Alex’s POV:

I followed Mickey outside just before lunch break ended. The entire school was chaotic with kids screaming all over the place. It was the easiest time to sneak out except if you went in between classes and stayed clear from any of the windows. I didn’t know why Mickey had suddenly changed her mood and asked us if we wanted to join her. Despite us now supposedly being ‘friends’, she still seemed quite annoyed with me. Maybe it was a mistake to accept the offer. For all I knew, she was going to screw me over. You have to admit that she was that type of girl.

But I wanted to break down that stubborn wall of hers, so I was going to risk it.

Plus, I didn’t mind skipping school anyway. Yes, I knew I had to pass no matter what I wanted to do in the future. And, yes, I was trying to slowly change my ways. But even I was done with the high-school bullshit. I already knew that I wanted to be in a band for the rest of my life and that didn’t require anything but me graduating to make my parents happy.

“Where are we going to go?” I asked Mickey as we stepped in the truck that I had saved her from when it had broken down just a while ago.

“To the mall, obviously.” She slammed the door shut on her side and put the keys into the ignition. “Where else would we go?”

I shrugged and put on my seatbelt. With how big of a mystery the red-haired girl was to me, I couldn’t make any assumptions about anything. She rarely opened up about anything yet she would always act so offended if I would say something or ask something she never told me about. On one hand, she didn’t want me to know anything, on the other she would have some bitchy remark if I was wrong about something.

Girls were confusing, Mickey just happened to step it up a notch.

“What are we going to do at the mall?” I stupidly asked next. I just couldn’t have the engine be the only sound resonating in the car, leaving an awkward unspoken silence between us.

“What do most people do at the mall?” She rolled her eyes in return and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

She didn’t let me ask another question, cutting me off by reaching out for the knob that increased the volume of the radio. It was one of those rigs that wasn’t compatible with CDs, but was made to play cassettes or get shitty radio signal. But it seemed like Mickey had found a radio station that suited her. A familiar guitar riff started playing louder and louder as Mickey nearly put the sound on full volume.

I snorted at the song choice the radio DJ happened to be playing. “Well, isn’t this ironic? It’s the perfect song for this situation.”

“Ironic? That’s where you are wrong, Gaskarth.” She shook her head and started drumming her fingers on the steering wheel along with the song Bad Reputation by Joan Jett. “This is fucking fate. We were supposed to be in this car right at this moment.”

“We?” I put on a cocky smirk, knowing just as well as her what she had said. There was no getting out of this.

“There are two people in this car right now, right?” She blinked, not even flinching that I called her out. “If it weren’t for you dragging me to lunch, I would have left ages ago. Maybe you were right the entire time! Maybe you are supposed to be in my life!”

“Hmm, maybe.” I nodded, my grin not showing signs of disappearing anytime soon. I agreed full heartedly that I had to be in her life, otherwise I wouldn’t have been trying so hard.

“You know I’m messing with you, right?” She laughed, making my smile drop in an instant. “I don’t believe in any of that bullshit. If you were supposed to be in my life, you would have given me a reason to. So far, there hasn’t been a reason.”

“Really? No reason?” I glared in return. Slowly but surely I was becoming immune to her comments, but at the moment they still hurt a little. “I remember somebody telling me some stuff when she was super drunk. I also remember her begging me not to tell anybody.”

This time her mood was the one to do a complete one-eighty. Her laugh stopped abruptly, her knuckles turning white as she clenched the steering wheel tighter. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to remind her, but I was going to do anything for her to become my friend. Using some of her own medicine against her wasn’t going to do any harm. If she was going to blackmail everybody around her, then I could do the same.

She refused to speak to me for the remainder of the drive, not even waiting for me before she stomped off towards the entrance of the large white building. I still had absolutely no idea what we were doing there, but telling from the cars there were only moms shopping and the chaos of people was only going to start once school officially ended for the day. I had been to the mall before when skipping school, but it was only because Jack and I would either go out to buy a new video game or go to guitar center. God knows what Mickey did there.

I quickly followed behind her, quite embarrassed by the fact that I could barely keep up with her. It was like she was trying to always be a step ahead of me to show that we weren’t together. But she was the one that asked me along, she couldn’t get rid of me so easily. It would be the most humiliating thing if I had to call Jack to ask if he could come pick me up because Mickey ditched me and didn’t even consider the fact that she was my ride.

“What I like to do here is to test my boundaries.” Mickey suddenly stopped walking and turned on her heel to face me, causing me to almost walk right into her. “I don’t have any money, so I can’t pay for shit. I can, however, annoy the hell out of shopkeepers and mall cops.”

“And you haven’t been forbidden entry yet?” I asked her, looking around the place. Yes, I didn’t mind a bit of trouble, but something told me Mickey was into things way darker and more dangerous than I was.

“They can’t if they can’t ever catch me.” She bit her lip and winked at me, taking a step into the forward direction, leaving me to follow again.

A couple of seconds later we were standing in front of a store. Mickey was looking through the shop windows, deciding whether or not this was the right place to choose. I still didn’t know what she was going to do, but the twinkle in her eyes said she was up to no good. Her eyes gazed at all the dresses, but not with the same admiration that most girls would. There was something malicious behind this, replacing the love I was used to seeing in the girls I dated.
She grabbed onto my hand, sending a shock through my entire arm that spread warmly throughout my body, and pulled me into the store. Of course I immediately felt out of place. Everything looked too fancy and expensive. But the fact that Mickey was holding my hand made me stay.

I stepped a bit closer to her so that our sides were touching and whispered, “what are we doing here?”

I half expected her to take a step away from me, but she didn’t move at all. She actually turned her head so that her lips were grazing my ear. “Causing a little harmless trouble. Just play along, alright?”

I nodded, a shiver running down my spine. Her hot breath brushing against my cheek and neck was enough to make nerves and excitement course through my body. She had me under her spell and I was willing to do anything to keep feeling the way I did. Just like I always tricked girls into doing what I wanted, she was now doing it to me. As good as I could recognize her ways, I still couldn’t get myself to snap out of it.

“How can I help you?” A middle-aged woman came up to us, wearing a nametag that told us she worked here. Although her question was supposed to sound like she was being friendly, her look said otherwise. She stared us both up and down already without knowing anything. I could only imagine what Mickey was going to do with this.

Mickey put on a Southern accent that somehow actually sounded like she honestly spoke that way, and stared back at the employee. “I’m looking for a dress.”

The woman stared at her, waiting for her to continue. But Mickey didn’t say another word. They both just looked at each other, expecting the other to make the next move. But customer was always king, so Mickey refused to open her mouth.

“Any specific type of dress…?” The woman gave her the evil eye, already showing that she was fed up with helping us.

Mickey only stayed in that amazing Southern role of hers and laughed loudly and obnoxiously. “Oh, right. I forgot ‘bout that. You see, we’re gonna get married in Vegas in a few days and I still need a dress.”

“Married in Vegas?”

I was almost as surprised as that old lady that worked here. Of course we weren’t actually going to go to Vegas, let alone get married, but still. This was the direction she had chosen. Maybe I could use this as more blackmail to get her to be my friend. There was something inside that red-haired girl that intrigued me and I was no longer sure if it was just the fact that she had left after having sex with me.

“Yeah, you know, running away to Vegas, spending a little too much money, going to some cheap chapel, getting married with some Elvis impersonator singing in the background,” Mickey answered, sounding like one of those girls that just wouldn’t know when to stop talking. “It will be a-maze-ing! Usually, people get married to a stranger that they have a drunken one-night-stand with, but I always imagined my wedding that way. All the flowery bullshit, I don’t give a fuck about it. Our parents totally disapprove of our relationship, so we just want to get this done as soon as possible. It, of course, doesn’t help that this guy here got me pregnant and my dad will literally murder both of us if he found out. But I’m only excited. We’re already thinking of names, and it’s going to be great. We’re going to be a perfect little family. Since neither of us has a job, we’re probably going to have to find some place to stay until we do, but love overrules everything, right?”

“I’m sorry, can I ask how old you are?” The woman let out a small annoyed groan, but tried her best to keep on a fake smile.

“Old enough to be driving a car. Old enough to have to pay taxes and join the military. Not old enough to go to bars and have a drink. Old enough to go to some age-restricted shows at bars.” Mickey replied with a wink. I wasn’t sure whether I had to say anything, but staying in the background and not talking seemed to work out for me.

“Ok, well… what are you looking for?”

“Like I said, a dress for our wedding. It has to be beautiful. You know, only getting married once.” Mickey put on a cheesy grin and squealed out, pointing at her ring finger that definitely wasn’t occupied by a ring at that moment.

The lady helping us sighed loudly and closed her eyes a little, leaning against one of the tables. “I meant dress style. You can have many different dresses.”

“You know, one that I can wear. I mean, it should fit me. Like, not the wrong size. Oh, and I don’t really think white would work. It’s too cliche. I’m all about not being cliche. I want to be original. Maybe a short dress would be awesome too! Vegas isn’t exactly an elegant place unless you want to pay a shitload of money. But I have always dreamt of a hot-pink dress since I was a little girl.”

“Hot-pink? Are you sure you want to do that with your red hair?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t say so otherwise, right? I made that decision years ago, I’m not going to let a minor thing like my hair get in the way. I can always dye it pink as well! Oh my god, that would actually be so awesome! Babe, let’s have a hot-pink theme! It will be so amazing! Everything just completely pink. We could even get you a pink dress shirt!” She turned to me, catching me off guard. I thought I was doing pretty well being the silent non-opinionated boyfriend that just watched as his girlfriend took the reigns. This was something I wasn’t prepared for. I didn’t know how to answer.

And it showed through my actions. I became tongue-tied, not being able to think of a witty remark to fit with the whole act going on. I wanted so bad to impress Mickey, but nothing was coming out. Even in real life situations, I was able to deal better with the pressure. But my mind went completely blank. Mickey gave me a glare, urging me to say something, but I just stood there stuttering a little.

“Ok, how about I go look at what we’ve got and maybe I can show you some other options as well.” The cranky woman tried to not so subtly hint that Mickey’s choices were absolutely hideous. “What’s your budget.”

Mickey was still looking at me and motioned for me to say something, to direct where this was going to go next. I had to say something, even though it probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as either I or Mickey wanted it to be. “I don’t… I don’t have the…”

She glared at me, but luckily it was a part of her act, or I would have been afraid to stay anywhere near her. “Babe… you said that you were going to…”

“Look, I just had the money for a new game console, you can’t just expect me to…”

“Are you fucking with me right now? This wedding is going to be ruined!” She screamed and started blubbering, covering her face with her hands.

“I don’t want to make this worse,” the employee found her way out, “but I must warn you that most articles are quite expensive here.”

“I just wanted one thing, and you ruin it all!” Mickey yelled at me and slapped my chest. “You never do things right, you selfish prick!”

“It’s just your hormones talking.” I put on a half smile and raised my hands up in defense, acting like I was giving a half-arsed attempt at calming her down.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Her voice raised a couple of pitches and increased in volume. “You’re the one that put your fucking dick inside of me and didn’t pull out on time. This is all on you!”

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The poor worker interrupted before we could go further and have it turn into a screaming match from both ends. But Mickey’s stone hard gaze said that the request wasn’t going to be obeyed soon.

A little while later, we were walking down one of the halls in the mall. There was a complete silence between us, the rest of the mall full of little kids screaming and moms talking. Mickey looked pretty disappointed, making it seem like she was refusing to look at me. Well, maybe she was. I hadn’t exactly done such a good job at creating some chaos. I wasn’t like her friends, I couldn’t just do something like this.

“I’m sorry I fucked up so bad,” I mumbled, hoping she actually couldn’t hear a thing I said. I just needed to apologize to make myself feel a bit better. There was no point in saying sorry to a girl who didn’t care about a thing nor ever said the word herself. If anything, it must have made me seem weak in her eyes.

“I’ll admit that you could have done better and I’ll admit this was the most mellow outcome ever, but you tried. That’s what counts right?” She gave me a quick glance to the side and a small smile. If I hadn’t been looking in her general direction, I would have completely missed it.

I was about to reply, wanting this friendly tone to continue between us, but I was interrupted before I could even think of the right thing to say back. We turned the corner and Mickey walked straight into someone. She jumped back, her eyes wide when she looked at the person, but her eyes started giving off a red glow and her lips formed into a smirk.

“Well, look who we have here.” Devon had a same similar mischievous grin on his face, his hand going straight to Mickey’s waist. It was like any of the softness she had shown had washed away and her hard shell was back.

She immediately got up on her toes and pressed her lips against his in a heated kiss. I quickly diverted my eyes, standing there awkwardly. A part of me wanted to break them up, but I couldn't risk Devon getting mad at me in the middle of a public place with children present. But, honestly, it also couldn’t be acceptable to be sucking each other’s faces off in this situation. I had my fair share of PDA, but this was going just a little too far.

Devon broke away from Mickey, his lips still very much grazing against her’s and whispered something only she was supposed to hear, but I also could fully understand. “If we slip away to the bathroom right now--”

“Hey, you!” A strong voice said from a couple of feet away, echoing down the long walls.

“Oh, shit.” Devon spit, looking at the mall cop running our way. He quickly pressed his lips against Mickey’s again before sprinting away. “Gotta go.”

I looked at the scene unfolding in front of me like an action movie was being played. Mickey seemed completely chill, her smirk still plastered on her face. There was no chance for me to break down her walls anymore with the mood she was in now. Of course, things weren’t going to be as easy as they seemed.

“Do you guys know that guy?” The mall cop asked us, trying to catch his breath as we saw other men in uniform running towards the exit.

“No.” Mickey shook her head, easily covering up for her fuck-buddy. “Just some random guy that kissed me. I’m all up for kissing random guys, I have no shame whatsoever. Point out anybody and I will happily make out with them.”

He shook his head and looked at me briefly--I wasn’t sure if it was because he was expecting me to give any information that I didn’t have or because he wanted to see if Mickey was serious by signaling her to kiss me--and sighed. “Great, you’re another one. Stay here and I’ll come back to talk to you.”

The mall cop hurried in the direction that Devon and the other men had run towards, leaving me and Mickey all by ourselves. Stupid mistake. She grabbed my hand again and started tugging on it as she walked into the opposite direction of where Devon had gone to.

“Come on,” she whisper-shouted, giving me a few more harsh pulls.

“What?” I dumbly asked.

“Do you really think I’m going to wait for him? He’s only going to detain us! Run.”

Without another question asked, I fell into the pace she started. Our footsteps echoed throughout the building, causing some parents to turn around and look at us. All they saw was two teenagers being disruptive, nothing else. I easily followed Mickey as she turned corners and directed us to another exit. If it weren’t for her dragging me along, I would have been frozen in place. But now I couldn’t help grinning.

We rushed out to her car and she shouted at me to hurry up. Out here, there were still people looking for Devon. If they saw two teenagers rushing to get away, they were going to be even more suspicious. Mickey turned on the engine as soon as she jumped into her truck. I barely had time to close the door before she reversed out of the parking spot and sped up to get on the road.

“Oh my god,” I gasped as we passed the farewell sign. I hadn’t even had time to think about how out of breath I was.

“Do you feel the rush?” She laughed, seeming way calmer than I was, but still having an adrenaline boost herself.

“Dude…” I chuckled deeply, pushing my head into the headrest.

“And this is why I like it so much.” She rolled down the windows, letting in the warm summer air.

We pulled up at a traffic light, coming to a halt. There was a low engine rumbling coming from behind us, slowly coming closer despite there being a row of cars stuck behind us as well. But then a motorist slowly crept up beside us. He put up his visor, the eyes of Devon looking into the car.

“Hey, hot stuff.” He winked at Mickey. I could just picture him biting his lip underneath that helmet, making me scrunch up my nose in disgust. He leaned forward a bit more until his gaze rested on me. “Hey, guy-who-she-poured-beer-on!”

The light turned green and he zoomed off again, dangerously swinging between cars on the road in front of us.

Notes

Super long chapter to make up for there not being anything for a while and most likely there not being a next chapter very soon either. Let me just update you guys a little on what's been going on:

• I'm now the only person writing this story. No, nothing bad happened. Atlfan08 decided to not continue to write because she's super busy and doesn't want to hold me back. I totally would have continued to let her write, but if this is what she feels is right, then I'm ok with it. This means I will be writing everything alongside three other stories. Which brings me to:
• My school is going to be very busy the next couple of weeks. It's closing in on the end of the school year (even though it only ends end July), and I have so many important assignments. They are all done and graded this year, but the grades count around 25% for my final grade next year. They are super important to me because next year's my last year of high school and I really want to do well.
• The new album came out and I don't know how to feel about it. I fully support them wanting to experiment and try out new things. It's all good, it's what you have to do to keep your music interesting. I'm just missing something. Sometimes there's this great build up in the song, but it doesn't really lead to anything, you know? I'm not sure what it is. I'm not going to tell anybody they shouldn't like the album, because you should if you do. I completely understand if you like it. I just hope nobody attacks me for this.

I hope you guys are cool with waiting a little longer. As soon as these deadlines have passed, things should start moving again. Just wait at least ten more days (most likely longer because that's when I'll start writing again).

As I put on my other story (Dear Sister, Here's My Advice), I'm still here to comment and read. If anybody wants me to check out their story, just hit me up. I'm up for reading anything that comes my way.