Curly and Me ✣Narry✣ *COMPLETED*

Chapter 5

Harry and I looked up at the second floor of the Sundial Mall. It wasn’t the biggest mall in our side of the city but it certainly was the classiest. It was called Sundial Mall after, yep you guessed it, the big sundial that was the centerpiece of the mall. It sat slightly elevated in the midst of palm trees and remotely passable bushes that the original designer had tried but failed to base on a picture he found in a magazine called Garden Homes. He had long since switched professions to plumping where his materials at least had the decency to retain the shape he wanted despite the passage of time.

A huge glass dome wrapped around the mall’s center structure allowing light to enter. As nearly all stores in the inner sanctum wrapped around the sundial, most shoppers were acutely aware of how much time they had left before their next task, such as having to go home to prepare dinner for the kids (or in the younger generation’s case, how much time they had left before their mothers went home to prepare dinner and they could finally stop hiding in the arcades).

On a Saturday though, the sundial went mostly ignored as both parents and children gave little attention to time. Nothing important ever happened and Saturday, at least nothing that couldn’t wait until after the weekend.

“There it is, Hero. And wow, it looks pretty packed,” Harry pointed to a store which had banners with the words “Grand Opening” dangling across the entrance. A few people were milling around the entrance as though undecided if they should join the lines that stretched several stores away.

I felt slightly guilty being uncomfortable as Harry called me Hero. I mean, before that day, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But then…

“We should get up there if we want to try it before everyone else finishes the good flavors,” Harry said excitedly.

I shrugged. “Sure.” I felt almost indifferently to the new store. Harry was referring to a new gelato ice cream place that opened just that day. From what we heard, it would be the first sugar and fat free gelato ice cream to be served near our place. Naturally, people would flock to the allure of something new. Personally, I wasn’t so psyched about it because ice cream even if it was sugar and fat free was still ice cream which meant calories that could ruin my perfectly hot and sexy body. Ice cream was ice cream no matter what fancy name you gave it. However, Harry was excited over it as he loved anything sweet.

We made our way to the escalator that led to the second floor. As we were going up, Harry punched me in the arm. Well, I think it was a punch. It could have passed as a moderately strong pat. Barely. “What’s up with you,” he asked. “You’ve been all like quiet. You haven’t even given me a noogie, or a punch, or a slap.”

I chuckled. “Do you want me to?” I began flexing my muscles.

“No,” he said with a laugh as we got off the escalator and turned towards the direction of the store. We could see several dozen people lining up outside, crowding the corridor, talking excitedly. ”It’s just, you don’t seem like yourself today. How was practice?”

“Well, it was practice, I guess,” I said. I didn’t tell Harry what happened on the court and in the locker room. I had no intentions of doing that either.

“Yeah, sorry about missing it. I hope you didn’t miss me too much.”

“Why would I miss a hawk watching over me as I play? Or should I say mother hen?”

Harry grunted and pouted. “This is the thanks I get for all the time I’ve spent supporting you. Tsk. Tsk. You need to appreciate your fans more, especially your biggest one.”

“I appreciate my fans just fine thanks,” I said with a punch. I felt slightly better, maybe just a little pleased that Harry would say he was my biggest fan. It felt gratifying, and yet…