The Lonely People

Sol

The mall was the second best hangout spot people would go to. They had a ton of original shops like Kora's Palace – they had the best sweatshirts for such a low price, and it's only here. They have multiple comic book stores, plushie stores with cute anime sweatshirts and DVD's, and the food court has the best place for french fries, Dog on a Bun. No one actually goes for the hotdogs, but for their amazing fries.

This town is truly a gift.

Normally I go there to go to the cute café shop and write in it, then I stop by my favorite shops to window shop. When I become rich, I will go back to these stores and get every single item of clothing I can.

My parents have been absolutely kind to lend me money, unfortunately, I now owe them a bit. So at the moment, no spending.

"You want me to buy you?" Elu offers, her light brown eyes stare deep into my dark eyes, the contact makes me nervous, but I feel too awkward to look away. "You can't keep mixing up your clothes forever."

I sit straight up. "I think I'm ok..."

She takes a deep sigh, locking her hands together and leaning over the table just slightly.

"Don't you want people to notice you tonight? Don't you want to have the attention all on you?" Elu whispers. I tilt my head, this is new. "Tonight is the last night before prom, and I don't want you to hide in the garage and just give free tarot readings, which by the way you should pay at least $5 to everyone, while you're high off your mind. Go talk to a new girl or boy and socialize...with everyone."

Telling me to socialize? Sounds like my mom...

"I guess that could bring Channons attention to me, and then I can talk to her privately! And then-"

"Maybe not tonight," Elu says, interrupting. I'm taken aback. I didn't think she would discourage me like this. "You should just talk to everyone else and get to know more people."

"Why not Channon?" Oh no, did she overhear Channon say that she doesn't like me or something.

"No, just. You should be more open with your options, that's all. And I want to hang out with you, I don't want you running off, ya know..."

I nod. I guess that makes sense, but last week she was just fine with me coming up with a plan. But I always listen to her, she's analytical and smart, I'm sure she knows what she's talking about. Maybe Channon did mention me and doesn't want to talk to me and this is Elu's only way of saying it...nicely.

Oh my God she's trying to be more nice than blunt-

"You are so sweet, but if Channon doesn't like me, you can tell me. I won't cry, I promise,"

"You cried because you dropped your ice cream last time."

I roll my eyes at her.

"And you wouldn't? Dropping any food item you paid for and can't even eat sucks. And you know I was sad on that day, it only made it worse." I say, reaching over for my non-existent drink. She gives me a weird look after that.

"So, you're listening to me about this, right?"

"So, she doesn't like me, right?"

I really thought this would be the one time Elu would be blunt and let me know, but now it's as though she's keeping a secret from me, but I could investigate that tonight. Part of me wants to trust her, but another is saying she's hiding something.

"I never said that," I take a deep sigh. I look out the window and see her staring right at me. Her green eyes stared into my dark brown ones, her hair was curly, she wore high waisted shorts with a colorful shirt tied to show off belly skin. Her mouth opened just slightly, and she blinked rapidly. She looked like a deer in the headlights the more I thought about it.

But she looked beautiful.

I wave at Channon hoping she would come over, but instead, she looks down at the floor. I look at a distracted Elu on her phone, wishing the moments before happened longer.

Pause.

Why was she staring at me without my knowledge-

I turn my head back around to see her, but she's gone? I move my head around to see if she is anywhere, but it's like she vanished into thin air...Is she behind that plant?

No, that's not like her, she would never do that. I look over at Elu in a more frantic way.

"Dude, Channon was just eyeing me down-" Elu gasps and stands out of her seat, getting a few stares from the customers. She gets closer to me, her face took a 180, it was as if she got news her father was dead or something.

"What do you mean?"

"Uhh, I looked and she was by that plant looking at me..." Elu looks around before sitting down slowly. I could tell she was trying to keep her composure.

"You wanna go home and meditate for a little bit?" She asks, smiling at me. Her leg was shaking.

This is getting weird now, but I guess I don't mind this new side of Elu. I smile back at her, trying not to look concerned for her well being.

"We're going to a lot of places today aren't we?" She shakes her head. We stand up and start walking out. I look out the window one more time, Channons watching me, and there's some dude behind her.

She was behind the bush.