Alice

public

i wake up early and roll out of bed. my face is sore, but not nearly as much as i expected. i grab some clothes and get dressed. simple black kind of ripped jeans, an American psycho shirt, an oversized black hoodie, and chris's boots that I've worn for almost a month.

i tighten the laces as much as i can, but they're still several sizes too big. noah said he would take me and august to the mall. no one had any other plans. 

i go into the bathroom and push my hair around until it looks okay. my hair has grown out a lot. i need a hair cut. 

i walk out to the living room and see chris, ricky, noah, and august all sitting in the livingroom area. "morning." i say, walking into the room.

"morning, there's coffee in the kitchen." noah says.

"so, you're all going to the mall, right? mikeys getting new boots?" chris asks. "I'll be honest i miss my grungy old boots."

"are you going to wear a hoodie or something? those tattoos are how you get recognized." ricky says. i didn't even think about that. noah has a lot of tattoos. what if--

"turtle neck, hoodie, sunglasses. also, you have really recognizable neck tattoos." noah jokes at ricky. ricky mocks offense.

noah walks down the hall and disappears into the bathroom. he comes back with his hair tied up in a small bun with a few bobby pins. he has a turtle neck, techwear-looking pants, and an oversized black hoodie.

"you two ready to go?" he asks. 

"yeah, let me grab some coffee first." i say, starting to walk towards the kitchen. 

"we'll get starbucks. you can get whatever you want." he offers.

"oo! yes, lets do that!" august says excitedly. she picks up her tiny back pack and all 3 of us start to leave. 

"i don't think I've been to Starbucks." i say. august gasps overdramatically, noah laughs. "honestly I'll probably let august order for me, i don't know anything about any of that stuff." 

"I'll get you what i used to get all the time. you still have to pick the sandwich though." she says as we get in a rental car. 

i sit in the back seat behind noah, august sits in the passenger seat and noah drives. we get to the Starbucks and noah pulls up to the order menu.

"welcome to Starbucks how may i help you?"

"hi, can i get a medium carmel iced coffee?" noah looks over at august so she can tell him what to say.

"medium vanilla bean creme, large dragon fruit refresher. mikey what sandwich?"

"no sandwich."

"can i also get a medium vanilla bean creme and a large dragon fruit refresher?"

we pull through the drive through and get our drinks. i try mine and it taste like a vanilla-ier whipped creme. it seems exactly like something august would drink.

we get to the mall and manage to find a spot fairly close to the entrance. noah grabs sunglasses from the center console and puts them on before we all get out of the car. 

august's smile is huge, practically ear to ear. she jumps up and down a few times. "I'm so excited! i haven't been to a mall in so long, probably a few years. can we go into hot topic?" she asks noah.

noah simply says "ask you're dad, he'd know better than i would." for a split second i convince myself that noah knows about august, knows that she wasn't always andy and Lilith's daughter. 

"i did earlier, he said i could go wherever." she says.

"screw it, mall day!" he says. we all walk inside and its absolutely huge inside. I've been to malls before, but never one this big. "mikey I'll pay for whatever you want."