Lars and Sadie

Chapter Twelve

Sadie's POV

My mom laughs obnoxiously loud, making me cringe. We're both chilling on the couch, watching one of her favorite shows. It's been a whole week since I'd seen Lars, and its weird. I thought we had fun that one night, I had no idea why he'd distance himself. And why did Ronaldo act so cruel to me after our phone call? Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. "I got it," I say, and get up. I head to the door, and open it, it's Lars. "Oh, hey Lars!" I say, happy to see him. "Do you wanna come inside?" I ask him.
"There's another spot on the couch!" My mom chimes from the living room.
"Actually, Sadie," He starts to say, "I was wondering if you wanted to come out with me." I feel myself begin to say yes, but I forget about my mom. Her surgery is coming up, and I would hate to not have my attention on her.
"I...don't know, Lars." Then, my mom yells from the living room,
"Sadie! Go on! Have fun, I'll be fine." It was hard to try and argue with her once she was set on something. I turn back to Lars, and it was hard to contain my smile.
"Of course!" I say, and go to the banister, grabbing my coat. As I leave, my mom says bye, and I close the door behind me. "So, where are we going?" we step off the porch, and begin to walk down the sidewalk, like we have done so many times before. I look at Lars, and realize something is off. He seems distant.

I wonder what happened?

"Lars?"
"Hm?"
"You okay?" He nods, and glances down at me.
"Just thinking of where to go," he gives me a soft smile, and I feel my heart melt. "How about we go to Beach City Music?" 

Beach City Music?

"That old music shop? Why?" I ask, genuinely curious. Lars then shrugs.
"Cause." And he leaves it at that. As we continue walking, the back of his hand grazes mine. So, I think about trying to hold it, but I resist. From how he's acting, it's not a good time. He seems so hesitant and scared to even make contact with me now. 

Something had to have happened.

Before we know it, we've made it to the music shop. We step inside, and see its desolate. The only other person in there is the store clerk, but he's on his phone. Lars and I start to go down the isles of music CDs, but nothing really catches my eye. As I flip through the small cases, I spot Lars at the vinyl's. I make my way to him, and he doesn't even look up at me. "Ronaldo was acting really strange the other day. I called him to just chat and he blew up in my face." I begin to flick through the other vinyl's. "It was...weird." I expect Lars to agree or anything, but he stays silent. "Do you know anything about that?" Suddenly, Lars takes up a really old vinyl, and holds it triumphantly.

"Yooo!" He exclaims. "Sadie, look at this!" He practically shoves the thing in my face, and I don't understand why he's goggling at this ancient piece.
"Okay...?" I say, "What about it- Lars. Are you just trying to change subjects?" I ask, feeling like I'm right.
"What?? No way!" He says, looking at his treasure. "This vinyl is vintage, Sadie! It's an old Rock shellac vinyl." He blows some dust off of the case, and I couldn't help but cough as it flew in my face. "I have GOT to have this."
"But Lars, you don't even like old rock, and you don't even know the band-"
"I can try too! I like Rock already, so this isn't any different." He then intensely stares back in to the vinyl's, searching for more ones like the old one he found. I couldn't help but groan, knowing I might never get an answer from this stubborn man.

Whatever, it must not be important, then.

As Lars goes to the checkout counter, I can't help but try and think of why Ronaldo was so mad. Did him and Lars talk? Is there something the both of them aren't telling me? Is it some big bad secret? Lars pays for the vinyl, and the cashier puts it in a plastic bag. As we leave the store, I still find myself in my head, trying to solve this problem myself. I almost didn't hear a familiar voice call out for Lars. "Lars!?" I look up, and first see Sour Cream. In his full DJ outfit and wears his old headphones around his neck. He is also munching on some fries. Next to him, is Buck, and he has barely changed at all.
"H-Hey!" He exclaims, and goes to the two guys. Behind them, Jenny emerges, which makes Lars stop in his tracks. I'm slowly starting to notice how Jenny doesn't talk to Lars, which wasn't always like that.

Weird...

Lars POV

I try my hardest to avoid Jenny's gaze, but I see her eyeing me down intensely. I can't believe I didn't see how she was acting towards me ever since I started hanging around her again. What I really can't believe, is that I tried getting with her while I was plastered.

I need better morals.

"Yo, Lars, what's been going on?" Sour Cream asks me, and gives me his hand, waiting for a low-five. I give him one, and I feel teenage me screaming with joy. 

Act cool, Lars.

You're twenty three years old.

"Nothing much, just been doing the usual stuff."
"You still work at the Big Donut, Right?" He asks me, and I embarrassingly nod.
"Y-Yeah...only cause it's easy money." There is a slight pause.
"Cool." Buck, says, also presenting his hand for a low-five. Out of awkwardness, and trying to strike a conversation, I begin to roll up my pants leg, showing off some of my tattoos.
"I also got some tattoos, too." The guys lean down, and marvel at my legs, and I feel a soft tap on my arm. I have expected it to be Steven of all people to do something like that, but I see it's actually Sadie.

Oh crap I totally forgot I was out with her to begin with!

"Oh, guys, you remember Sadie?" They look up and they give her a small wave and 'sup'.
"Lars?" Sadie whispers softly, "Can we..." she motions slightly to leave, but I didn't want to. But, to save us a fight, I comply.
"It was nice talking to you guys again...but we gotta go," As we begin walking one way, Sour Cream says, "Well that's a coincidence that we're going the same way too!" My inner soul was squealing with joy again. Even after all these years, I still had the urge to impress these guys. We continue walking and talking, while Jenny and Sadie are completely silent. While walking, I feel Sadie's hand try and hold mine, but I hold the bag with the vinyl in it. To compromise, we both hold hands while holding the bag. We laugh, and chat some more, and I wish I could stay in the moment forever. Suddenly, a seagull begins to fly low over us. I try to ignore it, but suddenly it swoops down, and steals Sour Creams fries. I can't help but stop in my tracks at this odd occurrence.

"My fries!" He exclaims and begins chasing the bird. Buck, Jenny, Sadie and I stand there, not sure of what to do. "Guys! Help!" He whines, unable to jump or chase the bird. In my head, I felt like helping him would somehow gain some respect from him and his friends, so, I sigh. "I'm coming, Sour Cream!" And since he's farther away now, I try and run to him. But, I feel a strong force stop me and I fumble a bit but still land on my feet. My hand lets go of whatever I was holding and go to Sour Cream. We both jump and jump but can't seem to reach the circling seagull. Sour Cream stops jumping, and walks back. As I give up and the seagull flies away, I see the friends circling Sadie, who is on her knees. It suddenly hits me, that I made her fall.

Oh shit...

I go back to her, and see her knee on the bag.

Oh SHIT.

Jenny helps her up, making sure she is okay. As she stands, I grab the bag she was on. The pieces of the sensitive vinyl fumble in the plastic bag. "Are you okay, Sadie?" Jenny asks her, and Sadie nods.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I stand there, motionless. I feel disappointment, and anger rising within me. I couldn't believe this happened. Slowly, the attention from Sadie starts to drift towards me, as I feel myself starting to shake ever so slightly.
"Lars? You good?" Buck asks me, and I shake my head no.
"I'm sorry, Lars," Sadie begins to say, "I stumbled."
"You need to be more careful." I spat. Looking up at her, my eyebrows are furrowing in disapproval. "You can't be so clumsy, Sadie."

"Clumsy?" She says, "I wasn't being clumsy, you were being inconsiderate."
"Oh my GOD." I groan loudly, "Why can't you EVER take blame for the dumb shit you do." As soon as it leaves my mouth, I fully regret saying it. What I said wasn't even one hundred percent true, we're both at fault for it. But in the moment I was so mad, I couldn't see my hypocrisy. Sadie stares at me, my words stinging her a bit. Then, she walks past me, ignoring me and the others who were victim to our argument. As she continues to walk away, I know exactly where she's going.

"I..." I turn to the three, and feel myself shrinking. "I'm sorry you guys had to see that." I begin to back away, trying to not worsen the whole situation. "I...I'll see you guys later. Sorry, again." Then, I begin to go after Sadie.

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