I shove another fry into my mouth and roll my eyes as Cecillia continues to gush about her new sugar daddy. She’s so expressive, waving her hands in the air and giggling like a crazed maniac as she describes secrets that I think should have stayed in the bedroom. It’s obvious neither Das nor I want to hear it, but there she goes making lewd gestures and examples in public. This also draws some stares from mall passersby who happen to overhear how many ounces this Aster can cum. (Who the fuck gets named Aster?)

I can’t imagine what it would be like to be Das right now, hearing the girl you love talking about getting fucked by some super-rich playboy with a stupid ass name. Though I’ll admit, I do find his disgusted reactions rather entertaining. Right now, he’s got his head buried in the crook of his arm, pretending to ignore Ces, but I still see him flinch when she flips her long black hair over her shoulder and it brushes against his arm. Now that’s just sad.

I groan and lean back against the shitty food court chairs. “Alright, I’m going somewhere else. Maybe to get some new boots or something. I don’t know. I just don’t want to hear about Aster the bastard anymore.”

I notice a slight grin on Das’s face at the terrible attempt at a joke, and it’s enough to make me smile too. Glad someone likes me at least.

“He’s not a bastard, Akuji! You just don’t understand. If you ever actually dated someone you’d understand,” Cecillia says, taking a sip of her iced coffee. “And he just got me a new credit card, so maybe I’ll come with you.”

Das sits up in his chair suddenly with a sharp inhale. “Yeah, I’ll come too.”

“One condition,” I add. “You can’t talk about Aster anymore. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Lonely,” Cecillia sings under her breath, looking away at the ceiling.

“I’m not lonely,” I huff. “Stop being a hoe.”

She makes a kissy face at me, puckering her red lips together. “Pent up, honey? So sad.”

“Actually, I kind of met someone,” I returned with a snarky smile.

Cecillia gasped dramatically and placed her hand over her chest. “Oh, what’s this now? Akuji has a boyfriend?”

Then Das gives me a concerned glance, already drawing conclusions from the last time we hung out. I click my tongue and wink at Das, and his eyes widen. “No, you didn’t,” Das says, his mouth falling open in exasperation.

I nod and laugh. “I did. I did.”

Cecillia looks between us. “Hold on, what did he do and why wasn’t I invited?”

Das just laughs hysterically and stands up from his chair, pulling his jacket on too. “Oh, I’ll leave Akuji to explain that,” he says to Cecillia.

Then as I get out of my chair and grab my bags, he turns back to me. “I can’t believe you did that, Akuji. Really?”

I wave my hand, sarcastically dismissing him, and start walking off into the mall. I hear Cecillia’s stilettos click against the plastic floor as she runs to catch up with me. When she finally does, she leans in next to my face, and I see her barely catch her designer purse as it falls off her shoulder.

“Akuji, you’ve got to tell me,” she whines, bouncing up and down like a begging child. “C’mon, we’re besties. Who did you do it with? Who? I’m dying to know.”

I don’t look at her, but I let the mischievous grin spread across my face.

She gasps and pokes my arm with her acrylic claws. “Tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me! You can’t just let Das (of all people) build up this suspense, and then refuse to tell me!”

“Well, if you must know,” I start off, “I may have—”

“He fucked Deidre Brennan,” Das cuts in, stealing my spotlight.

I crane my neck to glare at him from the other side of Ces, whose jaw has fallen to the floor. “You stole my line!” I accuse him with fake offense.

He shrugs it off and laughs as I lead them into a shoe store. I try to let the topic go too as I wander off to find myself a new pair of leather boots, but Cecillia finds me again in all the rows of footwear.

“You, Akuji Something-another, had sex with the Deidre Brennan?” she asks in disbelief, her mouth still catching flies.

I reach over and push her chin back up, and she shakes her head away from me. “Yes,” I explain, “I did, but it doesn’t matter.”

I abandon the cute shoes I was looking at to get away from Cecillia. I came here to get my mind off him, but now she’s just bringing it up again. I attempt to escape around the corner and down another aisle, but she’s right on my heels.

“Akuji, you don’t get to run away. I want to hear about it,” she giggles. “It matters to me!”

I squeal and scramble around the shop until I bump straight into someone’s chest. I look up to see Das raising an eyebrow at me. Then he sees Cecillia come around the corner too, and he shoves me behind his back.

“Hide me, Das. She’s invading my privacy,” I yelp.

Das laughs as I peek around his body to see Cecillia marching straight for me and Das. She reaches out with her long fake nails and grabs for me, but Das grabs her around the waist and pulls her away. I screech and curl into a ball, and Das keeps stepping in front of her and holding his arms out in defense as she tries to race around him.

“Ak-u-ji! I just wanna ask a couple of questions. It’s forbidden love,” she chirps, reaching under Das’s arm toward me.

“It’s not love!” I argue with her.

She sighs wistfully, pretending to faint in Das’s arms. (He barely catches her.) “Oh, the naïve mind! ‘It’s not love,’ he says. ‘It’s not love.’ The tall, dark, mysterious, and incredibly handsome stranger with the pretty little whore... It’s destiny!” she cries out.

“Wait, hey! That wasn’t very nice. You’re the one getting paid to have sex with people,” I snicker, and she gapes at me in disbelief I would actually say such a thing.

Then Das suddenly pulls her legs out from under her and picks her up bridal-style before she has a chance to retort, and she squeals, hitting his chest with her hand. He turns to me with a grin as she starts to laugh joyfully. I unfold my legs from my chest and stretch them out in front of me, looking up with a smile at my two friends.

Then we notice the other presence beside us: a single man in a store uniform, awkwardly waiting for us to realize he’s there. “Uhm,” he hesitates, “I hate to ask you this, but my manager says you three have to leave. You’re causing a disruption for other customers.”

Das nods, trying to suppress the smile from taking over his face, and Cecillia just curls into his chest, her shoulders shaking from quiet laughter. I almost start to laugh too, and I have to bite my lip to restrain myself. “Yes, sorry. That’s understandable,” I apologize to the worker while gathering our bags as Das and Cecillia already start heading out.

Once we get outside into the open area of the mall, Das puts Cecillia back down onto her feet, and she has to wipe the tears from her eyes. She also smooths down her skirt and pushes her bra back into place before looking at me again.

“Don’t start something again, Ces. We just got kicked out of a store because you chased me,” I warn her, pointing a finger into her face.

She swats my hand away and crosses her arms against her large chest, which pushes her breasts farther up. (Das has to quickly look away as if the wall has become the most interesting thing in the world.) Then, she cocks her hip to the left. “Akuji, you fucked Deidre Brennan. How is that not the most amazing, if not crazy, thing you’ve ever done? Sorry for being so curious, but it’s Deidre fucking Brennan. Like was it good?”

“Was it good?” I repeat sarcastically. “More like it was the best night of my fucking life.”

She laughs and puts her hand over her mouth. “Really? Is he that good?”

“Oh, great. Now there’s two of them,” Das chimes in monotonously.

I roll my eyes and let myself relax. “Honestly, I don’t really want to talk about it. I came here to get my mind off of him.”

“So it was bad,” Cecillia infers, pulling her lip up.

I scoff. “It wasn’t bad. It was great. It's just...” I trail off, realizing that starting was a mistake.

Cecillia’s eyes widen with interest. “Just what?”

I take a deep breath in and close my eyes for a second. “Just I’m supposed to see him after this too, and he’s a pain in the ass, so I’d rather not think about him when I don’t have to.”

Now Das seems invested in the conversation again. “He’s a pain in the ass? Hell yeah, so why are you going back to see him if you think that too? Are you mentally ill or—oh, wait, no. I forgot; you are.”

I throw my hands up in the air and let them fall back to my sides. “Both of you. You’re both assholes. Meanies.”

“You love me,” Cecillia coos, waving her index finger at me, and Das nudges me with his elbow.

I sigh in defeat. “I do love you, but I’ve got to get going. Someone told me to be back before dinner,” I tell them as I turn my sights to the mall exit.

Das just shakes his head, but Cecillia leans forward and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Go get him, boo, and don’t kill him. See you in a little while.”

I give her a kiss on the cheek too. “Don’t worry about me, and have fun with Aster.”

She smiles and waves as I walk off. I honestly don’t know what I did to deserve her. Maybe it’s punishment for my sins.