Thunderstorm

(OOC: It was totally unintentional. XD)

"Vampires already have naturally good voices to lure in their prey," Alice reminded him. "And it's easy to learn an instrument when you have an eternity ahead of you. What do you think?" she switched the song to "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.

"Some people do not know how to vent. This guy sounds like somebody had ripped his throat out before he sung this. And it's so... cliché, if you listen to the lyrics. Gah! Turn it off!" he moaned, throwing off his headphones.

"Gah... that song... it burns!" James shouted.

"But...I like Rick Astley," Alice said quietly, a bit stung that her attempts to convert James to Astleyism failed. "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and hurt you!"

Alice began dancing along to the music happily, singing with it.

"Well... it's just him. You sing it beautifully!" James said, laughing a little, and almost trying to cover up his embarassment at finding out Alice actually liked the song.

"Seriously, you would get much more money than him if you sang his song." James complimented, scratching his head hoping she wouldn't be hurt.

"Haha, thanks honey!" Alice said happily as she twirled around the store gracefully, attracting stares from the other customers. "We're no strangers to lo-o-ve, you know the rules and so do I...ooooooh, hat clips!" she exclaimed as she came across the rack with miniature fedoras on clips. "I love these, they're so adorable!"

"Okay... but I don't think I want to wear one," James said, a little absent-mindededly staring across the room. Something had caught his eye for a brief moment, but then James turned his head back to Alice.

"I'm going to go test out some of the other music... see what kind I like..." James said, before turning to the demo tracks on the nearest machines.

"What was that about?" Alice asked when she saw James' attention get sidetracked for a moment. 'Is Bella here?' she worried. 'No, she hates shopping...'

Alice watched James as he listened to some music while appearing to be shopping, making sure he didn't do anything vampiristic.

"I am liking this..." James said before checking the CD cover. It was a single by Daft Punk, entitled: "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger".

"Alice... I want to buy this one," James told her, almost begging, and he rushed over to her with the case.

Alice checked out the CD before agreeing, "Alright, it's a good band. You have awesome taste."

'And who did he learn his impeccable taste from?' she smiled to herself. 'Yep, my good taste just rubs off on people,' she thought jokingly, not really meaning any of it.

"Cool..." Jame said as Alice went to the counter. He dazed out a short moment again, but turned his attention back to Alice as the shopkeeper swiped the CD and Alice payed.

"What shop are we going to next?" James asked excitedly as he hurried out of the store, and searched among the various plastic/neon names.

"How about we go to that big yellow M store? It sells some kind of food!" James told Alice.

"What is it?" Alice asked concernedly as James spaced out again. She glanced where James was looking, but saw nothing. Shrugging, she paid the clerk and left the store with James in tow.

"Do you think you really need food?" Alice asked. "We normally don't eat..."

"No... I don't need to eat... but I love tasting things! Feeling stuff on your toungue is much nicer than feeling it anywhere else! I would like to taste something!"James said excitedly. "Or maybe at least drink something fizzy. It tickles my mouth!" James said, laughing as he said the last sentance.

Alice thought a moment, trying to see where Bella was. She decided it was safe, and walked off to McDonalds with James. 'What's the worse that could happen?'

"Fizzle... foshh.. drizzle" (OOC: Guess the quote?) James said as he saw a lucious burger on the counter, being handed to another customer.

"We can eat on the move, I just want a burger. Fries taste bland. Maybe a coke with that. Although if we got the meal it'd be cheaper than if we got those two seperately. So I'll just chuck the fries away!" James said with a laugh at the idiocy of the pricing.

Alice laughed at James' sound effects and teased him, "You're a dork."

She listened to his monologue, smiling at his reasoning, then handed him a twenty, "Sure, James. Can you go up and order it? There's something I need to check..."

James scuttled over to the counter and ordered, before waiting expectantly for his food. He chucked his fries away and wolfed down the hamburger, before shoving the entire cup (not just the contents) into his mouth and chewing and holding it, swallowing paper and all. The lady at the counter looked at him as if he was deraged, but James ignored her, and simply walked back to where Alice was.

"Done..." he said, Cola all over his shirt.

Alice snapped out of her vision, checking for Bella, when she saw the state James was in. "James, what happened to you? Did the soda attack you?"

'Maybe I should stop checking Bella's future, and pay more attention to James' present,' she thought as she waited for James' answer.

"I think I held the can too tight and the bottom cracked and spilled..." James said. "I thought these things were supposed to be made out of metal?" James said.

"But anyway, we should continue with the shopping. Got anything else to buy?" James asked Alice.

Alice raised an eyebrow at James' excuse, but said nothing about it. "Yes, I need to get some more hairbands at Claire's."

She mentally giggled at what his response would be to the girlie store as they walked to Claire's, James getting some odd looks at his soda-stained appearance. 'This'll be so much fun!' she internally happy danced.

Seeing Claire's, James saw what he thought were the most pointless things in the entire universe.

"Is this the store they sell all the junk in?" James asked, and a couple of guys nearby laughed, their girlfriends annoyed with them.

"No," Alice replied coldly, a bit hurt. "It's only the best store that isn't Hot Topic ever." She walked over to the hairband section of the store and picked up a lacy black hairband. "What do you think?"

"You could do worse..." James said. "It looks good for a piece of junk..." James joked, but he stepped outside for a moment, looking at something that caught his eye in the distance.

There was an entertainer demonstrating a pet monkey. James watched intently.

Alice pouted, "I think it's amazing!" When she didn't get a response from James, she looked up, and saw him gazing at a performing monkey. "Yoohoo? Earth to James."

"Wow... that monkey is very good..." James said. "Oh... well, if you say so. I still have to develop tastes." James said, trying to get out of more "what do you think" type questions.

James saw the monkey jump on the performer's head and suddenly a large ring of applause resounded from the hallway.

"Show's over... what shop are we going to after this one?" James asked with a little boredom.

"Um, I was thinking we'd go to Borders, check out the books there," Alice replied brightly. "You remember how to read, yes?"

She gazed around the mall, thinking that the other Cullens didn't know where she was and James could snap, given his newness to life after having been dust. And what if the right thing triggered James' memory, and he began to seek revenge? Alice shook off the thought and began walking to the bookstore.