Emma pulled her phone out to text Ray.
"Have you seen Norman?"
He doesn't even reply, like usual, and leaves her on read.
So, she goes to the group chat to ask everyone, which she was supposed to do in the beginning.
Everyone else replies with something along the lines of "no."
Even Jade, who's usually omniscient, says she doesn't know where he is.
An uneasy feeling roused in Emma's chest of worry. His phone was dead, which wasn't really something that usually happened, being that it usually charges overnight.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf0GY65GJfX
(Thats a bad habit my switch and laptops charger is like really CRAP)
Was he seeing someone else? No, he would never do that. Wherever the messy-haired guy was, couldn't be tracked being that he didn't have his phone.
Don't worry, he's never even done this before. In fact, I bet he's trying to get home now! Maybe he's just bored and wants to walk around, she tries to convince herself.
She waits around for a while, before getting a text from Anna saying that she and Gilda were going to the mall and inviting Emma along. She eagerly replies; there wasn't anything to do in her apartment, anyway.
-
"Hello!" Anna greets, waving at Emma. She waves back and starts toward them.
"Do you want to go to the food court first, or something else?" Gilda asked the two.
"Food court!" Emma exclaims. "I didn't have any breakfast, ugh, and I also skipped dinner last night."
"Oh, okay then!"
-
While in line for food, Anna points out a certain white-haired person.
"What do you want?" Gilda asks. "You can talk to him. I'll pay, too."
"Oh, just some water and fries." She replies, stepping out of the line, which was short already. "Thanks!"
-POV switch-
"Hey!" A familiar voice calls. "Where were you?"
Norman looks up and sees Emma. He internally panics. Frick, I didn't tell her where I was going!
"My charger broke," he replies, in a hurry. Better be glad you bought a charger, dumbass!
"No, it was working fine! Your phone was charging." She sits by him and grabs a single fry.
"It wasn't working last night," he comments. "It must've had a small problem and fixed overnight."
"Technology these days, ugh. They still haven't found out how to make Joy-Cons without drifts or laptops without internet problems," Emma complains. "Why did you go all the way out here just for a charger? There are places that sell good chargers closer to our apartment?"
"They sell five-dollar ones that break after a month, not good ones. They also charge slowly. I wanted one that charged quickly and doesn't break as easily," he lied. Really, he was buying—Well, a phone charger, a hoodie, and something else, of course. "I also wanted to get another hoodie since you stole my other one."
"Not my fault. I love hoodies."
"It is your fault."
"Are you mad?" She tilts her head to one side.
"Not really," he replies.
"Well, bye! I was shopping with Anna and Gilda, and I saw you!" She gives him a quick hug and walks away.
"Bye, love you!" He calls out, but she didn't seem to hear him.
-POV switch-
"It's weird. He was hesitant to talk to me, and said he came here for only a charger and a hoodie! Like, who willingly pays for good chargers when the ones they sell at convenient stores are functional although they're slow?"
"Ray does," Anna answers. "He uses his phone a lot, and the brightness is blinding."
"He barely ever texts," Gilda says. "He just leaves everyone on read."
"I know, he just reads online and that. His computer also has a C-Type charger, like his phone, and he uses his phone's charger to charge his computer a lot, so he will pay for the chargers."
"I know that Ray gets good chargers since he actually uses them, but Norman usually uses his switch that has a different charger than his phone."
"Bruh, he has a lot of money. He can clearly pay for that."
"What kind of charger did he have before?"
"It was from a convenient store, and it costed two dollars," Emma replies.
"He was clearly tired of going all the way to a store to get a charger every month. Good explanation. Or he might just be covering up that he wants to surprise you with something."
"What is it, then?"
"What's your age?"
"I'm nineteen, almost twenty? Why does that matter?"
"Use your age to figure it out."
Emma sat there confused by what Gilda's assumption even was. Anna looked at Gilda and smirked. "Duh," she said. "Well, I'd want this to be a surprise for her." Emma was still confused.
"Tell me!" Emma exclaims.
"Nope, I want a surprise."
"Yeah, he told us what he was doing," Gilda tells her. "Come on. There's probably a nice cardigan in one of these stores, or even mushroom earrings." She stood up.
"Alright." Emma stood up as well. "After we're done shopping, how about we go to that arcade? The new one they added as an extension to the mall," Emma suggests.
"Sure, that would be fun," Gilda replies.
"Of course, I haven't been to an arcade since I was eleven," Anna says. "I heard they let you request music there. We could go into a quiet area and listen to it, unless there aren't any quiet places, given this is an arcade, and there are probably a lot of kids there."
"That sounds like a good idea."
Gilda and Anna bought a lot of clothes and earrings, while Emma only bought a cardigan, a shirt, two skirts, and a few stickers to put to the back of her laptop or on her phone case.
"I think we're almost done. These bags are heavy as frick," Anna complains. "Now let's go to the arcade!"
Emma and Gilda nod.
-
Emma sets the few bags and the plush that she had down on the floor beside the entrance to her apartment once she entered and kicked off her shoes. Her Shiba Inu, Hector, trotted up to her, practically begging her to pet him. She spotted Norman sitting on the couch, using his phone; he was probably on Discord, since he had an annoyed expression.
She walked over and sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder. He put his arm around her shoulder and put his phone down beside him.
"I... Do you want to go to the park later?" He asked her.
"Sure." She smiled at him.
-
"I feel like there's something wrong. Is everything okay?" Emma asked Norman.
"Yeah, I'm good," he lied. How was he supposed to ask her? Just ask her. But how? It's a hard decision, too. If he didn't ask her right, she could reject.
He grabbed her hand and took something else from his other pocket with his other hand. She looked at him and smiled, causing him to also smile.
"You know how this is where I met you? Right by those benches?" He'd fully recovered his memory by then. He could remember things clearly.
Emma nods. "Yeah, I do."
He smiled and pulled her close to him. "You know why I asked you to come to the park tonight?"
"I thought we were going to listen to music, but no, since your phone isn't playing any," she answered.
"That's not why," he replied. "When I was at the mall, I bought more than just a charger and a hoodie."
"What else did you get?"
He put the hand close to her and opened it. "This."
She stared at the ring in his hand, then at him, which was something he wished she wouldn't do. He looked away, scared of rejection. She was clearly in shock, since she was switching her wide-eyed gaze from one thing to another, as if glitching. Then she snapped back into reality, tears falling from her eyes.
"I..." She began, searching for the words. "I will, duh!" Her arms are wrapped around him in less than a second, and the hug was quickly returned.
"I love you," he tells her.
"I love you too," Emma replies.
-
"Looks like I got the tea right again," Jade mutters from behind the bush where she was hiding. "Good job, little brother. Never been prouder."
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