Life Unexpected

Chapter 19: Target

I was waiting at the mall entrance for Peter. After what I had seen last night, I decided to take him out shopping. Granted, shopping was more of a girl thing but he needed to get out of the house. He said he would come, but he was already ten minutes late. I look around the parking lot and see a rusty, old car park close to the entrance. The person gets out of the car wearing a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and duck slippers that quack with each step.

The person sits next to me. I scoot away uncomfortably. The person had his hood up so I couldn't see their face. The person keeps his head down. "Hey, Clary."

"Peter?" I squint my eyes at him.

"Yea?" He asks me while still looking at the ground.

"Uh, nothing." I didn't want to get him angry so I decided to let his outfit choice slide. "Do you want to head in?"

He gets up and nods his head. We start walking into the mall. With every step he takes I cringe. The quack of the duck slippers were making people stare and it was just annoying. He didn't seem to care, because he just keeps his head down. I take him outside to a little garden that's on the top of the mall. I sit down on a bench and so does he.

"Peter, what's wrong?" I try to look at him, but he looks away. "You didn't have to come if you didn't want to."

"Nothing's wrong." He says in a low voice. He shrugs his shoulders. "I want to be here, Clary."

I lean down and put my elbows on my knees. "Okay, what's up with the hood?"

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. He lifts his shoulders up then relaxes. He pushes back his hood but doesn't look at me. I touch his shoulder lightly. He sighs then looks at me. At first I don't notice it.

"I don't understand why you're hiding you-" And then I notice the small bruise on his cheekbone and a bruise on his jaw. "Peter." I whisper.

He clenches his jaw and tightens his lips. "I know."

I take a deep breath. "Can I ask what happened?"

"No." He says in a low voice.

"Okay," I say nervously. I look away from him and around at the different flowers. I take his hand and pull him up. I give him a hug, because sometimes that was better than trying to talk. To my surprise, he hugs me back. He doesn't push me away or start yelling at me.

"Thanks, Clary." He whispers into my ear. He breaks away from the hug and stands there awkwardly.

"I need to go to the store. Want to come with me?" I ask him. He nods his head and we start heading down to my car. We drive to Target and walk inside.

"Hey," He smiles as he picks up a pack of strawberries. "You make me berry happy." He points over to the vegetable section and says, "Lettuce go over there." He winks at me.

I shake my head and walk over to the produce section. He picks up some beats and drops them. "When the beat drops." He does a little dance and grins.

"Peter, I don't have mushroom in my brain to handle this." I say as I pick up some mushrooms and toss them in the cart.

"You've got to be kitten me." He says as he points at a poster of some cats playing with yarn over by the sewing section.

I laugh at him and pick up some bread on my way to the cereal section. "Ugh, are you cerealy getting cereal?" He cracks up laughing at himself.

I roll my eyes. "You are an idiot and that one was bad. I rest my case." I put my phone case down on the cart. It takes Peter a moment to get it, but when he does he bursts out laughing again.

"Okay, that's enough." I giggle. "I need to get a lightbulb for my room"

"Why? Because I light up your world?" He smirks at me and tries not to laugh.

"Stop!" I laugh. I notice some peppers down the aisle and I couldn't restrain myself. "It's a little chili in here."

"Aw, you quack me up." He says as he points to his duck slippers.

"Okay, really, we're done now!" I grin at him. He follows me down to the lightbulb aisle. I get what I need then head to the checkout. We take the bags out to the car and hop in.

"I'm really punny." He chuckles. "That's something a lot of people don't know about me."

I look over at him. He has a huge smile on his face. "Well, you should be punny more often. I like it."

I drive to my house. We get the groceries out of the car then head inside to put them away. Once that's done I get out some cookie dough. I take a bite then throw a piece at Peter. He catches it in his mouth. I clap my hands and he gives me a bow.

He takes another bite of cookie dough and leans against the counter. "You know, this is actually very bad for you."

I roll my eyes. "Everything is bad for you in some degree."

"Really?" He smirks.

"Really." I cross my arms across my chest. "You're unbeleafable." I say to him as I pick up a fall decoration that had leaves on it.

"Oh my gosh." He chuckles. He picks up some butter and says, "We butter stop."

"Yea, we butter- I mean better!" I laugh loudly.

He shakes his head, but he has a huge smile on his face. He gets his phone out and starts playing a song. He reaches for my hand and pulls me into the kitchen.

"I don't know how to dance." I say sheepishly.

"That's not true." He laughs.

"I don't know how to slow dance." I correct myself.

"Then I'll show you." He says to me. He looks me in the eye and smiles. He places my hand on his shoulders and he lightly puts his hands on my hips. He scoots closer to me.

"We're dancing like junior high kids." I roll my eyes.

He shrugs. "Nothing wrong with that, is there?" He twirls me around then brings me close again. We dance around the kitchen and then the song ends. He doesn't let go and I don't let go of him. We just keep dancing around. The only light is from his phone and the refrigerator.

I trip over myself and start to fall, but Peter catches me. "Thanks." I say breathlessly. "Are you trying to be romantic?"

"Of course not," Peter whispers softly in my ear. "You're stupid."

"Can't spell stupid without an u." I reply to him.

"Yea, or an I." He smirks at me. I just shake my head and start laughing as he realizes what he said was wrong. "Oh," He blushes.

I step away from him and lean against the counter. I stare into his baby blue eyes and he stares back at me. The silence or the staring wasn't awkward like I thought it would be. It was actually nice to be able to just stare at him for once. "How long have you liked me?" I blurt out suddenly.

He widens his eyes and shrugs. "Probably when you hit me in the head with the dodgeball after I hit you." He gives me a little smile. "I realized I wanted a girl who wasn't afraid of sticking up for herself."

I blush slightly. "Well, isn't that sweet of me."

"When did you realize?" He asks me. "I mean, when you liked me."

"We sound like 5th graders right now." I laugh. "I think I realized it when you took me on the Ferris wheel. For some reason I felt safe with you and I trusted you."

He nods his head slowly and looks at me nervously. I look at him carefully. I had never seen him look nervous. He always seem to have an air of confidence around him. He walks near me and smiles shyly. "Um, Clary. Would you, maybe, want to be my, uh, girlfriend?"

I give him a wide smile and embrace him in a tight hug. "Of course I would."