"Does Regina already know about your relationship with the beautiful 'Debbie'?" still amused, sarcastically Kat asked while making a great effort to push the glass door of the mall.
"Ha ha, very funny," I said, laughing falsely, as I helped the teenager open the door, which was certainly a bit heavy.
"I could have done that on my own," embarrassed, Kat defended herself as she walked past me while I held the door open.
"I'm sure you could, but I'd like to visit at least one store before the girls return in three hours," jokingly I replied, still holding the door open for a couple with a little girl in their arms, receiving a silent thank you as they passed.
"Ha ha, very funny," imitating my comment, Kat said as she walked ahead.
"Now, where do you want to go?" after letting go of the door and reaching the side of the teenager, I asked.
"What about...?" stretching the question exaggeratedly, she advanced quickly before suddenly stopping, "the music store?" she said with false surprise, pointing to the place hopefully.
"Sure, why not?" amused by the obviousness of her feigned surprise, I replied as we entered the store.
"So, what kind of music do you like?" inside the store, searching through a rack full of records, Kat asked while moving her head to the rhythm of the music ringing in the store.
"I don't know. I used to listen to whatever my dad played in his truck; now I just let Teddy choose the station," I replied, looking at the album covers in the store.
Finding one of the covers very funny, I amusingly showed it to the suddenly silent Kat, finding the teenager with a completely incredulous expression. "What?" I asked worried.
"You don't know what kind of music you like?" still incredulous, Kat took the album from my hand, asking again, now offended, "at least a band you like more than others?" quickly she asked again, pointing to the album she took from my hands, "Kiss?" she asked again, now offended.
"No way," seeing my inability to answer her questions, Kat, in a mix of disbelief and offense, said, "Nirvana, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers," taking albums near her, Kat listed one after another while I increasingly embarrassed denied, "there must be one that you know," defeated after taking several more albums, Kat said while forcefully putting the ones she had in her hands back on the rack.
"I know Elvis Presley," seeing a poster with his face, I pointed hopefully, unfortunately causing Kat to furrow her brow even more.
"Elvis," she repeated forcefully, still completely incredulous, "I'm with a caveman," concerned, Kat said.
"I mean, possibly I don't know them by name, but I'm sure I've heard a song by" I said as I reached for another album from the shelves, "Queen," I continued after reading the name on the cover, making Kat laugh.
"I can't believe it. Possibly the third smartest person in the whole school, the quarterback, the second coming of Hippocrates, and you don't know who Queen is," now much more amused, Kat sarcastically said.
"I'm not the second coming of Hippocrates," I quickly denied, embarrassed, "and, the third person, why not the first?" falsely offended, I asked.
"Don't get your hopes up; obviously, Sheldon Cooper is the smartest; he's like ten years old and is in high school," ironically, Kat responded, picking up the albums she had left on one of the shelves.
"Nine," I corrected the teenager, "and that doesn't completely answer my question," I could say before being pulled by her towards a player at one end of the store.
"Put these on; the second smartest person in the whole school has to fix your musical knowledge," arrogantly handing me some questionably clean headphones connected to the player, Kat ordered while she took another pair before starting the player.
"This is Queen, a British rock band," as the music started, Kat, tapping my shoulder to get my attention, explained, pointing to her headphones while moving to the rhythm of the music.
"Oh, come on, you can't listen to music like this; we're not in a museum, loosen up a bit," surely speaking louder than she should in the enclosed space, Kat ordered again, pushing me with her shoulder, urging me to dance with her.
After several bumps on my shoulder, both Kat and the music in the headphones convinced me to move to the rhythm. Obviously, at first, it was a bit awkward; I had never danced before, but as the music continued, it became much easier.
Ignoring Kat's laughter, probably at my 'dance,' I continued to enjoy the music, but from her teasing, it seemed like Kat had forgotten to dance, so it was my turn to push her, unfortunately, managing, on the first attempt, to make the teenager start dancing again.
After several more songs, Kat changed the record, showing me again the name of the band and the style of their songs. That's how we continued having fun with several more albums.
Quickly, time passed; when we reached the last of the albums Kat had chosen, the girl was already exhausted from all the movement that surprisingly turned out to be a tiring activity. "We've been here for over an hour," after checking the time on my watch, I announced, making Kat return the player to its original state when we entered the store.
"Okay, by the way, you have to buy these and listen to them from now on," taking several other albums, Kat didn't give an option to discuss as she carried them to the counter.
"So, you're going to buy something, I was already thinking about how to kick them out of here; this is not a club," the cashier, an older teenager marked by acne all over his face, rudely said while pressing the buttons on the cash register, obviously annoyed for whatever reason.
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With my now new collection of albums in a bag, we left the store laughing as we remembered the now embarrassing actions we had done without realizing that the store manager was watching us.
Being far enough away from the judgmental view of the record store manager, we continued walking in a pleasant silence through the mall aisles.
"Now, what do you want to do? We still have a little over an hour until we leave," after a moment, I broke the silence, still walking alongside Kat.
Taking my question completely seriously, Kat stopped to think for a moment. "I know a great place," after a few seconds, excitedly remembering, Kat quickly said, walking, "let's go!" advancing faster, Kat shamelessly shouted, making me walk behind her to catch up.
After a few stores, we arrived at a pet store with glass showcases to show little animals playing and being cute in general. Kat, with her face dangerously close to one of the cages, was admiring a small cat with a big smile.
"Isn't it beautiful?" she cheerfully whispered.
"I'm more of a dog person," I replied, watching as the animal completely ignored what was happening around it, licking one of its paws completely apathetic.
"Do you have pets?" I asked, seeing Kat continue to look at the cat.
"No, Dad hates any kind of animal, says they're dirty, and in his work area, they're even dangerous," calmly explained Kat as she walked to another of the enclosed animals.
"What does your dad do?" intrigued, I asked.
"He's a doctor," Kat quickly replied, "the kind that takes care of pregnant women and delivers babies," she continued explaining as she lightly tapped the glass of one of the cages with a small dog inside with her finger.
"An obstetrician," I said, deciphering the type of doctor that Mr. Stratford possibly was.
"Yeah, that," surprised, Kat confirmed, "you don't know Queen, but you know what an obstetrician is," amused, Kat shook her head, laughing at the small dog that was excited to see new faces, "I can see why you prefer dogs; Ellie has a much bigger dog, and he always tries, you know, to mount you."
"Yeah, dogs do that," amused, I affirmed, also lightly tapping the glass of the dog, making the small dog even more excited. "Who is Ellie?" I asked, remembering what Kat said.
"One of my friends," after a few forced seconds, she answered.
"Oh, one of the girls who were with you when Regina and I were... found," a little embarrassed, I said, remembering the other two girls I hadn't seen with Kat for a long time.
"Yeah," in a strange sarcastic tone, Kat said, quickly moving away to another part of the store.
Touching the glass of the small dog one last time as a farewell, I walked behind Kat, who was calmly watching a fish tank full of little fish of the same color swimming peacefully.
Unlike when we left the music store, watching the fish swim in their tank left us in an uncomfortable silence.
"So, now they don't talk to you because of the rumor?" I quickly said, trying to be as insensitive as possible.
Taking a deep breath, Kat pondered for a moment, shaking her head. "No, I distanced myself from them," she confessed, embarrassed, "it's silly, I know, but everyone was talking about it, and I knew they knew about it; I just didn't want to know what they thought about it, understand?" still embarrassed, Kat said.
"Yes, I think I understand. You're afraid they'll think the rumor is true," I said, and Kat nodded, confirming my theory. "Well, I know you didn't ask for my opinion, but it seems to me that you're robbing their opportunity to prove whether they're truly your friends or not," I continued, making Kat furrow her brow in confusion. "Yes, if they're truly your friends, they'll understand that the rumor is false; if not, well, they weren't truly your friends, and you saved yourself from a fake friendship," I explained to the teenager.
"It's easy for you to say; your rumor was that you're a genius doctor," sarcastically argued Kat.
"Yes, not very embarrassing now that I think about it," I ironically said. "Although there was also the problem of the fight; I've never fought with anyone."
"What?" incredulous, Kat asked, "you've never fought with anyone, you?"
"No, well, if you don't count the time Alan stopped me even before I could even realize it, but that time no punches were thrown," I commented, recalling the incident with Alan. "Besides, me? Why would I fight with someone?"
"You're a football player," the teenager responded, raising her shoulders, "isn't it your job to, I don't know, hit other players?" Kat said, puzzled.
"What?" incredulous, I asked, "is that what you think football is?" I asked again, receiving a relaxed nod from Kat.
"I'm with a cavewoman," I affirmed, making Kat roll her eyes in annoyance.
Leaving the pet store, "how about we get some coffee; my treat," I said, leading us to a mall donut shop.
The mall store was crowded with young people; I even recognized a couple of people from school who recognized me back. Strangely, they were very surprised to see me there; noticing my gaze, they made a strange incredulous salute.
After a couple of people, it was our turn in front of the cashier, a barista who greeted us quite unwillingly when we reached the front. Apparently, being a barista is a truly exhausting job. Without asking, the barista was silently waiting for our orders, with his brow slightly furrowed.
"I want a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream," Kat quickly ordered, "same for me," I ordered after her, making the barista close his eyes tightly for a second, sighing.
A few minutes after paying, the two chocolate milkshakes were served in plastic cups with the store logo marked. "Let's find a table," without waiting for Kat, I walked through the store to some empty seats. "Good milkshake," I affirmed after trying the drink when Kat arrived next to me.
"Yeah," I hadn't noticed before, but the teenager seemed a bit uncomfortable.
"Is everything okay?" concerned, I asked, "yes, it's just that, don't turn around, but I think the girls at that other table go to our school," discreetly, Kat nodded her head to where she had greeted the other teenagers.
"Oh yes, I greeted them when we came in," calmly, I affirmed, greeting again the teenagers who were still giving strange looks at our table.
"Oh, this might be bad," worried, Kat took a big sip of her milkshake.
"What? Why?" I asked, imitating her action; the milkshake tasted really good. "This again?" after a few seconds without receiving an answer while Kat seemed embarrassed, I deduced that whatever rumor was circulating in the school still bothered her, "I told you I don't care about the rumor; you're my friend," I explained to the teenager, who suddenly furrowed her brow.
"No, that doesn't worry me; you're right, it's a stupid rumor," she quickly said, dismissing my idea, "it's just that you and I alone here seem like something else."
"What?" I asked, "PJ, you have a girlfriend, and it seems like we're completely alone drinking milkshakes at the mall. It's not a joke anymore. What do you think Regina will think?" Kat slowly explained.
Oh.
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Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not American, Not a Doctor.
This chapter was intended as filler for the previous one, but I separated it because I'm a bit busy with the new start of the school year. There's a heavy workload, and I have to rearrange my schedule to have enough free time to write and study.
I'd like to clarify a couple of things. I'm in my mid-20s, so I don't have much idea about what was or wasn't in the '90s beyond what the entertainment world and internet knowledge have to offer.
According to what I found, record stores, apart from vinyl, also sold CDs in 1990, but I'm not very sure about the availability at that time.
I also researched, and obviously, the Chevelle SS from 1970 didn't have a CD adaptation. Let's ignore that and consider it one of the things Mr. Sparks updated in the car.
Having said that,
I think that's it. As always, if you find any errors, let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thanks for reading! :D
PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.