Twelve.

Chapter 3.

After a couple minutes of driving, I broke the silence.

"So, what are you buying with your allowance?" I finally asked Tanner.

"Uh, probably a couple tank tops," she replied, "maybe a new phone case."

"Okay, just don't take too long looking."

Eventually, we arrived at the small strip mall. It was tiny, and had only a couple good stores, along with a McDonalds and a Taco Bell.

"Pull in there," she pointed to an empty parking spot in front of Rue 21.

I put my small, black Chevy car in reverse and backed in, so we could leave quickly later on.

Before we walked in, I checked the time on my phone.

"Eleven o'clock," I said aloud, "that gives us forty-five minutes to shop, and fifteen minutes to get home."

"Okay, okay. I get it. You don't have to keep reminding me," she mocked, "I know you don't want to miss your date with Aaaaaaaron," She winked at me.

"Shut your mouth, Tanner. It's not a date," I remarked.

"Okay, what ever you say, Vi,"

As we approached the door, my sister ran ahead and pushed the right door open, letting me slide in past her.

"Why thank you, Sir," I teased.

"I am a female, thank you very much," she barked.

I chuckled, "I know you are, S- I mean ma'am,"

She scrunched her nose at me, then darted straight for the tank top shelves.

"Aye, Tan," I tapped her on the shoulder as she was frantically digging through the piles of discounted shirts, "I'm going to go do some shopping myself. It's a fairly big store, so be careful. I'll meet you at the check out counter in forty-five minutes."

"Alright!" She gestured for me to go, so I did.

As I was walking past the large racks of sweaters left over from the past winter, I spotted an ominous looking man out of the corner of my eye.

I thoughtlessly stared right at him. I guess he saw me, because his head quickly turned to me. His dark eyes peered into mine.

All of a sudden, I heard a deep laugh coming from all around me. I knew it wasn't the man, because our eyes were still locked. I was almost ready to scream until he broke eye contact with me.

The man slowly walked the direction I came from, with both hands in the pockets of his ash colored, wool coat. His shiny bald head reflected the lights on the ceiling.

That was strange.

I tried to shake it off and continue shopping. I shuffled through the seemingly endless racks of t-shirts for what seemed like forever.

I picked an aqua colored shirt with the word 'Faith' written in cursive on the front.

While walking over to the next rack, my phone vibrated. I checked it only to see an Instagram notification. I happened to glance at the top of the screen for the time.

"Crap!" I yelled, probably louder than I should have, "it's one o'clock! I've got to meet Aaron!"

Without rethinking, I threw the t-shirt down and sprinted for the door. Stepping on the gas extremely hard, I skidded out of the small parking spot.

As I was speeding down the highway, I noticed a bunch of candy wrappers on the floor of the passenger seat.

"Those must be Tanner's," I thought.

"Tanner!" I blurted.

I slammed the break right in the middle of the highway and composed myself.

How could I be so stupid?

I pressed the gas and made a u-turn. I had to get back to my sister.