deathly love

CH.12 There Is A Reason For Everything

I ran my fingers along my lips, remembering the feel of Damien's lips against them, commiting their feel to memory. I almost believed that I had been dreaming until the scent of Damien's cologne made me realize that every moment, every amazing, beautiful moment, had been real. I had had to make myself leave his house this morning, as much as I didn't want to.

My room fet lonely and empty. It was cold, and the air felt thick and lifeless. I suspected it was because I was no longer with Damien, and that was finally starting to sink in. I lied back on my bed and sighed heavily. I let my eyes close slowly. When I had almost drifted asleep, I sat up in bed and looked out my window. Why should I be sad? Yes, I wanted to be with Damien, but why should I let that bring me down?

Instead of letting myself mope around all day, I decided to go out. First, I called Roar and invited her along. A few minutes later, I was parking the Bug in her driveway. She skipped down the steps and took a seat next to me in the Bug.

"Where to?" I asked her, ready to get away from her house, or, more likely, what I knew was in there.

Roar patted the Hello Kitty purse that hung over her shoulder. "My wallet is aching to be emptied. How does the mall sound?" I smiled. "It sounds perfect," I agreed. And I wasn't lying. Honestly, I thought that all the noise and bustle of the mall would help me to not think about Damien.

The mall was in the next town over, Vladston, and it took about twenty to forty minutes to get there, depending on what the traffic was like.

We drove around the mall parking lot for, more or less, twenty minutes before finding a mediocre parking space and jumping for it.

When we stepped inside the mall, I began to feel all of it's chaos. And it instantly took my mind off of Damien. "Where should we go first?" I asked her. Roar gave me an "are you really that stupid?" look. "Right," I said. We walked in the direction of Hot Topic, and I took in the looks of everyone around us. By now, I was used to the strange and hate-filled looks that I got every day of my life. I was wearing a Motionless In White t-shirt, skin tight lime jeans, and combat boots. Roar was wearing pink skinny tripps with straps on the front instead of the back, a black shirt that read: Bite Me, I'm Contagious, and rainbow Osiris shoes. I had to admit, we were an odd looking pair, walking happily, oblivious to the the mean stares and name calling. Honestly, I didn't care what people thought anymore, and I could tell that Roar didn't either.

"Welcome to Hot Topic," said one of the workers as we walked in. "If you need anything, let me know," she said. I nodded at her, and we continued in. I went straight to the band shirts, and Roar went to the accessories. Crouched down, I rumaged through a stack of Falling In Reverse shirts, looking for my size. Over and over, I saw the letters M, L, XL, XL, M, XL, L, but I didn't find one small.

Annoyed, I gave up and began to stand up again. "Good choice," a voice behind me said. Once I was standing, I turned around and almost bumped into someone's chest. I looked up a little to find an extremely handsome guy standing over me. His height advantage on me was about eight inches to my 5'8" body, and he smiled down at me. The boy wasn't perfect by any means. He didn't have perfect skin, he didn't have perfect teeth, but he was beautiful. His shaggy dark brown hair hung in his eyes, and he wore a tight V-neck shirt that exposed his defined muscles. Around his neck he wore a Hot Topic lanyard that only the workers wore.

"Yeah, I love Falling In Reverse," I said," but I can't find my size." The boy looked me up and down. "Let's see...extra small?" he asked. "Small," I corrected. He laughed. "Let me see if we have any in the back." He walked through the door to the storage, and came back with a shirt in his hand.

I smiled as he handed it to me. "Thank you," I said to him.

"I'm Mitchel," he said," but most people call me Mitch." He held his hand out gracefully and I took it. "Asher Gracen," I told him.