32. Out Of This World
32
OUT OF THIS WORLD
MALLORY/OLIVER
MALLORY
Ollie and I walk the street hand in hand, until we stand outside ‘Out Of This World’ – a bookstore/comic book shop that sells all things marvel, sci/fy, fantasy etc. AKA: an Oliver approved store.
“What are we doing here?” He asks, his eyes focused on the sign.
“I always see receipts from here in your room, but you’ve never offered to take me, so I decided to take you instead.” I grab his hand to lead him inside, but he doesn’t move, causing me to slam back and into his chest. “What’s wrong?”
“Mallie I–”
I reach up on my tiptoes, cup his face and kiss him. And again. And again. I rest my forehead against his. “I love you. I love the hockey side of you. I love the Italian side of you, and I love the Marvel side of you. Do you think, for one second, that I would go with you to watch those films if I didn’t?” He moves his hands to my waist, pressing me flush against his chest. “Can we go inside now? Because I’ve been eyeing this spiderman keyring that I think would look so good on your keychain.”
He leans down to press a kiss on my cheek. “Do they have a matching Gwen one?” He whispers.
I pull away, tugging him towards the shop with my hand. “Let's go in and find out.” He smiles at me. And god damn, It’s the best sight I've ever seen.
We walk into the shop, hand in hand, and everyone just suddenly stops. I’m not joking. All the separate conversations that were going on; the worker at the till with a customer, the group of teens by the comics, the two guys by the figurines, they all just pause when we walk in. frowning, I look down at me, just to make sure I am indeed wearing clothes. No bra, but my sweater’s thick enough that I don't think they can see my nipples. Not unless one of them does actually have superpowers.
“Oliver!” One of the workers says, breaking the sudden silence, causing everyone to go about their day. Jesus, more girls really need to come in here more often. “That new figurine came in, if you want to see it?” He looks over at me, down to our joined hands, then back up, a smile appearing on his face. “You must be Mallory.”
I frown, looking up at him. Remember the acting technique Jules showed me for wobbling my lower lip, making it look like I’m one the verge of crying. “No…” I reply. The worker’s eyes widen as I start laughing. “Just kidding. That’s me, nice to meet you.”
Oliver sighs, pinching the bridge between his nose. “We’ve been in here less than a minute and already you’re causing trouble.”
I smile. “Go look at your figurine thingy,” I say, kissing him on his cheek. “I’m going to take a look around. ”
He eyes me warily, heading to the figurine display at the back of the shop, while I aim for the key–rings by the till.
I twist the stand, sorting through them all.
“Can I – I – I help you? At all?” The young boy behind the counter says. He looks young, maybe a high school student.
I look at him and smile. “Hi, actually, you can help me.” I reach into my back pocket and pull out two little lego keychain I had specially made. They’re of Ollie and I and I’m very proud of them. I was in that lego store for about two hours. I slide them across the counter along with the tickets. “I was wondering if you had a box, a sheet of paper and a pen.” He looks at me, then the tickets. As soon as he spots what they are, his eyes widen, sliding back up to mine. “Before my boyfriend comes back, that would be great. Please.”
I Manage to stuff the note in the box before Ollie comes over to pay for what looks like a figurine of The Hydra. He had a different one, but the one and only time he let Tommy into his room, he broke it. “Finally replacing your hydra, then?”
“Yeah,” he places it on the counter as the boy who serves me scans it, eying me not so secretly. “It was on backorder, just arrived.”
“$28.95.”
He goes to pull out his wallet when my jaw literally drops. The boy behind the counter follows my eyeline and rolls his eyes. “Before I get insulted, no it’s not a ‘cute angel’, it’s–”
“Icarus,” I whisper, leaning in closer. “That’s the best one I've seen, what’s it made of?”
The boy takes a second to reply. When I look at him, his eyes wide, surprised. “Alabaster. You… a fan of Greek mythology?”
I nod. “It’s my major. How much is it?”
“$60.89.”
“We’ll take it.” I whip my head towards Ollie to see him smiling down at me. Damn that fucking smile.
I could argue with him, say that I don't need it, that I can buy it, but I don't. He’ll buy me things, and I'll buy him things. That’s what a relationship is, not just a friendship. I have to let him buy me stuff. So instead, I plant a quick kiss on his lips. “Thank you.”
The boy hands Ollie the paper bag with two boxes inside, containing both our figurines. He intertwined both our fingers when the boy at the counter called my name again. “You didn’t leave your number – for the uh, figurine you wanted.”
“Oh, um, Ollie has an account here, you can use his. The last name is Ashby.” I give them both a polite wave as we leave the store.
“What figurine?”
“Oh, he showed me the catalogue that had the whole range in. They had this really cool one of the Loch Ness Monster, I thought maybe Ben would like it.”
Ben is ollie’s four-year-old nephew. He loves me. The feeling is very mutual.
“Trying to be his favourite, are you?”
“Trying?” I scoff. “I’m already his favourite. ”
OLIVER
“Can I open it now?”
I’m sitting cross legged on my bed, in nothing but my boxers, staring at the box Mallory brought home from the store. She says it’s for me, but I can’t open it until she’s finished getting ready for bed. So now I’m just sat here, waiting for her to finish… moisturising, or whatever the hell she’s putting on her face, wondering what this is.
“Is it going to explode?”
“Yes, Ollie. I bought you something that can explode.'' She closes the bathroom door, walking over to me in nothing but one of my old t–shirts. She jumps onto the bed, mirroring my sitting position. “You may open it now.”
I blink at it. “Now I'm afraid.”
She smiles. “Just open it, you doof.”
I carefully undo the black ribbon and slowly lift the lid. Nestled on some tissue paper are two lego keychains. One male one with an orange top and blue jeans with brown hair, and a female one, with a green dress and brown hair. It’s us, in lego form. “I thought we could use them when we get our apartment – whenever that is – after we’ve graduated and we’re in a new town and stuff. But we can use them now, for my apartment keys and your house key. I – if you want? I was going to get the Spiderman and Gwen one, but they only had the Gwen from the new film and I know how you feel about crossovers, so–”
I lean over and kiss her. “Thank you, baby. You needed a box for these two little legos – you really are dramatic.”
She kisses me back, lightly poking me in the ribs. “That’s not the present. Keep looking.”
In the box, written in what looks like the back of a receipt for the store, are the words ‘I love you.’ I swallow the lump in my throat, moving the paper to the side, discarding the tissue paper.
Then my heart falls to the pit of my stomach. White noise echoes throughout my head. I can’t fall. I can’t see. I can’t breathe.
“How did you get these?” I breathe, struggling to get the words out. “Tickets sold out in less than five minutes.”
“They did. Unless you were lucky enough to get an access code to the presale queue.”
I swallow again, looking up at my girl, who’s smiling at me. “Those queues lasted for hours, Mallie.”
“Sixteen,” she replies. “If you want specifics.”
“You stayed in an online queue for sixteen hours straight, to get me comic–con tickets?”
She moves the box to the side, scooting forward to straddle my lap. “I stayed in a queue for sixteen hours, to get us tickets. I know it’s next summer, but you should probably think about your costume now, if you’re going to wear one. Do you have to wear one? I don’t know anything about comic–con.”
“But you got tickets anyway, why?”
“Because I love you, and I knew it was important to you.”
“Tickets didn’t go on sale until last summer, we – we weren’t together then.”
She leans in closer, touching our foreheads together. “My answer doesn’t change.”
I move my hands to her waist, gripping her tightly, pressing her against my chest so hard I fall back against the mattress.
“You love me,” I whisper.
She nods, in that adorable way where her nose crinkles too. “I love you so much. ”
“Mallie, Jesus baby. I – I need to repay you for this.”
She leans down to kiss my neck, nibbling at the skin. “I can think of a few ways.”