Love Poison No Cure Needed

Chance? Encounters 1.13

“Why’d you come to Arch mall? Would have thought your uncle would have taken you to a smaller one to start with.” Jasper asked as he lent forward onto the table.

“Apparently this place is really close to home and has a lot of variety so everything I need can be gotten in one go.” Sorrel replied. Sorrel wondered what was taking Uncle Michael he said to come here if they got separated and while Sorrel had made a slow approach to get here, he had been here for a while now, so it was strange that there was no sign of Michael.

“Here you go.” Kayad returned with a tray of crepes and three bottles of juice. The crepes where folded and laid out on the plates and the one Kayad set in front of Kayad smelled of fruits and milk and sugar. “It’s a Sweet Twist. Banana strawberry choc twist with cream and ice-cream.” Kayad explained. “I asked for them to put them on plates since it would be easier to move them all to the table that way.” Kayad then settle the other two crepes on the table one in front of Jasper and then other he sat in front of himself as he settled on the bench beside Sorrel.

Sorrel ate in silence as he listened to the small talk between Kayad and Jasper about going back to school tomorrow, the members of Riven Time and Al’s recovery continually feeling that there was something strange in Jasper’s tone and expression whenever he looked over at Kayad.

“Sorrel! There you are.” Michael shouted as he rapidly approached from the far side of the courtyard just as Sorrel finished the last bite of his crepe.

“Uncle Michael? What wrong I waited here as you asked.” Sorrel tilted his head at the harried look on Michael’s face. He might have been a bit slow getting to the food courtyard, but he had waited here since he had arrived.

“I came here after I lost you and didn’t find you, then went looking else where with still no sign I was beginning to worry that you had gone outside.” Michael responded as he dropped into the last free chair at the table.

Sorrel wondered to himself if he might have done that had he not be distracted by Kayad and Jasper’s arrival but shrugged in then end it didn’t happen so no point wondering about it. “I’ve just been eating the crepe Kayad bought me. It was delicious.” Sorrel explained as he reached over to pat Michael’s arm.

“Oh? Well meeting up with friends is lucky. That being the case you might as well hang out with them while I do the miscellaneous shopping just be sure to get yourself a phone. You still have the wallet I gave you?” Michael relaxed as he looked first at Jasper then at Kayad and nodded to himself.

Sorrel reached into one of his belt pouches and pulled out the wallet he had been given it had a supply of cash as well as a debt card that Michael had explained how to use that morning.

“Leave it to us Mr Serie, we’ll be happy to help.” Kayad broke in as he raised a hand and patted Jasper on the shoulder. Once again Jasper turned a narrow-eyed look on Kayad before he slowly nodded.

“Yeah, I’m all for shopping with a friend. We can get you a phone then go to the accessory store next door to check out the latest arrivals since that was what I came for originally.” Jasper said slowly as he screwed the lid onto his empty juice bottle.

“Alright then I’ll leave you kids to it. Call me using the number on the card I gave you once you get your phone and let me know when your ready to go back.” Michael stood and prepared to head off again.

“We brought a car today so we can just drop him off when were done if you like?” Kayad offered as he too stood up.

“Oh, well that’s fine. You dropped him off last night, right? Thanks for taking good care of him.” Michael paused slightly before he spoke but nodded in the end and then left.

“You know, I know why I came out today, but I don’t think you finished telling me what you needed.” Jasper asked Kayad as they started towards one of the many corridors of the mall. Kayad paused his steps and shifted to put Sorrel in the middle as the three of them walked so that Sorrel could not get left behind.

“I want a new watch, mine died last week.” Kayad answered easily.

“Oh, a watch is for tracking the time and such right?” Sorrel twisted his head to look at Kayad.

“Yeah, I might bet a Fitbit to keep track of date, day and time more convenient than checking my phone all the time.” Kayad reached out and tugged Sorrel to one side to avoid a human in an oversized black hoody who was charging through the crowd.

“Right.” Jasper responded before falling silent as he moved over and ended up trailing along behind Sorrel and Kayad as Kayad had left his arm over Sorrel’s shoulders after pulling him aside.

Kayad kept up a running commentary about the good in this store and that as they went along including explaining as they passed that the first things that had caught Sorrel’s attention were wind spinners and dream catchers.

When they reached the phone store Kayad said “You go in with Jasper and pick out the phone you won’t I gotta go grab something and then I’ll be back, and we can go to the accessory store.” Putting actions to words Kayad turned around and left.

“Well, he is a bit strange today.” Jasper commented as he walked up beside Sorrel and gestured for them to enter the phone shop. “What sort of phone do you want?”

“I have no idea, one that is easy to use.” Sorrel responded as he stared wide eyed at the various options seeing the occasional advertisement for a new model didn’t give credit to the sheer scope of options available.

“Well then lets just have a look at the ones on display and you decide which one suits.” Jasper was relaxed as he led the way from phone to phone. In the end Sorrel just picked the newest model smartphone and decided to learn as he went there wasn’t that much difference in the useability of the devices so might as well pick one that he could use for a longer time before having to replace it.