Hellene looked at Elliot over her shoulder with a twisted expression, "Backbone? But you seem confident enough..." she shrugged and look forward again as they entered the mall. The food court was spread out in front of them, displaying the many different restaurants in bright neon lights. Hellene felt slightly queasy, and it wasn't from the smell of the foods all blended together. "Food?....Uh...sure"
Elliot tried to smile, not sure what to make of what she said. He hadn't been away from his sister this long since they were born! He glanced around at the different choices to eat, and of course he was caught on subway. "Well...I'm definitely doing well...I think...Anyway, enough about Alexis, you can meet her some day. What looks good to you?" He asked, looking over at her, curious about the ill look on her face. Was she not feeling well? Oh...what could he do to help? He was flustered beyond belief.
Hellene frowned and looked around at the shops for a quick second before her eyes darted back to Elliot, "Um, Subway looks good..." She stood there for a moment longer and looked at him with an expression that look slightly worried and a bit confused, "....Im fine, by the way" With that she turned around and head towards Subway, waiting at the counter for him.
"Maybe she'll feel better after she eats....? Or, does something smell bad?" Elliot lightly sniffed at the air, but the only odd thing about it was the strong smell of perfume. He look around and spotted a rather exotic looking women, definitely the cause of that horrible smell. It was then that he really realized how lucky he was to be spending time with such an amazing girl. Sure, she was obviously a bit out there, but he was too, so it made for a fine balance. She liked Subway...or did she? Okay, so he really didn't know that much about her at all.
He snapped out of it and followed he over to the counter. "Are you sure you feel like eating? You...um...pardon what I'm about to say. But you look a little green..." Elliot blushed lightly, feeling a little silly for saying what he had, but she did look ill.
As she waited by the counter, Hellene fidgeted slightly. It was the first time in her life that she ever felt nervous, though she couldn't pin-point why. She wasn't sure she liked Elliot, but she did feel a certain pull towards him, the same kind of pull that kept her away from most others...but this time in a good way. His thoughts entertained her and she thought he was cute for being so shy, but at the same time, she felt like she was intruding.
Elliot approached the counter and asked if she was feeling alright. As he said this, her eyes widened and a light blush dusted her face (thanks to the minimal amount of blood in her veins). No one ever asked anything of the sort before, or acted even remotely worried, so this came as a surprise to her, "Thank you for worrying..." she trailed off as her eyes darted up at the sign and then back at him, "...No, I don't particularly feel like eating right now, would it be ok if you just got something then?"
Elliot smiled, a true smile for the first time since the move. She might not be feeling well, but it had at least helped to ask her about it. He didn't really want to eat in front of her, but his stomach was protesting, he really hadn't been feeding himself properly lately. "I'll just have a quick little pizza and then we can get to the shopping upstairs. Don't worry, I'll pretend to understand." He couldn't exactly say he did understand her, and he was never one for lies.
He quickly ordered himself a personal plain cheese pizza and found a small four seat table, which easily, really easily, fit the two of them. "I don't usually eat in front of people, so I really will be quick." As he was talking he pulled out the first of his four slices and bite into it delicately. He hated bad table manners...
Hellene smiled as they sat down at a table. She was happier being away from the place that makes he food, but it was still a little sickening with the pizza right in front of her. Greasy, cheesy, garlicy pizza....Her face paled for a second as she thought she might get sick, before she swallowed and looked away.
Her ears flattened before she realized she must have looked rude so she tried to act normally, if at least for a bit. "That's fine, takes as long as you need..." though, she didn't really mean this, she didn't want to be rude.
Despite the fact that Hellene had told him to take his time, he still finished his food as quickly as possible, without getting it all over the place. He quickly disposed of the evidence and then came back to the table and looked around. There didn't seem to be an interesting store on this left, mostly just more food courts scattered around, and since food didn't seem to settle with Hellene too well, he decided the top floor would be the best starting place.
"Okay, ready to finally get this ball rolling?" He asked, hoping up and started to the escalator.
Hellene gave a happy sigh under her breath. She got up just as he started towards the escalator and practically glided towards him, almost dancing, before finally reaching him, "Sure, lets get started" She smiled brightly at him, the cloud over her eye wrinkling slightly, as she became aware of her wallet in her collar.
The escalator reached the top of it journey and they were on the second floor. Hellene glanced at Elliot before scanning the shops, spotting the Retro shop she'd talked about earlier, the Music store Elliot mentioned, a cosmetic shop, a club of some sort....why was there a club in a mall?, and the last thing that stood out was a Movie Cinema. "So, where to?" Hellene asked, looking at Elliot again.
Elliot glanced around, noticing all the same stores Hellene had. She was asking him where to begin? Well, he really had no idea. "I forgot how big the mall was here...I think the Retro store seems like a nice place to start. But, do you think a movie would be a nice way to end the evening?" That is, if he didn't manage to scare her away before then.
He did notice the little club in the mall, but it just seemed a little too wild for him, though Alexis would have jumped all over the idea, he wasn't the type. He would usually fin somewhere calm and just sit down. He was not a great dancer, despite his career.
Hellene smiled at him, "Sure, we'll do that then?" Even though it was more of a statement, it twisted into a question at the end because she knew he was unsure, 'don't worry, im the one that might scare you away' she thought bitterly before heading over toward the Retro Clothing store.
She paused slightly before entering the store as she made a mental note to some how persuade him into the club some where in between the stores and movie.Once finished with her thoughts, she entered the store. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust to the amount of neon in the store
Elliot tilted his head a bit at her question, but he later nodded his head. He wanted this day to end well and he was going to be as optimistic as possible about it. So he followed closely behind her into the store, completely missing her small pause on the way inside. If only he could realize how much she knew about him already.
He entered the shop and a huge relief fell onto him. He loved it, it reminded him of home and being here with Hellene he felt perfectly normal. Finally, a normal situation between the two of them. He wasn't feeling awkward at all anymore as he looked around. "Wow, I love all the colors~ Nothing dull about this place." He said, starting off toward the hats. He'd always loved hats, he had almost a whole closet full of them in the studio.
Hellene was happy that he was able to finally relax. So far, he had either been tense or nervous and that just is a lot of stress on one person, which also got her to possibly re-think the whole club idea. Perhaps it would be better if she didn't stress him more?
She shook her head, deciding she think more on it later as she strode towards Elliot. It was weird, feeling like she couldn't stray far from him, she could barely even stray far enough to look at the scarves, which were right next to the hats. "Yeah, it's very...unique. But even so, not many people come here" she said, gesturing to the mostly empty store, besides themselves and the clerk, who was asleep on the counter.
Elliot glanced back at the clerk, and Hellene was right, he was asleep. He raised and eyebrow and turned back to Hellene. "I know retro's not the most popular thing out there, but this could be a really rockin' store if the management was a little more outgoing." It was all about the management. You could have an amazing store, like this, and get no business if you didn't care about it. Oh course, he didn't even know why he was talking about it, it was irrelevant really. It was just the business man inside of him coming out.
He looked around the shop again and realized they were pretty much alone. Actually, they were alone, the clerk didn't look like he would wake up easily. "Well~ Then the whole shop is ours for the time being. Anything catch you eye?" He asked, looking over at her with curious eyes. He finally felt at ease.
Hellene nodded slightly as she randomly picked up a scarf off the rack in front of her, "Perhaps that is true, but I also like it like this...quiet, I mean. Busy stores are too noisy and are sometimes hard to navigate through. Plus, when its like this, it's easier to think." She said, finishing her thoughts out loud. She sighed and placed the scarf back the way it was before. Her eyes stayed focused on the grey carpet, thinking what she said was weird.
"Catch my eye?..." She repeated, looking up at him through her bangs, before straightening. She glanced around the racks before something did catch her eye. It was a hat. Slightly plain, but cute. The hat was black with a rainbow ribbon tie around it and had a dark blue feather stuck in it. "This does..." She looked at it for a moment before smiling, "Rainbows seem to always catch my eye" She said, looking at him.
Elliot nodded slightly, true he hated crowds. But, what if the store ended up closing down? He'd only been in it for a few seconds and yet he was attached to it. "Let's hope it doesn't go under..." He said, in a kind of gloomy voice, but he caught himself and brought the smile back to his face. This was not the time to revert back to his gloomy self!
He followed her eyes to a cute simple hat on the shelf, the first thing he noticed as the rainbow on it and he smiled, and blushed as she looked at him with her comment. Yes, the first day they'd met she had come up to him and commented on his colors. "Rainbows are amazing..." He said.
Hellene's smile softened and she blushed lightly, "Yeah, they are...." she leaned forward slowly but then blinked and straightened again. 'no, he'd have to make the first move' She thought with a light shake of her head. She was old fashioned and she preferred it that way.
She quickly recovered by twirling the hat in her paw before giving it a flick so that it flipped into the air and landed on her head, "Thats why is looks good on me. Right?" she said with a smile. 'Im such a show off'
Elliot didn't know exactly what to make of her very short, and quickly ended, move. Was he expected to make the first move? Well would take some time, even thinking about it made his flustered. He'd never once kissed a girl, despite his career. Of course, Hellene was perfect at hiding her little blunder and they were back on the topic of the hat. He simply smiled and nodded his head.
Then. taking the quarter Hellene had offered, he turn back to the clerk. "Look's like it's time to move on to the next store. Now, let's see if we can wake as clerk." Elliot took, what he thought, was perfect aim, but endedup missing the clerk completely. "Well...that just fails..."
