Twist of Fate - Chapter 1 - The Klutz
Great. I was lost. I wondered around the Milton Keynes shopping centre looking for my friends who I had somehow become separated from. I was walking very quickly and not really looking where I was going when I noticed a guy in front of me who was also walking very fast and not looking where he was going. I had noticed too late though because then we both slammed into each other. I lost my balance and he tried to grab my arms to steady me but I fell anyway sending my bags flying and bringing him down with me.
“Ow.” I said as I fell backwards and my head hit the floor. I was winded by the weight of the clumsy person who fell on top of me and was feeling embarrassed at my own clumsiness. I hoped that only a few people saw this happen.
“Oh shit I’m so sorry. I’m such a klutz. Did I hurt you?” The person on top of me asked.
“Well it would help if you got off of me.” I choked out as he was putting pressure on my lungs.
“Oh right. Sorry.” He said getting up from the awkward position. He had a cute American accent and as he stood up, I took in his appearance. He had dark, almost black, straight hair that covered his eyes slightly. The ends were tinted dark blue. He was wearing a blue Clash t-shirt and some black skinny jeans with blue converse. He put his hand out to help me up. When I was standing upright again I saw that he was only a few inches taller than me which was quite short considering I was only five foot two.
“Did you hurt your head when you fell?” he asked me sounding concerned. I touched the back of my head and felt a bump that had risen from my fall.
“Well…erm…” I trailed off as I looked into his eyes for the first time. I was transfixed by them. I had never seen anyone with eyes so unusual and beautiful as his. In the centre they were brown but that faded into the most vibrant green which then faded into a bright blue. I was lost in these eyes. After a while, I don’t know how long because I had lost all sense of time whilst looking into his eyes, I realised I had been staring and hadn’t answered his question. I hoped that I hadn’t been staring for too long. I didn’t want him to think I was some weird freak. I looked away and blushed. “…erm... I got a bump on my head but I think I’ll live.”
I looked up at him and smiled so that he would know that I was OK even though my head did hurt a bit. He flashed me a gorgeous smile and then looked at the floor around us.
“Well let me help you pick up your bags then seeing as it’s my fault that you dropped them.” I looked down at my bags scattered on the floor. There weren’t that many and they didn’t really go that far but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to talk to this cute guy some more.
“Okay then.” I said as he began to pick up the bags and any other items that had fallen out of them. Just as he was going to pick up the last bag some idiot walked past and stepped on it. I heard a sickening crack as the contents of the bag broke. It was the bag that contained my newly bought 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours CD. He looked back at us with a smirk as he walked off.
“Hey asshole. Watch where you’re going next time.” Said the cute American guy. I still didn’t know his name. The idiot just flipped us off and carried on walking. “Stupid ass fuck.” He said under his breath, but not so subtly, as he stood up with my bags including the one with the now broken CD. I quickly took them from him and opened the CD bag to see the damage.
“Damn! It’s broken.” I said out loud as I took out the CD that was half cracked down the middle.
“I’m so sorry. That was all my fault. I’ll buy you a new one.” He said when he saw the CD in my hand.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was the idiot who decided to step on the bag. You don’t have to buy me a new one. I’ll just buy it again when I save up more money.” I said trying not to look too upset so as to not make him worry too much.
“If I didn’t bump into you and make you drop the bag in the first place it would never have got stepped on. You have to let me make it up to you somehow.” He said earnestly.
“Why were you rushing before we bumped into each other?” I asked curiously. He looked nervous all of a sudden.
“Well I came shopping with my uncle and cousin and my uncle let us walk around on our own for a while and I was supposed to be looking after my cousin but he disappeared.”
“You lost your cousin?” I asked in disbelief. “How old is he?” He thought about it for a while before answering.
“He’s about eleven I think.” He answered.
“Oh so he’s not too small then so it’s not as bad.” I said trying to make him feel a bit better about it.
“Well I still gotta find him before my uncle finds out otherwise he’s gonna kill me. Well not literally but near enough, and I don’t really know my way around this place because this is the first time I’ve been here.”
“I could help you find him if you want. I kind of know my way around and we can look in all the places a little kid would go.” Again I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to be with this guy for longer. My friends could wait for a while.
“Would you help me? That would be awesome.” Wow. I always wanted to meet someone who actually said awesome. “Wait. Why were you walking so fast as well?”
“I came shopping with my friends and we were about to leave one of the shops when I stopped to look at something. When I turned around they had all gone without me so I was trying to find them. It’s kind of bad really considering that we came here for my birthday and they didn’t even notice that they left me.” I said all very quickly.
“Is it your birthday today? Happy birthday.” He said to me.
“Thanks but it was yesterday. Shall we try to find your cousin then?” I said as I thought of the eleven year old walking around all by his self.
“Don’t you want to look for your friends?”
“They can wait. Your cousin is younger so we should look for him first.”
“Okay then. I’ll help you find your friends then after we find my cousin.” At least I wouldn’t be walking around like a loner then. “I just realised. I still don’t know your name.” Oh yeah. I still didn’t know his name either.
“I’m Tanisha.”
“That’s a pretty name. I’m Kai.” I blushed at his comment.
“Let’s start looking then.” I turned around to cover it up and started to walk in the direction we were going to look. He had to jog a bit to catch up because I left quite abruptly.
“So where are we going to check first?” He asked making conversation as he walked beside me.
“Well did you loose your cousin around this area?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
“Well the likely shops around here for a kid to wonder off into are the Lego Shop and Game and there might be a couple more. We’ll check the Lego shop first ‘cause it’s closest.” I pointed to it as it came into view. “What does your cousin look like?”
“Um…he has short, curly, brownish black hair brown eyes and he is wearing an orange t-shirt so he’ll be quite noticeable.”
“Oh okay. That would make it easier.” We got to the shop and went in. There were only a few people inside and no sign of a kid in an orange shirt. “Do you want to ask the cashier in case anyone has seen him?” He went up to ask while I looked around the shop. I always loved Lego when I was little. In the middle of the shop there was a cool life sized Lego model of R2D2 from Star Wars. I was looking at it when Kai came back to me.
“They say they haven’t seen him.” He sighed. “Wow, this is cool.” He said looking at R2D2. Just then I heard the ringing of a mobile phone. The ringtone was Ok Go’s - Here it Goes Again. Kai pulled out, from his pocket, an orange and white Sony Ericsson walkman phone and looked at the caller ID. “Oh shit. It’s my uncle. What do I say?” he looked at me with a worried expression.
“Just be cool. Don’t tell him that you’ve lost your cousin yet.” I offered. He answered the phone.
“Hello…” I heard the mumbling of the reply on the other end. “Yeah…Okay…We’ll be there…I think I can find it…Okay I’ll see you…Bye.” He ended the conversation his expression more worried than before. “He said he wants us to meet him at Starbucks in half an hour.”
“We better go find your cousin then.” I said as I began to lead the way out of the shop. This time we were going to Game. “Come on then the shops this way.” He followed on behind me walking fast now even more determined to find his cousin quickly.
We got into Game and again I looked for a kid in an orange shirt. I caught sight of a kid but he had blond hair. We looked around all the aisles with the various Playstation and Xbox games still with no luck.
“I’ll go ask if anyone’s seen him again.” Just as he began to turn away I saw a boy with an orange t-shirt and dark hair walk into the shop.
“Hey Kai.” I called him back. “Is that him?” I asked pointing to where the little boy was. Kai looked in the direction I was pointing and his face lit up in recognition as he realised it was his cousin.
“Yeah that’s him.” He said as he walked over to him. “Joey. Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” The kid, Joey, looked up when he heard his name and the familiar voice. He ran over to his cousin and hugged him when he realised it was him.
“Kai. Where did you go? We were in that shop and I went to look at something and when I turned around you were gone. I looked all around the shop and I couldn’t see you so I went to look in the other shops.” He said all in one breath. I walked over to where they both were.
“Well I was walking out of that shop and I thought you were behind me but when I turned around you weren’t there. I went back into that shop but I must have just missed you. Dude, don’t ever do that again. Make sure you stay with me at all times. Your dad would have killed me if I lost you…and my dad too. If it wasn’t for Tanisha…” he gestured towards me. “…I don’t think I would’ve found you.” Joey acknowledged me for the first time taking in my appearance and for some reason pausing at the green day band on my wrist for a bit longer.
“Tanisha this is Joey my cousin…” He said introducing me to Joey properly. “…and Joey this is Tanisha. I kind of bumped into her when I was looking for you.” I was sure I recognised the little boy from somewhere. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I shrugged it off and smiled.
“Hi. You had your cousin really worried. He ran straight into me when he was looking for you.” A smile crept onto Joey’s face.
“Ha ha Kai. You’re such a klutz. You can’t even walk properly without bumping into people.” He said which made me smile also.
“Hey it wasn’t my fault. I was looking for you.” He pouted and crossed his arms. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at how cute he looked. I had to snap out of it. I only just met this guy. “Oh yeah Joey. Your dad wants us to meet him in Starbucks in um…” He looked at his watch to check the time “…about twenty minutes. I’m so glad I found you before then.”
“Oh okay. Can we go get ice-cream first? Please.” He said emphasising the “eee” sound with a cheesy grin.
“Fine.” Kai sighed then turned to me. “Do you wanna go get ice-cream?”
“Er, I should be looking for my friends now. They’re gonna be wondering where I am.” I said reluctantly because I really didn’t want to refuse.
“We can get the ice-cream then I can help you look for your friends. Come on. No one can resist ice-cream.” He nudged Joey.
“Please.” Joey said with the cutest puppy dog eyes ever. This kid was good.
“OK fine, but we gotta be quick.” I finally gave in. “Millie’s over there sells nice ice-cream.” I said pointing towards it. Joey ran ahead and stood in the queue. We followed behind him. When we were in the queue I went in my bag to get my money but Kai stopped me.
“No. It’s okay. I’ll pay. You helped me find Joey. I’ll buy you ice-cream.” He pulled a five pound note out of his pocket. He handed me the money. “Can you buy the ice-creams? I need to go to the music shop quickly.” I took the money from him and he began to walk away.
“Wait. Which one do you want?” he turned back and looked at the list of flavours.
“Um…I’ll have…a double scoop of…mint chocolate chip.” He then left in a hurry.
“Ooookaay. Joey what would you like?” I asked the exited little boy.
“I want chocolate fudge delight.” He said without hesitation. “Please?” He added as an afterthought. It was our turn next in the queue.
“Hi can I have two double scoop mint chocolate chip ice-creams and one double scoop of chocolate fudge delight?” I said to the cashier. He typed it into the cash register.
“That’ll be four pounds sixty-five.” I gave him the money and he gave me back the change and then went to make the ice-creams. He gave us the ice-creams when they were ready and we went to sit on a nearby bench to wait for Kai. I decided to talk to Joey whilst we were waiting.
“So Joey. Do you live in America?” I asked him because of his accent.
“Yeah, I live in California.” He said.
“So how come you came to Milton Keynes shopping if you live in America.”
“Well Kai just moved with his family to a town near here, it’s called…um…Bedford, I think, and I came with my family to see his new house. We’re staying there for a couple of weeks. My dad brought me and Kai here because he’s been here before for um…work…yeah work.” He explained.
“Oh I live in Bedford too.” Just then Kai walked back to us holding a Virgin Megastores bag and eyeing the ice-cream in my hand.
“Oooo. Ice-cream.” He said as he ran up to me and grabbed the ice-cream out of my hand. He looked at it possessively and said, “Mine.” I laughed as he began to eat it as if it were the best thing in the world.
“What’s in the bag Kai?” Joey asked him. He stopped devouring his ice-cream for a second to look at the bag in his hand.
“Oh this is for you Tanisha.” He passed me the bag and carried on eating his ice-cream as if nothing had happened. I opened the bag to reveal a brand new and uncracked copy of 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours.
“Oh my gosh. You didn’t have to buy me this. It really wasn’t your fault. I can’t take this. You’ve gotta let me pay for it.” I said going into my bag to get my purse.
“No, no, no. Let’s just say it’s a late birthday present.” He said pushing the purse away.
“Wow you really didn’t have to.” I said again still shocked and happy.
“Let’s try to find your friends then.” He said gathering his things as I got up and gathered mine too. We had all finished our ice-creams now. Kai was the quickest even though he got his last. I really didn’t want to leave him but as if right on cue I heard someone shout.
“Tanisha, there you are. We’ve been looking all over for you.” I turned around to see Laura, Mia and James (we called him Jamie) walking up to us.
“I guess they found you then.” Kai said. I turned back to face him. He looked a bit disappointed. He checked his watch. “Just in time as well. I gotta go meet my uncle now. Thanks for helping me find Joey.” He said all of a sudden somewhat shy.
“That’s okay. He’s a cool kid. Thanks for the CD. Starbucks is just over there.” I said pointing in the direction. “I hope to bump into you again some time.” He laughed at my comment.
“Yeah, me too. See you around.” And with that he and Joey walked away. I turned back around to see my friends standing a little way away waiting for me. I walk over to them.
“Who was that? He was cute.” Mia said.
“Oh just some guy who I bumped into.” I answered trying to sound casual but not succeeding as I stared off dreamily thinking about him.
“Ooo look at that smirk on her face. She likes him.” Laura teased. “Earth to Tanisha. Snap out of it!” she said waving her hand in front of my face. “So what was his name?”
“Kai.” I loved the way that name sounded. “So where are the others?” I finally snapped out of my daydreaming state and realised this was only half of my friends. I looked over at Jamie who had been awfully quiet since they found me. He had an expression on his face that I couldn’t really make out. It was sort of irritated or jealous. But why would he be jealous? “What’s up Jamie?” I decided to find out what was wrong. He opened his mouth about to say something but then he stopped. He then decided to just say what was on his mind.
“How did you know that guy wasn’t some weird freak that was gonna do something to you? Where did you exactly go with him?” I was slightly annoyed. What brought on this sudden concern?
“He bumped into me when I was looking for you because he was looking for his cousin so I decided to help him find him. What’s it to you anyway?”
“He could’ve been lying.” He argued.
“No but he wasn’t lying. We found his cousin and he was just about to help me find you.” I said annoyed at his persistence. Laura and Mia stood beside us as shocked about his outburst as I was.
“Come on. Let’s go find the others now.” Laura tried to intervene. The tension was pretty high. Jamie started walking hurriedly and Mia went to catch up with him as Laura and I followed on behind.
“What was his problem?” I asked Laura when we were out of earshot of Jamie.
“Isn’t it obvious?” she said to me. It wasn’t obvious to me and I still didn’t understand why he was acting like that but I couldn’t be bothered to think about it anymore. I thought about Kai again and his amazing eyes.
“Ow.” I said as I fell backwards and my head hit the floor. I was winded by the weight of the clumsy person who fell on top of me and was feeling embarrassed at my own clumsiness. I hoped that only a few people saw this happen.
“Oh shit I’m so sorry. I’m such a klutz. Did I hurt you?” The person on top of me asked.
“Well it would help if you got off of me.” I choked out as he was putting pressure on my lungs.
“Oh right. Sorry.” He said getting up from the awkward position. He had a cute American accent and as he stood up, I took in his appearance. He had dark, almost black, straight hair that covered his eyes slightly. The ends were tinted dark blue. He was wearing a blue Clash t-shirt and some black skinny jeans with blue converse. He put his hand out to help me up. When I was standing upright again I saw that he was only a few inches taller than me which was quite short considering I was only five foot two.
“Did you hurt your head when you fell?” he asked me sounding concerned. I touched the back of my head and felt a bump that had risen from my fall.
“Well…erm…” I trailed off as I looked into his eyes for the first time. I was transfixed by them. I had never seen anyone with eyes so unusual and beautiful as his. In the centre they were brown but that faded into the most vibrant green which then faded into a bright blue. I was lost in these eyes. After a while, I don’t know how long because I had lost all sense of time whilst looking into his eyes, I realised I had been staring and hadn’t answered his question. I hoped that I hadn’t been staring for too long. I didn’t want him to think I was some weird freak. I looked away and blushed. “…erm... I got a bump on my head but I think I’ll live.”
I looked up at him and smiled so that he would know that I was OK even though my head did hurt a bit. He flashed me a gorgeous smile and then looked at the floor around us.
“Well let me help you pick up your bags then seeing as it’s my fault that you dropped them.” I looked down at my bags scattered on the floor. There weren’t that many and they didn’t really go that far but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to talk to this cute guy some more.
“Okay then.” I said as he began to pick up the bags and any other items that had fallen out of them. Just as he was going to pick up the last bag some idiot walked past and stepped on it. I heard a sickening crack as the contents of the bag broke. It was the bag that contained my newly bought 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours CD. He looked back at us with a smirk as he walked off.
“Hey asshole. Watch where you’re going next time.” Said the cute American guy. I still didn’t know his name. The idiot just flipped us off and carried on walking. “Stupid ass fuck.” He said under his breath, but not so subtly, as he stood up with my bags including the one with the now broken CD. I quickly took them from him and opened the CD bag to see the damage.
“Damn! It’s broken.” I said out loud as I took out the CD that was half cracked down the middle.
“I’m so sorry. That was all my fault. I’ll buy you a new one.” He said when he saw the CD in my hand.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was the idiot who decided to step on the bag. You don’t have to buy me a new one. I’ll just buy it again when I save up more money.” I said trying not to look too upset so as to not make him worry too much.
“If I didn’t bump into you and make you drop the bag in the first place it would never have got stepped on. You have to let me make it up to you somehow.” He said earnestly.
“Why were you rushing before we bumped into each other?” I asked curiously. He looked nervous all of a sudden.
“Well I came shopping with my uncle and cousin and my uncle let us walk around on our own for a while and I was supposed to be looking after my cousin but he disappeared.”
“You lost your cousin?” I asked in disbelief. “How old is he?” He thought about it for a while before answering.
“He’s about eleven I think.” He answered.
“Oh so he’s not too small then so it’s not as bad.” I said trying to make him feel a bit better about it.
“Well I still gotta find him before my uncle finds out otherwise he’s gonna kill me. Well not literally but near enough, and I don’t really know my way around this place because this is the first time I’ve been here.”
“I could help you find him if you want. I kind of know my way around and we can look in all the places a little kid would go.” Again I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to be with this guy for longer. My friends could wait for a while.
“Would you help me? That would be awesome.” Wow. I always wanted to meet someone who actually said awesome. “Wait. Why were you walking so fast as well?”
“I came shopping with my friends and we were about to leave one of the shops when I stopped to look at something. When I turned around they had all gone without me so I was trying to find them. It’s kind of bad really considering that we came here for my birthday and they didn’t even notice that they left me.” I said all very quickly.
“Is it your birthday today? Happy birthday.” He said to me.
“Thanks but it was yesterday. Shall we try to find your cousin then?” I said as I thought of the eleven year old walking around all by his self.
“Don’t you want to look for your friends?”
“They can wait. Your cousin is younger so we should look for him first.”
“Okay then. I’ll help you find your friends then after we find my cousin.” At least I wouldn’t be walking around like a loner then. “I just realised. I still don’t know your name.” Oh yeah. I still didn’t know his name either.
“I’m Tanisha.”
“That’s a pretty name. I’m Kai.” I blushed at his comment.
“Let’s start looking then.” I turned around to cover it up and started to walk in the direction we were going to look. He had to jog a bit to catch up because I left quite abruptly.
“So where are we going to check first?” He asked making conversation as he walked beside me.
“Well did you loose your cousin around this area?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
“Well the likely shops around here for a kid to wonder off into are the Lego Shop and Game and there might be a couple more. We’ll check the Lego shop first ‘cause it’s closest.” I pointed to it as it came into view. “What does your cousin look like?”
“Um…he has short, curly, brownish black hair brown eyes and he is wearing an orange t-shirt so he’ll be quite noticeable.”
“Oh okay. That would make it easier.” We got to the shop and went in. There were only a few people inside and no sign of a kid in an orange shirt. “Do you want to ask the cashier in case anyone has seen him?” He went up to ask while I looked around the shop. I always loved Lego when I was little. In the middle of the shop there was a cool life sized Lego model of R2D2 from Star Wars. I was looking at it when Kai came back to me.
“They say they haven’t seen him.” He sighed. “Wow, this is cool.” He said looking at R2D2. Just then I heard the ringing of a mobile phone. The ringtone was Ok Go’s - Here it Goes Again. Kai pulled out, from his pocket, an orange and white Sony Ericsson walkman phone and looked at the caller ID. “Oh shit. It’s my uncle. What do I say?” he looked at me with a worried expression.
“Just be cool. Don’t tell him that you’ve lost your cousin yet.” I offered. He answered the phone.
“Hello…” I heard the mumbling of the reply on the other end. “Yeah…Okay…We’ll be there…I think I can find it…Okay I’ll see you…Bye.” He ended the conversation his expression more worried than before. “He said he wants us to meet him at Starbucks in half an hour.”
“We better go find your cousin then.” I said as I began to lead the way out of the shop. This time we were going to Game. “Come on then the shops this way.” He followed on behind me walking fast now even more determined to find his cousin quickly.
We got into Game and again I looked for a kid in an orange shirt. I caught sight of a kid but he had blond hair. We looked around all the aisles with the various Playstation and Xbox games still with no luck.
“I’ll go ask if anyone’s seen him again.” Just as he began to turn away I saw a boy with an orange t-shirt and dark hair walk into the shop.
“Hey Kai.” I called him back. “Is that him?” I asked pointing to where the little boy was. Kai looked in the direction I was pointing and his face lit up in recognition as he realised it was his cousin.
“Yeah that’s him.” He said as he walked over to him. “Joey. Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” The kid, Joey, looked up when he heard his name and the familiar voice. He ran over to his cousin and hugged him when he realised it was him.
“Kai. Where did you go? We were in that shop and I went to look at something and when I turned around you were gone. I looked all around the shop and I couldn’t see you so I went to look in the other shops.” He said all in one breath. I walked over to where they both were.
“Well I was walking out of that shop and I thought you were behind me but when I turned around you weren’t there. I went back into that shop but I must have just missed you. Dude, don’t ever do that again. Make sure you stay with me at all times. Your dad would have killed me if I lost you…and my dad too. If it wasn’t for Tanisha…” he gestured towards me. “…I don’t think I would’ve found you.” Joey acknowledged me for the first time taking in my appearance and for some reason pausing at the green day band on my wrist for a bit longer.
“Tanisha this is Joey my cousin…” He said introducing me to Joey properly. “…and Joey this is Tanisha. I kind of bumped into her when I was looking for you.” I was sure I recognised the little boy from somewhere. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I shrugged it off and smiled.
“Hi. You had your cousin really worried. He ran straight into me when he was looking for you.” A smile crept onto Joey’s face.
“Ha ha Kai. You’re such a klutz. You can’t even walk properly without bumping into people.” He said which made me smile also.
“Hey it wasn’t my fault. I was looking for you.” He pouted and crossed his arms. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at how cute he looked. I had to snap out of it. I only just met this guy. “Oh yeah Joey. Your dad wants us to meet him in Starbucks in um…” He looked at his watch to check the time “…about twenty minutes. I’m so glad I found you before then.”
“Oh okay. Can we go get ice-cream first? Please.” He said emphasising the “eee” sound with a cheesy grin.
“Fine.” Kai sighed then turned to me. “Do you wanna go get ice-cream?”
“Er, I should be looking for my friends now. They’re gonna be wondering where I am.” I said reluctantly because I really didn’t want to refuse.
“We can get the ice-cream then I can help you look for your friends. Come on. No one can resist ice-cream.” He nudged Joey.
“Please.” Joey said with the cutest puppy dog eyes ever. This kid was good.
“OK fine, but we gotta be quick.” I finally gave in. “Millie’s over there sells nice ice-cream.” I said pointing towards it. Joey ran ahead and stood in the queue. We followed behind him. When we were in the queue I went in my bag to get my money but Kai stopped me.
“No. It’s okay. I’ll pay. You helped me find Joey. I’ll buy you ice-cream.” He pulled a five pound note out of his pocket. He handed me the money. “Can you buy the ice-creams? I need to go to the music shop quickly.” I took the money from him and he began to walk away.
“Wait. Which one do you want?” he turned back and looked at the list of flavours.
“Um…I’ll have…a double scoop of…mint chocolate chip.” He then left in a hurry.
“Ooookaay. Joey what would you like?” I asked the exited little boy.
“I want chocolate fudge delight.” He said without hesitation. “Please?” He added as an afterthought. It was our turn next in the queue.
“Hi can I have two double scoop mint chocolate chip ice-creams and one double scoop of chocolate fudge delight?” I said to the cashier. He typed it into the cash register.
“That’ll be four pounds sixty-five.” I gave him the money and he gave me back the change and then went to make the ice-creams. He gave us the ice-creams when they were ready and we went to sit on a nearby bench to wait for Kai. I decided to talk to Joey whilst we were waiting.
“So Joey. Do you live in America?” I asked him because of his accent.
“Yeah, I live in California.” He said.
“So how come you came to Milton Keynes shopping if you live in America.”
“Well Kai just moved with his family to a town near here, it’s called…um…Bedford, I think, and I came with my family to see his new house. We’re staying there for a couple of weeks. My dad brought me and Kai here because he’s been here before for um…work…yeah work.” He explained.
“Oh I live in Bedford too.” Just then Kai walked back to us holding a Virgin Megastores bag and eyeing the ice-cream in my hand.
“Oooo. Ice-cream.” He said as he ran up to me and grabbed the ice-cream out of my hand. He looked at it possessively and said, “Mine.” I laughed as he began to eat it as if it were the best thing in the world.
“What’s in the bag Kai?” Joey asked him. He stopped devouring his ice-cream for a second to look at the bag in his hand.
“Oh this is for you Tanisha.” He passed me the bag and carried on eating his ice-cream as if nothing had happened. I opened the bag to reveal a brand new and uncracked copy of 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours.
“Oh my gosh. You didn’t have to buy me this. It really wasn’t your fault. I can’t take this. You’ve gotta let me pay for it.” I said going into my bag to get my purse.
“No, no, no. Let’s just say it’s a late birthday present.” He said pushing the purse away.
“Wow you really didn’t have to.” I said again still shocked and happy.
“Let’s try to find your friends then.” He said gathering his things as I got up and gathered mine too. We had all finished our ice-creams now. Kai was the quickest even though he got his last. I really didn’t want to leave him but as if right on cue I heard someone shout.
“Tanisha, there you are. We’ve been looking all over for you.” I turned around to see Laura, Mia and James (we called him Jamie) walking up to us.
“I guess they found you then.” Kai said. I turned back to face him. He looked a bit disappointed. He checked his watch. “Just in time as well. I gotta go meet my uncle now. Thanks for helping me find Joey.” He said all of a sudden somewhat shy.
“That’s okay. He’s a cool kid. Thanks for the CD. Starbucks is just over there.” I said pointing in the direction. “I hope to bump into you again some time.” He laughed at my comment.
“Yeah, me too. See you around.” And with that he and Joey walked away. I turned back around to see my friends standing a little way away waiting for me. I walk over to them.
“Who was that? He was cute.” Mia said.
“Oh just some guy who I bumped into.” I answered trying to sound casual but not succeeding as I stared off dreamily thinking about him.
“Ooo look at that smirk on her face. She likes him.” Laura teased. “Earth to Tanisha. Snap out of it!” she said waving her hand in front of my face. “So what was his name?”
“Kai.” I loved the way that name sounded. “So where are the others?” I finally snapped out of my daydreaming state and realised this was only half of my friends. I looked over at Jamie who had been awfully quiet since they found me. He had an expression on his face that I couldn’t really make out. It was sort of irritated or jealous. But why would he be jealous? “What’s up Jamie?” I decided to find out what was wrong. He opened his mouth about to say something but then he stopped. He then decided to just say what was on his mind.
“How did you know that guy wasn’t some weird freak that was gonna do something to you? Where did you exactly go with him?” I was slightly annoyed. What brought on this sudden concern?
“He bumped into me when I was looking for you because he was looking for his cousin so I decided to help him find him. What’s it to you anyway?”
“He could’ve been lying.” He argued.
“No but he wasn’t lying. We found his cousin and he was just about to help me find you.” I said annoyed at his persistence. Laura and Mia stood beside us as shocked about his outburst as I was.
“Come on. Let’s go find the others now.” Laura tried to intervene. The tension was pretty high. Jamie started walking hurriedly and Mia went to catch up with him as Laura and I followed on behind.
“What was his problem?” I asked Laura when we were out of earshot of Jamie.
“Isn’t it obvious?” she said to me. It wasn’t obvious to me and I still didn’t understand why he was acting like that but I couldn’t be bothered to think about it anymore. I thought about Kai again and his amazing eyes.