Week Twelve Journal One

The mall was always strangely comforting to Dale. When his only friend, John Abraam, was busy, Dale would get high by himself and drive up to the mall. Some people preferred alcohol, but that just never did it for Dale, it drove him into a deep depression, although it was always gone by the time he sobered up; pot just gave him a false sense of optimism about the future, but at least he was happy.

Dale walked through the automatic doors, dragging a little bit of mud in with him, and hooked a hard left towards the food court, his usual first stop. He walked up to The Pizza Palace, the only pizza place in the mall, and got in the back of the line. He stared at the menu, even though he always ordered the same thing, until he was standing in front of the cashier.

“Dale, fancy seeing you here at this hour,” said the Clerk, Steve; he always acted like he really wanted to be Dale’s friend, and he was nice, but Dale often mistook one’s friendliness for intrusiveness.

“Yeah, can I get some breadsticks, a coke, and a slice of...”

Steve cut him off mid sentence, “Canadian bacon and pineapple? I know you too well.”

“Yeah, good job, only three months of taking my order and you memorized it,” said Dale, laying the sarcasm on thick. He handed his debit card over before giving Steve a chance to give him the price, he really didn’t care, he just wanted to get away from the bundle of awkwardness that was Steve.

Dale slid down to the far end of the counter. His meal, if you can call it that, arrived quickly and he grabbed the tray and found a seat. There were never many people in the mall when Dale went, usually just elderly couples but occasionally a younger couple; the younger couples were always, Dale assumed, independently wealthy, which is why they were at the mall in the early afternoon. Seeing all these couples often depressed Dale. He caught himself wondering why the hell he came to mall so often, when it only left him longing for someone to share it with.

Finishing his meal, Dale dumped his red plastic tray of garbage into the trashcan. He walked down the dull colored tile towards the movie theater, it always helped to live in a different reality for a couple hours. Plus, the girl that worked there was good looking, although Dale was always too afraid to ask her out; it felt rude since he only saw her when she was working.

Arriving at the theater, he saw the girl, Ronnie, working at the ticket counter. He walked up without giving any thought as to what movie he would see.

“What movie?” asked Ronnie.

Shit, Dale thought. He hadn’t really paid attention to what movies were coming out.

“What’s good?” replied Dale. He thought to himself, that came out completely wrong, it sounded like I’m trying to hit on her. His palms began sweating, and his knees started to weaken.

“Ha, just working, what’s your name again?”

“Dale.” Miraculously, he started to feel a little more comfortable talking to her. Once he broke the ice, it was really easy to talk to her.

“That’s right, you come in here a lot, huh?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of time, and usually nothing to do with it.”

“Well, how about seeing a movie like always. I mean you came up here to see a movie right?”

“Yeah, I have no idea what’s good though.”

“Dark Star’s good, I saw it with my boyfriend when it came out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely not a chick flick though, he made me see it…and pay for it…and drive. Good riddance.”

“Yeah, I’ll see that. Sorry about your boyfriend, sounds like he was a real class act.”

Ronnie grabbed Dale’s card, which had been on the marble counter since he first walked up. She handed him back the ticket and his card.

“Enjoy the show. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, take it easy.”

Dale was excited, even impressed by himself. He had had a few serious girlfriends in his life, but was never really comfortable about talking to girls like that, and besides, she seemed interested in him. He walked to his theater, and sat down. He knew he should have grabbed some popcorn or something, but felt good that he wasn’t going to succumb to his marijuana induced hunger. The previews started to roll, and he felt as though he may have finally got what his life was missing these past couple years, but caught himself before letting his thoughts get carried away.