Page 5 of Haunt the Mall
The punk guy placed the plushie right side up in its bin, then sauntered on.
Oh. Was he just fixing up our display? If so, I was down to date. Or maybe bang. Hot, helpful guys were hard to find. But our chemistry was yet to be determined. I fixed up my bustier and strode over to where he’d paused by the jewelry display. The purple cuffs on my boots flapped like badass bat wings.
“Hey.” I slung my thumb in my skirt pocket so I didn’t seem too eager.
He touched his eyebrow piercing and glanced my way. “Hey.”
“Are you looking for another piece?” I gestured to my lip in reference to his hoop. It was a subtle suggestion. Lips, kissing, rebellion. Somehow, I’d transition to spider movie dates.
He rubbed his eyebrow and frowned. “I dunno. I’ve had these since I got them.”
“They’re nice. Just curious.” Smiling, I leaned against the display and played with my necklace. “I’m happy to help if you see anything you might like.”
“Uh, okay,” he said. He stared at the display, his brows knit in intense concentration.
Either I was coming on too strong or he was oblivious. I downshifted to small talk. “Did you come in for anything specific or are you browsing?”
He shrugged and twisted the crackling jewelry display. “Mostly browsing. I kinda wanted to see if you had face paint for Halloween.”
That could be interesting. “What were you thinking?”
“A skull. It'd be on half my face, at least.”
“Sick.” I grinned. It’d be the best of both worlds–half his real, hot face, and half macabre for the holiday. “We have a few kits that might work for that,” I said. Cosmetic stuff was not our strong suit, but we had decent sellers like black cherry lip balm and temporary hair dye. I showed him the skull makeup palette we carried as a limited-edition tribute to a beloved ghoul character.
He flipped over the label. “Sven?”
“Yeah, have you seen his stuff?”
“Not since I was a kid,” he said. He didn’t sound overly impressed.
“Well, he’s still really popular.” I played with the edge of my cross and shifted my weight. Maybe he didn’t like horror after all. Or maybe he didn’t like salespeople all up in his business.
AJ blatantly ogled us from across the room. The punk guy’s jaw flexed, his brown eyes flashing with the rebel glint of someone who was begrudgingly ready for trouble anywhere they went.
I raised my eyebrows in a silent attempt to call my coworker off. Either get some popcorn or get back to work. He was unnerving the customer—and my possible future date.
AJ pushed up his thick, black-rimmed glasses and hurried to a different customer by the anime display. At least he got the message.
The punk put the makeup palette back. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll look into a few more options before I commit.”
To a girl? Or a costume? I pushed my hair behind my ear, partially to show off my piercings and prove we shared at least aesthetic interests. “Yeah, lots of options. I’m having trouble deciding on which movies to see this weekend…although I’m leaning towards The Widow. Do you have a strong opinion?”
He shrugged, his pretty face passive. “It depends what you’re into, I guess.”
Unfortunately, I was not into this lack of conversation. Neither was he, obviously.
A girl from a passing group of teens spun around and grinned. “You have to see it. The ending is such a twist. When the spider comes out and—”
“No spoilers,” I insisted, almost shrill and shaking from adrenaline. I had to see this movie ASAP—with or without a date. Even if that meant sneaking out on my lunch break.
3
Do You Like Scary Movies?
I jabbed the theater self-service screen. No tickets available. It wouldn’t let me select the current showing. The movie was popular, but there was no way the theater was full during the day.
I stalked towards the concession stand to speak to an employee. A squirrely-looking guy with greasy hair filled up at the soda station, although I was pretty sure he’d scanned our tickets the other night. The hiss of bubbling foam went on forever. Someone was thirsty. However, I did not want to spend half my lunch break watching this snooze fest instead of my monster flick.