Mall Goth

The mall was packed full of families, children running wild, parents weighed down with shopping bags. Valentine was walking with Lalo through the food court, eating chocolate/vanilla soft serve dipped in chocolate. He’d forgotten how the ice cream tended to liquefy under the chocolate shell, which meant that it was dripping over the rim of the sugar cone and onto his fingers.

Lalo went over to a nearby pretzel stand to steal a few napkins, his own ice cream cone in similar condition. There was chocolate smeared on his mouth, and a little had gotten on his shirt. He looked ridiculous, but it was also endearing.

“Hurry up!” Valentine said.

The napkin dispenser was overfilled, which meant the napkins wouldn’t come out like they were supposed to. The pretzel vendor was slouching at the back of the booth on her phone, oblivious to the struggle.

“Hold these.” Valentine handed his bouquet and the zombie cat over to Lalo, grabbing the entire dispenser and marching over to a bench.

It only took a few moments to pop the contraption open, scattering napkins all over his lap. He wiped his hand off, grimacing at the tacky feel of it. The paper was flimsy, bits tearing off and sticking to his skin. The pretzel vendor had noticed the missing napkin dispenser and was staring over at them with an intimidated look in her eyes.

“That poor kid,” Lalo said, stuffing the last of his ice cream cone into his mouth and going to return the stolen property.

The kid looked like she was trying not to laugh, since Lalo had to finish chewing before he could apologize, but she managed to keep her composure with an admirable level of grace.

“You have chocolate on your face,” Valentine told him when he’d returned.

Lalo’s eyes widened. “You didn’t think to tell me that before I went over there?”

“You were still finishing your ice cream!”

“Whatever.” Lalo scrubbed at his mouth with one of their now-abundant supply of napkins, but he was still smiling, so Valentine knew he wasn’t really upset about it.

He popped the last bit of his own sugar cone into his mouth with a satisfying crunch.

“I need to go wash my hands,” he said. “You should put cold water on that stain.”

Lalo looked down at his shirt and groaned. “I’m such a mess.”

In the bathroom, Valentine discovered that he, too, had chocolate on his face. He glared at Lalo in the mirror, and Lalo burst out laughing. Valentine’s heart fluttered in his chest. He was having so much fun. So much so that he even let Lalo persuade him to ride the carousel in the food court. He sat on a bench, of course, because he was not about to actually ride a horse, while Lalo hopped up onto the handsome gray steed next to him. The music began to blare and the carousel lurched into action. The lighting was soft, pinks and blues to match the pastel colors of the carousel itself. Lalo leaned low over the back of his horse, catching Valentine’s attention.

“Why, my good sir, fancy meeting you here,” he said, the horse bobbing up and down merrily as he spoke. “You really must come to Tanderfield for the summer. It has been too long since the manor has been graced by beauty such as yours.”

Valentine arched an eyebrow. With any other person, at any other time, he would have scoffed in derision. He couldn’t bring himself to leave Lalo hanging, though, so he sat up straight, as a proper gentleman might, and held up a languid hand, as a proper lady might. Lalo touched his hand with gentle fingers, attempting to kiss the back of it, but his horse was on an upswing, so he had to wait, both of their arms extending to accommodate the increasing space between them. He tried again on the next downward swing, just managing to press his lips to Valentine’s knuckles before the distance grew too great again.

Valentine imagined a camera trained on them, recording this romantic comedy nonsense. He felt very self-conscious of his body, heat radiating from this small point of contact between them and warming him from head to toe. He tugged on Lalo’s hand gently.

“Come down from there.”

Lalo slid gracefully from the horse, sitting next to him on the bench. The tinny music faded from Valentine’s consciousness as he gazed upon Lalo’s face, those mischievous green eyes, that sparkling smile. He felt the weight of Lalo’s hand on his thigh, through the suede of his boot. He shivered when Lalo’s fingers traced bare skin, the thin strip that was exposed between the top of the boot and the hem of his cut-offs.

The carousel came to a stop.

“No!” Valentine gripped Lalo’s shirt to keep him close.

“It’s probably for the best,” Lalo said, laughing.

Valentine didn’t even care that people were staring, but he supposed it would be better to find somewhere more private. They weren’t really teenagers, after all. He sighed and released him, smoothing the wrinkles in his shirt, noting the way Lalo leaned into his touch.

“Back to the car?” he asked.

They didn’t stop holding hands as they walked. Valentine didn’t even mind that it felt a little sweaty. When they got back to their parking spot, they found that two overgrown SUVs had wedged in on either side of his diminutive car. Lalo didn’t even hesitate, leading him into the deep shadows on the passenger side. Valentine saw the flash of his teeth as he grinned in the darkness, leaning back against the door and reeling him in, trapping the zombie cat and the bouquet between them. Even so, their lips still didn’t meet. It felt like they were hovering close to the edge of something that was bigger than just a kiss.

Lalo took a deep breath. “This is…this is crazy, you know. I’ve never done this before.”

Before Valentine could figure out how to ask for clarification, Lalo elaborated on his own.

“This whole whirlwind romance thing,” he continued. “Most of the time I don’t even kiss someone until at least the third date.”

Valentine could feel a weird sort of shame threatening to rear its ugly head, but Lalo pulled him closer, interrupting it.

“I’m not passing judgment,” he said. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m not used to moving so quickly. It’s a little scary, but I like it, too. I don’t want to stop. I just wanted you to know.”

Lalo, Lalo, Lalo. Valentine wanted to kiss him so badly, but he could feel how vulnerable this moment was for him. He could be patient when it mattered. His stomach twisted up with a pleasant sort of nervousness as he realized he was ready to offer something in return.

“Want to come over to my place to read Kitchen Boy Losange?” he asked.

Lalo’s eyebrows scrunched together, and Valentine rushed to clarify.

“I’m used to moving quickly, in a physical sense. But I never take anyone back to my apartment. So, in a way, this feels fast to me, too. Wanting to share my private sanctuary with you, wanting to let you touch my things, even though you’re a known damager of books…”

“Hey!” Lalo squeezed him gently. “It wasn’t my fault Volume 1 got damaged. You’re the one who dropped it when you ran me over.”

Valentine opened his mouth, then closed it. He’d completely forgotten about storming out of his aunt’s bookshop and running over the most annoyingly handsome man he’d ever seen. How embarrassing.

“You’d really let me read from your collection?” Lalo asked.

Valentine could feel his heart hammering in his chest, but he already knew the answer. It was just a matter of taking the leap.

“Yes,” he said.

They were so much closer now. So much closer. Valentine suppressed a shudder and didn’t budge an inch, not wanting Lalo to feel obligated in any way. There was a stem from his bouquet poking him in the neck, and the zombie cat’s hard plastic nose was digging into his sternum.

“No pressure and no expectations,” he said. “Or rather, the only expectation is that we listen to ourselves and to each other.”

“All right.” Lalo’s voice cracked a little bit. He cleared his throat. “So what now?”

Valentine closed his eyes, his entire body on fire. “Now I will ask you again. Do you want to come back to mine?”

“To read Kitchen Boy Losange?”

“That, and other things, if you want. But only if you want. I would be glad to wait. Even just—” It was Valentine’s turn to clear his throat. “Even just seeing you there reading would be enough.”

“You’re so sweet.” Lalo left a little kiss on Valentine’s cheek that made him tingle with pleasure. "I want to do other things." He kissed the corner of Valentine’ mouth. “Other things are great.”

“I really like you, Lalo,” Valentine said, before he could stop himself.

“I really like you, too, Valentine,” Lalo replied.

Valentine tried to stop smiling, but he was too happy, so Lalo kissed his lower lip, then his upper, and then finally, when he’d managed to compose himself a bit, Lalo kissed his mouth in full.