Kartik was doing a horrible job of hiding the grimace on his face as he stared in the direction that my finger was pointing. He glanced back to me and raised his eyebrow, obviously wishing that he could pretend I was turned in another direction.

"What?" I asked. "There's nothing wrong with that one."

He twisted his face into a whole different expression of disgust as he cast another frightened glance at the slightly purple t-shirt I was pointing at.

"Do I have to remind you that I'm not a homosexual?"

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't stop the bright grin from spreading across my face. "Fine," I sighed theatrically. "I'll steer away from pastels and V-necks."

"Oh, thank God," he announced, and I made a face at his teasing, walking away from that particular rack of clothes with him trailing just a step behind me. I stopped again in front of a whole different collection of shirts and began flipping through them as he shoved his hands into his jeans' pockets and leaned against the wall of the store, customary smirk playing out mischieviously on his face.

"I'd have to pass on that one," he laughed as I jokingly held up a daring hot pink number. "Just until I come out of the closet, though."

I smiled and put it back in it's place as he lifted off of the wall and came to stand on the opposite side of the circular rack. "It's a maybe, then."

"Maybe," he said slowly, switching his hands to his back pocket, "you "pass" on work tonight, and we rent that chick flick I've just been dying to see. I haven't had some Orville Redenbacher's in months." I took my eyes from the rows of fabric in front of me, raising them to meet his with my heart fluttering weakly. His eyebrows were raised with the suggestion and a smile played on his full lips as he waited for my response. I almost couldn't answer, but then the words came as easily as flowing water and I mirrored his grin.

"Obviously you haven't had something else in months, or you wouldn't even be trying." My voice was playful as I said something I never thought would leave my lips, and his eyebrows jumped up as he guffawed at me in shocked amusement.

He made a that catty noise that made me feel like a bitch and laughed.

"Oooh, that was low," he chuckled, "though I couldn't tell who you were insulting there." He put a hand on his stomach and placed the other one on the metal bar of the rack. "Gemma, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

I smiled at him shyly and shrugged, my gaze flitting down to the clothes before it was drawn back up to him. My timidity flowed away quicker than usual as I saw the happy warmth in his eyes. "You know, I think I'll take you up on that offer. Just to test out your sexuality."

His grin swelled and he spun away, stopping at the next rack over and starting to rifle through it's contents carelessly. My heart rate thumped wildly from just the short exchange as I looked at his lean, muscled back under the thin material of his shirt. His shoulders shook a few times in silent laughter and I giggled to myself and returned to browsing, setting aside a few things that I liked as he knocked others off of their hangers and onto the floor recklessly.

We were silent for several minutes while I worked my way around, collecting a hefty pile of options to sling over my arm. By the time I'd picked through everything, he had basically destroyed the other rack. I made a comment on his messiness and he just shrugged and took the mound of clothes off of my arm, looking through them slowly as I watched. He withheld any caustic comments that may have come to mind and agreed to buy a light grey henley and a navy long-sleeved shirt with painted writing down the arms.

I didn't dare suggest that he actually try them on while we headed for the counter since I was sure I would be met with a barrage of laughter in response. Anyway, I was happy enough that he was in a good mood.

We left the store with him carrying the bag slung over his shoulder. I discreetly observed the way his muscled arm bent back the hold it and then snapped my attention back to the present task. We started to walk through the gargantuan mall and I looked for stores where I could find him a pair of jeans, ones that weren't ripped so badly I could see slivers of his tanned knees, like the ones he was currently wearing.

There was a bounce to my step as he struggled to keep up, a joyousness that I hadn't felt for far too long. I glanced back to make sure that he wasn't lagging and he offered me a flash of his trademark grin and began drifting towards San Fransisco. I opened my mouth slightly and furrowed my eyebrows as the corners of my mouth lifted up, surprised only a little by his jest. He corrected his course and we continued on, me dropping back to walk beside him after a while.

I grabbed his arm as a familiar sign caught my eye, jerking him off to the side and towards the entrance. He let himself be dragged inside, obviously unsure of whether he'd regret cooperating later. We were met by a surge of urban music that couldn't be heard from outside and the lighting darkened just slightly. A sales clerk zipped up before we'd made it two steps inside, her short hair fried by too many dye-jobs and barely combed out.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" She coated a perky mask onto her voice even though it was obvious she hated interacting with people, and the look in her eyes just screamed say no say no say no.

I shook my head and smiled at her even though her own expression was stony. "We're fine, thanks."

Her shoulders sagged back into the typical teenage-slouch and she darted away, back to folding tank tops that had been thrown lazily around by customers. Kartik muttered something under his breath that I didn't hear.

"I know that you're jealous of her optimism, Kartik, but- ooooh!" I broke off at the sight of an enormous wall of jeans, looming towards us from the back of the store. They were stacked halfway to the ceiling, thickly packed into cubicles labelled with various sizes. "Jeans!"

Kartik sighed.

We drifted slowly through Blockbusters, combing through the walls and walls of movies systematically. Kartik searched out his favourite kinds of movies and I searched out mine, though we moved along together with only a sliver of air between us. We'd only made it through one stretching wall of shiny cases so far, but already we each had a haul of at least three movies in our hands, which we'd pick through later. I took long, slow steps so that I could observe every title, stopping when I saw something that looked interesting.

I bent slightly to scrutinize the cover of Fanboys, then reached out and picked it up, flipping the empty case over in my heands to read the back. I scanned through the summary and smacked it onto the top of my stack, earning a dubious look from Kartik.

"Fanboys?" His tone suggested that he thought this had to be a joke.

"Yep."

"Really? You want to watch Fanboys?"

"You never even read the back. I did." I set my face into a stubborn expression and we resumed our walk alongside the wall.

"Are you sure you're not illiterate? 'Cause that looks like one hell of a stupid movie."

I grinned at him and secured the movie in my arms. "I guess we'll have to see about that."

He returned the smile but shook his head. "Not if I can help it."

We returned to our browsing and he continued ignoring the senseless comedies that I was drawn towards, instead picking out the heavy action films that held less dialogue and more gore, sex and animalistic shouting.

I fought back my own doubts as he selected 300 and added it to his pile without even checking the back like I did every time. My jumble of light-hearted comedies and romances were beginning to outway his own collection, so he grabbed a few more thrillers and we moved from the walls of newer movies lining the store to the isles that held older, half-forgotten movies. It only took a few minutes to get through those, and then we were sitting on the carpet between the children's and manga sections, spreading our selections out over the floor.

I began splitting mine up while he watched, almost seeming fearful at my choices. I smiled to myself as I placed Fanboys in the 'keep' pile, and Kartik groaned loudly and leaned forwards to see what else I was planning to inflict on him. The only older one I'd picked, Eurotrip, ended up as a keeper as well, along with The Hangover and Role Models. I wanted to keep most of the other ones, but instead pushed them off to the side and looked at Kartik expectantly, my smirk still in place. He looked down at his own movies and grinned evilly, immediately setting 300 apart from the rest.

"Ha-ha," I monotoned as he shrugged and quickly plucked out Taken and The Messengers. I visibly cringed as he slapped the horror movie down, but his smile just grew and I knew that it would count as payback for my own decisions.

I reached out with both arms and gathered the shows I'd rejected, pulling them into a messy stack. Kartik followed suit and we returned them to their places before heading back and picking up the rest. As we walked towards the counter I shot a glance up at him and something clicked as our eyes met. His wide, crystal irises sparkled with life and I couldn't help but stare for a second as I realized what it was like to look him and not see that cold glint that made my blood run cold, the icy streak that was constantly present in Simon's eyes. It made the back of my throat ache to think of Simon, but I blinked away the mustering tears and focused on the warm, slightly confused smile that Kartik was giving me as I stared. The grimness flickered off of my face and was replaced by a smile as I turned away from him and dodged a cardboard standup.

We weaved our way through racks of candy and two dollar movie bins until we stood together in front of the lanky worker that just barely raised an eyebrow at the huge number of plastic cases that we held. I plunked mine down on the counter and he began to punch numbers into the cash register, calculating how much this would cost. Kartik didn't look worried about the growing sum on the little screen; he just added his to the pile and fished in his pockets for a credit card while the rentals were tallied up. He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped the thin slice of plastic around in his hands. I glanced apologetically from the counter to him, but he shook his head as if to say: Don't worry about it. When the clerk stated the price he wordlessly paid for everything and let me shoulder the heavy bag.

We walked out of the store into the late afternoon, attacked by the muggy, hot air that suddenly pressed in on all sides. I hopped down from the sidewalk and we climbed into his car, which personally I loved. True, it was so sleek and streamlined that our shopping bags could barely be squeezed into the backseat, but the roar of the engine and the subwoofers that lined the vehicle more than made up for that.

As I slammed my door shut Kartik plugged his iPod in to the audio in socket and began flipping through his playlists. I gingerly reached over and took the nano from him, holding it up as I scrolled along. He put his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out his keys, shoving one into the ignition and turning it around. The car revved powerully, sending echoes of movement up into my chest. Kartik placed his hand on the stick and shifted us into reverse, pressing the gas pedal down with vigour and pulling us dangerously fast out of the line of cars.

I grimaced as I scrolled through literally thousands of songs, most of which I'd never heard of. He had everything from U2 to some artist named Chris Garneau, who was listed under the "indie" category. I cautiously clicked the centre button as one of his songs were highlighted. A soft crooning began to seep from the speakers as Kartik pulled recklessly accellerated, pushing us out of the parking lot and into traffic.

I glanced at my companion with an eyebrow raised as the shaky, alien voice began belting out lyrics that I couldn't even begin to understand. Kartik came dangerously close to blushing and grumbled something about changing the song. I grinned and accessed his "Recently Added" playlist, selecting the first song and setting his iPod down on the dash. Fall Out Boy blasted in from all around us as we struggled to weave through the thick layers of traffic.

"For a DJ, you listen to some pretty shitty music," I mused, referring mostly to the song I was currently hearing.

Kartik raised his head and flicked a hand at me, taking on a mockingly snobby demeanor. "You obviously don't understand my particular taste in music."

I rolled my eyes -something that I'd discovered I did a lot in his company- and reached over to his iPod, clicking the button that switched us over to the next song, Sunday Bloody Sunday. This happened to be a tune I could live with, so I sat back and pulled the gigantic bag of movies into my lap.

"Are you sure we'll be able to finish all of this tonight?" I asked, glancing doubtfully at the clock, which read 5:21. Kartik didn't seem fazed; he glanced over at the pile and shrugged, adding in a nod to reassure me.

"Yeah. After all, we might end up skipping a few," he suggested, shooting me a sideways glance that I met defiantly.

"None of mine," I answered, and his shoulders fell.

"Fine."

He finally resigned himself to what was coming and focused on the road. I watched his face for a second too long before I made myself swivel my head to look out the window. The road was beginning to blur along under us as we tore free of the busy area of town and headed towards the suburbs. I fell into my head as my eyes stopped registering what was speeding past in front of them.

My memories took my back to that night, the one that had driven me here to Kartik. There was bound to be a stir eventually; someone would find Simon, whether he was dead or alive. Momentarily I wished for him to be dead and was shocked by my coldness. I knew that I wanted him dead, but seriously willing him to succumb to what I'd done to him seemed like a step too far.

Would I really rather he be cold and lifeless when the police found him than actually have a heartbeat left in his chest? Shamefully, yes. I couldn't deny that the thought of Simon drawing his last breath had allowed me to live with a shred of hope for months on end.

"Gemma? You okay?"

I jerked myself back as Kartik concernedly prompted me for an answer. He took his eyes from the road in front of him to look at me with a worried expression. We pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building with him barely glancing out the window to check where he was going. I blinked hard and made myself breath deeply and drive Simon from my thoughts. I would deal with what I'd done to him when the time came.

"I'm fine," I told Kartik with a ghostly smile. "Just zoned out, I think."

"You would."

I smiled at Kartik and shrugged as he looked back out the windshield and swung the car into an empty parking space, just barely screeching in between two older vehicles that provided barely any space. He shifted gears and took his foot off of the pedal, pulling his keys out of the ignition.

"Come on," he said as he swung his key ring around his finger, ducking out of the car. "We've got a lot of movies to go through."

Hey guys, I'm sorry that it's taken this long to update... enjoy!!! :)