better.
"I was gonna hit the gym after breakfast," she replied. He made a face as she felt his knee brush against hers under the table.
Aisha chimed in, "I am gonna get a facial this morning. But after lunch, Kim and I are going into town to do some shopping."
"What about the guys?" He asked. Kim wondered if he realized that his knee was still touching hers.
"Zack is going mountain biking, Jase mentioned he, Rocky, and Adam were gonna go for a run this afternoon," Aisha replied. In response, Skull shook his head as he munched on some fruit.
"Wanna come with us?" Kim asked, expecting him to turn her down.
He smirked, "I think so. Your plans sound a lot less boring and a lot less sweaty."
"Great!" Aisha chirmed. Kim practically saw the lightbulb go off in her head before she continued, "If you want, we can help you find something for your significant other."
Skull laughed as he replied, "I'm not dating anybody; what gave you that idea?"
"Oh, nothing," Aisha smiled, giving Kim a quick but pointed look that the Pink Ranger chose to ignore.
"I'm gonna change and hit the gym," Kim announced, finally moving her knee away from his. "Meet you at the desk at one o'clock?"
Skull nodded, "Sounds like a plan."
The trio meet at the check-in desk at one, just as they discussed. They hopped in Kim's car as it was the closest one. Skull, being the gentleman, offered Aisha the front seat. As they drove into town, Aisha asked, "Are you looking for anything in particular, Skull?"
He shrugged, "I'd like to get something for my mom. I don't see her as often in the summer since I'm going to a lot of concerts for work."
"Aww, that's sweet!" Kim said as she glanced into the rearview mirror. "Any ideas what stores you want to go to?"
He shrugged, "She's not into knick-knacks so I'm not sure."
"We'll help your mom find something," She cheerfully replied as Aisha grinned at her. The shopping district was fairly close to the resort and Kim quickly found a parking spot. The trio got out and looked around; the tourist-type shops were lined up in a neat little row on either side of the street.
"Wanna work our way down this side and up the other?" Aisha asked.
Skull nodded, "That sounds like a plan to me."
"Me too," Kim said, taking a step forward. "Just speak up if there's a shop you wanna visit!" Most of the stores were very tourist-y. The first shop they entered was a souvenir shop; Aisha managed to find a cute plush bear for her goddaughter. Neither Kim nor Skull found anything to their liking so the trio continued their journey down the street.
"Not a whole lot of places that look interesting, huh?" Kim mentioned as they walked past yet another t-shirt/souvenir shop. At the end of the left side of the street, hey found a junk shop that happened to be selling old Power Rangers memorabilia.
"Oh, my gosh," Kim giggled, holding up an allegedly signed picture of what she could tell were the original Rangers.
Skull rolled his eyes, "Signed, huh? I bet that's real."
"C'mon," Aisha nudged him. "You don't think the Power Rangers ever signed stuff?"
Kim looked over the signatures, "If they did, I don't think they'd sign their real names. Tom – the Red Ranger? Sarah – the Pink Ranger? Get real."
"At least it's only five bucks," he mentioned. "Didn't Ernie have this picture at the juice bar?"
"You know, I think he did," Kim agreed.
Aisha, glancing around and finding nothing of interest, suggested they move to the eclectic home décor place across the way. Skull, knowing full well that the store was not his scene, decided to sit on the bench outside of the store. Kim followed Aisha in; looking around, it was definitely unique – selling a variety of trinkets not only for the normal tourist – mugs, shirts, and other souvenirs – but those with more of a multicultural style. Kim browsed the store for a few minutes before turning to Aisha, "I think I'm done in here; I'll be over with Skull on the bench whenever you are done."
Aisha smiled to herself, "Sounds good."
Walking into the bright sun, she rolled her eyes as she dawned sunglasses. Skull was texting on his phone as she sat down.
"Who are you texting?" She asked with a playful tap on his right knee.
"Bulkie," he replied. "He was asking about the weekend. Now that the wedding is over, he has a lot more free time."
"Tell him I say hi!" She chirped. He nodded as he typed out a response. His phone buzzed with an immediate response. He chuckled, leaning over to show her the response. "He doesn't believe me."
Me: Hanging out with Kimberly atm. She says hi.
Bulk: There is no way you are hanging out with Kim by yourself!
She playfully rolled her eyes, "Send him a picture then."
"Of us?" He asked, confused. "Together?"
"No," she joked. "Of the store that Aisha is in; yes, of us together!"
She scooted closer as he placed his right arm behind her shoulders.
"Smile!" She chirped, flashing a winning grin. Skull, on the other hand, decided to make a face. A fact that she didn't know until she asked to see the picture.
"Are you really gonna send that to Bulk?" She laughed as she handed the phone back.
"I am and I did," he grinned at her. The phone pinged with a response from Bulk. She leaned into him a little as she waited for him to respond before plucking the phone out his hand again.
"If this is the best picture you're going to take, I guess you have to text me a copy," she replied as she typed in her phone number. She smiled as she handed the phone back, "No you don't have an excuse to not stay in contact."
"What if I get turned into a monkey again?" He grinned.
She raised her eyebrows. "Again?"
He shrugged, "It was after you left for the games. I guess the Rangers changed their uniforms for the third or fourth time, Bulk and I just got back from Paris and we got changed into chimpanzees. Lucky for us, Lt. Stone took us in. We tried to get people to understand us, but it didn't work. When we got changed back, we got turned invisible for a week!"
"Ok," she replied with a laugh, "we are gonna circle back to Paris, but you got turned into chimps?"
He smiled, "It's unbelievable, I know."
"Nah," she playfully bumped him with her shoulder. "It's very on brand for you. So, Paris…"
"That," he grinned, "was actually a secret mission."
She gave him an unsure look, "Are you serious?" He nodded earnestly. She shook her head, "Eugene Skullovitch, secret agent." The thought made her laugh.
"What's so funny?" Aisha called out, as she approached.
Skull moved his arm from behind Kim's shoulders as he replied, "It's nothing. Find anything good?"
"No," she replied with a smile. "My nana is just too hard to shop for."
Checking the time, Skull mentioned, "I did see a record shop further up, you wanna go check it out?" Aisha and Kim looked at each other before nodding in agreement.
"Lead the way, Skull!" Aisha said. It was a short walk back up the street to the record store. As they entered the store (aptly named Spin Again Records), Kim couldn't help but notice the distinct smell of old records mixed with a slight cedarwood scent. Aisha wondered over to the Motown record section while Kim followed Skull into the rock section.
Looking around at the huge collection of records, she muttered to herself, "I have no idea what to even look for."
Skull teased, "Kimberly Hart out of her element?" As she opened her mouth to rebut, he winked and pulled out a random record, motioning her to come closer as he pulled it from the cardboard sleeve. "First thing you wanna do is see if there are any major scratches or if it's warped. The older the album is, the more likely the heat will warp it." Rotating the vinyl in the light, he pointed out some minor scratches and a slight warp on the very edge. "That isn't going to affect the album that much. This is where you would put the needle to start the album. Course, if you wanna play a specific song, you count the deep grooves in the record." He paused as he looked over the record and then the cover. "This is in good condition for an Iggy Pop album." He put the album back and glanced over. "No way!" He excitedly muttered as he pulled out another album. Kim leaned her hip against the table and asked, "What'd you find?"
"This!" He showed her, practically beaming with joy. "Billy Idol's first album – self-titled of course. Me and Bulky were pretending to be wrestlers as kids. I broke this album over Bulk's head and my mom freaked. She never got around to getting one and I've been trying to find it for a while." She smiled at his excitement; it was sweet and endearing.
"Thanks for the crash course," she said. "I'm gonna look around."
He nodded as he looked through more albums, "Glad I could help."
She hadn't wondered too far off when an album caught her eye. She grabbed it immediately and made her way into the listening booth with the record in her hand. The Sweet, or just Sweet, was a band that her Uncle Steve loved when she was a kid. Aiming the record needle at the marking indicating the start of the fourth song, she gently set it down and donned the oversized headphones. A familiar guitar riff started the song and Kim closed her eyes, awash in old memories. Though the song was typically not her style of music (not many Gen Xers were into 1970's glam rock these days), she couldn't help but dance to the beat of the song. As the song came to an end, she opened her eyes and noticed that Skull was in the next booth watching her with a coy smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"What?" She mouthed, playfully smiling at him. In response, Skull shook his head as he donned headphones. She rolled her eyes at him and he winked at her in response. Retuning the album to its protective cardboard cover, she left her booth quickly found Aisha, who was grinning at her again.
"Did you notice that he was watching you dance the whole time? It was adorable!"
Kim shook her head in a teasing manner, "No, I was listening to the record. I'm thinking of getting it for Uncle Steve. I don't remember seeing it in his collection."
"How could you miss it?" Aisha teased, looking at the jarring purple background cover with multi-colored text.
"Right?" Kim agreed, playfully wrinkling her nose. They waited briefly for Skull to leave the booth.
Walking over to the pair, he said, "I'm ready to check out if you two are."
Aisha nodded and Kimberly put the record back where she found it and turned to follow him to the register to make his purchase. He furrowed his eyebrows at her, "You aren't getting the record?"
She shrugged, "I'm not sure. My mom hasn't gotten back to me yet and I'm not sure if Uncle Steve has it. I don't have cash on me, and I don't have a good way of getting it home."
Without saying another word, Skull grabbed the old record and walked over to the register. "I'll take both of these."
The clerk quickly rung up the purchases and gave the total, "That'll be $15.45."
Skull swiped his card and the clerk passed him the paper bag containing his new purchases.
As the trio walked out, Kim said, "You didn't have to do that. I still don't way of getting it home."
"I'll get it to you; don't worry about it," he grinned. Aisha nudged Kim and smiled, wagging her eyebrows. Kim subtly glared at her as Aisha mentioned that they should be making it back to the hotel for dinner. They all agreed and made their way back to the car.
Author Notes:
Thanks for reading! All bands mentioned are real bands (yes, that includes The Sweet). I do not own any rights to any of the bands, music, or characters in the story, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, please leave a review! Only two chapters left! Want a sequel? Leave a review!