The mall was pretty big by mall standards. It wasn't going to win any Guinness World records or anything but if you asked Miguel to run the entire length of the place he'd tell you to fuck off. It had a lot more variety than he realized and it even had a few specialty stores that sold stuff cheaper than he bought online. As he was gawking at the place like a child in a candy store, Louise grabbed his shirt and started walking somewhere.

"Don't act so surprised, this place is only a mile from where you live."

"No wonder I was sweating, this place is a whole mile away?"

She looked at him pitifully and continued walking.

"Anyway I brought you out here so I'd appreciate it if you didn't run off and leave me at the first thing that catches your eye."

"Fine."

They commenced their hanging out. Which was a generous way of saying Louise brought him to a bunch of stores and forced him to carry some shit.

They had stopped in a local arcade/fast food joint to take and seeing the amount of bags they had laid out before them Miguel couldn't help but wonder.

"Louise, did you really just bring me out here just to be a pack mule?"

"You say that as if we didn't talk when we carried these."

Miguel sighed and spread out on the table.

"Besides, why the hell did you go to so many clothing stores anywhere? Did you burn the last ones you had?"

"That's my business. (I hope this is enough for them)" She said as she turned away.

Miguel raised an eye at this but shrugged his shoulders. He pulled out his phone to check how much it would cost him and didn't see any emails about any recent purchases.

"By the way…did you personally buy these?"

She continued drinking the soda she had in her hands before responding.

"Hmm? Oh yeah. What about it?"

There were several ways Tibaut could have responded but he decided to not draw attention to it.

He took a bite of his burger while looking inside the arcade.

"I see."

("I always thought she hung out with me for money. I feel kind of scummy now, honestly. I mean she worked a nine-to-five like most regular people, of course, she spends her own money dumbass.")

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You good?" She asked as he spaced out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just wondering if you're just gonna have me carry bags all day."

She looked around.

"We could play a game or two."

"Pft, it'd be wash so there's no point."

She slammed her fist against the table.

"What was that Mr. Incest porn?"

She looked into his eyes.

"You heard me Amazing Alcoholic, you'd get washed. Getting such an easy win would be boring. How about we play one of those physical games like the one where you're throwing balls into a hole? I'm pretty sure gorillas don't have fine motor skills so it should be even."

She gritted her teeth and her eyes started twitching.

"Really, now?"

She pointed to an arcade game nearby.

"Sorry, Miguel but I think I'll have to humble you."

Miguel scoffed in ridicule and got up taking what he believed to be a ridiculous challenge.

"You better not complain."

An hour had passed and they were neck and neck.

"Hehe, where's all that confidence from earlier Miguel?"

She made the most exaggerated movements as she aimed the guns at the screen with pinpoint accuracy. She looked more like a stuntman practising fight choreography than someone playing a game.

"Huff puff Dammit you tricked me, I thought this huff was a traditional game."

He was sweating worse than before and making only the most minute actions he could take while still hitting his target.

He was so out of shape that even an arcade game that had you aiming its guns was enough to leave him a sweating mess.

"(Damnit, how'd she coincidentally pick a game where her superhuman reflexes and movement benefit. Don't tell me she planned this? To think she would scheme against me.)" He thought as he fired himself up trying to tie their scores.

Unfortunately for Miguel, there was no scheme on her mind, she just thought shooting zombies looked fun.

After tiring himself out trying to match her, they continued going through the mall. With her shopping finished they casually explored the mall having fun at the various shops they stopped at.

Eventually, after an eventful evening, Miguel sent her home in a taxi.

He called himself a taxi and went home soon after. In the back seat, he lay down, totally spent.

In the backseat, he had memories of his childhood. He remembered lying down in the backseat with his brother after returning from the beach. He remembered the scents of his old car and the amber sky slowly turning into pitch black.

"Oh dear, look, they're asleep." She said gently watching her two sons.

"Of course, they'd be. With how much Miguel terrorised his brother, I'm surprised they even returned to the car awake."

"Ha, well he is at that age he wants to interact with girls. Though it seems little Miguel hasn't reached the point he wants to play with anyone but his big brother."

"I guess you're right about that."

"...."

"..."

As he lay down in the taxi as it sped past the streetlights, he had a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Louise," he whispered, "it's been a while since I've seen my parents."

----------------------------------------

"This place is pretty interesting," Tibaut remarked.

"I know right?" Grace commented.

It was night and they were walking back to the guest building.

As they were walking Tibait couldn't help but look at her face.

"Hey Grace, thanks for the tour."

"?" She looked confused. "What brought this up? Are you finally treating me with the respect I deserve?" She said. Her voice was drenched in sarcasm and wore the same old smile on her face. "You must really have liked that person you mentioned."

"Yeah, I guess I did."

While Grace was somewhat curious about who this person was, she didn't feel cruel enough to force it out of him.