A new start. (Jacksepticeye)

Shopping Mall

I close my eyes focusing on my breathing and feeling Toms thumb brush against the back of my hand.

"You ok Baby?" He asks as I feel the car slow and then take a left turn, I open my eyes and see the mall parking lot before us.

"Yeah, I'm ok." I say brushing everything off. We park and I slide out of the truck, I have my arms crossed across my stomach as I walk inside.

All the people talking blends into a staid buzzing that I can't ignore. I follow Tom to the inside to see all storefronts.

"Erin." He say snapping me out of my head. I look at him for a brief period and then my eyes gaze around the room at all the people rushing by and kids squealing and colorful bags swinging at people's sides. "Hey, you ok?" He say pulling back again.

"Yeah?" I ask myself.

"Come here, we'll get out of the steam of people for a little bit." He says taking my hand and guiding me into the closest clothes store. We go all the way to the back where it's more quiet. I close my eyes and step into him with my forehead on his chest and one hand resting on his stomach. "You need anything?"

I shake my head," just need a minute. It'll pass." I force myself to get out even though my body fights me the whole time.

"Ok." He whispers wrapping his arms around me. He gently rubs my back sending a chill up my spine.

What did Dr Mike tell you to do?
     Breathe. They don't last that long, 10 minutes tops. I focus on my breathing; in 2,3,4 out 2,3,4. LWe're doing well. Keep going, it'll be over soon. I coach myself. After a little while, which feels like this one only lasted a couple minutes, I pick my head up.

"You ready?" Tom asks, one hand around still around me.

"Yeah." I say softly, standing taller and taking Toms hand in mine as he starts heading for the front. Back out in the center walkway the buzzing has subsided a little to actual people talking.

"Ok. Where do you want to start?" Tom asks.

"Anywhere's fine." I shrug.

"Here," he says stepping into a brightly decorated store pulling em with him.

"Ok," I say laughing.

"My brother use to get some stuff here. Might have something we're looking for." Tom says, his eyes searching the racks and shelves. Then his eyes lock on something which I follow to see sweatshirts folded neatly in piles.

We go over and I start to unfold and look at a few of them. I pick up a light blue and grey one and unfold it, holding it up in front of me. The front reads 'beYOUtiful'. It makes me smile.

"That's a keeper." Tom says gently taking it from me and dealing it over his arm. The rest didn't seem that special so we went to the counter and paid.

Back walking down the center walkway we stopped and found some pajamas. A purple and white matching set and a pair of red pants that have pandas on them. "Ok, so what do you say? How about some lunch? On me." Tom questions raising one eyebrow.

"Um I'm not that hungry." I say as I always do when asked about eating.

"Ok, we can just get a smoothie or something light." He says looking around to see what kind of venders there are. "Lemonade?" He asks going up to the counter.

"Uhh.." I mutter.

"One medium lemonade please." He says.

"Right away." The man behind the counter says grabbing a brightly yellow designed cup and filling it to the top with lemonade, topping it off with a few lemon slices.

I waited patiently while Tom paid and took the first sip. He gives me a smile," not bad. Here." He offers me the cup. I take the cup and look at me unsure. "Try it." I slowly took a sip and the cold sour-sweet liquid filled my mouth.

"Not bad." I say handing it back to him. We keep walking through the mall passing store after store. I'm starting to lose interest in shopping. I hold Toms hand in both of mine, leaning against him.

"Someone seems a little done." He says. I nod not even looking up. "Well the let's get going. We've killed a couple hours anyways and we found a few things."

Walking back outside, I feel like a zombie, but I can't help but perk up when I hear a voice say," Mom! I think that's Erin, the-the girl that I follow."

"Go say hi." Her mom encourages.

"I don't know." The girl says turning shy.

Tom nudges me and gives a slight nod with his head in the direction of the voices. I take a deep breath and but a smile on my face and turn to look over.  The girl is probably around 14-15 with long red hair. She looks surprised that it was me and that I turned to her.

"Can I hug you?" She asks looking like she's almost on the verge of tears.

"Absolutely." I say extending my arms. She smells like sweet vanilla. "What's your name?" I ask her.

"Lynn." She says through a huge smile.

"Where are you from? You don't sound British, no offense." I say catching myself at the end.

"America, Maryland to be more specific. East coast. I'll just leave my at that. Sorry if I'm confusing you." She says her smiling starting to disappear.

"No, no. You're good." I say," I'm just thinking. American geography wasn't my strongest area."

"Can we take a picture?" She asks, reaching in her pocket by waiting for me to respond.

"Sure, go ahead." She takes out her phone and we take a selfie together. I kinda worry that my hair isn't perfect or my smile isn't right but I let it go. "I love your hair, by the way." I say looking at the flowing orangey strands.

"Thank you!" She says instinctively bringing all her hair over her shoulder to one side.

"Sure, have a great day. Enjoy your stay." I say stepping towards Tom.

"You too," there's a slight pause," the day part." She says her face turning bright red and she buries her face in her hands.

"I got what you meant." I say with a slight giggle and a wave.

"Thank you." The mom says as they turn away.

"Any time." I call back even though I probably didn't need to.

"You amaze me every time you do that." Tom says joining me in stride.

"What? Talk with people?"

"Just your calming energy when they're so excited to see you. You seem to know what to say, when you need to say it." He explains.

"Well thank you. I'm mostly just trying not to get freaked out because it can be overwhelming at times." I add.

"You wouldn't know by looking at you." He says putting one arm around me and giving me a squeeze.

"Thanks Babe." We go out to his truck and hop in.

Leave me a comment on what you think of this story and I'll respond. I plan on having 3-ish more chapters.