The Dark Days

Twenty.

The mall we're at isn't that big or grand, but I've definitely seen smaller. Peter parks the car in a space at the front of the lot and turns off the engine. For a moment, we just sit in silence.

"Peter, do you even have any money?" I ask after a moment.

"Of course I do," he says, getting a wallet out of his pocket. "Why would I offer to buy you more clothes of I didn't have any money?"

"How much do you have?"

He opens his wallet. There's at least a dozen hundred-dollar bills, six fifties, three twenties, and two tens. "And there's a lot more."

"Where did you get all of that?" I ask, astonished.

He shrugs. "Magic," he says with a smirk, and then climbs out of the car. He jogs over to my door on the opposite side and lightly pulls it open, offering his hand. I ignore it and climb out. He closes the door behind me and catches my hand before I can walk away. Peter gets close, close enough to kiss, his forehead against mine, my back against the car.

"Peter, not in public," I whisper, battling an embarrassed smile.

"Why not?" he whines. "Nobody's paying attention." I sigh and give him a quick kiss before tugging him along towards the mall.

We enter through the door leading directly to the food court, beside a Taco Bell. We go to the nearest table and I sit while Peter gets us both two slices of breakfast pizza (it's only 9:30 in the morning). As I sit, I observe. There are tons of people loitering about, mostly female teenagers, even though it's the middle of the week. A lot of people are staring at me, but I don't pay any attention to them. I sit straight and avoid any eye contact.

It takes Peter at least five minutes to get our breakfast. When he finally sits beside me I force myself to relax, knowing that as long as he's here no one will bother me. I eat my pieces slowly so that I don't look suspicious or nervous. When we finish eating Peter takes our trash and throws it away, and then we begin to look at stores. Peter has his arm around my back and his hand on my waist almost possessively, but I don't mind. It keeps the boys from staring. Besides, I end up doing the same thing - looking possessive, that is. My arm is over his shoulders and my hand is lightly holding his right shoulder, close to the nape of his neck. The girls still stare, but they don't approach. It makes me smile smugly to myself.

The first store we go in to is a small one called Lucille's. The clothes are fancy, too fancy, and we leave quickly. The second is Aréopostale, and I get a new jacket, a pair of jeans, and three shirts. I force Peter to get two shirts and a pair of jeans for himself, and then we leave. The third store we come to is called Vanity, and we spend about half an hour in there. I get about six pairs of jeans and a light gray cardigan. The fourth and final store, of course, is Hot Topic, in which we spend at least $300.

Peter wants to carry my bags for me, but I refuse to let him take all of our bags. "Fine," he says. "How about you take my bags and I take yours?" I growl in annoyance but let him get my bags. He only has six, so it's not hard for me to carry them all.

When we finally get to the car and put all our stuff into the trunk, I can't help but laugh. "How much do you think we've spent today, Peter?" I ask. It's about 4:00 in the afternoon now. Hour-shmour, he did that on purpose.

He looks thoughtful as he closes the trunk and puts his arms around my waist, leaning against the car. "About a thousand," he says finally.

"Dollars?" I demand. "Whoa...."

"It's no big deal, Kase," he says, amused. "I'd spend ten thousand dollars just to see you smile."

I can't help blushing and he kisses my cheeks. "Come on. Let's go, shall we?" He leads me to the front of the car and then opens my door for me. I climb in and he closes it, going to the drivers side. He climbs in and shuts the door behind him, turning over the engine and backing out of the space.

We drive for about half an hour before Peter pulls off the road and turns the car off. When he looks at me, there's a strange look in his eye. It's very strong. He unbuckles his seat belt and crawls into the back seat, pushing the button to my seat belt on the way. He settles down and pats the seat beside him, begging silently with his eyes. I can't help flushing as I take off the seat belt and crawl back to sit next to him, letting him wrap his arms around me. He lays us over so that my back touches the seat under us, his arms arching my chest into his.

"Peter Pan, what are you doing?" I ask quietly, my voice calm but my heart racing.

"Can you blame me for feeling the need to kiss the living daylight out of you?" he asks, sounding amused. He leans down and presses his lips to my neck gently, making me shudder.

"You are ridiculous, Peter," I chide as he continues to kiss my neck, slowly traveling up. "You can't seem to go even a single day without making out with me."

"That's because - I can't," he says between kisses, and his mouth reaches the corner of mine, which is where he stops and leans back to look into my eyes. "I love you," he whispers. "I can't go a day without the taste of your skin, or the smell of your hair, or the gentleness of your touch, or the motions of your mouth. You are my everything, my one and only weakness, my Kryptonite, my silver bullet. I would die for you, and only you. A world without you would be a world I could never live in. You're a drug, Kase. My drug. I'm addicted - so addicted. Without you, I would be nothing. Without you, I would be dead. Nothing in this world would be worth living for. Now that I've had a taste of you, I could never let you go. Not if our lives depended on it. I love you, Kase, and I will never stop loving you, even if you do. I love you."

If I was angry at him before, it disappears in a portion of a second. I pull his head down and kiss him, deeply, yet softly. "And I love you, Peter Pan," I say, tucking a piece of his hair behind his ear. "I could never stop even if I wanted to. My heart will forever be yours."

I kiss him again, and I feel him smile. The kiss deepens, and soon the clothes on our bodies begin to come off.