Dare Me

Him: Prologue

“Hey Matt, come watch the screens while we go on a lunch run.”

“Do I have to dad?”

“Hey, you wanted to know what your dad’s work was like, you get to experience the whole thing.”

“Fine, bring me back something, though, will you?”

“Sure, Italian sandwich?”

“Yeah, what else?”

I get up from my current spot and sit down in one of the recently vacated chairs by all of the video screens. Each screen showed a different security camera’s view of the mall.

I see groups of kids walking around, laughing, and talking. What you would expect to see on a Saturday afternoon. I wish I could’ve been one of those kids, but I had some stupid report due on Monday about my parents’ jobs. Isn’t that what you’re assigned in, like, kindergarten?  

I stared at the screens in front of me, already bored. Of course, you couldn’t hear anything from the monitors, or else the room would’ve been filled with one huge mess of noise. I pull out my phone and plug in my ear buds. I scroll through my music and begin to play Phoenix by Fall Out Boy. My dad and the few other guys that worked here would be back in about 20 minutes. I should be watching the monitors, but it’s not like anything happens anyway.

A little ding sounds, it’s a text message from someone. I open my messages app and see I’ve got a text from Danny.

Danny: Wut u doin?

Me: Not much @ dads work

Danny: oh, was hopin we cud hang

Me: sry ive been here the hole day

Danny: its ok, mom is dragging me to Kara’s dance studio tho

Me: ok txt u ltr

I close the app and look up at the wall of screens in front of me. One in the bottom left corner catches my eye. I laugh when I see some girl is dancing around weirdly while her friend stands there looking annoyed. The girl is flapping her arms, and it looks like she’s teasing the other girl.

 Then, the annoyed girl says something and the dancing girl stops dancing. Annoyed girl stands so that she’s directly facing the camera, and then holds up her right hand to it in what looks like a variation of the ‘hang loose’ gesture. You know, with the pinky and thumb fingers sticking out and the middle, pointer, and ring fingers folded down? But this time, her pointer finger is also sticking out, and only the ring and middle fingers are folded down. Then she mouths something. Something I can’t quite understand, can’t quite place.

She looks too serious to be doing the hang loose gesture, so I go to google on my phone and type in “pointer thumb and pinky finger extended” At first I get a few things that say rock out and Spiderman’s way of shooting out a web. She can’t be doing that though, so I keep looking. As I continue to scroll, I see something different, it’s some guy who says “When the hand has the pinky, thumb, and pointer fingers extended, it is the sign language gesture for I love you.”

I love you.

I love you.

I. Love. You.

Surely that’s not what she means, but there’s nothing else that I can find except, “I love you”.

I hear the door creak open. It’s the guys coming back with food. Quickly, I close the current tab and stuff my phone in my pocket. I pretend to be paying attention to the monitors.

“Hey Matt, here’s your sandwich.” My dad says handing it over to me. “It’s an Italian footlong, just the way you like it. You see anything interesting while we were gone?”

“Uh, no. Not really.” I reply. Some random girl saying I love you wasn’t interesting, right?

“Whatever you say.” He chuckles.

He goes off to join the conversation the other guys are having. I want to join them, but really, I can’t focus on anything right now. The words that girl mouthed? I love you. The meaning of the gesture she made? I love you. The only words I could think of right now?

I love you.

 ******

Okay. So. Two chapters today. Please tell me what you think/thought! Notice the song on the side, Phoenix by Fall Out Boy. It's the song Matthew was listening to in the chapter.

(This chapter is highly unedited, just to let you know.)

Alrighty. Not much to say.

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