not like you → c . barton

[10]

We were in the car for what felt like forever, and the mall didn't even open until at least ten, I think. Jeb and I switched places, so I was in the passenger seat, and he was in the back with his sister. They were both fast asleep, so it was just Hank and I.

"Alex, do you really think this is gonna work? Us, saving our parents from, probably H.Y.D.R.A? We're just a bunch of teenagers who have conflicting viewpoints, very little skill, and aren't very threatening," he asked me softly as he pulled into one of the many mall parking lots. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair as I thought about what he said.

"It'll work if we make it work. I know this is stupid, I know this is crazy, but we really can do this. I know we can," I whispered, and he sighed.

"I dunno, Alex. Maybe we should turn back," Hank said softly,and I shook my head.

"My mom would skin me alive, and then dance on my grave. Going back is not an option," I sighed, and we looked at each other. Jeb and Diamond were still sleeping, and he bit his lip gently.

"I'll be honest with you. If I was the designated driver, I'd go back home. But you expressed that you needed me, so tada," he chuckled softly, and I smiled.

"Thanks, Hank. That means a lot," I said softly as we watched more cars pull into the parking lot. He smiled at me and nudged my arm gently.

"It's no problem. We're pals, after only having met a few weeks ago, not even," he smiled again, and I chuckled softly.

"Very true. Can I ask you something?" I looked at him, and he nodded. I took one last look outside before turning back to my friend.

"Why did you ask me out?" I questioned, and quickly, his cheeks turned pink.

"Well, I'd always seen you around school, and I thought you were nice, and when we got to work together, on those math problems, I saw how smart you were, and I guess it kind of snowballed from there," he chuckled sheepishly, and I smiled.

"Well, maybe when this is all over, assuming our parents don't ground us for eternity, we can hang out, just us," I suggested, and he nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Now, come on, fearless leader. We gotta wake up the twins and get our plan on the road. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Yeah, me too."

***

Once inside the mall, we had our established plan ready to go. Jeb and Diamond would go to the Apple store, like I had told them Steve did once, and they would just look up Seattle, Washington, and see if they could find a lead on any missing persons. If our parents were smart, they'd have at least doned fake identities and were known by the community they were entering. Hank and I were another team, and we'd be wandering around the mall, almost aimlessly, until they were done. We could have just waited in the car, but where's the fun in that? So, at the entrance, we all made sure our watch communicators worked, and we headed off in different directions. As Hank and I walked, we started talking about high school, and what electives we wanted. But, while we walked around the entire mall, I felt like someone was following us.

"Hank, I think there's someone on our tail. I've got one way to figure that out," I whispered, leaning in close to him.

"And what's that?" he asked me, and I glanced over my shoulder at the man following us, or, presumably following us.

"We go into a few stores, look around, and if he continues to follow us, we call the others," I mumbled, and he nodded. So, we walked to the Lids that was nearby, and for those of you that don't know, Lids is a hat store. You can get custom made hats, or just hats for a favorite sports team. Sure enough, the man had entered the store, and stayed pretty close. We went into at least three other stores, and he kept going wherever we went. Due to some quick thinking, Hank pulled me into the food court, and we got lost in the crowd.

"Call up Jeb. He needs to know that we all need to go, now," he whispered, and I nodded. I held my wrist to my mouth, spun the dial on the left side, and it buzzed on my wrist, the equivalent to a phone ringing.

"Hello? Alex? What's wrong?" Jeb asked, and I looked around. I could see the man, but he couldn't see me, at least, not yet.

"Hank and I are being followed. We don't know who he is, but we went into about four stores, and he followed us, and he was creepily close to us. We need to go, now. Please tell me you found something," I whispered, and Hank tugged on my sleeve. Yes, that's right, we were wearing sweatshirts in the summer. Deal with it.

"Diamond found a few things. When we meet up in the car, I'll tell you what we got," he said back, and before I could say anything else, Hank grabbed my hand and shoved it into his sweatshirt pocket before walking, pulling me with him.

"Sorry to cut it short, but that guy almost snagged my hood. Let's go," he whispered, still holding my hand. I nodded, and we began walking back to the entrance we came from. We both glanced over our shoulders, and, yet again, the guy was still following us. I slipped my free hand into my shorts pocket and pulled out four quarters.

"Walk a little faster," I whispered, and he nodded. Soon we were once again lost in the crowd, and we came upon one of those candy machines. I pulled him over to it, and I gave him a quarter.

"Get a gumball, quick," I said, and he nodded. I handed him two quarters, and we each got two gumballs. One to chew, the other to roll. We popped one into our mouths and took off again. The man following us as getting closer and closer, so we nodded to each other.

"Oops!"

"Shit, sorry!"

We 'dropped' our gumballs, and by sheer dumb luck, they caught under his feet. We high fived and ran, with my hand still in his sweatshirt pocket. We met the others by the entrance, where the twins tilted their heads.

"Hank, why;s her hand in your pocket?" Jeb asked. We both looked at his pocket, then at each other, our cheek both equally red. I jerked my hand back and looked behind us.

"We gotta go. Creepy stalker at.... Now o'clock!" I pushed the twins outside and pulled Hank along, and we nodded again. We spit out our gum on the sidewalk, and as we ran across the parking lot to the car. Hank unlocked it as we ran, so we all hurried and climbed in, forgetting about the seatbelts and worrying about getting out of there.

"And.... We're out of here!" Hank yelled, and he pulled out of our space and left the parking lot. We all scrambled to get our seatbelts on, and when we did we sighed in relief. I turned to the backseat, where Jeb and Diamond were sitting, and I smiled.

"So, what did you find?"