"What do you want?"I ask Artie as he walked closer to Steve and me. It has been about seven years since I last saw him. The day was mostly a blur now, but the pain was as strong as ever, maybe even stronger. The day that I met Artie was the day I lost my brother. My brother Joshua was all I had left after our parents died three years before. I can barely remember any of them. I was only five when my mom and dad were killed in a car wreck. I can not even tell you what they were like. Joshua had told me many stories about them. "I am here on business. I did not even know that you lived here."Artie said calmly. "I have lived here for about two years now." I told him. I hated this small talk. I want him to say goodbye and get out of my life for good. " But, I doubt that you even cared. Since you just left me alone. I was so scared I had no clue what the hell happened and you just left me at some place full of strange people." I shouted at him. I lost it, I could not control my-self. This was the man that ruined my life. "Claudia I am sorry, I could not have taken you with me and there was no other place for you to go. You brother was killed, your parents were gone. You had no other family." Artie explained to me as Steve stepped a little bit in front of me.
"Claude, lets go."Steve whispered in my ear. He grabbed my hand and pulled me past Artie. I looked over my shoulder and saw Artie mouth 'I am sorry'. I turned my head back around and pulled my hand out of Steve's grip. Steve pulled open the mall door and let me walk in. The mall was very crowded. There were kids running to catch up with their mom. The stores were all light and customers were flowing in and out of them. The mall had skylights and was very loud. There were kiosks every where, selling things from phone cases to hair curlers. I kept a close eye out for my dad. He was usually in the south end of the mall but sometime he was at the west end. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here. Is it really worth the the risk."So where to first?" Steve asked as we looked at all the different places. I knew that Steve was never going to ask about my past. He always told me that the past stays in the past. "To the music." I grabbed Steve's hand and ran to my favorite part of the store. Music is my passion, my escape. I learned how to play guitar when I was at my third foster home. There were kind but druggies, so was my teacher but he was a great person. When I came to music I liked just about everything.
Once we got to the store, I went to the new music section and listened to some new songs that I haven't heard yet. After I had enough of that I went to the 90's music. "Steve come here." I yelled across the store at him. "You have to here this song."
We spent about an hour in the music store, till my foster dad showed up. I was the first to see him. I ran over to where Steve was standing and pulled him behind one of the CD racks. "What the hell?" Steve asked me. "It's James." My voice slightly wavering. Steve leaned around the stand and quickly came back around. This was not the first time that we were in this situation but last time I ended up grounded and I had a broken arm. And to make things worst I was not allowed to hang or be near Steve for like three months. " What do we do? We need to distract him." Steve told me as I looked to see where he was standing. I had an idea but Steve was not going to like it. I looked back at Steve. " I got idea, but,"
"No! We are not doing one of your ideas again." Steve whispered loudly. I saw that coming. He might not agree now, but he always gave in. "Steve, all you have to do go up to him and make some small talk, while I ran to the car. I can then call you phone when I make it out" Steve was glaring at me. This was the same plan we used last time and all the other times before, but it has to work sometime. Steve sighed," I have no clue why I do this for you but, get ready to run and this time try and not trip.