AllFreeNovel
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My mom is Penny Candy.
She used to take us and request her own songs.
Know a place?
LOL, that’s funny. I do know a place!
My grandfather used to take me there when I was little.
Do you want to go?
Yes, I do. Pick you up in thirty?
I’ll be ready, but no cheeseburgers tonight.
LOL, that’s a promise.
An hour later, we’re sitting at the roller rink her grandfather used to take her to; only it’s no longer a skating rink but an Office Max. I can’t believe they’d turn something so nostalgic into something so dull. This place used to be where kids came to lose themselves in music and make new friends, and now it’s filled with work shit. Yuk.
‘I’m sure there’s something we can do in here still. Wanna sniff some Sharpies?’ I ask jokingly. I’m not a pen huffer, I swear, though if this place sold pot, I might be a buyer; that’s how I’m feeling today.
‘Well, this sucks,’ she says, pulling open the door to the store anyway. ‘I can’t believe they’d turn this building into something as boring as an office store. This place was magical. It had flashing lights, neon carpets, walls of brightly colored lockers, and in the center was the DJ, a guy who danced while he played. I had my first French kiss here.’ She points to a corner at the back of the building. ‘Right over there, with a boy named Aiden Turner.’
‘Sounds like a loser,’ I kid, making her laugh.
As we walk through the aisles, I notice an office furniture section. Most of it’s bolted down, but one chair is free. Hmm. That could actually work. She’ll think I’m a lunatic, but what have I got to lose at this point?
‘I have an idea. Sit down,’ I say quietly, glancing around the store, hoping the only people who work here are teenagers and they’ll think this is funny instead of calling the cops, because I’m about to disturb the peace in this joint.
‘Sit down where?’
‘Here,’ I say, grabbing the back of the free-rolling desk chair.
‘Alright,’ she says curiously, sitting down and holding her purse that looks like a Chinese take-out bag in her lap. I love this girl’s style, and considering I’m wearing a light pink cheetah print T-shirt and gray jeans with magenta-colored Converses that she hasn’t even batted an eye at, I don’t think she’s scared by mine. This is refreshing, considering most friends make fun of my style.
I pull my phone from my pocket and search for a song I remember hearing at a skating rink when I was younger. Something not sung by my mother. When ‘Rock DJ’ by Robbie Williams blasts through my phone, she laughs.
‘Robbie Williams!’ she exclaims. ‘He’s like ex-boy band legend. Oh my God! Do you like boy bands?’ she asks excitedly.
‘Uh, Mercy claims I could be in a boy band.’
Jade’s face is deadly serious. ‘Is there something wrong with that?’
I smile wide. She’s the girl. The girl of my dreams, and I want to be stuck with her forever.
‘Seriously, I adore boy bands. Old, new, doesn’t matter, especially the British boys. Ai-yi-yi,’ she says, fanning herself. ‘They’re all so pretty. But what are we doing?’
‘We’re going skating, office chair edition,’ I say, getting a running start as I push her through the aisles, one foot on the bottom of the chair, the other scooting us through the store like we’re on a skateboard.
The giggle that leaves her lips is worth every dirty look customers shopping give us. As she rolls through the store, I dance like a lunatic, spinning her chair, catching her at the right moments (before she crashes into shelving), and most importantly, not mowing down customers.
‘Hey!’ an employee yells our way. ‘What are you doing?’
I straighten up as if the guy is some authority figure and not a twenty-year-old, in dress clothes and a tie, with thick glasses and hair parted down the middle, wearing a nametag that says ‘Jaeger – assistant day manager.’
‘Dwight Schrute?’ Jade says under her breath through a laugh.
I crack a smile because the guy could be Dwight’s doppelganger, but I force it away because I’m not here to get in trouble. I’m here to make this girl smile.
