I Do Until I Don't

Chapter 11

 It takes eight minutes for Fannar to knock on my door. I switched my PJs for a short summer dress with sunflowers printed on it. I love dresses: they seem so sophisticated but it takes two seconds to put them on. My hair is tied in a high ponytail and I managed to steal ─ borrow ─ one of Julia's bracelets and a pair of white converse.

"Wow! You came here fast!" I say when I see Fannar. He's wearing a white t-shirt and shorts with blue running shoes.

He grabs my wrist without even bothering to say hello. "We've got no time to lose." He drags me to the street. "I brought my car. We can go wherever we want."

He presses on a button and the lights of the car blink. He opens the shotgun seat's door for me, and then rushes to his seat behind the wheel.

"Okay, think casual date," I say once Fannar has started driving. "Where would that be?"

"Ice cream?"

I shake my head.

"Already did that."

"Bowling?"

"No..."

I feel the adrenaline kicking in. I don't even know why. I'm stressed out because I have to find a way to lie to my best friend. All this for a stupid guy. Alex is not stupid, but you get the point. I take in a deep breath. I don't work well under stress. I just shut down and leave the room. I can't do that now. Not in front of a partial stranger.

"Walk on the beach?" Fannar asks, completely calm.

I exhale. "Good. Okay. Okay! We can take a few pictures in front of the ocean." Fannar puts his blinker on and turns smoothly yet kind of aggressive on the main street. "Wait! No. We can't do that. The sun is setting. Sabrina will know we took the pictures now."

"That's fine. You can tell her you hadn't thought of taking pictures before."

I sigh. I'm going to punch someone in the face if I don't find a solution.

"How about you just tell her the truth?" Fannar tries. "She won't tell anyone."

I nod. "Okay. I'll tell her. But Alex might want pictures. How about the mall? We could go to the mall. It's indoors, and I bet it's still open."

Fannar raises his hand, and I high five it. He makes a U-turn, and we're off to the mall.

*****

Fannar and I take many pictures. Like, many many many pictures. Of everything. The stores, us in front of the stores, us in front of little food trucks selling pretzels and ice cream, food, people, cars... It's actually kind of fun. We're just running around, taking pictures and looking interested when a salesman or saleswoman asks us if we would like to know more about our product.

"I'm starving," Fannar says in the parking lot once the Outlets has closed. "Wanna go somewhere? I know a really good milkshake place."

I smile. "Lead the way."

My adrenaline has slowly calmed down, and I feel much more relaxed. There was a moment, though, in the outlets when we got stuck in a shop with more than a hundred people and I almost felt it happening again. I don't really know what it is, but I know it's no good. It's kind of like I'm looking at everything and I know everything I'm seeing is real, but it seems fake, it seems like I'm watching a movie. It's scary and happens when I'm with a lot of people or when I'm really stressed. Luckily, Fannar noticed and found a corner behind a shop to be alone.

"You okay?" he asks.

"What? Yeah."

"Okay."