mall show
“Alright, Class, that concludes our lesson for today, you’re all dismissed.” Mrs. Visage said as the bell rang right after. Every student rose up from their chair, each of them picking up their stuff.
DeLa grabbed her stuff and was about to head out too, until her friends, Adore, Courtney, and Laganja, pulled her back with wide smiles on their faces. “Girl, let’s party!” Adore said, pulling DeLa a little bit closer to them. “Party? It’s like.. 1pm,” the young girl giggled.
“What she meant is go to the mall, I need to go shopping!” Courtney pushed Adore back and wrapped her arm around DeLa’s waist. “Are you keen?” she followed, shooting a pleading gaze at DeLa. “o-of course, anything for you guys,” DeLa lied through her teeth.
She was exhausted, she wanted to just rest but she’d go with her friends, because they matter more.. Right?.. Hope she won’t regret this trip.
🏢
As they entered the threshold of the McSwanson Mall, they already got a whiff of freshly cooked pretzels and brewed coffee. “Where should we go first?” They all looked around, arm in arm, looking for an expensive store to waste their money on. From a distance, they could hear a faint voice, singing a few familiar songs. They hummed along to it as they walked from store to store, looking and buying stuff for every single one of them.
“I’m tired, I’m literally so tired.. My feet, I can’t feel them” DeLa leaned on the ramp of the stairs they’re currently going down on. “We should rest, Court, I’m fucking tired too..” Adore clutched her bags and leaned next to DeLa. Laganja was long gone, she went and ran with her pot headed boyfriend, leaving the other girls to shop and spend. “Fine!! Let’s go to the food court, I’m craving a hot dog, real bad!” She grabbed her two friends and dragged them to the food court, earning more groans than old people having sex.
As they reached the food court, they could see a crowd forming. A familiar hair color caught DeLa’s attention, hoping that it wasn’t who she thought it was.
She thought of the worst interaction she can ever have if the red head saw her, her mind ran like she’s trapped inside a rock. Her thoughts were cut short due to Courtney getting overly excited over a giant pretzel. “De, come on, the bombshell is going insane over bread,” Adore, the sweetheart she is, noticed the worried look in DeLa’s eyes and pulled her to a table.
Oddly enough, it sat near the performers area, getting a full view of the performer—without people walking, or standing by—performing for everyone. DeLa found the performer's voice very familiar, which only fueled her wonder and made her heart skip faster than ever. She was right, it is her—or maybe not?
Adore and Courtney went to order their food, while DeLa stayed on the table and kept a close eye on the bags. The performer was about to play a song, but before they said something.
“Thank you all so much for staying and singing along, this next song.. I wrote this song for a woman I once loved, I wrote this.. So she would know that she always has a song to come home to.. Let’s start!” She said, DeLa’s ears perked up, She is right, It is who she thought it is.
It is her, it’s Jinkx.
Her Jinkx.
“Midnight falls over me, coming down like water”
DeLa listened intently, her eyes wandering around and looking for her friends. She wanted to leave, to go home, to run up to Jinkx and hug her again, she wanted to say sorry and come back..
“Throwing these ashes out to the sea and it’s taken so long”
Instead of acting like a complete lunatic, she listened while fidgeting with her hands. She felt guilt, running up and down in her body, thinking ; this is a dream, she’s not here.. That’s not her.
“Breaking these bones, breaking these bones, won’t grow old. It only hurts when you’re gone.”
She turned her head towards the crowd, trying to listen to her still and also wanting to see her.
“If you look for me, I’m never at home. If I ever call you’re never alone”
She stood up, the crowd seemed far from her, she walked on up—abandoning the bags—all her mind could think of was Jinkx and how bad she wanted to see her. The woman kept singing, as DeLa shoved her way through the crown, she wasn’t proud of herself at this moment. She felt like a dunce, still completely head over heels for her ex.
“You may turn away but I understand, though we never touch, I'm holding your hand. And if there’s nothing left for me to do I’ll write a song for you to come home to, don’t dig my grave ‘till I’m gone. They may be words you heard me say before but this time I hope they mean more.. In a song”
She felt her eyes well-up when she could almost see her, the song and her voice hitting where it hurts the most—her heart—she kept on shoving through couples, friends, and families. She wanted to see her, she wanted to see Jinkx.
“So what good are the tears for? Will they bring you back to my door? What good are the tears for, when you’re half a world away! This isn’t what I left for, I can feel my heart beating me. So what good are the tears for, when you are lonely. Oh-oh-oh!”
She finally shoved her way to the front, and there she was, the most angelic woman DeLa has ever seen ; she got tattoos, her skin.. It looks softer than before, she’s.. She’s gorgeous.
She stood there, waiting for Jinkx to notice, she stared at the beauty before her. DeLa’s heart broke into a trillion more pieces, she missed her so badly. Her heart ached for her ever since the day she went away, once she saw her she got a feeling of solace, peace, and calmness. The nerves and tension from before quickly melted away into a puddle of hope.
“And if there’s nothing left for me to do, you’re like a song for me to come home to, don’t dig my grave ‘til I’m gone. But there are many men who came before, I wanna let you know you’ve meant more, in a song..”
When the song entered an instrumental break, Jinkx’s eyes looked around to see families, friends, and couples, all huddled in a big semi-circle. Some were taking video and some were talking amongst themselves while listening to her sing.
From the corner of her eye, she saw someone with long jet black hair, standing and wiping their eyes. She felt as if she knew this person. She looked dang familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. “I see a lot of familiar faces today, I hope you’re all enjoying the show!” she turned to where the person was at, clearly trying to even catch a glimpse of her even at the slightest and also for her not to notice.
When she kicked her heel back and turned, there she was, sunlight from the sunroof making her look ethereal. “DeLa..” she said onto the mic, everyone’s attention swung on over to DeLa who was there, almost bawling her eyes out.
Jinkx then heard murmurs of people asking who she was, her heart couldn’t help but skip a beat maybe once or twice. She felt as if the world stopped and stared as she dropped mic on the floor and ran to DeLa who looked completely shocked and embarrassed.
She wiped her tears, feeling everybody’s gaze shift from DeLa to Jinkx.
Jinkx slowly ran back to her station, still keeping her eyes locked onto DeLa. She picked up the mic and breathed the cold air in. “this is the last song I’ll perform, thank you all again so much for staying and listening.” she signaled to Major to start up a random song. Then she sang.
She sang a song dedicated to DeLa.
She sang with her whole heart, her eyes still locked onto DeLa, she wanted her to feel that this song is dedicated to her completely. She walked all around the semi-circle, making sure to stop in front of DeLa and look directly into her eyes.
She made her way back to the mini stage and slammed the mic on to the mic stand before saying something.
She saw her again, she’s complete.. Even though their pieces won’t fit into each other like before..