-- WE GOT A CITY TO LOVE && [pacey]

Pacey really wasn't as effeminate as the amount of time he spent at the mall would suggest. Really, he wasn't! Alright, so he did spend way more time at the mall than most people, male or female, but this had way more to do with his need for new, shiny things than it did for any compulsive need to look badass or anything. Of course, to be fair, Pacey always thought he looked badass anyway, whatever other people thought about his sometimes questionable choices. He'd recently retouched the roots of his hair, so the blonde was bright as it had been the very first time. That had been yesterday, and the first place he'd been able to show it off (apart from the Earth Common Room) was, predictably enough, the mall. This time it had actually been the idea of one of his female friends, though, and so it was that he and Ashton wound up dragged along for some huge shopping spree that day. Pacey didn't mind -- he'd willingly come hang out and buy his friends whatever they asked for any day of the week. Even so, he was quickly distracted by the very mention of food. He'd definitely choose food over clothes any day. "You skipped lunch?!" His jaw dropped open. "Dude, that's blasphemy. We need to get you a sandwich like, stat." That really did sound good though, and he found his mouth watering. "We should grab something later, actually. Oh my god pizza sub." Even though he had eaten lunch, it seemed that pizza subs all over the world were calling his name at that moment.

He cocked his head to the side at the mention of work, though. Pacey himself didn't have a job -- didn't really have need for one, and had honestly never learnt the lesson of independence. "What time's your shift start?" he asked curiously. He didn't know much about having a job at all, actually. "And you know... Target's actually pretty awesome but Zellers, man! I can't believe they're replacing it... plus it looks really creepy now." The empty store really did look pretty ominous, probably full of empty shelves and the like. He wondered when they'd start putting the target signs and all that in -- he did think that Target was badass as far as those types of stores went, definitely more awesome than Wal-Mart. A few trips to various parts of the States had taught him that. Zellers was badass and Canadian, though. He didn't have much time to dwell on this, however, because soon enough the girls were wandering off, giggling, and Pacey followed. Normally when shopping he was a little more decisive about where he was going, but this time he was very much content to follow along. Plus, he liked the girls and all, but he and Ashton were bros and had to stick together and all that jazz. He entered the store without question and followed to the jeans Ashton was inspecting.

He had much less of an issue with money, considering how willing his parents were to load up the bank account for him. Pacey was probably a little bit spoiled, truth be told. "Well, if they're quality, it might be worth it?" he reasoned, trying to put himself in the same position as his friend -- or most of his friends in general actually, considering the fact that most people did not in fact have the same seemingly endless supply of cash. "Nah, nothing in particular -- ooh, sneakers..." He almost wandered off completely, but the shoes really were on the far side of the store and he would have felt bad just abandoning Ashton there while the dude was talking. "But I'm cool with whatever, dude, except I think the girls have plans of their own..." Pacey really was alright with anything, though.

Acting offended at Ashton's words, Pacey let his jaw drop open a little. How could people function without food all the time? It was a mystery to him. That wasn't the most pressing question, though. "Yeah, but why would you even want to? Food's the best, man." He knew that it was a joke, but he probably wouldn't have been offended even if he'd thought that Ashton was serious. The guy was seriously just too nice to start anyway, Pacey thought, but it helped that they both seemed to be relatively easygoing dudes. It did make things a lot easier. He just laughed when Ashton swatted his arm. "Love you too, bro," he responded, pointing a finger gun at Ashton and making a "pew pew" sound as he pretended to shoot it. The topic of pizza subs was seriously distracting, though, and he immediately wanted to drag his friends all off to the food court so that they could get something right away. That would be kind of rude and inconsiderate, though, and his better judgment allowed him to refrain from doing something that ridiculous. "Yeah, Subway has 'em, probably. We should try to sneak away and grab some later. Or if they don't have pizza subs we should just get sandwiches anyway, 'cause... sandwiches." Good food was good, right? Yes, right. "No need to get all mad, dude!" He laughed at the attempt at "huffiness". Well, Ashton had tried.

As a guy who wasn't very good at either prioritizing or managing his time, it didn't really strike him as odd at all that Ashton didn't know what time his shift actually was. Then again, Pacey was also sure that his friend was much better at that whole time management thing than he was -- most people seemed to be. Pace was a decent student but that was just about it -- a part-time job was just unheard of, but that was his spoiled kid side talking. "You should just call in sick, dude. Or go with the zombie thing. Seems pretty believable to me. Or tell Andy there's flower-eating zombies following you so they're harmless but you can't shake 'em and you can't come into work since it'd ruin the shop." Sometimes Pacey listened to the words that came out of his own mouth and wondered what the hell was wrong with him, but he just went with the flow most of the time. It was all good in the hood, and all that jazz. "Dude, freeloaders are always welcome if they provide entertainment. Statue's good. Can you juggle or anything too?" he asked seriously as if juggling would seal the deal. "'Cause if you can drive we can just go... like, right now." Actually, considering Pacey's actual home was in Toronto, they probably couldn't go right then. That would be one longass drive. His parents also probably wouldn't be that happy if he turned up out of the blue with a friend, though it was June now and he would be heading home soon anyway. It was always nice to be back at home.

He laughed when Ashton started singing. "Evil as plain as the... red on its sign?" That was a pretty failed attempt at improvising lyrics, but hey, he'd never claimed to be good at that kind of thing. He was pretty bad with words and cleverness and the like, actually -- numbers clicked way more in his brain. "But it's gonna be a weird day when there's a Target there instead. And we should break in later. Just for fun. I'll bring the rope!" He was kidding, of course -- Pacey had never broken into anything in his life, unless his best friend's dorm room counted, but man, that had just been so that he could steal snacks and lounge around, so he was sure it was okay. Both his parents would probably kill him if he tried to do anything like that. He grinned when Ashton took the jeans anyway. "Hey dude, I can always just grab those for you if you want. It's no sweat." Literally, he would buy his friends almost anything and it wasn't an issue. He and Ashton were bros. There was no reason not to -- but Pacey did know that people sometimes didn't like it when he tried to blow a ton of money on them, so he tried to hold off. These were just jeans, though. "As long as 'interesting' isn't another word for 'illegal' I'm down. And as long as we do get to hit the food court later..." He laughed as he followed along more than happily to the sneakers. A pair caught his eye immediately and he held up one of the shoes -- a bright neon green -- next to his head of blonde hair. "Dude. Dude. Does this totally match or just clash way too much? Can't tell." Hey, shoes were important to Pacey and he wanted to make informed decisions.

There weren't that many things that Pacey took seriously. Actually... well, no, he was able to take most everything pretty seriously when the situation called for it, but this wasn't one of those times. Seeing as he was just hanging out with Ashton and they were just being bros and joking around, he was just fine acting offended. It didn't seem that Ashton was upset by this, either, which was always a bonus. He liked his fellow Earths -- everyone was pretty chill, with a couple of exceptions, but they weren't all Pacey's crowd anyway. "See? I'm always right," he said, grinning, well aware that he was actually wrong... a lot of the time. "Dude, I know right? They never have the Italian bread left, like... What is that?" He shook his head as if to say that this was a legitimate shame. The other breads were okay but it was never the same. Then again, Pacey was a bottomless pit that could swallow up any food in his path, so it was alright no matter what happened. "You're such a bully," he whined, trying not to laugh. He probably wouldn't be able to think of a nicer dude even if he tried.

This was an idea that Pacey hadn't actually considered, but this was true. As Earths they could make flowers pop up from anywhere, make them any kind they wanted too really at this point. "Oh god that's true," he said, frowning and shaking his head a little. "Okay dude, if that happens don't go anywhere near the school, you'll get our whole element kidnapped." Then these zombies would have an entire kitchen crew at their hands, ready to make flowers whenever they needed. At least they wouldn't be eaten, though. This was still better than flesh-eating zombies, he was pretty certain. "But being lazy is fuuun." He wasn't quite as lazy as some other people, but Pacey did like to laze around and do nothing occasionally. That said, he was also the type of guy who liked to be up and doing something or talking to someone, and after a little while he grew restless, so that was the way it went. Pacey pretended to be disappointed when Ashton admitted that he couldn't juggle, but then brightened up at the image of someone snowboarding down the stairs. "Well... We have one really nice long spiral staircase at home that you could probably try to skateboard down. That's still quality entertainment!" he said, laughing a bit. It was true, he did have the one really long staircase back at home -- his family's place was fairly huge. There are also a bunch of shorter staircases but those, he thought, weren't nearly as fun, especially since they went into corners a lot and he didn't want Ashton to be snowboarding into a wall.

Pacey opened his mouth to supply an answer but he didn't really have one, so he closed it and frowned, scratching his head a little in contemplation of it. "Dunno! Isn't that what people just usually say when they need to do anything semi-dangerous?" For some reason there always seemed to be a rope involved -- a rope and a grappling hook -- regardless of what said semi-dangerous activity actually was. "Not like I have experience breaking into Zellers, nope." He was acting shifty but it was just that, an act. He really hadn't done anything of the sort. Ashton's surprised reaction to Pacey's offer didn't really throw him off if only because this tended to be the usual. He didn't really get why it was a big deal, but apparently it was -- still he just waved his hand a little in dismissal of any issues. "Yeah dude, no problem! And you don't have to pay me back, it's all good." They were bros and all that, Pacey trusted that Ashton wouldn't take advantage of that kind of thing -- people had done it in the past but Pacey... never did learn the lesson. His friends were too nice to do that, right? Right! "Hey, hey, it's not like we were going in to steal anything from an empty store!" He knew it was unwise to mention "stealing" anything in a mall, but luckily nobody seemed to hear. People did always think he was a delinquent because of his obnoxious hair, though... "Eh, I have no idea -- wait, did they... leave?" A glance around the store indicated that they weren't there, and then he saw most of their friends over by the checkout. "Dude, I think we're cramping their style and all." He knew that wasn't the case -- the girls were pretty nice and probably wouldn't really try to ditch them. Still, it would be good to stick together or something, not that he was afraid of getting lost. Pacey practically knew the mall inside and out. "We might wanna go pay, though... Here, pass the jeans?"

Pacey thought over this whole thing for a second before nodding. That did make sense, actually! The business student in him knew that it couldn't possibly be right, or else Subway would have probably done it already, but he didn't actually know if they baked the bread in the store or if they got it delivered from somewhere. He kind of hoped they baked it there just because... mm, that would be yummy. Then again, Pacey would eat anything anyway. "Dude, they really should. And they need to stop doing that weird triangle cheese layering thing, 'cause that doesn't make sense," he said, shaking his head. If he were in charge of Subway, that was what he would do, yes. Unfortunately he wasn't and probably never would be -- his dad's company was doing well, judging by his family's money, but it wasn't big enough for him to buy Subway. Besides which, that had more to do with employees themselves more than corporate decisions, he figured. "Yeah, I think she would," he agreed, nodding. Fires would probably be useful in the impending zombie invasion, whether or not they were the flower- or flesh-eating kind, but unfortunately he didn't think that Fires would be very willing to help them if it was mostly Earths in danger. They hadn't proven too friendly thus far. "And Josh, I figure. And... that's it. Man, that's really sad." He had long ago stopped lamenting the existence of the alliances, knowing that not everyone could get along, but it was still pretty awful still, realizing they probably wouldn't help if his own element's lives were in danger. It was a scary thought.

Was payment worth it? Pacey had to actually think about this one for a second. Work was... ugh, work was so much work! It required effort and all that, and from what he could tell, most jobs were pretty boring. He figured that at least Ashton got to work with flowers and that was always great, was as close as he could get to using his element as a job, but even so... was it really that great? He didn't figure that it was for some reason, but then again he didn't need to work part-time for his spending money, so he was in a different boat. "Nah, I guess not. Unless you were like, a mattress tester or smoething. Boom, you should do that," he said, clapping his hands together with conviction as if he'd just come up with a totally brilliant idea. "Yeah man, it's pretty sick," he said, laughing a little. "For real, you should come visit. Bring your snowboard." It'd probably be a lot of fun to snowboard down that thing, though. Pacey could board too, but probably not as well -- not down the stairs or anything. His parents... er, would probably also not appreciate that, now that he thought about it, so this was luckily all a joke. "Always need rope! Can you supply the grappling hook? And a flashlight. Probably need a flashlight." He thought of random scenes from those spy movies where they had to break into places. Pacey probably watched too many movies. "Would she really? I don't want your mom to hate me, dude." He knew from the grin that it was a joke and so he was grinning too, but in all seriousness it would upset him if his friends' parents actually disapproved of him. He wasn't a bad kid, all things considered, and mothers tended to like him for some reason (probably the baby face...).

He popped his collar as if taking this entire thing to heart, but really he didn't think it was too much of a big deal at all. "I know, I'm just the best," he joked, shaking his head a little and laughing. Pacey really wasn't anywhere close to the best, unless it was the best at wasting money, in which case yeah, he probably was, but it just burnt a hole up in his pocket otherwise. He had no problem with paying, and he fished his debit card out of his wallet rather than pay in some obscene amount of cash -- he had some bills on his person but definitely not enough to pay for the jeans and sneakers. His card ran through it no problem, though, and he handed Ashton the bag with his jeans as they left the store only to follow their girl friends to... Oh. He was pretty sure he'd gone a faint shade of pink. "Uh... uh. Um," he said, stuttering a little. Pacey liked girls, alright, he did -- they were so cute and pretty and he had a soft spot for pretty girls, honestly, but things like this were... were far beyond him. Admittedly he knew that a lingerie store would be crawling with girls and if he'd been a bit more of a sleaze he might have been itching to just follow them inside but oh god no, Pacey was not in the slightest, and words failed him for a second. "I want to just get food, but but... we should stay with them, but... Uh..." Derp. He spent a lot of time on the internet, too. "Maybe we should just... wait for them out here?" He always felt kind of lame when he went all awkward teenage boy but come on, lingerie shopping with girls was so not something Pacey was very familiar with. "Like... I dunno." He gestured vaguely and awkwardly at a bench near the front of the store.

The triangular cheese was really a problem that he'd never understood. Why not alternate the direction of the triangle so that there wasn't that one weird dry patch without cheese and that one extra layer of cheese on the other side of the sub? It didn't make sense at all. Pacey felt very strongly about his sandwiches, though, so these were things tha the would seriously have to think about should he ever get the chance to ask someone in charge of Subway. "I... never thought of that, actually," he said, laughing a bit. "I guess I know what I'm doing from now on! Cheese is important." It was, too. The cheesiness of his sub was not a matter to be taken lightly -- okay it was, but still, he liked to be a little dramatic when it was just in fun. "Yeah, I think we'd actually be screwed," he said with a kind of sigh. It was too bad if they wouldn't be able to put aside their differences, but at this point Pacey no longer expected them to. A couple of years at the Academy had shown him that it'd be really unlikely. "Yeah, for real. I don't know what we'd be able to stop that they wouldn't, though... but it's the thought!" He'd try his best, too, because much as he really hated some of the Fires and Thunders, Pacey wouldn't let anything happen to an entire group of people as a whole if he could do anything about it.

Though he could be fairly lazy, he didn't sleep or nap quite so much that he would actually seek a job doing that. If someone offered it to him and all he had to do was sleep on a mattress at night and tell them how it was, though... Pacey would like to do that. Then again, he was okay on most mattresses, not that he didn't like and occasionally miss his hugeass, comfortable bed at home. "No idea, but if they exist, then sign me up!" he joked. He was in no desperate need of money, though, so maybe it would be more fair to let other people take up that kind of job. "What? Dude, how have you not gotten teleportation yet?" He shook his head as if saying that this were a basic concept. Even if it were, though, he would never make a friend feel bad about not knowing it. That was beyond cruel. People were always learning new things. That was just how life worked! There were many things he didn't know, either -- like how to operate a stove, for instance -- so he wouldn't be a fan of anyone making fun of him for such a thing, and he refused to do the same to others. "And dude, for sure. Over the summer or something, you actually should come. It'd be great!" He usually did take off to go back home for his summer breaks -- his parents would send someone to get him and take him to the nearest airport. He was sure they wouldn't mind if Ashton came along, too. "Nah, dude. Boarding around here's probably a lot better," he said, sighing. There were ski hills and things, but it was nothing like the Rockies, definitely not.

What on Earth would they use a grappling hook for? He didn't know the answer to that question either, but he gave Ashton a furtive nod when he said that he would try to get one, as if this were of the utmost importance and their "plan" would fall apart without it. "If not it's okay, I think the rope will be good to get us in," he said, his face cracking into an easy grin. "I guess we should also buy all-black outfits for sneaking in." Considering how much he would waste money, it wouldn't be that surprising if he actually did this, went and bought an entire outfit for a purpose that would never actually become a reality... but hey, Pacey enjoyed life. "Okay. I guess we should refrain from any rule-breaking then," he said, acting as if this disappointed him, but he was glad to hear that Ashton's mom wouldn't actually hate him or anything. He really would never do anything of the sort, so this was good news. "Nah, she's probably not that weird. All parents do weird things, bro." He did love his parents very much but hey... there was something about becoming a parent that made people pretty dang strange. He would probably be very different by the time he was a father, too -- if he ever became a father, and he did want that day to come at some point, but probably not in the near future. Heck no.

As of this present moment in time, lingerie stores were very much uncharted territory for Pacey, and he had no intention of changing that. Alright... alright, okay, he liked girls as much as any other straight teenage boy (maybe more, shush) so he wouldn't say no to being surrounded by pictures of beautiful women in lingerie, but considering his first thought was ew no oh my god, it was probably a bad idea to go anywhere near the place. His mind was a complicated mess, that was all. He watched the last of the girls enter the store -- none of them seemed to have remembered that Ashton and Pacey were even with them at all, which was a little disappointing in this situation but nothing he'd take to heart. He did, however, just glance between Ashton and then the store and back again several times before he was finally able to answer. "Yeah... yeah, they didn't. But I don't want to lose them or anything..." Awkward as hell shopping moments aside, they were all friends, and it would be a dick move to leave them there. Pacey followed Ashton over to the bench when he moved, glad that at least he had someone to sit with while the girls were in the store. If he were alone with them he would have probably had no choice but to enter -- that or stand around awkwardly, and he was sure that a teenage boy creeping around outside a lingerie store never looked good. "So, uh... You know, sandwiches! And stuff! Sandwiches are good," he said lamely. "And uh... We should like... hit up a video game store later or something." He said this mostly because it was a typical guy thing to do, enter the video game store when at the mall, though he realized that he just sounded like he was trying to defend their masculinity. The thought made him smile a bit but it came off grim as he joked, "Uh. Football. Monster trucks. 'Cause... totally manly men right here." He cleared his throat. ...Yep.

He liked being an Earth and he wouldn't have given it up for any other element (despite the fact that yes, fire would be far more useful in the zombie invasion), but he did have to admit that it'd be pretty lousy if that was all he had to do, day in and day out, prepare flower meals for zombies. Pacey wasn't good enough for that slave labour nonsense, even when it was something as simple as creating flowers, which was at this point mostly standard. Well, it was easier than many other things he could be expected to do by eleventh grade at the Academy, anyway. "At least you get paid for work though," he pointed out, laughing a bit. "I don't think zombies would actually like... pay you, y'know." Nope, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't want whatever zombie currency was -- human body parts or something. Gross. "Yeah, at least we can say we tried," he said, shaking his head, kind of amused at his friend's apparently derailed train of thought. "S'all good bro, it's not like I ever know where I'm going with anything." Well that wasn't technically true, but everyone occasionally went off on tangents and had no idea what they were saying anymore, he was pretty sure.

Pacey would never really be that mean to a friend, but he also trusted that Ashton and most people knew this -- really Pace was just a big softie, deep down -- so his apology was definitely very much pretended and teasing. "Sorry, Ashton, man. You've shown me like... the error of my ways," he said, suppressing the smile. "But you should really get help, dude. Like, teleportation lessons or something. I hear they're cheaper now than they used to be," he suggested with a look of utmost sympathy, but it was all ruined because he burst out laughing loudly at the words "special snowflake". A couple of their girl friends turned around to stare at him but Pacey just waved them off, unable to speak for a second. They seemed to decide it wasn't worth asking. "Oh man. Too much, dude, too much." There was just something really hilarious about those two words together. Pacey wouldn't say that he was one of those people who were unable to ever keep a straight face, but he couldn't keep it together all the time, either. "Yeah, that'd be sick!" he said, jumping on the idea. He didn't stay for very long over breaks because he did after all miss Toronto when he was at the Academy, but he wouldn't mind staying behind for a bit this winter. "We should definitely go boarding. And laugh at the skiers. 'Cause... skiing." His tone made it sound like there was some kind of contempt or something. He was totally kidding -- skiing was fun too -- but from experience, he'd say that snowboarding was a lot harder... and, as such, way more fun.

He gave his friend a skeptical look. "But I still think all parents are parent-weird," he said. Then again, maybe not. He'd never met Ashton's parents and he really couldn't judge two people he'd never met. Well, he could, but not properly. "Well, s'long as she doesn't hate me. It's all good!" Ashton had already told him that she probably wouldn't, though, so this was good enough for Pacey. Parents did usually like him even if they did stare a little uncomfortably at his hair, which he kind of understood well enough. Then... well, there were probably other reasons for parents and adults and people in general not to like him, too, but he liked himself just fine. "Yeah... yeeeah," he said, stretching out the word uncomfortably, looking at the floor, the bench, his shoes, up at the ceiling (it was well-decorated, like most mall ceilings generally were...) -- anything to avoid staring awkwardly at the store of doom in front of them. "Yeah, pizza subs! Or meatball subs... Could go for either of them actually," he said, shaking his head. "Meh, just hanging around, but I dunno, depends what we find there." He never hesitated in buying things on a whim. Video games were no exception. "Nah, definitely not. You destroy those flowers, man. Like a man. The man that you are." The image of Ashton going on a Hulk-like rampage and obliterating an entire flower shop was too much and he laughed again, glad that they had some kind of distraction from the lingerie store. Then his eyes accidentally found it again and he sobered up, shaking his head. "Dude, if we're totally manly men, how did we get roped into this?"

Pacey had seen all the Harry Potter movies -- owned all of them, in fact, and had for a few years had a hugeass crush on Emma Watson -- and he'd even read the first couple of books, but when Ashton mentioned the word "splinched", he had to admit that he had no idea what the heck his friend was talking about. He really wasn't as invested as many other people were. "What is getting splinched?" he asked, then realized that it probably had something to do with that whole teleportation thing. Apparition? Was that what it was called. "Oh damn, wait, is it that thing that happened to Ron in like, number seven? 'Cause then... yeah, no. If that's how teleportation works in real life I don't want it either." He shuddered a little bit at the thought, actually. "But why ski when you can board, man?" Skiing was actually a lot easier than snowboarding, he thought at least, and so did many of the snowboarders he knew, so that was that. Then again, they were probably biased. "The best you'll never have," Pacey couldn't help but say, straight-faced as anything for just a split second before he laughed. His mind wasn't totally in the gutter but Ashton had set himself up for that one. "Uh, I'm not too bad. Probably not as good as you but I can get around okay!" From what he knew, his friend was kind of a beast with a board, so there was no comparison there. Pacey didn't get to go nearly often enough.

It wasn't like Pacey actually knew Ashton's mom, so he would have backed down in an argument anyway. Even so, he wasn't really about to start anything over it, because he just wasn't a fan of conflict in general. He wasn't even sure it was meekness, either, because he wasn't a particularly shy person, and truth be told he was probably strong enough in his own right to hold his ground, but... urgh, there was something really off-setting about it. Luckily with Ashton and his other friends there was no need to argue ever. "No, actually, I don't get what you mean at all!" he said, laughing and scratching his head a little bit in confusion. He didn't really know any writers as far as he knew. "What does your mom write?" His mother didn't actually work but his father made more than enough money for the family. "Not really, man. I dunno. My parents are pretty normal. But then again I don't get to see them a lot anymore." This last part was said almost wistfully, but it wasn't so bad -- he would like to see his parents more often but he liked the Academy, it wasn't mandatory, and he certainly didn't expect his parents to uproot everything to come to Maple Hollow. "I'm pretty sure she's pretty normal, though." He grinned a little. He liked his parents a lot. "But that's good that she doesn't hate anyone!" Pacey didn't really think that there was anyone he could say he really hated, either, but there were probably a couple of people who came close. The Academy wasn't always a friendly place.

He would have loved to go over to Ashton's place -- or even back to Pacey's own dorm, where he had a pretty decent collection of video game consoles himself -- afterward for some video gaming, especially after all this nonsense with the girls and the lingerie shopping. Work seemed to get in the way of their plans, though, and he frowned for a second before shaking his head, a sympathetic smile on his face. "That sucks, dude. Guess you don't have a choice though," he commented lightly, still somewhat for the idea of skipping work, but he knew that Ashton wouldn't and that it'd be a bad idea anyway. He was glad that he didn't need a job, actually. "Ugh... we totally do suck, don't we," he admitted with a sigh. It was a shame that they were spending so much time out here, though -- it hadn't been that long but it'd been a little while. He figured that he knew where Ashton was going with his next question but he was a little hesitant all the same. Deciding to fuck it, though, he made up his mind and stood up. "Dude, we should definitely just --" As it transpired, he had pretty perfect timing, because it was at that second that one of their friends poked her head out of the store. "You guys! Come in, we're trying stuff on!" The look on her face indicated that she was just kidding and totally making fun of them but Pacey went what was probably beet red. "Uh. Nope. Nope! We were just heading to the food court -- right, Ashton?" he asked quickly, appealing to his bro for advice. Bro code, man. Bro code.