Who's Shadow

Food

It was one o'clock on Saturday and I could smell pretzel's cooking in the food court. I sat down on the fountain about three minutes ago and Parker sat next to me. The fountain was in the center of the mall, it was so big there was a bridge in the middle of it. People throw dimes, nickles, penny's, and other coins into the fountain all day making wishes that may or may not come true. A kid standing a few feet away was pulling on his mom's coat begging for a penny but she was on her phone and wasn't paying attention to him. She pointed for him to sit down on the fountain and to wait. 

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out a quarter. I flipped it through my finger's and said "Psst, hey kid." He turned and looked at me teary eyed. Snot started to run down his nose then he sniffed it back in. Eww. I stood up and walked to him and placed it down beside him on the fountain then walked back. 

"What were you doing?" Parker asked.

"Something that needed to be done, come on!" I grabbed Parker's hand and pulled him up to walk with me. The only reason we sat was because his feet hurt. Cry baby.

Ocean had called me this morning telling me that I could come in for an interview at one thirty so I got here a half hour earlier.

Parker insisted on driving me when he found out I was going to ride my bike here, even though it's only ten minutes away on bike I took him up on his offer seeing that I didn't want to be sweaty for my interview. Plus, he said he would buy me food, what girl would object? I laughed silently and Parker looked down at me and raised one eyebrow. I gave him an over- exaggerated toothy smile and we both laughed. 

I'm still holding his hand. I'm shocked that he hasn't pulled his hand away or something. Should I just drop his hand? No. His hands are warm and soft and makes my hand feel numb. Like it went to sleep and is now waking up but, in a good way. I think?

"So, are you ready for the interview?" Parker asked. We were now wandering aimlessly through the mall.

"Yeah, I think so. Wait. No I'm not. No, I'm not ready. We should just go. This is a bad idea. I can't work there. I'm not pretty enough, or skinny enough. I'm going to walk in and they'll laugh. They'll laugh at me." My head dropped. I was so prepared. Parker stayed up all night asking me random questions, one being, "If you were to live in a shoe, how would you make it smell better?" Like what kind of question is that? 

Parker spun me on my heels and placed both hands on my shoulder's. I looked at him bug eyed from being startled.

"Alice, you will get the job. As soon as they lay eyes on you; you'll get the job. As soon as they hear you open your mouth and hear how smart you are; you'll get the job. They won't laugh at you. They'll awe at you." A smile crept onto my face and a blush following soon after.

"Promise?"

"Pinkie promise."

Using his hand that wasn't in mine he held up his pinkie. I giggled then locked pinkies with him. What a dork.

We stopped in front of the store and stared. Well, I stared at the store and I'm pretty sure Parker was staring at me. As if I wasn't nervous enough. "Go on." Parker pushed lightly in my back encouraging me to go in. I took a step and looked back at him. He nodded his head and I entered the store.

~

I squealed once I got outside and ran over to Parker and I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Did you get the job?"

"Yes!"

Parker picked me up and swung me around once. Sitting me back down he looked at me. His eyes were different. I've never seen them this way.