I've Dreamed Of You, My Dear

XVIII

I feel my shoulder being shook lightly, and Tobias' soft voice breaks me out of my slumber.
"Allie, wake up." I rub my eyes and turn to face him as he continues, "You said you wanted me to wake you up when I wanted to make our late night run to the mall, and it's half passed midnight so I thought now is as good of a time as ever."
"Hmmph, ok. Just let me change into something comfy before we go." I start walking to my room but stop before I reach the stairwell remembering that my bag want brought it.
"Don't worry, while you were sleeping I brought your bag in for you and sat it in your room." Tobias says leaning on the arm of the couch.
"Thank you!" I call down the stairs as I reach my room and start looking through my bag for something comfortable to wear.
Eventually settling on an oversized Rammstein shirt and skeleton leggings I change my clothes then grab my jacket and walk downstairs.
"It took you long enough." Tobias jokes moving away from where he was standing before I got upstairs. "I love your outfit choice though, it really fits you."
"Thanks, I wasn't trying to please you with my style choices though. Now can we go?" I ask growing impatient. "I want to see if we can get kicked out of more stores."
"Let's not do that." He advises.
"I won't." I say sounding disappointed.
"Good." Tobi states unlocking the car and getting in.
I follow suit and put on my seatbelt. We make small talk about random things that come to mind, and our topic somehow ends up on unicorns.
I laugh, "Who knew that someone as metal as you would talk about unicorns?"
"Look who's talking, little miss hardass." Tobi retorts.
"Just because I'm shorter than you, by only four inches I might add, does not automatically make me little. Same goes for my age, I might be 23, and you 36, but I'm not a little kid." I end my rant, and think of the best way to sum up what I'm trying to get at, "Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm not little."
"If you say so." Tobias says.
"Well, I do so." I trail off then stick my tongue out acting childish which makes Tobi laugh.
"Are we almost there yet?" I complain.
"We have about ten more minutes until we get there." he says as he switches lanes.
"Why is it taking so long?"
"Because, we don't live right next door to the mall." He responds. I groan and his my head back against the headrest, "But I'm tired, and just want to wreck havoc at the mall."
"What did I tell you about getting kicked out of anymore stores?" Tobi asks sounding like Dad.
"That it's not a good idea." I reply with a flat tone quoting him, "You sound like my dad."
"Thanks." is all Tobias replies while getting off of the highway, turning into the parking lot of the mall and parking in a spot next to a median and a hard shell jeep.
We both get out of the car and I walk to Tobi's side. He reaches over and holds my hand not saying anything.
"Awe, is Tobi grumpy that I said he sounds like my dad?" I poke his cheek.
"No, I'm not grumpy. You're just being a pain, so I'm being one back." He says defending himself.
"Oh." I reply, remembering the picture that Dad took of Tobi and i, which he had sent to me. "Hey, guess what?"
He turns his gaze towards me, "What?"
"So remember when you first came to my house and both Dad and Richie thought we were dating?" I ask pulling my phone out of my pocket.
"Yeah, I do, it was the day I met them.' He recalls.
"Well, Dad took a picture of you and I and it actually looks really nice." I say showing him the picture.
"You weren't kidding when you said it's a good picture." He comments, "You should send it to me."
"I will." I say going through my contacts and send him the picture before placing my phone back in my pocket.
His phone dings, and he glances at the screen smiling. "Its from you."
"I've never seen someone get so smiley when they get a text from me," I laugh, "especially if I'm right next to them."
"Maybe I'm just weird?" he shrugs, "So what store do you want to go to? Or do I even have to ask?"
I shake my head and he sighs.
"To Hot Topic it is then."
I follow Tobi to Hot Topic, still not being entirely familiar with the lay out of the mall. A grin makes it way onto my face as I walk into the store with him.
"You look like a kid in a candy store." A female employee with bright pink hair says through a thick Swedish accent with a wink, "It's always nice to see people in here like you. Anyways, my name is Alice, feel free to let me know if you need anything."
As Alice was talking, Tobias' grip on my hand tightened. Once we are out of Alice's earshot, I press him about it.
"What was that all about?" I ask, "You seemed to turn a bit possessive there, were you jealous or something?"
His face begins to turn a light shade of pink, "N-no, I wasn't" he stutters then looks down and begins to mumble, "Ok, maybe I was, but only a little bit."
"Awe, Tobi got jealous!" I tease.
He sighs then lets go of my hand.
"No!" I whine and pout, "You were keeping my hand warm and now its cold."
"You poor thing." He replies patting my head then continues with, "Sorry your hands are cold, but that's what pockets are for."
"You smart ass." I comment.
"My ass isn't smart, I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Tobias laughs.
"Oh shush, now come on, let's raid this place for some cool shit." I say pulling him along with me as I search around the store for things that I find appealing.
As I move through the empty spaces in the store, my eyes land upon a "Hail Satan and Drink Coffee" Black Craft Cult sweater. I let out a small scream from excitement.
"Oh my god, Tobi, I need that sweater!" I say pulling at his sleeve with the hand that isn't holding onto his.
"Well technically-" He begins, but I cut him off.
"No getting technical with me Mr." I scold in a childish voice grabbing the sweater and walking to the cash register with it.
Alice, who seems to be the only person in the store greets me with a warm smile which I kindly return. When I get to the register Tobias comes up from behind and gently wraps his arm around me to not hurt my ribs, then kisses my cheek which causes Alice's smile to drop.
She scans the sweater then places it into a bag as I pay for it.
"Have a nice day." she says glaring at Tobi.
He just laughs as we walk out of the store. "Did you see the look she gave me?"
I laugh with him, "Yeah, she was pissed. Why did you do that anyways?"
"As you figured out, I was jealous, and I kinda just let that get the best of me." He sheepishly admits.
"Oh Tobi." I coo pulling him into a hug. "You don't have to get jealous about certain people flirting with me. I don't think I'll ever get in a relationship anyways."
"Why do you think that?" He returns the hug.
"I don't know, I just don't think I've found 'the one' yet." I say which causes Tobi to frown, I then go on with my thought, "I mean, I have an idea of someone who might be that person, but even though they act a certain way with me I'm not sure if it's just an act."
Tobias hums, and looks as if he's lost in thought as we begin to walk around the mall. He then clears his throat so I look up at him instead of ahead where we're walking.
He takes a deep breath and begins to speak, "You know, whoever the person is, if they're just putting on an act then they're really dumb. You are such a great person, and no one should tamper with your trust like that because that's just messed up."
"I don't really know how to respond." I say thinking 'if only he knew the person I was talking about was him.'
"I wasn't really expecting a reply love, me saying that was more just me getting my opinion through." He says, his tone calming a bit from before when he was going on his rant.
"Ok. So," I trail off, "where to now?" I say walking to the map of the mall, looking over the stores here.
"How about we take a trip to Spencer's?" He asks.
I groan, "Hell no, I don't want a repeat of what happened last time."
"That won't happen again this time, I promise." Tobi assures.
"Fine, as long as you don't do that again." I sigh, remembering the disturbing scene that was displayed before me when we went to the mall back in Denver.
"Yay!" He cheers as we walk to the graffitied garage door styled entrance of Spencer's.
Tobias and I split up, him going to the back of the store and me staying in the front.
"He said he wouldn't be a perv this time." I mumble to myself looking at the hats they have.
"Allie, look over here." I hear Tobias call me over and I hesitantly make my way to him.
He has his hands behind his back, making me suspicious about what is going through his mind.
"What?" I say standing next to him.
"I have an idea of what we can do with these." He says in his Papa Emeritus voice holding up fuzzy handcuffs.
I feel my face quickly heat up, "Bad Tobi, you said you wouldn't be inappropriate." I scold.
He puts his hands up in front of his face, "I never said that, I just said that I would do what I did last time. But I meant the handcuffs for cops and robbers you dirty minded child."
"Wow." I drag out the 'o,' "I did not expect that from you."
"Well, the world is full of surprises isn't it?" He claims placing the handcuff down where he got them.
"Yes it is." my mind gets clouded by lascivious thoughts as I think back to Tobias going Papa III mode just a few moments ago. Shaking my head I snap out of my little trance, "Ok, I've had enough of this store. Let's go see if we can find another place that won't scar me for life."
Tobi whines, "But I like this store."
"I know you do, but I wanna go to a different store." I say motioning for him to follow me, "Unless you want to stay here while I go look around at different stores. Maybe I can even go back to Hot Topic and talk to Alice."
He rolls his eyes then walks over to me, "You know that's not something to say to someone that's jealous of a person right?"
I hug him, "I know, but I just wanted you to come with me and it worked didn't it?" I say smiling victoriously.
"It did," He admits, "but still."
"Quit being so grumpy." I lecture.
"I'm not grumpy." He protests, "Now, where would you like to go?"
"I'm kinda hungry, how about a late-night/early-morning snack?" I question.
"Sounds good, let's go!" He says holding his arm out like superman while walking to the food court.
When we get there I scan the room looking for a decent vendor to eat from, but stop looking once I see a Merry Go Round. My face immediately lights up in delight and I run towards it.
"Goddamn you, stop running." Tobias says chasing after me.
"Never!" I yell back at him as I pay the controller of the Merry Go Round then get on it.
Tobias also pays the person and gets on standing next to me as I get on a bright blue bunny. He helps my up then places his hand on my hip as he wraps an arm around me.
"You really do act like a kid sometimes." He comments.
I give a toothy grin, "I know, but you love me anyways."
Tobi just smiles in reply and watches as I act like a child. The loud speaker starts going off as a voice speaks over it.
"Attention all shoppers, the mall is now closing everyone needs to leave."
"No!" I whine as Tobias pulls me off the bunny. "I don't want to leave!"
He moves so he's giving me a piggyback ride and I wrap my arms around his neck so I don't fall, "I know, but we have to go."
"Fine." I say laying my head against his back, closing my eyes.
"Don't fall asleep while I'm carrying you Allie, we're almost to the car." Tobi advises.
I yawn, "I don't plan on it."
We get to the car and Tobias sets me on my seat. I let out a small groan, the feeling of being tired hitting me like a ton of bricks.
Laying down my seat I take off my jacket and use it as a blanket, "I'm going to sleep, wake me up when we're home."
"I will. Now just sleep, you need it."