Cherry Wine 3rd Post

Just to let you know, the italics is his thinking.

Enjoy....

As Steve walked down the sidewalk, he seemed to notice every home-less or suspicious person in the area. He knew she wouldn't be back for at least a few weeks, but he still had to be cautious. His hair was messy today and his clothes were wrinkled. He was nervous and, though he didn't look in the mirror, looked sickly. He passed by a shop and looked at his reflection in the window. There were a slightly purple rings under his eyes. What's wrong with me? Is this all from the dream? He continued his walk. Within minutes he reached the mall. He walked in and scowled. The mall had a strange stench. He couldn't quite make it out, but it was a bit like a combination of burnt tires and Taco Bell. Which was strange, because there wasn't a Taco Bell or Mexican fast-food restaurant in the mall. He walked to the north side of the mall and strolled into Hot Topic. There the smell of burning incense and My Chemical Romance playing on the stereo made him feel better. He walked up to the register and leaned on the counter. There was a girl, dressed in all black, kneeling down on the floor. "I told you those clunky shoes would hurt your ankles," said Steve. The girl whipped her head up with a smirk on her face. She had short, black hair with strips of purple here and there. "Whoa. You look like you've been up all night," she said. Steve sighed, "I had a weird dream about yesterday. You know....the girl?" Smiling, she said,"Oh, really? What was it about?" He wasn't exactly sure if he should tell her, since he should be careful about leaking out information that could get him in trouble with the girl again. "Oh....just like any other dream: weirdness, nonsense, and creepiness." Her eyes squinted, "Why won't you tell me? Or was it some kind of apocalyptic thing? Oh, let me guess! You're going to turn into a terrorist." He laughed sarcastically, "No." She walked around the counter with some shirts and arranged them in different areas in the store. He watched her, paying attention to how she did everything. He started working here on Monday and it's Wednesday. So he was still quite new to the job. When she was finished, she said to Steve, "Could you take over for me? I'm going to take my break." He shifted uneasily, "Could we go over the register one more time?" She smiled and showed him how the register worked. "Got it?" she asked. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Skylar," he nodded. She walked out of the store; her clunky footsteps faded out into the mall.
That day was busy for them. Whenever someone left, somebody else would come in. Steve's feet were aching, but Skylar seemed to be doing just fine. Steve liked to see the different kinds of customers that came. There were people wearing all black, people like Skylar, people like himself, and some people that came in out of curiosity. But the thing that scared him the most, was that he had seen alot of girls that had red hair, just like the terrorist.
At the end of the day, things started slowing down. Few people were in the mall, so Skylar and Steve started closing the store. Skylar showed Steve how to close and left early. He was somewhat nervous, but he thought it was good that he did things by himself. Just as he was locking up, a girl shouted, "Hey! Wait, can I get something real quick?" He looked behind him, but the girl tripped and ran into him. They slammed against the wall. Steve grunted and moved away from the wall. The girl had fallen on the ground, so he offered her his hand, "Are you okay? You should really watch your step." She looked up at him with a hurt face. His eyes widened in horror as he stared at her. Her face was pale and her red-brown eyes were heavily lined with black eyeliner, but she was beautiful. She was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up. Her hand came to his, but he jerked his hand away and backed off. She pulled off her hood to reveal long red hair. He gasped in fright. She pulled herself up and said, "So much for chivalry. Anyway, I wanted to get something in the store real quick. Is that okay?" He slowly backed away from her; he was sure it was her. "Are you okay? Hello? Do you speak?" She scowled and started to walk away. Suddenly, she turned around and looked him up and down. She gasped, "Wait. You must be that guy in the paper yesterday. You're.....Steve, right?" He nodded. She glanced at her feet and grabbed her hair. "I must look alot like that girl who blew those cops up, eh?" He gulped and nodded quickly. She laughed, "Well, no need to worry. I'm not her. She'd be hundreds of miles away from here by now." Still not satisfied, he said unbelievingly, "Right." She frowned and walked up to him, asking with puppy eyes, "Could I get something before you close?" He sighed and walked over to the fence. He unlocked it and opened it. She squealed, "Thank you so much!" She leapt into the store as he turned the lights on. She observed everything in the store before picking something out. As she was looking around he took the time to study her face. She had cute freckles on her nose, so he was content for now that she wasn't the terrorist. Though, she saw him staring a couple times, he whipped his head around in another direction and whistled. She smiled. When she finally was done, she came up to the register and he did his job. The whole time he was doing so, she was talking his head off about when she read his story in the paper and how brave she thought he was for going through all that. Most of it though, he couldn't catch up on. He chuckled to himself and thought, Well, it's been a long time since I had a fan girl.
The lock on the fence clicked and echoed throughout the mall. The lights were all off now, so they headed out. Steve sighed, "Well, I'll see you around?" She nodded, "I hope so." He started walking away, when she asked, "Don't you have a car?" He turned, "No. I prefer to walk anyway." She hesitated, "Well, I could give you a ride if you can tell me how to get to your place. It's supposed to get cold tonight." That would be nice. He walked over to her car and opened the door. Once they were in, she started the car. They drove around, and with Steve's directions, came to his apartment. She gasped. He looked at her, "What?" She pointed at the structure and said, "It's that building, right?" He looked and nodded. She chuckled, "I guess we're neighbors then." They had a laugh and went into the building. He asked, "What number is yours?" She pointed downstairs, "I live in 5B." He started up the stairs and said, "I'm 7A." She followed him up to his apartment and looked around. His place was very organized. When you first walk in, there's a small table against the wall with some pictures on it, and a door leading to Steve's apartment, a balcony, and a bathroom. Then there's a hallway with a coat rack, which leads to the living room. In the living room, there is a medium-sized TV and a red couch. As you walk into the kitchen, you would see a table for four and a small counter with a nice-looking center piece. "Wow. Your place is way nicer than mine....where's your cat?" He was puzzled, "Cat? I don't have one." She lifted an eyebrow, "You don't, eh? Well I could have sworn I saw a tomcat on your balcony." He cleared his throat, remembering what the girl said. She walked to the door and opened it, "It was nice meeting you. I'll see you around at the mall then?" Steve smiled, "Yeah, but not on Saturdays. I take Saturdays off." There was an awkward silence for a minute until Steve said, "Hey, I don't believe I caught your name." She turned and strangely gazed at him, "My name is Garnet. Kinda weird, huh?" Steve raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Perfect name. It definitely suits you." She chuckled and went down the stairs; a few boards creaking as she stepped. He sighed and closed the door, Garnet. How strange is that? What's with all this red? And she said she saw a cat on my balcony. He stepped out onto his balcony. He looked all around; puzzled. He groaned and closed the doors.

End