This is, by far, my favorite chapter that I've written so far.
Alicia tapped on Elyza's shoulder and pointed towards a green highway sign that read, "Santa Fe 200 miles". Elyza acknowledged her with a nod and they sped on. Elyza noticed an exit sign and veered off the interstate, following the arrows until they reached a store.
"Wanna kill some time, sweet cheeks?" Elyza grinned and hitched a thumb towards the store.
"Oh my god, it's been so long since I've been to Target!" Alicia stumbled off the bike, nearly falling, as she hurried towards the doors. The outside of the store was in disarray: part of the sign was broken and hanging down and portions of the glass were either graffitied or shattered. If this was any indicator of the condition of the inside Elyza doubted they'd find anything useful. She glanced over at Alicia who was positively beaming and decided scavenging for supplies wasn't so important after all.
Elyza ran ahead of Alicia and pried open what used to be an automatic door. "Good afternoon, miss. Allow me to get the door for you." Elyza bowed and gestured her arm inside the store, making Alicia smile and tuck her hair behind her ears.
Elyza ran ahead once again, but this time behind one of the cash registers and yelled, "G'day, mate, and welcome to Target!" Alicia couldn't help but burst out laughing, partly because Elyza is a dork, and also because her accent never got old.
The girls wandered around the store, arms linked, pretending to try on clothes, laughing at greeting cards together, and perusing the empty jewelry display. Alicia dragged a confused Elyza to the candle aisle. "Do you...really like candles or something?" Elyza asked, feeling puzzled.
"You can never have too many candles," Alicia stated as she began opening the lids to smell each flavor. "Oo, smell this one!" She shoved a jar up to Elyza's nose.
"That smells...interesting..." Elyza tried not to hurt her feelings. She grabbed a candle of her own and held it out towards Alicia. "Here, this one smells like you."
Feeling confused, Alicia smelled the candle. "It smells really nice. Do I smell like that?"
"You sure do, sweet pea." Elyza turned the candle around to reveal the scent was...sweet pea, causing Alicia to roll her eyes.
After Alicia had her fill of candles, they walked by the pet aisle and Elyza stopped dead in her tracks. "I always wanted a dog. We moved around too much and I never could have one."
Alicia noted how sad Elyza looked. "You should have gone to the pet store, told your dad you were buying a fish, and then actually bought a dog." Alicia grinned at Elyza, hoping the reference to her father wasn't too soon.
"Oh my gosh I would have been grounded for life for lying..." Elyza smiled at Alicia, appreciating that she wasn't afraid to bring up her dad.
Alicia suddenly started laughing and choked out, "You could have named the dog 'Fish' that way you weren't lying. You technically only bought a fish!" Alicia howled with laughter as Elyza joined in as well.
"That's the worst name for a dog that I've ever heard!" Elyza continued laughing. The girls wiped tears from their eyes, linked arms, and continued on their 'shopping spree'.
Finally, Elyza spotted what she had been searching for. She ran over towards the electronics department. "Wait there!" She called over her shoulder to Alicia. Alicia stopped where she was and took out her phone, out of sheer habit. Off in the distance, she heard a cracking noise. "It's just me, don't worry!" Elyza called to her. Alicia shook her head and began scrolling through her old text messages between her and her mom, when the battery light blinked and the phone promptly died. Alicia sighed and returned the phone to her pocket, looking up just in time to see Elyza rushing back over, something behind her back.
"Ok, close those gorgeous green eyes." Elyza grinned. Alicia obeyed, and she heard Elyza say, "Now open them!"
Alicia opened her eyes to see a solar powered iphone charger. She accepted the gift and smiled back at Elyza. "Thank you so much," she began to get teary eyed.
"And I got this!" Elyza held out something in plastic packaging. "It's a selfie stick. That way you can take hot selfies of us on my bike." Elyza wiggled her eyebrows at Alicia, causing her to laugh once more.