INNOCENT ADVENTURE

CHAPTER EIGHT

Adrien: Hello Beautiful. How are you?

Me: Hi. I am fine. Yourself?

: Sorry about the late reply and the missed call.

Adrien: I'm doing well.

: It's fine. I should be apologising for calling that early. I was just too excited to hear from you. I'm sorry

Me: That is ok.

Adrien: I hope you slept well.

Me: I did. Thanks for asking

Adrien: So, what are your plans for today? Would you like to meet for lunch or dinner?

Me: I'm sorry but Nancy already planned for the day and I think it is already late to cancel

Adrien: That's fine we can do it another time if that is fine with you.

Me: Sure. We can meet some other time.

Adrien: Ok then, let's talk later. Have a nice day.

Me: You too

I placed the phone on my lap, screen facing down. I leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath. I have never had this much attention from boys; not even the boy i dated . But it actually feels weird, should I not be excited or something? I turned to look at Ethan again, he was so focused on the driving so I turned my gaze to the window on my side. I tried to think of something to talk to him about. The silence is the car was so deafening. He must have sensed that I wanted to speak so he asked

"Is there something bothering you?"

"Oh no, not exactly. I was just wondering if it would be easy for a girl my age to get a driver's licence in the big city? My dad taught me how to drive but my mother would not agree to let me actually drive so I never went to driving school officially not to talk of getting a license." I asked. I had to quickly come up with this excuse to avoid looking stupid.

"It is actually very easy for a girl your age to get a driver's licence. You don't even have to go through the school; you just need to pass the written test, the driving test and not have any impediments such as blindness." He explained

"Then I guess when Gwen returns, I will ask her if I could get one. Or better, when I settle in properly, I would get it. What do you think?" I turned to him

"Sounds like a great plan" he replied with a smirk

I turned back to my window and stared out at the magnificent buildings of the city that passed as we drove by. Even though it was mostly buildings, it still looked very beautiful in the morning sun. I wished I could roll down the glass and smell the city air; I know it could be polluted but I still want to get that experience. My thoughts were interrupted by my companion just when I was about to think of an excuse to open the window.

"If you want, I could help you polish up what your dad thought you. I usually work during the evening so I am free during the afternoons since I sleep in the mornings." Ethan said

"So you haven't slept yet? Should you be driving?" I asked ignoring everything else he said.

'But he doesn't look like he has not slept.' I thought to myself. He laughed and replied

"I closed early last night so I had plenty of sleep. And it's not like I woke you up at the crack of dawn. It was well past 9am."

"True. But if you don't mind me asking, what do you do?" I asked

"Would you like to guess? Come on, give it a try." He dared

"Mm...I would have said a male exotic dancer but you don't look like you have the moves but looking at your build, I would say a bodyguard." I told him

"True, I am not an exotic dancer but it doesn't mean I don't have moves-"

"Then prove it tonight when you pick us up from the party Nancy is taking me." I cut in.

'Oh wow, where from that much braveness?' I asked myself

"What? Are you sure you want to see my moves? It is not your typical boy moves." He asked

"I still would love to see it." I assured him

"Ok then. Don't say I didn't warn you"

"So if you are not an exotic dancer, what could possibly have you working in the evening?" I asked

"I co-own a limo service company" he replied

"Wow!... What is that?" I asked confused

He turned and looked at me briefly with amusement before returning his attention back to the road.

"You don't know what Limo services are?" He asked

"No, no I don't." I replied honestly

"Have you seen cars that mostly look like normal cars but longer?"

"Yh, I think I've it on TV before. That is what Limo services are?"

"So, the long car is called limousine called limo for short and my company offers it's services. Like when a celebrity or just anyone at allneeds to attend a function but does not want to drive there, they would call my company and we would drive them around in the limo at a fee." He turned to look at me as though to make sure I understood his explanation

"What is it? Did I not explain it well enough?" He asked confused

Hahahahahaaa!!! I burst out laughing loud and hard.

"You knew what it was all along didn't you?" He asked, the previous amused smiled vanished

I nodded holding my hurting tummy with one hand and wiping a tear with the other. I couldn't control the laughter so he just drove silently waiting for me to calm down. When I eventually did he said

"Nice play. Emerald 1, Ethan 0. I will not forget this in a hurry."

"I am sorry. I did not mean to deceive you like that. At first, I just wanted to see what your reaction would be but when you started passionately describing the whole thing, I couldn't help but go with it. You looked cute talking about it though. You must really enjoy what you do." I confessed

There was total silence for a while before he replied which made me panic a little. I was wondering and looking back to see if I said something that was inappropriate or was he mad that I pranked him? But I immediately relaxed when he replied.

"Thanks. I actually really enjoy driving. My late brother was a race driver. He taught me everything I know about driving." He said

"I'm sorry." I mummered feeling guilty.

"Oh, we are here." He said pulling into a very huge parking lot in front of an even bigger warehouse you're shopping mall I have ever seen. My jaw dropped at the sight of the place and my heart sank a little bit; I hate big crowd places. I am sure there are about 200 or more cars parked in front of the mall.

"You will catch a fly."

I realised my jaw had actually dropped and my mouth was wide opened. I immediately closed my mouth embarrassed and he laughed.

"It is very huge in there and the crowd is probably huge judging from the cars parked here (gesturing to the parking lot) so try to stay beside me at all times so you don't get lost. And keep your phone well; it could get snatched." He said seriously

He brought out Nancy's list and handed it to me. The list was a very tall one. 'I thought we were only shopping for food items' I thought to myself looking through the list.

"We came all the way here so that we can get everything in one place instead of driving from once place to another." He informed

"Cool" I replied a little bit worried about the crowd

We got out and walked into the mall. The entrance was quite a distance from where we were parked but because thankfully the sun wasn't really hot, the walk was not a problem.

The mall was not as crowded as I had imagined but there certainly was a crowd. Ethan took the list back, looked from the list to the shop and decided we should go first to where all the food stuff was. We went from section to section, row to row, shelf to shelf according to the list that Nancy made. I had a rolling cart while Ethan held a basket to carry some of the items.

When we got to the last 2 items, Ethan pointed in the direction that he thought we would find it and asked me to go ahead of him so my cart can freely move forward. At the moment, I didn't think anything of it and just did as he said. When I got to the section, I turned around to ask Ethan which direction I should take since he had the list and I had no idea what the last two items but there was no Ethan. I looked all around but did not see anything that even resembled him. I walked back and forth and even to the sides several times but there was still no sign of Ethan. All of a sudden, it felt as though the mall that was not overly crowded at this point was way too crowded I began to really panick, . I will the cart with me as I went through every row that was on that very part of the entire shop. I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to ask for help so no one thinks I'm stupid and I didn't want to leave in case he comes back here to look for me. I found a suitable corner, parked my cart and sat down on the floor. It was when I sat down that I realised that I could call him. I took out my phone and called him. On the fourth ring, he picked up and without waiting to hear from him, I ranted

" Where are you, Ethan? Where's did you disappear to? I have spent the last 20 or so minutes looking for you. Where are you?"

"What do you mean? I am right behind you. But why are you sitting on the floor?" He said seriously

I turned and looked around me while getting up but still no signs of him.

"If this is some kind of game, it is not funny." I said still looking around. I tried to find something who was on a call but no one was.

"I am serious. I am standing right behind you. You're no longer sitting on the floor."

"Please can we stop this and go home?" I felt the panick slowly turning to anxiousness and anger.

This is not a place I would usually want to be. And I have been here long enough and now all I want to do is go home. I looked around again and when I didn't see him, I sat back down on the floor this time using the cart as a shield,, hugged my knees and placed my head on my knees.

After about five or so minutes, I felt someone towering over me and heard the person say.

"Ethan 1 , Emerald 1... Let's go."

I lifted my tears stained face and looked at him as the broad smile disappear to be replaced with a worried expression.

"Hey, what's wrong? It was just a joke."

I tried to get up but couldn't on first try; he stretched out a hand to help but I ignored him and used the cart as support, being careful to not to topple it's contents over. When I get up, I wiped the tears on the sleeve of my jacket and pushed my cart towards where I believed was the exit totally ignoring my companion. We went through the cashier's checking points and I followed behind Ethan who pushed the cart parked with our packaged items. The sun was quite hot at this moment so I took my jacket off. We soon for to the car and Ethan went to the back to offload the cart into the booth of the car while I waited by the passenger side; he unlocked the car and I immediately sat inside without waiting for him to come. After he finished at the back, he came in and sat in the driver's seat then turned to me.

"Emerald, I am really sorry about what happened back there. I really meant it as a joke."

He sighed when I didn't acknowledge him and started the car. The ride back home was drowned in total silence. From time to time I would catch him looking at me from the corner of my eye and for a moment, it made me feel guilty. It would have been fine if there were just a few people, and the place wasn't so big, and we hadn't been there for long and it hadn't lasted as long as it did.

The drive back to the apartment seemed much more longer than when we were going to the shop. When we arrived, I silently helped carry the items out of the car and to the apartment. Nancy opened the door for us when Ethan knocked; she was all dressed up and ready like she said she would but at that moment, I did not feel like leaving the apartment anymore.

Nancy was welcoming us cheerfully until she realised something was not right. I walked past her to the kitchen with the items I had when I heard her asking Ethan

"What happened with you guys? You two were a little brighter when you left, what went wrong?"

"A prank"

"A prank? You pranked her?" She asked laughing

"It is not funny. As you can see it didn't end well."

"Why?"

"I pretended to have gotten her lost in the middle of the big warehouse shopping mall and she did not like that."

"You did what?! Where?! Has she spoken to you since? Why would you take her to that huge crowded place? Have you forgotten that she has agoraphobia?"