The mall was packed and it was difficult to weave in and out of the crowds. Taylor Hanson was determined to find his oldest brother a birthday present and he had dragged his younger brother, Zac along for the trip. Zac wasn't in the mood to shop and he found it ridiculous to be birthday shopping for Isaac in June. "His birthday isn't until November. Heck, my birthday is before then. How about we shop for me?"
"Zac, shut up. You haven't stopped whining since we got here."
"You'd be whining too if you'd had a three year old kick you in the knee for getting in his way." Zac sulked an stopped dead in his tracks when he saw where Taylor was headed. "No way in hell. I'm not going in there."
"Zac, it's just a store. Don't even start."
"It's Abercrombie. It smells like snob in there. Last time I went in they were all looking down at me like I was some kind of mutant."
"You get that everywhere. It goes along with the job."
Zac pulled the rubberband out of his ponytail and let his long hair fall over his shoulders. "Well, if you're going to drag me in, I'm going to look as grungy as possible just to piss them all off." He ran his hands over his hair, messing it up and making it stand out a couple more inches.
"Nice. Classy." Taylor rolled his eyes and grabbed his brother's black t-shirt, dragging him into Abercrombie and Fitch behind him. He made his way towards the sunglasses and hats, remembering a pair of glasses Isaac had seen weeks before. He figured it would be cool for him to receive them as a gift 5 months later. Who cares if they were out of style. Isaac wasn't really into trends anyway. And neither was Zac.
Zac had made his way as quickly as possible to the center of the store where the cash register was set up. He leaned back against the counter and sighed. "Bleh." He cringed. "I feel dirty in here."
"Maybe you should bathe, then." A soft, quiet voice muttered from behind him. "Or perhaps comb your hair? Cut it? Soap. Soap is good."
Zac turned around and glared at the pretty girl behind the cash register. She looked like she was about 5'5 and she had wavy, brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. She smiled shyly as if she hadn't just insulted him. Snobs had a way of doing that and Zac hated it. "Soap is overrated." He growled and turned around again to see where Taylor had gone to.
The girl tapped her manicured fingernails on the counter and hummed lightly. Zac ignored her as long as he could until he recognized the song. Slightly out of tune, she was humming "Mmmbop". He spun around quickly and glared. "Wow. Cute. Haven't heard anybody do that before."
"You're Zac, right? I used to be a huge fan. Was that Taylor that was in here? He's really changed."
"You were a fan? Were?"
"Yeah. A few years ago." She seemed to be counting in her head. Then, a surprised look appeared on her face. "Wow. Five years?"
"Let me guess, we fell out of style and you moved on to Britney Spears?"
She made a face as if she had just been deeply insulted. "Look, I've been made fun of enough in this lifetime for my musical tastes. I don't really need it from you."
"Right. Ok then." Zac looked around. His eyes widened when he noticed that Taylor was no longer in the store. Giving the girl one last glare, he left as quickly as possible and found Taylor sitting on a bench outside, smiling broadly. "You left?! You just left and didn't tell me and you left me by myself in there?!"
Taylor laughed. "It was funny watching you argue with that hot girl for a while but then I got bored."
"Whatever. I have to de-tox now. And since you dragged me into that place, you're coming with me to Hot Topic." Zac started towards the other end of the mall with Taylor following him.
"You do realize that Hot Topic is just as trendy as Abercrombie? Just a different kind of trend?"
"Yeah. But at least the people who follow the trend are nicer."
"Right." Taylor rolled his eyes and followed Zac into the dimly lit store. He sniffed the air. "Ok, my store may smell like snob, but yours smells like pot."
"It's inscense, dumbass." Zac laughed and began browsing the store for something for Isaac. After about fifteen minutes, he decided that Isaac wouldn't appreciate scratch and sniff socks and headed toward the cash register to talk to the girl who was working. "Hey. Do you have any new cds in?"
"Pretty much, what you see is what you get." She motioned towards the wall of music. She had thick, shoulder length hair, dyed black with dark red streaks framing her face. Her eyes were dark and her gaze met his. After a moment she squinted her eyes.
"Uhm, hi?" He smiled, trying not to blush at the fact that she was staring at him.
"Sorry. You just look a little familiar." She reached under the counter and pulled a pair of thick, black, cats-eye framed glasses and put them on. "Ok nevermind. For a minute there I thought you went out with my sister or something. Did you find what you were looking for?"
Zac frowned. "Well, for a minute I was going to get my brother some scratch and sniff socks but then I thoguht the concept was a little... weird."
"That's what we do best." She grinned and Zac noticed that her tongue was pierced with a purple stud that matched her dark purple, lacy top.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to...suggest that you're... weird. Cause I don't think that at all. I just..."
She laughed. "It's fine. I'll take being called a weirdo over dirty looks and crying children anyday. My name's Thea, by the way."
"Zac." He smiled and shook her outstretched hand.
She seemed to think about his name for a moment and then shook her head. "That guy you came in with? He looks really fascinated by the thongs over there."
Zac looked over at Taylor. "Are they scratch and sniff, too?"
"I think so."
"Wow." Zac laughed. His laughter was cut short though when the obnoxious girl from Abercrombie came into the store. "Oh no." He turned around to face the back wall, hiding his face from her. He smoothed down his hair and pulled it back into the ponytail.
"What?" Thea leaned forward, whispering into his ear.
"That girl. I can't stand her. She keeps looking at me like I'm from another planet or something. Don't you have the right to refuse sales to people like that?"
Thea grinned. "Wish I did."
"Hey, Thea, what time do you get off?"
Zac's eyes widened when he realized that they knew eachother, but he didn't turn around for fear of getting his head bitten off.
"Five. You givin me a ride?"
"I'm leaving now. Can't you have one of your friends take you home?"
"It's only an hour. Hang around."
Zac could feel the girl's gaze piercing the back of his head and he turned around slowly. "You know, my brother and I will be here for a while longer. We can take you home. I mean, at least we have manners."
The girl glared. "You."
"Me."
Thea smiled. "Zac, this is Madison. She's my uhm, sister."
Zac's eyes widened as he shook Madison's hand. He almost burst into laughter when she wiped her hand on her pants afterwards. "Right, well," Madison sighed, "I have to go. Tell Mom I'm going to a party tonight."
"I will if I feel like it." Thea whispered as Madison left the store. "Sorry about her. She can be such a bitch sometimes. Mostly when people challenge her."
"I'm always up for a challenge." Zac smiled.
Taylor came up next to him and nudged his elbow. "Zac, dude, there's some cool stuff in here. They have underwear back there that you can..." He looked up to see Thea and blushed. "Oh, hi. Are you ready to go?" He asked, glancing at Zac.
"Yeah." Zac nodded and then shook his head immediately afterwards.
"Whoa. Indecisive much?" Taylor laughed.
"Do you need a ride home, Thea? We can stay and hang out until you get off of work."
Thea shook her head. "No, it's ok. You guys can go. I'll probably just bail early anyway. I think my relief should be here in about 15 minutes. He won't mind me leaving early."
"You can do that?"
"Not really." She smiled. "But who cares."
Zac nodded. "Alright then, we're gonna get going. So if you uhm... I could uhm..."
Taylor rolled his eyes. "For the love of God, Zac just ask the girl for her phone number."
Zac blushed wildly and smiled. He was still shy when it came to girls. Thea laughed and pulled a flyer from behind the counter. She scribbled her name and phone number on it and handed it to him. Zac tore it in half, wrote his cell phone number on it and handed it back to her. He was never sure where he was going to be and his Dad always yelled at him for giving out his home phone number. "There. Yeah. I'll call you." Zac smiled one last time before leaving the store with Taylor.
"Smooth, Zac. Very smooth. You almost got out a few full sentences."
"Shut up. She didn't know who we were."
"So?"
"Her sister did."
"Her sister?"
"Madison. The chick from Abercrombie."
Taylor looked confused.
"You know, the store spawned from Satan?"
"Yes, I'm familiar with the concept. They're sisters?"
"Yeah. I don't think they like eachother. She was pretty, wasn't she?"
"Madison?"
"No, Thea."
"Uh, Sure. If you like girls with holes in their tongues."
Zac rolled his eyes. "You thought Madison was hot."
"So?"
"Ew." Zac laughed and followed Taylor to the parking lot where their car sat underneathe a tree, shaded from the summer sun.
It wasn't until half an hour later when Thea was grabbing her purse and thanking her co-worker again for covering for her that the realization of who Zac really was hit her so hard she almost fell over. "Holy shit."
"What?" The tall, pierced man with orange hair asked her with his eyes widened.
"Nothing. I just realized something, that's all."
"Right. Ok then, I'll see you later."
"Uh huh." But she was already deep in thought and disbelief of who she had just met.
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