Chapter Eleven: On The Hunt (For An Apology Gift)

(The Mall Rats, Pt. 3)

***

Starcourt Mall was busy.

But that wasn't unusual—ever since it opened, people had flocked in hordes to Starcourt and its frosty air conditioning and mostly cheap products under a dizzying mix of sunlight pouring in through the glass lights and the neon fluorescence of the store lights. Alistair would be lying if he and his friends weren't among them, mostly perusing the food court and the cinema and occasionally the bookstore, but usually nothing else. 

But now, they were here for another reason other than sneaking into movies and eating greasy food.

They were on the hunt for an apology gift from Mike to El.

Even as he thought it, Alistair wanted to roll his eyes again at the ridiculousness of it. It was a way better idea if Mike was just honest and they spend the rest of the day doing something else—like that D&D campaign, if they could also find Dustin and have three vouching for it—but instead they were following Lucas' plan. Alistair highly doubted it would actually work, if they could even find a gift for her.

Apparently, Mike felt the same, because he said, "I just... I don't understand what we're looking for."

"Something pretty and shiny that says 'I'm sorry'," Lucas answered.

Alistair rolled his eyes, right as Mike asked, "What, just something that literally says 'I'm sorry'?"

"No!" Lucas yelled, hands to his face.

Alistair looked at Will and they rolled their eyes in unison while smiling, before following after Mike and Lucas.

The hunt had begun.

It lead them to a fancy jewellery store that Alistair instantly knew he didn't belong in—and that his aunt would probably swipe a couple necklaces and rings while the clerks weren't looking and run. Still, he joined Mike, Lucas and Will in browsing the wares until Mike stopped, looking at a silver teddy bear. Alistair smiled. While he thought buying an apology gift wasn't the way to go, El would definitely love that.

It seemed Mike was in agreement, as he looked up and said, "Excuse me, sir."

"Mm-hmm?" the clerk said, looking down.

Pointing at the teddy bear, Mike questioned, "How much for this teddy bear right here?"

At that, the clerk smiled, and Alistair instantly knew what his answer was before he said it.

"That would be three hundred dollars."

As one, Mike, Lucas and Will adopted differing expressions of shock while Alistair scoffed, not surprised.

"Typical," he muttered, as Mike now tried to hustle.

"Okay, uh... can I buy it for less? It's for my girlfriend, and I... don't have three hundred dollars on me. Please?" he bargained.

But the clerk was unflinching. "I'm sorry, but the bear's still three hundred dollars."

"Seriously? Can you make an exception? I'll pay you back!" Mike hustled.

"Three hundred dollars," the clerk simply said.

Mike gaped, before he glowered and said, "Screw this."

At that, the four marched out of the store, Lucas saying incredulously, "Three hundred? Three hundred."

"That's jewellery stores for you," Alistair remarked, glaring at it. "Incredibly overpriced and elitist, no matter where it is."

"I should've shoved that teddy bear right up his ass," Mike grumbled, a ticked-off glower still on his face.

Alistair snorted. "Probably would have made him even more of an asshole."

At hearing the jibe, Mike's glower faded in favour for a grin, as beside Alistair Will laughed. Alistair smiled, something funny flopping in his stomach at how he made Will laugh.

But the good humour died as they continued on in the search, stopping again in front of a lingerie store. Alistair stared at the different types, feeling intensely uncomfortable the longer he stared at the lacy, frilly things.

To say it was unanimous between the Party that nothing in here would be a good gift—or would have Hopper probably actually kill Mike if he did buy something for El here—was an understatement as they turned tail and vacated as quickly as possibly without running.

The Party marched on with looking for a gift until they stopped at a department store. Heading into the perfume section, the four quickly browsed for which perfume would suit El best. Alistair also looked, but not just for El. When no one was looking, he grabbed a perfume brand he knew Cami liked and stashed it in his short pocket—no way was he paying it in full price. And besides, the store was in a mall designed for consumerism. It deserved to be shoplifted from it a little.

Looking around, he whispered to Will, "Cover for me."

Will nodded, scanning the shop for any prying eyes as Alistair leaned forward over the counter, snatching samples of perfume for El to try. He'd just stowed them away in his pocket when he heard Lucas say, "Hey, Mike."

Alistair and Will turned just in time to see Lucas spritz some perfume right into Mike's face and blinding him in the process.

"Oh! Uh! Ahh!" Mike yelled, reaching to rub at his face while Lucas instantly apologised, Will grabbing the test cards  to dab the perfume out as Alistair shouted, "Hey, can we get some help over here?!"

Two assistants immediately flocked over, one holding tissues while the other held a bottle of water. As they led Mike to the wall to take care of it, a twinge of guilt pinged in Alistair. Sighing, he dug around for the dollar bills he had in his other pocket, grabbing one as he slipped out of his body, making sure he was invisible.

When no one freaked out over him suddenly duplicating, Alistair walked over to the counter and placed a couple dollar bills on it—not nearly enough to pay for the perfume, but still something over than leaving nothing.

Satisfied, Alistair jumped back into his body, coming back to reality just as the tissue-holding assistant scolded Lucas for spraying perfume into Mike's eyes, his friend looking increasingly sheepish as the lecture continued.

Alistair grinned and he nudged Will, miming eating popcorn. Will smothered a laugh and extended a hand. Alistair dumped invisible popcorn into it and the two pretended to eat while watching the lecture finish up and Mike was given the all clear.

At that, the four boys raced out, Alistair saying with a smirk, "I didn't know you were feeling lonely on being accidentally blinded, Lucas."

Lucas shot Alistair a glare and raised his middle finger. Alistair returned it.

After the perfume debacle, they continued on looking, scouring the stores for anything that could work as a gift that El would like. Once, Alistair thought he saw Cami, Max and a girl he thought was El running together, but he looked again and they were gone. Not like El could be here—with this many people, and her being so close to gaining her guaranteed safety, it was too much of a risk for her to be in a place like this.

But there was nothing that could suit El or they could afford to buy, and after what felt like hours of searching, the four gathered at the water fountain in defeat, Will looking at them and asking, "Can we please play D&D now?"

"No," Lucas and Mike said in unison.

Alistair glared at his friends, before rolling his eyes and saying, "Hey, Will, I think I saw a new Marvel comic in the bookstore. Wanna check it out?"

Will stared at Alistair in shock, before replying, "Uh, yeah, sure."

The pair stood up and as they made their way to the escalators, Alistair shouted, "See you guys in an hour!"

Mike and Lucas only grunted, oblivious as Alistair and Will now all but ran up the escalators, ignoring the complaints and dirty looks before jogging to the bookstore and heading inside. The minute they did, they gravitated to the comics, where Alistair was delighted to see a new issue of New Mutants was out.

"Yes," he whispered, grabbing it—it was worth the rest of his money. As he looked at the cover, eager to start reading it, he noticed Will at the science fiction and fantasy section, frowning.

Having a feeling why Will looked so annoyed and upset, Alistair tucked the comic under his arm and headed over to Will, placing a hand on his shoulder as he said, "Hey, Will, you okay?"

His best friend jumped, eyes terrified and back to the Upside Down before he recognised Alistair. The minute he did, his frown returned and he muttered, "No, I'm not. I just want to play this campaign and Mike and Lucas are too obsessed with this gift thing—especially Mike. I like El and Max, but can it just be us again, like how it was before? Especially when Dustin comes back from wherever the hell he is..."

Alistair frowned, understanding.

"Hey," he said, aiming for a grin as he went on, "I'm sure when Mike and Lucas stop being lovesick assholes and Dustin's done with... whatever he's doing right now, we'll all be playing this campaign. If not, we can just force them. And we can always ditch them and hang out, together. Just the two of us."

Will looked at him and Alistair looked back, brown eyes caught in hazel. Like the millions of times before, Alistair was entranced by Will's eyes, and he found himself moving closer, as if he and Will were—

The minute he realised, Alistair pulled back, coughing to hide the flush on his cheeks as he looked at the book in Will's hands, his best friend also having moved back.

"Ender's Game," he read out.

"Yeah. It looked interesting, so I thought I might get it," Will replied, shrugging.

"It is," Alistair said. At receiving the confused look, he elaborated, "Rowan got it for my yesterday, and I read some before I went to sleep. It's pretty good so far."

"I'll trust you on that," Will said.

They smiled at each other, before moving to the front counter to pay. Luckily, the book and comic weren't overpriced, so paying was a breeze. With their newly gained books, Alistair and Will rejoined Mike and Lucas at the water fountain, who apparently had fully given up on finding anything. Good. Maybe they could actually play a campaign together and Mike would use Alistair's advice and tell the truth to El.

As they walked out of Starcourt and headed to the bikes, Alistair had no idea that he had been right in seeing Cami, Max and El together.

Or what was about to happen in the next few seconds.

***

Shorter chapter, I know. But since this was technically a montage between the boys and the girls, I think a shorter chapter was better and I think it turned out okay

Yeah, Alistair is annoyed about the whole gift hunting thing, but is sticking through it. He and Will are being annoyed boyfriends together <3

Really glad those boys got weirded out by the lingerie store and didn't buy anything—especially since Hopper would probably have actually murdered Mike if he did

Not gonna lie, I loved writing the chaos in the perfume shop. I always wondered what happened right after, so... here you go >:)

And yeah, Alistair did shoplift that perfume. He doesn't do it often, and right after feels guilty and leaves some money behind, but when its for overly expensive things and he knows he can get away with it, plus said things in something designed for consumerism/capitalism... he's very willing to shoplift.

(Also, somewhere in Hawkins, Aco's feeling a sense of pride that a teenager has shoplifted from a ridiculously priced store and another has committed sweet revenge against someone judgemental :3)

Next chapter... next chapter is gonna be a lot

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GhostWriterGirl out!