"Nick, will you please quit driving so fast?! You're going to hit someone!"
Leslie clutched the sides of the passenger seat as Nick swerved around another oncoming vehicle. "NICK?!"
"What?!" he barked from behind the steering wheel. "I'm only going 35!"
"We're in a parking lot!" she cried in a grate tone. Nick sighed, and eased up on the gas pedal. She pointed her finger out the window. "If you wait until that car pulls out right there, you can take it's spot." Once Nick pulled the car into the empty space, the two shuffled across the parking lot and into the mall. Leslie paused inside the door to take a sip from a water fountain.
"You think you could hurry up, Les? We don't have all day."
Leslie dried the excess water dribbling from her chin on her sleeve and stood in front of her brother. "What are you so uptight about? Ever since you picked me up earlier you've had this attitude---"
"I'm not uptight." he cut off, shoving her ahead. She stumbled, but soon fell into step alongside him. They continued along in silence until they reached the escalator leading upstairs. Nick stepped up on to it, scratching his brow. "What did you do with that list Mom gave you?"
"Um..." Her hands flew into her jeans pocket, and she extracted a slightly crinkled fold of paper. Unfolding it, she began to read aloud. "We need to get some plates, some cups, picnic packs---hey!"
Nick snatched the list from her hand and began going over it silently to himself. Leslie threw her hands up in surrender and sighed. "Over half of this stuff we can't even get here."
"Very good, Nick. Which is why we're stopping off at HEB on the way home."
Nick adjusted his baseball cap. "Shut up."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Mom wants us to pick up a little get well gift for Beej from all of us while we're here."
"Like what?"
Shrugging, she replied, "I don't know. I was thinking we could get her something from Hallmark."
"Yeah."
"We should find Adrienne first though, so she can help us pick it out."
"What?" He nearly knocked over a display sign as they both stepped off the escalator on to the top floor.
"I said Andre can help us pick it out."
He snorted. "What does she know about get well gifts?"
"Well she is staying with us and she is BJ's friend, so you tell me."
"Yeah, that's probably the only reason she was able to score a job here. It's probably a free ride for anyone who can list "Current residence" on their resume as our house."
"Nick?!" she huffed, folding her arms. "Adrienne is so not like that and you know it." When he just shook his head she sighed. "I swear, you're so immature at times, I tend to forget you're my older brother." He sneered. "Dad said we need to be back by two so we have time to start getting stuff put together before we go pick Mom and Beej up. So, that gives us about two hours to get everything done before we need to get back."
"Mmm." was his reply.
"Hallmark's is next to that collector's store right?" She took a quick glance down at her watch.
"I don't know, Les! Do you know how long it's been since I was last able to come here?" He paused in front of a shop window to check his reflection. "Do you think anybody will recognize me?"
"No, you look fine." She grabbed his arm and began to pull him through the mall.
"That wasn't what I asked."
"No one will recognize you, Nick!"
He wrenched his sleeve from her grasp and tugged his shirt back into place. "They will if you keep yelling my name out loud!"
Hands on hips, Leslie tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for him to follow her. "Nick, we need to go find Adrienne and get the gift picked out within the next hour if we're gonna get home by two." Nick made no attempt to follow her, but instead paused to look over the list again. "Nick, come on!"
"Why do we have to get candy too? What kind of candy do we need?" His eyes remained glued to the list.
"NICK!!!"
A lady with a toddler linked to her hand gave the two a questionable look as she pushed past them.
Nick grabbed Leslie by the shoulder and pulled her into the nearest doorway. "Dammit Leslie, will you stop that? If someone finds out who I am, we're not gonna be able to get anything!"
She frowned. "I'm going to go get the candy and find Adrienne. I'll meet you at the Hallmark, okay?" Before Nick could protest, she stepped back into the wave of people circulating through the mall and disappeared.
"Leslie, I... oh, forget it." Nick checked his reflection in the window one last time before exiting the store himself.
Adrienne emerged from the storage room, boxes in hand. "What are you screeching about now?" She caught sight of Marty's predicament and quickly came to her aid. "I told you not to take it with you." she said, whipping a roll of paper towels from underneath the counter. "But no, you had to bring it with you. And now---"
Marty snatched the paper towels from Adrienne's hand and wiped the mess away. "One of the jackets came off the hanger and tipped it over, Andre. It was an accident."
"Yeah," she snapped, taking the moist towels from Marty and disposing them into the garbage. "An accident that could have easily been avoided."
"Damn, girl." Marty grabbed the jackets from their perch next to the clearance rack and hooked them on to the rack opposite of it. "Retract the claws."
Adrienne sighed and picked up the boxes she had been lugging. "I'm sorry. I've just been thinking about what James told us on break earlier. It's kinda got me upset right now."
"Yeah, I noticed you seemed kind of upset when he said he'll probably have to go in for surgery soon." She paused. "But, it's nothing major. I mean, it's just to see if they can get his knee back in order."
An empty box scooted across the floor as Adrienne shoved it out of the way with her foot. "Yeah, I know. But, just the thought of doctors and surgeries...." She drew in her breath. "Always gets me paranoid."
Marty siphoned her Coke through it's straw, and replied, "You shouldn't let things like that bother you, chick. James is a tough guy. He can take it."
Adrienne shook her head half-heartedly. Marty couldn't possibly understand. Adrienne knew what could happen. How the anesthesia would take effect, and your eyes would grow heavy, and...."Ow!" She glared at Marty, whose hand had hold of her shoulder and was pulling her behind the counter. "What the.... Marty?"
"Shh!" she shushed, peering over the counter top. When Adrienne tried to take a peek, she shoved her head back down. "Guess who just walked through the door?"
"Brenden Fraser?"
Marty scoffed. "I wish."
She shrugged. "Who?"
Marty shushed her again as the two slowly went to peer over the counter together. Adrienne felt all the air leave her lungs when her eyes fell upon none other than Nick, who stood inspecting a coat rack on the other side of the room. She ducked back under the counter, where Marty now sat, chuckling. She couldn't help but chuckle herself.
"Want me to take this one?"
Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Please do."
Marty quickly regained her composure, before clearing her throat and strolling over to where Nick stood, still eyeing the coat rack with interest.
"Nah, I'm just looking, thank you." Nick replied, giving her a quick smile.
"Sure you don't need any help, sir?" she queried, her eyes laughing.
He thought for a moment. "Actually, I was wondering if you carried any, um...." His mind raced for the word he wanted to say.
The girl raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
His palms started to sweat, and he quickly went to wipe them on his jeans leg. "Um...any... uh..." He finished the sentence in almost a whisper.
"What?" she queried, stepping closer.
Nick rubbed his upper lip. "Cotton boxers."
"Do we carry any cotton boxers?" she repeated, a little louder than what he wanted. He nodded weakly. "Um, I'm not quite sure. A new shipment should have arrived earlier this morning." She covered her mouth, trying to mask her laughter with a cough. "If you could just hold on a sec, I can check in back to see if we have any in."
As she waltzed by the check-out counter, she bit her lower lip and flashed Adrienne a thumbs-up sign. Adrienne made sure that Nick wasn't facing that way before dashing from her refuge behind the counter into the storage area with Marty. "Do we have any cotton boxers in?" Marty asked innocently before the two girls broke into laughter.
"I figured that's what he was here for." Adrienne said between laughs.
Marty laughed again. "So, you care to have your hands in all this?"
She smiled. "Oh, I have something up my sleeve."
By the time the girl returned from the back, Nick had already made his way to the check-out counter, and was standing there, drumming his fingers on it. She approached him, shook her head, and said, "I'm sorry, but the shipment hasn't come in yet."
Nick scrunched his face and growled. "So, you have absolutely no cotton boxers in?"
"Well," she began, turning around. She grabbed a package and tossed it in front of him. "This is the cotton boxer we do have."
His hands fumbled over the package of undergarments as he carefully inspected it. After a few moments, he handed the package back to her and replied, "That's okay. I'm not really the thong type."
Marty tossed the package into the clearance box and shrugged. "Hey, whatever breathes."
"Don't you have anything besides those?"
She clucked her tongue before grabbing a clipboard off a stack of boxes and flipping through it's pages. "Our next shipment of the cotton boxers you're looking for won't be in until tomorrow morning at ten." Nick's eyes shifted to the floor as he took in the information. "You could place an order for them and we could have them delivered to your home, if you'd like."
He nodded. "I think I'll do that, yeah." As he whipped out his wallet and credit cards, Marty motioned Adrienne out of the storage area where she darted behind a full rack of pin-striped suits.
After he had filled out an order form, Marty rung up a receipt and tore it off for him to sign. "Your order should be delivered around eleven or so tomorrow."
"Okay, that'll be fine, thanks." he replied, penning his name to the receipt.
Marty took the receipt and kept the half that she needed, handing back his copy. "Thank you and have a nice day."
Nick shoved the receipt in his pocket. "Yeah, you too."
Once he had disappeared around the corner, Adrienne came out of hiding and took the receipt from Marty's outstretched hand. She chuckled. "I'll go ahead and put this one into the computer for you, Marty." The two exchanged Cheshire Cat grins as they went along with their business.
"Hey!" Nick looked up to see Leslie walking towards him. "What are you doing in here?"
"Nothing." he muttered hastily, a fine spray of crimson splashing over his cheeks. He crammed his hands into his jeans pockets. "W-what are you doing in here?"
"I came to get Adrienne." she replied, brushing past him.
Nick turned to face her. "Wha--"
"Hey!" Adrienne greeted cheerfully, throwing her arm over Leslie's shoulder.
"Heya!" Leslie chimed back, flinging her own arm over Adrienne's shoulder. "You ready to put your super gift expertise to good use?"
"Ready and raring!" her voice jingled, stepping around Nick. "Hey, Carter."
Nick opened and closed his fists, watching the two girls prance out of the department store. Tongue in cheek, he numbly fell into step behind them.
