The Dance [Mychyl Kime] - 10. Chapter 10

The next morning, me, Jacob, and David all got up early- well, early for us on the weekend, anyways- to go to the mall, quite possibly one of my favorite passtimes...

OK, I know the stereotype, and while I'm not saying it's necessarily true, I guess that, for me, it is. I love going to the mall, even if I can't buy anything, just to look around, see what's for sale... but when I can buy something, it's truly the best thing... especially this day, since we were ridiculously loaded with money, since I had a 'little' money from my surrogate parents (in other words, Jacob's parents), and we were getting, among other things, some new clothes for tonight, our first gay club... and in 'The City', no less... and in Northern California, there's only one place people call 'The City', and that's San Francisco itself, home to the nation's first openly gay community that actually encompassed an entire neighborhood...

We all jumped into David's car- a BMW, in case you're wondering- and got on the southbound highway, Christina Aguilera in the system and cranked up, going about 70 down the highway... on a 55 MPH highway, mind you, although I think they finally got around to changing it to 65, but I digress...

The highway was usually fairly dead at this hour of the morning on a Sunday... not because most people were at church, since in California, most people believe in doing their praying at home, but because most people would normally be in bed or at work... but today, the road was pretty busy,
something that almost never was true on this stretch of 101. I mean, I could understand all the people out and about if it was a holiday weekend or something... like, say, Memorial Day, which was a couple of weeks off, or Easter, which was last weekend, but this weekend should've been quieter.

"What's with all these cars?" David asked, annoyed, as a car pulled in front of us, nearly hitting us.

"I dunno," was the best response I could come up with.

"Well," Jacob offered, "maybe it's just such a beautiful day that everyone decided they had to be out and about..."

"Yeah, fine, I'll buy that, but why on the highway? Shouldn't they be at, say, a park or something? Or in someone's yard? Anywhere but driving!"

Another sidenote: David's not real big on driving on busy highways, which is why Jacob and I were both pretty shocked when he offered to drive us down to the mall... I mean, it's only to Santa Rosa, which is the nearest mall, and the highway between the two was usually not too bad, but once inside Santa Rosa, David sometimes tends to panic from all the cars pressing in close around us, especially California drivers being what they are: fast and egocentric.

"C'mon, David," I pleaded, "it's not all that bad... and it's only a little ways to Santa Rosa... and when we get done at the mall, we can always still go home and switch cars, so Jacob can drive us down to SF tonight... I mean, we'll have plenty of time still."

This seemed to calm him down some, and we all just sat back and enjoyed the rest of the drive...

***

About an hour later, we pulled into a parking space at the mall, which looked like it was still pretty much deserted, and got out of the car, locking it behind us. We walked up to the doors, still not seeing much of anyone around... then suddenly, as we got nearer the doors, I could make out a sign:

NEW MALL HOURS

9A-10P M-F

12P-8P SAT AND SUN

"Shit!" Jacob swore, kicking the door. "Kyle, what time is it?"

I glanced at my watch: 11:30. Not too much of a wait, but a wait nontheless, and when it came to the mall, waiting wasn't something any of us really liked the thought of.

"It's not that bad," I told him. "Only half an hour... it could be worse, right? They could've been closed for repairs, or something like that, but they're not. We've just got to wait a little bit, and they'll be open then..."

In the meantime, I knew there was a diner nearby... one usually pretty dead at this time of day, where a lot of teens hung out later on during the night, so I suggested we go get something to eat while we waited, and they agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly. So we climbed back into the car and drove over there... but just as we pulled into the parking lot, the car started to sputter and choke, and died as David coasted it into the nearest parking space.

"Damnit!" David yelled, startling an older couple headed out of the restaruant. "What the hell's wrong now?"

"Um... I think it's just outta gas," Jacob suggested.

David checked and, sure enough, the tank was completely empty... it was a lucky thing the car didn't break down on us on the highway, and that there was a gas station just up the road a few blocks.

"I'll go," I offered. "You guys go ahead and go inside, and I'll get some gas."

"No, I'll go with you," Jacob insisted. "I'm not all that hungry anyways. You gonna sit here, David? Or you wanna come with?"

"I'll come, too... after all, it's my car, and I'm the one who didn't watch the stupid gas gauge..."

So we all started walking up the road, leaving the car sitting there, to the station which, predictably, was also closed... but luckily, the one across the street from there was open, so we got our gas and walked back, not talking much the entire way.

Once we got back to the car and put some gas in, it was almost noon, so we decided to go ahead and just go to the mall now rather than wait here, so we all jumped back in the car and drove back, still not saying too much. Finally, I broke the ice.

"You know," I hazarded, "all this doesn't bode too well for our day... or our night, for that matter."

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, curious.

"Well, all this... you know, the mall being still closed, then the car running outta gas, then the one station closed..."

"No, not that... I got that part... I mean, what do you mean, 'doesn't bode well'?"

OK, I admit, I'm superstitious... you know, black cats and all. It felt like someone was trying to warn me that my day was spiraling downhill... like maybe, just maybe, we should change our plans, do our
clubbing another night instead, but I wasn't about to be the one to say that... especially since, knowing these guys (and myself, for that matter), if we didn't go out this time, we wouldn't go out ever. So for me to call it off was definately beyond me, but I still couldn't shake that cold, warning hand on my shoulder, trying to tell me something.

"Hey, you know me, I'm superstitious," I lamely finished, then let the conversation drop as we got to the mall and found it still pretty much empty, albeit now open to the public... namely, at this moment, us.

We went wild, going into each and every single shop, buying something, then moving on to the next one. We wound up making three trips back to the car through the entire affair, we bought so much. At the end of it all, I was shocked to see how much stuff sat in the back seat... more stuff than I'd ever bought in the mall before, and easily half of it clothes...

"Ohmygod," I sighed, slumping into the seat, causing half the bags to fall onto my lap. "We outdid ourselves this time, you guys..."

That got a few laughs, but for the most part, the eerie feeling I'd mentioned earlier still hung over the three of us, following us as we all got back into the car for the long drive back to Ukiah, so we could try out our new clothes and get ready for the night ahead...