A Day Out [MEGAN]

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina Hay made her solitary way down the polished marble floor of the mall. It was a sunny day out, and a brilliant cerulean sky was visible through the skylight above the others that were circling the large cluster of stores, vacant expressions on most of their faces. Some, however had intensely focused looks on their faces, and Karina thought bemusedly, that she might just be one of these people. Because, she, Karina Hay, had a quest. When she thought of it as melodramatically as this, it sounded all the more important, so pleased with herself, she started the journey for a decent hardware store.

Karina passed Abercrombie and a few other select clothing stores, few of which actually deserved her attention. She passed them, staring straight ahead. She had not come to sit inside all day, especially on a glorious one such as this, to stop and browse at Gap, and simply goggle at Abercrombie, a slightly disgusted look on her face. But no, this was not at all her plan. She listened, distracted for a moment by the sharp click of her merrells against the floor. Yes, her ADHD would be kicking in about now, and she would do something rash. Most likely something that would get her thrown out of the store.

A slightly bemused expression appeared on Karina's face, and she walked on, finally discovering what she was looking for. Alas, my quest has been completed, she thought, the bemused smile turning into genuine satisfaction. She took a sharp left turn, and curved right through the automatic doors of the hardware store. Now, what exactly was she looking for? This was the hard part. She was naturally drawn towards the power tools, knowing the combination could be deadly. She grazed the aisles, taking the store in.

[Brenden Erickson]

He was only halfway done with his shift and he just wanted to get out of the hardware store. Of course, that was because there really was nothing to do today other then just sit there and watch either people walk by or help customers. But all of them had insisted that they didn't need help, of course maybe it was because all of them had just been in buying nails and things like that. Now, if somebody came in who was absolutely clueless about things then he'd be glad to help them out. Although it was written in stone that if any good looking people came in the store that everybody else had back off and let him talk to the girl in question. Now did this happen everybody, nope he was lucky if it happened once a month. He wasn't looking for a girlfriend, it was just that some of the people here just lost it if a decent looking girl came through the door. Of course, that person had been fired about a week ago after they almost dropped a whole box of who knows what on him.

It was just then that he spied a female who looked around his age looking at all of the different aisles. Aha, it appeared as if she needed assistance which meant that he could stop sitting at the counter being bored. He looked over at the person who was working at cash register, who he just happened to know since they'd went to high school together and were good friends. "I got this 'bellis I'll probably be back soon." He said and wondered if Scott ever got tired of being called 'bellis. Of course, his last name was Jacobellis and that was just too much of a mouthful most of the time. He straightened his maroon polo before making his way over to the girl. It was mandatory that he wore the shirt and he had about six of them in his closet. They certainly were not his favorite shirts in the world. He knew that he probably looked really odd since he had a slightly faded pair of jeans on and there was one of the "my name is" stickers on him. He'd written his name on it but it wasn't like anybody in the store didn't know him. Most of the people who came here were just regulars and knew that his name was Jake.

Then, he was right next to the girl. "Excuse me miss, but do you need any assistance?" He asked and hoped that she did need help with something, anything. He just didn't feel like sitting at the counter all day.

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina glanced upward, looking mildly surprised. "Oh, yes yes, that'd be lovely." She still gazed at him with raised eyebrows, then turned back to the drills she was examining. Honestly, she had no idea what she was looking for. She had just took one sweeping glance of the store, and realized it seemed that everyone had a task, and was working at it with an intensely concentrated expression on their faces. Of course, Karina didn't have a specific task in mind, but she had decided long ago, that if she appeared to be sucked in to a task, others would not realize how bored she got with new things. She felt she should confide in this polo-shirt wearing sales person, and spoke out of the corner of her mouth, as if not to disturb others that obviously had much more of an idea of what they were doing than herself.

"Well, the truth is, I have no idea what I'm doing here. My brother wanted some sort of drill to build some sort of nuclear device." Actually, she thought reasonably, the last part may not have been a lie. The inner workings of Galen Hay were often a secret to the rest of his family, and especially one of such hyperactivity as Karina. He seemed to worry she would 'mess things up.' "Really now," she said, speaking allowed, though mostly to herself. "I'm not that bad." She diverted her attention to a sharp looking object, a savage grin lighting her features for a moment, but then quickly replaced with one of slight regret. "My brother is correct. I should not be placed near sharp objects."

Karina's playful smile returned, and she felt her mood take another sudden upward turn. She hoped she was not being too erratic, as she rarely had control of these moods, and had taken to literally bouncing off the walls. A slight shrug brought her back to earth, and she waited eagerly for his help, or whatever he had to offer.

[Brenden Erickson]

Some sort of drill to build a nucular divice, well that would be rather hard to do. Although, perhaps if she could get into a little more deail about whatever the heck he wanted to build maybe he could be a little more help. Of course, if he wanted to make something that was illegal then he really couldn't be any help. "Really, well that's certainly interesting. But, one of the things that he'd probably need is a nice drill. The one that you're looking at right there is rather touchy. Most of them are located in aisle five and since I'm assuming that you'll be needing more help I'll just take you there." He said and then took a few steps toward the aisle before he realzied how he had just soudned. He turned to face the girl again and then made his way over to where she was. "And if you don't need any help, I'll just stand around acting like I'm doing someting. Because honestly, I don't feel like standing up there at the counter being bored." He said in a mock stage whisper before smileing at the girl and making his way toward the drills once again.

He noticed that Scott had moved away from the counter and was now nowhere to be seen. He'd been replaced by one of the new guys who he hadn't really talked to. Although, they had the apearance of somebody who read all of the time and had never dated in their life. Of course, he wasn't about to really judge him until he knew all about he person. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that this new kid was watching him, as if he'd give anything to trade places with him. Well, that wasn't about to happen since he was hoping that he could actually start a conversation with this girl.

((short but I got to go shower now))

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina grinned, and cocked her head at the man, as if taking him in. "Oh yes, I think help would be in order, but perhaps not particularly much of it. Then of course, it'd be lovely if you'd stand around pretending to do something, when in fact just sitting here, potentially talking to me. I'm really no one of interest though." Karina tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and looked at him with a characteristically polite expression. She was quite outgoing, and had no intention of leaving this store without perhaps getting to know this strange man first. She sighed, resisting the temptation to laugh, more out of her own oddness than anything.

I had a quest, and perhaps I fulfilled it, she thought to herself, quite satisfied. She enjoyed playing out her life, almost as if it were not her own, most dramatically, as if any little task was a journey for success. Perhaps it was this aspect of her personality that had driven her to live life to the fullest, and do well in everything she did. Karina was not one to give up, that was for sure. And if finding this drill was her next quest, then it would be completed, she thought, a satisfied grin replacing her coy smile of before.

[[sorry no muse... ]]

[Brenden Erickson]

Oh, he was sure that he could find something to talk to this girl about. Since they looked around the same age witch meant that he'd probably seen her around the college campus a couple of times. The newspapers still seemed to have a love affair with him, as Brenden put it. Since the newspapers still mentioned him constantly for some reason. He thought that they'd be all over Brenden, they were but it just seemed like they wanted to compare the two of them a lot of the time. But, he took his mind away from that and then thought back to what this girl had said. "Oh, I'm sure that I could find something to talk to you about." He said and then looked back and smiled at her before making his way over to the aisle where most of the drills were. The only ones that were not there were the brand new ones which were proudly displayed up front. Even then he knew that they were probably still in that aisle somewhere.

He entered the aisle and then scanned the shelves before he finally found the one that he was looking for. But the darn thing was way up at the top of the shelf. Well, at least he could grab it but he wondered who had moved the drills up there. They were a decent seller and at least a couple of them were sold every few days. Not to mention, it was the one that he always recommended and people usually trusted him. Nobody had ever had any complaints about the drill and maybe that was why people tended to trust him a little more then other people when it came to supplies. Of course, he didn't usually work around the power tools that much but his dad had enough of them around the house that he'd learned about them. Not to mention, he tended to closely examine the tools when he got really bored when he was here. It beat sitting up at the counter trying to figure out how many ceiling tiles there were in the store.

He hoped that he'd actually get to know this girl, she seemed nice enough. Not to mention it seemed like she wasn't one of those girls who were all over the place, confused about things. He couldn't stand people who complained about how confused they were. Saying you were confused was one thing but saying it fifty times was another thing.

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina's 5'10 frame came in handy when she was in fact reaching for a tallest shelf. She swept her eyes along the row of drills, not particularly sure what she was looking for. "Any in particular you'd recommend?" sounding for a moment as if she had suddenly ditched her ADHD self. Her tone was light, but her eyes were intense as she watched his every move. She tended to study people almost too closely, almost as if she were auditioning them. Really it was just a nervous habit, but some took it as otherwise and got nervous about the way her eyes followed every step they took. She shook herself mentally, and glanced up at the drills again, waiting for his reply.

In the mean time, Karina watched the large skylight, just visible from outside the store. A large cloud obscured most of it, but the blue sky peaked out, just barely visible in the corners. Karina then turned her eyes to the large clock on the wall, again, just taking note of the time. There was no need to hurry, so she shifted her weight to her other foot and waited, as patiently as one as hyperactive as Karina could wait.

[Brenden Erickson]

Oh yes, there was one that he liked and he'd just been waiting for her to ask that question. "Yes, there is one that I like and I think that it's one of the best ones that we have." He said and then reached up and grabbed the drill, it was relatively light. But he knew from experience that it hurt if you dropped one of you. Now he wasn't the one who had dropped one on himself the same person who had almost dropped a box on him had been the one of "magically" drop the drill they were holding and it had ended up hitting him in the back. It wasn't his favorite place to be hit with something since lately his back had been acting up. Probably from how much lifting he'd been doing lately since a few days ago it had been decided that they needed to move a whole shelf of things to another section of the store. He was glad that today, it appeared as if they would not be moving anything else. Since his back could use a day off.

He then held the drill out to her. "This is one of the best ones here and it's not really expensive either. And, if you don't like it or rather your brother doesn't we've got a sixty day return policy." He said and then wondered if he could start a conversation with this girl now that he got the drill issue squared away. He knew that Scott was probably in the next aisle listening in, but it didn't matter to him. Since he always was rather curious about the conversations that he had with customers. "You don't go to the college here do you?" He asked curiously since she didn't look as young as Brenden was. Ok, so his little brother wasn't that young since he was seventeen years old. But it wasn't like he was twenty one like he was. For some reason he thought that he'd seen this girl around the college campus before. Of course, maybe he was wrong but he would soon find out.

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina took the drill graciously, and held it loosely by her side. She had spaced out slightly, but was jostled out of her reverie by his question. "Me? Yes, well no. I go to college a little bit farther East, but I come back here for summers. We haven't lived here for too long, but I love it here. I don't know how I could ever leave." Lost in the pleasant memory of the Hay family departure from Cambridge, Karina's eyes glazed slightly.

The fighting had gone on for much too long. Yes, Karina was convinced of her father's alliance with gangs, but had not voiced her opinion, since she would most likely be told off by the rest of her family. She enjoyed the little house in the little neighborhood, in which everybody knew each other, and none were shunned. She loved elementary school, and Karina could picture her pony-tailed, blond-haired, seven year old self chatting happily with her friends, shedding the darkness of her home life. There she knew from experience to stay out of arm's reach from her father. It had become torture, truly. He was angry, she cried. It was the story of Karina's parents' relationship. However unfortunate, this was how it was, and Karina accepted it, believing it had no effect on her. Finally it was ended. Galen, Karina's genius brother, was deeply disturbed by their parents decision to break up. He was the younger of the two, and perhaps he did not know their father as well? Whatever the reason, Karina had strongly disagreed.

She mentally shook herself, half minded to apologize. She with held her brief explanation of where she had just dissapeared off to, and simply regained the look of interest in anything to do with him. She quite liked this stranger, although she wasn't particularly sure why. He had an easy going air about him, as if nothing could faze him. "What about you?" she asked finally, hoping to make up for her extended silence.

[Brenden Erickson]

Ok, so maybe he didn't know her from college then since he went to college here in town. Of course he knew that the high school was probably more well known then the college. Of course, the college was relatively new so that was probably one of the reasons why that was. "Well, I just go to the college here in town. I don't even live in an apartment either, I live with my parents. That's probably a good thing though since this way I can make sure that my younger brother isn't doing any of things that I said he isn't supposed to do." He said and wondered how much he sounded like a loser. Since he knew that most people would probably move out if they were given the choice of living at home or living somewhere else. Still, it wasn't like he was always at home in fact he was hardly at home. Since there was school, work and then the occasional party that he went to. When he was home he usually was studying or sleeping.

"I'm one of those people who has lived here their whole lives and so far I've attended two years of college here also. I've been working here for four or five years now. Of course, I alternate between here and another hardware store downtown." He said and wondered how new this girl was. Perhaps he would end up asking around about her but he knew that he probably wouldn't get any information on her. Besides, he really wasn't the type of person who would ask people what a new person was like or where they came from. Since they could get that information wrong, usually he was the one who needed up meeting all of the new people. It was then that he wondered if he should introduce himself to this girl, since it seemed a little odd to be talking to her when he didn't even know her name. Of course, she'd probably read the stupid sticker that was on his shirt by now so she most likely knew his name already.

"My name's Jake by the way, of course it kind of has to be since that's what is written on the my name is sticker." He said and then pointed to it, he really wished that hadn't ended up running over his actual name tag a week ago. Everybody else had actual name tags, and he'd ended up paying for a new one which wouldn't be in for about another week yet. He was not running over the new one either, from now on he'd make sure it didn't fall off of the pile of things he ended up bringing with him.

[SPOTLESS ™]

"Yep, those younger siblings, slippery little bastards eh?" It didn't really register to Karina what she had just said, and she continued on as if she hadn't sworn in front of a complete stranger. Further more, the miss-use of that word was unfortunate, but this unpleasant abyss of over complicated analysis had passed over Karina's head, and she now cocked her head, thinking of a proper response to his dialogue. Karina returned to her somewhat spaztic manor, and answered in the tone of one needing to say a lot of things in a limited amount of time. "My name's Karina Hay," she said, slowing down from her rushed manor to push hair out of her eyes. Then for just a moment, she sounded normal.

"When do you get off?" she asked, as casually as her personality could handle. Some days, Karina felt like a child stuck in a woman's body, and itched to get out of this stiff adult world, in which not much was tolerable. It was simply a scar of her disorder, as was her need to move, and her erratic moods. Perhaps she didn't have control of these. In fact, sometimes it hurt her to realize that she couldn't control her mood swings, and for once, she wished she could just be a normal 20 year old, going through all the trials and tribulations of college life. This would never be true, but for a moment she could hope.

She thought for a moment of her brother, of their childhood relationship and how close they had been. He had been the only one who had understood her quick changes of mood and hyperactive talking sprees. Would he be the only one who ever did? Again, she thought, with a slight smirk, this digression into her own mind was completely out of her control. She almost needed to apologize for being so absent minded, and simply drifting off into her own little world.

[Brenden Erickson]

Brenden was hard to keep track of most of the time, of course that was because he usually ended up going out in the woods or something and usually wasn't at the parties. Of course, that was probably because he knew that he'd have his older brother watching him like a hawk. Although he knew that things probably would change this year and he really would have to watch Brenden as close as he possibly could. Now, it wasn't just Brenden that he watched. He watched his younger sister and made sure that she wasn't around any of the guys that he didn't approve of. There only were a few guys that he would allow Holly to go out with and she knew that. Of course, she didn't know who any of those guys were unless Brenden decided to tell her. Of course, he just might have let it slip about one of them and that was the one that he really wanted Holly to go out with. Now was he going to tell a complete stranger that, well no. "Brenden can be rather hard to follow at times but my younger sister is hard to watch sometimes too. Not to mention it's hard to watch both of them at the same time." He said and then consulted his watch to answer her second question.

"I actually get off in about ten minutes or so. But I probably could leave early, not to mention I have to change. There's no way I'm walking around in this shirt." He said and then looked around the store again. He was really glad that he didn't have to work until eight or nine o'clock tonight. Especially since he had a slight idea of what this girl was thinking about when she had asked him that question. Now would he go with her if she asked him, yes. Would he ask her if she wanted to do something, well it all depended on things but he most likely would unless she asked him first. He didn't care if he was the one to make the first move and it didn't really matter if he was the one who made the last move either. He really wanted to go out the the club tonight though since he hadn't been there since college had ended for the summer. Although, he could easily be persuaded not to go by the right person of course.

He knew that if he went to the club tonight that he wouldn't be able to watch his younger siblings to make sure they didn't sneak off to some party. But if they showed up at one somebody would end up calling him and telling him that one of them (or both, he knew Holly tagged along with Brenden a lot) was there. Of course, they'd probably be calling to ask why he wasn't there. Yet it wasn't like he could watch both of them all of the time and he did leave them alone to do their own things a lot of the time, but he did ask them where they were going.

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina smiled, nodding at his description of his younger siblings. "Well you've sure got it bad. My baby brother is 18, which makes me think he's not so much of a baby any more. He just turned 18 though. So I figure he can take care of himself," she said, her smile turning into a sort of mischievous smirk. "At least for one night," she added, reasonably. "Really he's a soft little guy." She thought for a moment of Galen, his mysterious inner workings, and his relatively withdrawn personality. The exact opposite of his older sister. Karina was about to make that apparent to anyone having any doubts about their differences.

She looked thoughtful for a moment at his next response, then her smile returned. "Let's go dancing," she said, an uncharacteristically wild look in her eye. She was almost taken aback by the way she had said it, and stumbled over her words, hastily changing the wording of her invitation. "I mean, maybe we could head to the club or something. I'm not doing anything tonight, schools out so why not?" She had a pitifully hopeful expression on her face, almost angry at herself by blurting what she had. She inhaled and exhaled, collecting herself.

"Okay, so that wasn't how I expected it to come out," she said, making a sort of disappointed expression at her own behavior. "But if you want to, I think it would be fun. What do you say?"

[Brenden Erickson]

"Well, Brenden isn't going to turn eighteen until February and Holly is fifteen. Both of them go out to different places and I swear they're home about as much as I am." He said and then wondered where they heck Brenden would be now. Considering what time it was he probably was hanging out with his friends somewhere and it really would not surprise him if he found Brenden at the club. Of course he wouldn't be mad at him since it wasn't like he could tell him not to go. Well, he could but it wasn't like he'd be punished for going. Unless Brenden decided to be like his older brother and wake up one morning during their senor year and find out that the top of their right ear had been pierced while they were completely out of it. That hadn't been a very fun thing to wake up to and he really did regret passing out. Now did his parents approve of underage drinking, nope but his dad hadn't really stopped him. Of course he knew why that was, he'd heard stories about the wild parties that went on when his dad was in school and knew that he'd been at most of them. Since he'd been the one to tell him about some of them. But now that he was twenty one it wasn't like he'd be breaking any law if he consumed alcohol now.

Actually, now that he was thinking about the whole drinking thing it seemed like he hardly touched alcohol now. He heard her question and was glad that she'd asked him that. But, she didn't have to be embarrassed by how things had came out. He liked people that were bold and not afraid to ask somebody if they wanted to go out dancing. "Yes I'll go with you, just as long as you don't get all jealous if a whole bunch of girl try dragging me off. Number one, it's not going to work and I'm not the kind of person who would abandon the person I came with unless there was as good reason to. Number two, once they realize I'm not going to be dragged off they'll probably go away hopefully." He said and then glanced at his watch, he could officially leave now. "Well, if you go and check out I should be back from changing by then." He said before trying to think of something else that she should be aware of.

Aha, there was one other thing that he probably should tell he but it wasn't that important. "By the way, you know that I'm not the type of person who's going to dance once and then sit around all night right? I've got a reputation to hold up that consists of a few things. The first thing is that a few years back somebody said that I'd be able to dance to any song and look decent doing it. Well, I supposedly did and now people always are begging me to dance to some song. Now will I take them up on that tonight, it depends. The other things are not really important at the moment." He said and smiled at her before realizing that he probably needed to get out of here before somebody tried to convince him to work another shift. "Well, I'll see you in a few minutes I better to change before people try and get me to work more." He said before setting off at a jog toward the back entrance.

[SPOTLESS ™]

Karina was left trying to digest the information he had just given her. "Okay, reputation, fierce dancer, I can do this," she muttered to herself, and made her way to the check out. There was no line right now, as most stores were closing, or were near to closing, and she checked out quickly, thanking the gangly teenager at the desk. She glanced at the clock, figuring Jake would be back in a few moments. "I've got time," she said, slipping in to the bathroom and trying to make herself look slightly less tired, as if she wasn't worn out from a long day. But the prospect of going to a club excited her, and she hastened to pull long chestnut locks into a shining knob at the top of her head. A few strands hung loose of the bun, and framed her face. She glanced down at her clothing, which was composed of a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, and an embroidered tank top. "What the hell," she said, shrugging at her appearance, and coming back out of the bathroom with a smile.

She waited for Jake, her stomach fluttering slightly. Karina knew, more than anything, she wanted this night to be a fun excursion into rule breaking, for mostly her, who, like her brother had a certain goody goody exterior. Although Galen was quite a bit more introverted then she, they were compared all too often. Now, Karina thought, the same satisfied, excited smile on her face she had worn before, she could prove others otherwise. She felt her breath come in sharp bursts, and her mood maintained it's brilliant high. She waited, fingering her bag that now held the new drill anxiously.