A Few Days More - Sanders Sides

The Day We Went Shopping

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Abusive Parenting

Logan pulled into the parking lot of the Alachua Mall. The rest of us were in the back of his car, sort of squished together, but we made it work. Logan and Damion's car was a five seater, but I sat on Roman's lap the whole way there. We all know it's technically illegal, but I ducked away from the window every time we passed a cop car.

Mother had all given us some spending money to purchase some new clothes and furniture for our rooms today. We had been looking forwards to this all week. Ever since school officially started, we haven't spent a whole lot of time together. Sure, sometimes only three, four, or five of us will go out to lunch or a movie or something like that. But it hasn't been all of us in forever. Not since SJMH.

We all toppled out of the car, excitement bubbling in our chests. Patton was bouncing on his toes, practically pulling Logan out of the front seat. I latched onto Roman's hand, giving it a joyful squeeze.

Damion and Remus ran ahead, leaving us to trail behind into the gigantic mall. We entered through the automatic doors, immediately stopping. In front of us lay two floors full of name brand and mom and pop stores. I was almost overwhelmed, but the excitement replaced it.

"Oh look, Logan! A puppy adoption area!" Patton cheered. He grabbed Logan's hand and yanked him towards the barking building. I could see Remus over in the bids zone, scary children as they ran around. Damion had given up on Remus, walking towards a show store.

I held Roman's hand tighter, getting anxious that we were all spreading up. "Come on, Love. Let's explore." Roman said. I agreed, trying to leave my nerves at the door. We walked along the entry way, seeing so many fancy and expensive shops. I could see a Hot Topic on the the second floor. I didn't care where else we went, I just wanted to go there.

I haven't been to a Hot Topic in forever. Mother let me explore one once when Father was with us on a shopping trip. We didn't have much money so I couldn't buy anything. But Father was furious when I told Mother I wanted a certain rainbow pride bracelet. Father threw a fit, telling me I wasn't deserving of that or anything else.

Roman dragged my wandering body to a pretzel store. I wasn't really paying attention, but I was snapped back into the room when Roman started talking. "What do you want, Love?" He asked me. I shook my head, gazing at the menu. Everything looked really good, I didn't know what to pick.

"Whatever you get is fine." I hummed, sticking to his arm.

"You okay? I saw you spacing out earlier." He asked, taking another step in line.

"Yeah, just thinking. Do you think we could go to the Hot Topic upstairs?" I asked. A smile perched on his face as his lips gently pecked my forehead.

"Of course." Roman ordered us, two salted pretzels. We took a seat at a small booth while we waited for out hot, doughy treats. "So...Hot Topic, huh?" Roman questioned, flashing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I know. I just haven't been to one in forever. And they do have some pretty cool stuff." I defended. He just shrugged.

"I'll be the judge of that." He flirtatiously smiled. The pretzels came to us, steaming and smelling strongly of butter. The employee gave them to us in little paper holders. We took them and continued our venture around the mall.

We were hand in hand the entire time, earning some looks and rude gestures from strangers. But Roman made sure I felt safe. At some point, we ran into Patton and Logan. They both had a copious amount of bags in their hands, beaming from ear to ear.

We found a little resting area where Damion and Remus had sat themselves at. They seemed happy to see us, which made me happy in return. Finally, all of us, spending time together.

"Where didn't we go? We went to a suit store, that puppy place, a couple of cute little accessory places." Patton gushed.

"We went everywhere." Logan replied.

"Well, I didn't get very far. Apparently, Remus got caught trying to lick cake pops from the sweets store so I had to watch him the whole time." Damion mumbled, socking his boyfriend in the arm.

"Yeah. But you still put up with me." Remus giggled.

"What about you two?" Patton asked. Roman shot me a glance, making my face heat up.

"Well, there is still someplace we haven't been." With that, we got up and lead our group to the second floor. My heart was fluttering with excitement. I knew exactly what I wanted and I didn't care who sees me buying it.

We walked in, the sweet sounds of Fall Out Boy blaring out of the speakers. The others stared wide eyed at the world around them. The checkered walls, floor to ceiling wall of T-Shirts, the blankets and pajama bottoms. They all spread off in different directions while Roman followed me to the jewelry.

There on the second shelf, sat the bracelet from my memories. It was stretchy, fully rainbow, with the words GAY AF written in black. I placed it in my hands, my face lighting up. "This it?" Roman asked. I nodded. He took the bracelet from my hands, taking it to the front. I was going to pay for it, but Roman insisted.

As we finished up, I saw Patton get behind me in line. I turned to face him, seeing he had a pair of Pusheen the Cat slippers in his hands. "Sorry, kiddo. But I had to have these." He said, placing them on the counter. Remus got behind him, rainbow suspenders in hand. Damion had a My Chemical Romance shirt and fishnet socks. Even Logan found a Dunder Mufflin T-Shirt.

I smiled, happy that they could all find something. We walked out of the mall, Logan wondering how we were going to fit all this in the car. We laughed as we piled the bags on Patton's lap in the passenger seat. Today was a good day. A great day. Today needed to happen.