Chapter 11
1156 Words
“Mia I can’t keep shopping,” I sat down at one of the tables at the food court.
“We barely started”
“And I have more than enough”
“She’s right Mia. Besides, most of this stuff is yours,” Liam sat the bags down and took the seat opposite of me.
“Fine. I have a few more shops I want to go to though”
“We’ll be here,” I pointed to a table in the food court.
She skipped away smiling.
“She really likes to shop”
“Yeah. It’s hard to go with her sometimes, but I figured this way she could help you pick things out. You want something to drink?”
“Please”
Looking around the mall it seems pretty busy for a Thursday night. There were a few people from my school. Probably shopping for outfits for the party this weekend. Leaning back in my chair I closed my eyes for a second.
What a week. I would be looking forward to the weekend if I didn’t have to go to the party.
“Aria, please come with me!”
It was Mia. I heard the chair scrape against the floor as she pulled it out.
“I’m honestly the last person you’d want to shop with,” I sat up, and looked at her desperate attempt at begging.
“I’d rather shop with you than Liam. Besides, I need a girl’s opinion,” she smiled grabbing my hand, “come on”
Her smile was contagious. I couldn’t help but match her energy. I grabbed the bags and followed her to a clothing store. We were there for about 20 minutes and were able to find her an outfit. I was looking at some dresses on a rack while Mia was in the changing room.
“Can I help you find anything?”
A very good looking employee standing behind me asked. His golden brown hair slicked back. His baby blue eyes looking me up and down, making his slanted grin more flirtatious then what it should be for a customer
“No thanks,” I gave him a smile and turned back to the rack.
“Are you sure? I can show you some of our new shipments we just got in”
“I’m good”
“I could give you your measurements to help you find your size”
He pulled out a tape measure and touched my side. I immediately panicked and shoved him away.
“Sorry,” I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
People were starting to stare.
“It’s alright,” he chuckled, “let me see your hand”
I didn’t want to cause a scene so I held out my hand. He held it gently in his and brought out a pen from his pocket. He wrote on my palm. I looked at it and he wrote his number and name.
“Kayden?”
“Get used to it, beautiful,” he placed the pen behind his ear and walked away.
I scoffed.
“What a douche,” I whispered under my breath.
“Tell me about it”
I jumped. Liam was standing behind me, holding a half -drunk smoothie.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know I can’t take my eyes off you for a second,” he handed me the drink and took my bags from around my arm.
“Where’s Mia?”
“Here,” she skipped out of the dressing room, “just have to pay”
We walked to the register and Kayden was waiting there with a smile across his face. Which slightly faltered when he saw Liam with us.
“Will that be all?”
“Yes,” she placed everything on the counter and handed him her card.
She pushed her hair behind her ear and looked like she was really into him.
“Hope to see you soon,” he winked.
“Not likely,” Liam placed a hand around me and kissed my temple.
The corner of Kayden’s lip twitched. Mia looked between us, confused. She grabbed her bags and we went back to the car.
“What was that about?” Mia turned around in the front passenger seat to look at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you know that guy?”
“Nope”
“He seemed to like you,” she gave me a mischievous smile, “do you want to go back? We could give him your number and ask him to the party”
“Like hell you will,” Liam raised his voice.
“Why? She’s single… aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but I’d rather be alone than go out with that creep”
Liam burst out in laughter.
“He was cute though,” Mia turned back around.
“A pretty face will only get you so far”
It was dark when we got back and the house was as quiet as the first night I came here. After we unloaded all of the bags from the car we decided to watch a movie to end the night. Mia came with me to ask Carlos if he’d like to join us and he agreed.
The theater room had recliners in the back, a big family couch in front and thousands of movies I didn’t want to search through. I asked Carlos to pick one.
“Got the popcorn!” Mia said, taking a seat on the couch next to me and pulling a blanket over her lap.
“What are we watching?”
“The most epic super movie of all time,” Carlos said excitedly from the floor.
“Nooo,” Mia whined
“We never get to watch what I want to watch”
“Yes we do and you pick the same thing over and over”
“No I don’t”
“They’re all the same so it doesn’t matter”
“Come on Mia. We went shopping with you. Let’s watch the movie he wants,” I said.
Carlos tried to hide his smile.
“Ready?” Liam hopped over the couch and sat on the other cushion next to me, tossing a bag of skittles to Carlos, then grabbing the remote.
“Yeah”
He hit play. Carlos turned off the lights and returned to his place on the floor. Mia had fallen asleep 30 minutes into it. Carlos had fallen asleep just after her.
My eyes felt heavy. And I could feel myself start to doze off.
“Come here,” Liam chuckled.
He turned to allow some space for me to lay down next to him. I could no longer keep my head up. He ran his hand through my hair. Soon the noise from the movie became muffled and then silent completely.
- Writer
