Taxi Cab

|Chapter 11| Fren Hiding

"Hey, Alisha!" A voiced called from one of the walls beside me, and I turned my neck to realize it was toward record wall. Two very familiar people were standing there, which one called for me and the other was looking at records, having a beanie cover up his pink hair. A sudden panic went through my head.
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"Oh, hey Tyler and Josh!" I tried to exclaim excitingly as I forced a smile. I really wasn't sure if I wanted Lauren to meet them so soon. I had a fear deep down that something would happen like what happened with John, or that new boy.

I quickly turned my head between Lauren and the boys. I really had no idea what to do.

As i was looking between them all, I noticed Tyler had tattoos, that weren't being concealed behind a long sleeve today. Instead, he had on a blue, purple, and white striped shirt, that had Micky Mouse faces in between the stripes. He had two lines around his left elbows, and some around his wrist that were way thinner. He also had an X on his right bicep.They were all strange tattoos, that were bound to have some type of good meaning behind them. I took note to try and ask him about them sometime later.

I also noticed Josh had a tattoo sleeve etched along his right arm. I couldn't quiet make it out, but it had shades of green, blue, and orange. I hadn't known that they had tattoos till now.

'Maybe because they haven't worn short sleeves till now?' My mind echoed. I mentally facepalmed myself. I didn't work well under pressure, because of my mini anxiety.

"Okay, how about we go over here?" I pointed toward the front of the store, closet to the wall. Josh and Tyler exchanged weird looks, but then Josh just nodded instantly and followed my path. I nodded at them.

I quickly stuck my head out to see where Lauren was. She was heading toward the counter, as she was still looking down at her phone but holding my bags around her arms.

Tyler's left eyebrow was lifted farther up than the other one. He looked like he was wondering why I was pushing them to the front of the store. "Uh...I'll be right back," I said quickly, giving them no time to reply.

I headed quickly to the front of the store and rested my arms on Lauren's shoulders. She jumped and turned her head to look at me. I twisted her around and we walked out of the store with my hands still on her shoulders. I could feel my anxiety starting to slowly fight its way to the top. I was worrying deeply about if this would work or not. Today was just not the day to show my best friend to my new friends. For many reasons, but I also had a feeling deep down that it would just be a terrible idea right now.

We finally got out of the store, and Josh and Tyler luckily didn't follow me. Lauren looked at me and frowned. "Why such a rush? You also scared me!" She exclaimed as she clicked her phone off and pushed it inside of her jean pockets.

I bit my bottom lip, but tried to hide it as soon as I did it. "I'm ready to go. This mall is getting really boring. How about we head over to your house and do something there?" I asked, hoping she would say yes to the question. Right now, I was grasping at any option to try and stop her from meeting my new friends.

She nodded and flashed a smile. "Okay, I'll head right over now. I'll even take your bags." I nodded and said thank you as I turned back around to the store.

"Why are you going back, Alisha?" She called after me when she realized I was heading back to the Music Store. I turned around slowly and tried to come up with a quick idea.