City of Kinetics

FORTY-ONE ✴ Mall Chase

       Mila loved going to the mall during weekday mornings. There weren't a lot of people, lineups were short, and she got first dibs on most of the sales. Evelyn happily walked beside her, swinging her various shopping bags back and forth as she looked around.

       "Where should we go next?" Mila asked.

       "Well, I think I've got the essentials," Evelyn said. "I just want to check one more clothing store and then we can grab some food."

       "Don't you think you've bought enough clothes?" she asked, eyeing the multiple bags in her hands.

       "You can never have enough," Evelyn responded, sending her a wink.

       She had finally officially moved into Mila's apartment and was now on a mission to make up for all the things she left behind in Greenwich.

       "Don't you miss your old things?" Mila asked her curiously.

       She shrugged. "Greenwich is a pretty empty town, so I didn't shop much. My things weren't all that sentimental."

       "Do you think you'll ever go back?"

       "Sure," Evelyn said. "When Kane drops dead."

       This made Mila roll her eyes as she suppressed her smile. They turned the hallway and Evelyn looked around, her eyes narrowing she they went over the various store names.

       "What are you looking for?" Mila asked her.

       "Noelle," she said, referring to the name of a store. "They have cute pajamas."

       "Oh, I think..." Mila looked around too, trying to remember where that store was.

       She didn't have the luxury of shopping very often, so her knowledge of where things were in Nexus City's biggest mall was limited. She frowned to herself, trying to figure out where the store could be.

       Evelyn chuckled. "Haven't you lived in this city your whole life?"

       "I don't come to the mall that often," Mila told her. "I think though that if we go down the escalators to the first floor, it'll be somewhere there."

       "How specific."

       She gave her a playful look. "Give me a break, I'm trying."

       "This is the last store, I promise," Evelyn told her. "We'll get food right after. I can tell you're hungry."

       "How are you not? We both skipped breakfast."

       Evelyn grinned at her and they both began walked towards the escalators. Stepping onto it, Mila stood one step behind Evelyn as they rode down. She pulled out her phone just to check the time, it was almost noon.

       "Oh, shit."

       Mila's eyes snapped up to the redhead in front of her in surprise.

       "What? What's wrong?" she asked immediately, putting her phone back in her pocket.

       "You see those guys over there?" Evelyn asked, nodding discretely towards a group of four men in front of a phone shop looking around. "I know them."

       Mila frowned. "Who are they?"

       "They work for Kane," she said, grabbing her arm in a panic.

       Immediately, Mila felt her heart drop at those words. The made it to the bottom and they both stepped off, but Evelyn quickly pulled Mila to walk in the opposite direction of them.