A Dangerous Wave

22

The car's engine died as Liam parked in front of the mall. We got out of the car and walked the short walk to the entrance. As the slide doors opened, the cool air blew into my face, which made me shiver a little.

"First of all, I need to buy tampons and pads." I say as I pull at Liam's hand towards a drug store.

"That's so disgusting." Liam cringes at the mention of the girl's essentials.

"Don't be a fucking baby and come on." I grab a basket and walk to the aisle, which holds these things. I begin to put the right kind into the basket as Liam just watches me.

"You need that much?" One of his eyebrows is raised as he looks between me and the basket.

"No, I'm just stocking for another month or so." As I look back at Liam, I see he is not standing next to me anymore. But he's standing two steps away from me and looking at the shelf in front of him. "What are you –?"

"We'll need this." He is holding up a pack of condoms and throws them into the basket. I chuckle and we begin to walk away from the aisle.

"I got condoms, you know?" I say as we walk towards the check out.

"Yeah, but it's the guy's job to have them."

"And why is that?" I raise my eyebrows.

"It just is, okay?"

"Okay." The cashier begins to scan the items and when she scans the condoms, she looks up from under her forehead at me and them at Liam. I clear my throat at the awkward eye contact and look away from the lady.

"Nice to know the kids these days are being safe." She mumbles to which I just swallow a big lump, which has formed in my throat.

After a few more minutes, Liam and I are out of here and we're walking along the hallway.

"That was so weird." I mumble more to myself than anyone else.

"What was weird?" Liam questions me. I am guessing he didn't hear the lady. I tell him what the lady said and he begins to laugh.

"Are you hungry?" I ask Liam as we pass a Mexican restaurant.

"I could eat." He takes my hand and turns us around, so we're heading to eat.

We sit down at one of the tables and the waitress soon takes our orders and walks away. She quickly brings us our drinks and leaves once more.

"Where will we go after we eat?" I question Liam as he takes a sip of his water.

"I don't know. Let's just go look for clothes." He shrugs his shoulders.

"If you want..." I trail off and look around the small place.

As I look behind Liam, my eyes widen. The both of us hold our gazes until a group of teenage girls walks by and I can't see him anymore. I blink a couple of times to make sure I am not imagining things. But I am almost sure I am not. My heart begins to thumb against my ribcage harder and faster as fear rushes through me.

"Are you okay, Darcy?" Liam questions me and I snap my gaze to him. I lightly shake my head to retrieve myself.

"Yeah." I mumble. "I just need to go to the toilet." I stand up before Liam can say anything else and go find the toilets.

The small narrow corridor to the toilets is quiet as no one else is here. Suddenly, I hear footsteps behind me and I quickly round a corner. My back is pressed against the wall as I am waiting for the person to round the corner as well. My breathing is quiet but I feel like my loud heartbeat is going to give me away.