AN: Hey guys, it's been a while hasn't it. If I have readers who don't read my stories... do it now.
I asked for more reviews last chapter, and I recieved 21. Woot! More this time, you here? :P
Chapter 5.
Dinner was suprisingly good. I expected it to be fairly well, due to the extreme prices of the food on the menu. I was full when we left, but Brian offered to buy icecream and I couldn't say no. Kristin and Brian knew a place not too far from the restaurant that sold old-fashioned icecream.
"The whole building looks as if it came straight from the fifties!" Kristen eagerly said as we turned a corner. I realized now that she truly wanted me to enjoy my experience in New York. At the present moment I was only missing Owen, but I'm sure that it would get worse. I might as well just enjoy the slight pang of longing for him tonight before it deepens tomorrow. Brian opened a glass door with Coca-Cola symbols stuck all over it. A bell jangled and the instant I stepped inside, the warm voice of Elvis Presley clouded my ears. I might be able to relax in this place, but of course I didn't want to. I heard the sound of a train on its tracks and looked up to see a model slowly making its way around the ceiling, running on a wodden rail (bridges and caves included). I laughed to myself, raising a questioning look from Whitney. I shrugged my shoulders and walked ahead of her to the counter. Glass cases held probably a couple dozen different flavours of icecream. From Rum and Butter to Cotton Candy, and of course the original just-chocolate or just-vanilla. The current customer ordered the former.
I thought I would rebel out a bit by ordering lime flavour. Another wierd look from Whitney, which I dutifly shot back. Whitney ordered Just-Vanilla. Children's cone. We took a seat in one of a dozen red, over stuffed, disco-style booths. The building even went as far as having individual jukeboxs screwed into the wall by each booth. Right behind the napkin dispenser, which was also near empty. I made sure my knees didn't touch the bottom of the table. There was most likely a variety of icecream flavoured chewing gum under there. No one talked as we ate, but my sister, Kristin, repeatedly smiled at the three of us as if she had a secret up her sleeve... or she might have just been in need of a washroom-- I could never tell with her.
By the time I got to the bottom of my cone, Kristin was only staring at me. I licked my lips.
"What?" I asked after I lost the staring contest.
"How's school?"
"Fine."
"Nothing good .. or bad to tell me?"
"No." I thought if I stuck to one worded answers, that she'd drop the conversation. Apparently, being the perceptive sister that she was, she quit the yes or no questions and went straight to the kinds of questions that were incapable of being answered half heartedly.
"So this boyfriend of yours, tell me about him." Whitney sat up a bit straighter and Brian turned to look at me.
"He's just... He's... Owen." I managed slightly.
"Yes, we all know his name." Kristin breathed. "How close are you?"
"What do you mean?" I tried to play dumb.
"She wants to know if you've had sex with him." Whitney perked in. I blushed and Kristen let out a bit of a cough. She didn't reject Whitney's words though. I looked down at the marble coloured table, scratching a bit at the plastic.
"Annabel.." Kristin inclined when I didn't speak.
"We're close."
"How close?"
"Pretty close, I guess." I didn't look up. Kristin switched to the yes and no game again.
"Have you had sexual intercourse with Owen?" She said. I looked around. The people at the booth next to ours looked up. My face went red in anger.
"Thanks Kristin." I stood up. "And yes." I walked out of the parlour and around the nearest corner. I could hear them yelling my name, but I walked into the nearest boutique, hiding behind a rack of clothing. I saw the three of them walk past, and that was when I took the chance to look around. It was shadowed here in the store. I walked around looking at all the products. There was never two of the same thing. And everything was different. From a shelf with hair products to a shelf with wigs. It wasn't a beauty store, because on the shelf across from it were a bunch of plastic soldiers. The ones that you can buy in bulk at your local dollar store. I smiled and picked one up, balancing it on my palm.
"You have to pay for that now." A harsh voice said from across the room. I turned around and saw a guy about 4 or 5 years older than me sitting on a stool at the counter.
"I have to pay for something that's not even broken?" I wondered out loud.
"Yes. I had it perfectly aligned on that shelf." He pushed back his hair so that it was no longer hanging in his eyes. His hair was black, dyed most likely, and was shoulder length mostly-- at different lengths. The tips of his hair were bright blue. As if he dipped them in paint.
"Do people actually buy anything in here on their own account, or are your only sales by force?" I asked, walking up to him. I put down an old batman comic book and leaned forward in his seat. One of his eyebrows was raised slightly. But I just glared at him, waiting for him to answer. His mouth came up in a half smirk.
"What's your name?" He asked. I took in a breath, ready to lie, but for some reason I didn't.
"Annabel." I tilted my head. He nodded then picked up his magazine again. Apparently he wasn't going to tell me his name.
"That will be four dollars."
"Four dollars for a stupid plastic toy?" I asked, astonished.
"Does this look like wal-mart to you? That was my dad's stupid plastic toy from when he was a kid. If you pay more for something, your more likely to take better care of it." He looked up as if waiting for me to argue back. I pursed my lips.
"Fine. Here." I gave him the money, throwing it onto the counter.
"Pleasure doing business." He quirked without looking at me. I rolled my eyes and turned around, heading for the door. "See you later." He called after me. As if. Kristin and the other two were outside the parlour when I approached.
"Where were you?" Kristen asked without raising her voice.
"Trying to find you, of course." I said. "Let's go back to the hotel."
REVIEW