hi guys, just wanted to let y'all know i have been updating my chapters and fixing some things with this book. i felt like i was dragging on my chapters and they were too short. so i combined a few to make my chapter count lower. nothing has changed with the plot line, but i just combined some chapters together to make one super chapter lmao. might not make sense, but basically i had too many chapters that were veryyyyy short. so i combined them and made them longer. hope this clears up any confusion with my chapter number count. but hope y'all enjoy this chapter!!
chapter twenty two: aey, oh, let's raid the music store
We all watch with a careful eye, as James coolly strides his way past the cassette isle. All of us, not including James, squat down behind a semi-tall shelf that held older vinyls that reeked of dust. All of us squat down and shimmy close to each other to prevent us from getting seen or caught by any of the employees.
"Everyone okay?" Kirk says as we all huddle close.
"I'm okay, you guys?" I say looking around at everyone packed together.
"It's all good over he- OH MY GOD CLIFF!" Erin shrikes, "Get down, people can probably see you!"
"See wha-?"
Erin reaches around Lars and yanks Cliff to the ground. Landing on his back with a hard thump, Cliff hops up and positions himself on his knees.
Cliff's face begins to boil with anger, "What was that for?!"
"You weren't getting low enough and your head was practically peeking over the shelf!" Erin reaches over and slaps Cliff on the shoulder.
"He can't help it if he's a twelve foot tall giant! Leave him alone!" Lars says in a tempestuous tone.
Cliff rolls his eyes, "I am six feet tall, dumbfuck."
"Guys, shut up! Can we just get out of here without you guys fighting?!" Kirk practically spits.
"Then why don't you tell the Jolly Green Giant to get down!" Erin begins to argue with Kirk. I can practically feel time ticking away. I can feel the short, sweet moments we have of being together, away from the place that trapped us, being wasted away over a stupid fight. But the more and more we argue, the quicker we could get caught.
"Do you want us to get busted?!" I pipe in separating the semi-unpleasant fight resonating between my best friends, "Can we just get the fuck out of here?!
"Lelia is right, let's just drop this so we can get the hell out of here."
Lars surprises me when he speaks up first. I would never expect him to take my side first, even before Kirk.
The cashier stands sternly behind the counter and keeps a careful eye on all of the customers coming in and out of his store. He flaunts the stern expression on his face that resembles the look of an angry old man, a grandfather perhaps. I watch a and the line of busy customers, eagerly wait in the long line with their handpicked items. Beyond James, is the front door and he is only steps away. Swiftly, he takes a look to the right and nods at the older looking gentleman at the cash register.
"What is he doing?!" Erin pipes in a low wiper, "He just wants to get busted, huh?"
"James is fine, he looks normal to me." Kirk resorts.
Before we could comprehend it, James already walked through the propped open front door and made it swiftly and safely outside the music store. With fists thrown in the air, gleeful hops off the concrete and a bright heroic smile plastered across his face. James smiles and gives us a thumbs up.
Small and quiet cheers fill our private vicinity and we all turn, giving each other high fives. Patiently, we wait half a minute before Erin leaves us. With confidence and maturity radiating from her soul, she struts down the small walk space and past the cashier. She nods her head at the man working behind the counter and ruffles her hair in her hands and elegantly walks out the door, joining James.
"Way to not make it obvious, Erin." Cliff says and the other boys laugh, but I don't partake in the joke. Instead, I take mental notes of Erin's scheme and find a way to force it into my private plan. We wait a little longer and it was then Cliff's turn. Cliff doesn't bother to even look up from the ground when he walked out of the store. Rather making himself seem like he obviously shoplifted, he covers up his motives with pulling out a cigarette from his breast pocket of his denim vest and lighting it before he left the store.
It wasn't a big deal that Cliff was smoking because the store was now starting to reek of weed. So seeing a guy smoking a cigarette didn't seem uncommon to the other shoppers.
I begin counting down from thirty in my head and begin to get into character. I smooth out my shirt, tuck my hair behind my ears and and adjust my necklace. Only fifteen more seconds left, only twelve more seconds left and I feel strong arms grab my waist from behind. Ignoring the distinct arms, holding me back, I start to stand up and feel the arms coming with me.
"Kirk, let go!" I whisper and shake my hips under his grip.
I feel a head lay on my back, "I'm coming with you."
"No, we have to stick to the plan! We could get caught!"
Turning around, Kirk let's go and drops back to the ground. By now the thirty seconds are up.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, no two people have walked out of the store at the same time yet. If we walk out looking casual, nobody will suspect anything."
Lars nudges my shoulder, "Lelia, go!"
Sharp whispers grab my attention and I lock eyes with my friends outside the door.
James is furiously pointing at his watch, meanwhile Erin is waving her arms, reading her lips she is saying, "your time is up!" Cliff stands behind them, back faced to the door as he is still working on his cigarette.
"Pleaseeee." Kirk says and his same arms are tightly gripped around me, "Please don't leave me alone with Lars."
"Fock you!" With a hard grunt, I feel Kirk's body weight crash hard against my back and I have to quickly balance myself from toppling over. I knew Lars had to have pushed Kirk.
"Fine, just don't make it obvious."
Kirk stands up quicker than I can and he lends a hand down to pull me to my feet. I smile once he locks fingers with mine and before I could comprehend it, Kirk had his arm around my neck and we were almost halfway out of the store.
"So dove, what do you say we catch some dinner after this?!" I can tell Kirk is putting on an obvious fake accent and it takes all my might not to laugh.
"I would love that, honeybuns!" I follow his scheme and I could tell he was holding back the laughter too.
Once the cool and refreshing nighttime air simmer my emotions, Kirk and I finally share our long awaited laugh.
"Really, honeybuns?!" Kirk wheezes and I grasp my chest.
"You're trying to say 'dove' was better than honeybuns?! I would say my nickname was better!"
"Fine, you win this one, but don't be surprised when I come up with cuter nicknames than you."
"Wanna bet, Hammett?" I surprise Kirk when I pull him to my side and swing my arm across his neck, just like he did to me.
"Are you challenging me, Samuel's?"
I swoon at the deepness of Kirk's voice and cover up my obvious blushing with a seductive grin, "It's only a challenge if you make it one."
"What do you say we finish off this challenge in the back of the van." I choke on my spit and I cross my legs together.
"I like that kinda challenge." I grin, leaning into kiss Kirk, but stop right before our lips touch. I copy Erin's same movements from earlier and leave him behind as I walk back to the van.
"Oh, you come back here!" Frantic footsteps come from behind and a body twice the size of mine, practically tackled me to the ground and sweet kisses showered all over my neck and shoulders.
"Yo, Dove and honeybuns!"
Our laughter stops and we suddenly realize what is still going on, "Losers! We still need to wait for Lars!" Erin cackles.
"Oh right, him." I say somberly and drop my arms to my sides. With disappointment plaguing our faces, Kirk and I join our misfit friends once more.
"It should be time for Lars to come out now." James says as he and Cliff peer down at his watch.
"Just hope he doesn't fuck it up." Cliff says.
We all watch as Lars stands up from the spot. From outside, Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones begins to play on the speakers inside the store. Lars beings to sing along to the song and we could all tell, he began to loose focus on our plan.
"Aey, oh, let's go!" Lars begins to dance now and has managed to grab the attention of a few shoppers and the clerk behind the desk!
James let's out a girly shriek, "What is he doing?!"
"That fucker, should I go in and grab him?" Cliff says, beginning to walk back into the store.
"No!" Kirk pulls Cliff back and we can't help but watch the tragic shit-show going on before our very eyes.
Lars begins to dance in circles and clap his hands in the air, making himself look like the biggest moron out of all of us.
Some customers inside the store begin to cheer for Lars and I bury my head in Kirk's shoulder, cringing in embarrassment.
"Lars!" Erin claps her hands and he is unable to hear us over his loud singing and the blaring of the song inside the store.
"Oh god!" The return of James' girly voice comes back as the clerk behind the desk steps away from the counter and stands next to Lars on the showroom floor with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.
"We are dead, we are so, so dead!" Erin runs her hands through her hair and beings to pace.
Kirk and I do not let go of each other's hands as we are shielded behind Cliff.
"Well, it was nice knowing Lars." Cliff says as he lights up another cigarette.
Watching Lars' ridiculous dance moves, he jumps in the air, throwing his arms around to the punk-rock song.
"Blitzkrieg bop!" He sings and jumps in the air again, but what comes out of him, is nothing more than excitement and joy, out comes out, tucked under his shirt, was everything he stole landing on the ground with a clatter, right in front of the store clerk.
We didn't say a word, we all knew we were truly fucked.
Lars doesn't initially realize all the stuff came out, he still danced and sang like nothing happened. The five of us watched as the store clerk walked away and left Lars and his stolen items alone.
We all knew the clerk was doing something up to no good.
Lars jumped again and he finally realized he didn't land safely on the ground. Instead he landed on all of his stolen needs.
Lars peers down, then then all of his friends standing out the door. He quickly bends down and tries to pick up his stuff, but it wasn't worth it at this point.
"You fucking idiot, let's go!" Cliff screams followed by Erin and James cursing out Lars. Kirk and I took one look at each other and begin to slowly walk away from the group and get our head start out of there.
Lars runs so fast out of the store, with only a few stolen belongings in hand, he quickly stuffs them down his pants.
"Lars, what the fuck, bro!" James shoves Lars into Cliff and that eggs everyone else on.
"I'm sorry, I got distracted!" Lars pants and dabs his forehead with his sleeve
"Sorry?! You ruined our fucking plan!" Erin spits.
"C'mon, let's just go!" Kirk speaks but is not easily heard over the screaming of others.
I focus my attention inside the store, seeing if the clerk was going to do anything or just simply ignore it. But, shockingly, the clerk returns, with nothing more than an evil grin and a shotgun.
"Guys." I say only getting the attention of Kirk.
"Guys!" The arguing stops and everyone draws their attention to me.
"I think we have one more thing to worry about." We all look inside the store and the clerk cocks his shotgun and strides closer and closer to us.
I gulp and Kirk wraps his hand tightly around mine.
"You have approximately five seconds to get out of here, before I shoot you dead. Do you understand me?" The clerk says with anger ridiculed in his tone.
"Do you want you stuff back then?" Lars says and digs his hand down his pants.
"Lars!" Cliff backhands Lars on the side of his head.
"Get out of here!" He aims his gun at Lars and it doesn't take us more than enough time to turn on our heels and get the hell out of there.
Luckily, the van wasn't parked too far away and it was only in a short distance. We all hauled ass and ran as fast as we could away from the store. Kirk and I never let our hands go as we ran through traffic and the other pedestrians casually walking by. Once we made it to the van, we all stopped for a short moment to catch our breath.
Well, we all stopped, but we soon realized we were missing one person.
"Wait, where is Lars?!" Kirk shouts and we all look around for the missing fiend.
"There he is!" James screams and Lars is at least a few yards from behind us.
Lars stays bent over, his hands on his chest as he pants heavily.
"I'm gonna go get him." Cliff determinedly says and run backs for Lars
"Cliff, no!" I shout but it doesn't stop him from running over and saving his best friend.
"I said get out of here!" The familiar and angry voice of the clerk shouts. We all scream as a gunshot is fired just over Lars' head as he bends down just in time to miss the bullet.
We all scream for Cliff and Lars and Kirk let's go of my hand to help his friends out.
"Kirk!" I scream as I watch him run across the street and almost get hit by a car, just to save his friends.
I scream his name once more and I find myself almost chasing after him. Two muscular arms pull me back and I realize I am in James' grip.
"Lelia, no!"
I kick and squirm under his grip but it doesn't help that James is double my size and can easily hold me under his grip without even trying.
I stop once I see Cliff holding Lars over his shoulder and Kirk shielding Cliff on his side. With Lars on Cliff's shoulder and Kirk at his side, both of them run back to us as quick as they could.
"Is Lars okay?!" Erin shrieks as Lars had not been moving.
"I'm just tired!" He reassures us and I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Kirk pants and another shot is fired.
Quickly filing in the van, Kirk and I hop into the front seat and everyone finds their places in the back. Starting the van, I slowly pull out of the parking space when another gunshot hits the left rear-view mirror, right next to me and shatters the glass completely.
Kirk tugs me down and he lands over me on the seats, shielding from anymore gunshots that could easily strike any of us in the van.
I close my eyes and I know it's finally my time. Great, good to know I die by getting shot by a music store owner.
"Someone look and tell us if it's clear!" Kirk screams and we wait a few moments.
"He's gone, let's go!" James shouts.
I quickly pull out of the parking space and speed down the road, not looking back. Kirk doesn't reassure me like he normally does and I know he is shook up. James doesn't have a comeback remark. Erin has no smart mouth thing to say and Cliff has nothing to say like usual. Meanwhile, Lars can't do nothing but recover mentally and physically from what he just endured. Nobody speaks, nobody says a word. All we know is we just escaped death and Rosewood, now it's time to go back to our temporary home.