Aston and I spent the next few hours messing about the mall and doing a fair bit of damage to our bank accounts. We popped into all sorts of different stores, trying on funny hats and sunglasses, and egging each other into buying things that looked nice.
At one store in particular I couldn’t keep my eyes off of a bright purple skirt. I couldn’t take my eyes off it in the window, it looked so cool on the model.
“Try it on,” said Aston coming up behind me.
“What?”
“That skirt. Babe you are standing here drooling at it, so go try it!”
“But…”
“But what?” asked Aston, grabbing my arm and dragging me into the store. He wandered around for a bit before locating it. “Try it,” he prodded again.
“It’s not going to look right on me…” I sighed staring at it. I loved it even more up close.
“Oh my god Jess, go put it on…”
Sighing I grabbed my size off the rack and went back to the changing rooms, wiggling my way into the skirt and doing it up. It was a bright purple and made of a thick slightly shiny material.
“Let’s see,” said Aston impatiently. Before I could even react he’d slipped into the cubicle I was in.
“Woah Ast!” I said, somewhat startled.
“Whatever Jess, now let me see.”
I stood there somewhere stupidly, while his eyes trailed up and down my body. I felt more self-conscious than I ever had in my entire life.
“Ast stop!” I said, pushing him slightly.
“What?? It looks amazing. You have to get it.”
“I don’t think so…” I sighed, turning and looking at my backside in the mirror.
Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Aston grabbed my hips and faced me towards the mirror so I was looking at myself dead on, his chin just barely resting on my shoulder.
“You look gorgeous,” he whispered in my ear.
I just stood there and stared at him in the mirror, my eyes locked on his. It reminded me of three years prior when we’d been getting ready at his house for a wedding. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, I was just rooted to the spot. It didn’t help that he still had his hands on my hips. I couldn’t believe my body was still reacting to him like this, after three years!
“Come on Ast,” I finally managed, shrugging out of his grip. “Out so I can change.”
“Only if you agree to buy the skirt.”
“I have nowhere to wear it though!” I protested.
“Well then let’s change that,” he smirked. “We can hit the town tonight, unless you’re busy.”
I wasn’t.
“Come on Jess… we’ll go get dinner and drinks somewhere, and then we can go dancing or something! Proper night out!”
“Fine!” I said exasperated, hardly thinking about what I was agreeing to, “Now get out!”
With that Aston slouched out of the cubicle and I was able to change back into my denim shorts. The whole while I was spinning what just happened through my head. I couldn’t deny that the chemistry between us still existed. This wasn’t like when we’d met up for Christmas a few years back, when everything was stale and awkward. No, this was like when we’d first moved in with each other and had spent all of our time flirting.
Sighing I wandered out towards the tills, not sure what to make of all of this anymore. As I waited to pay for the skirt I let my eyes wander around the store, trying to find Aston, but I couldn’t. Not sure where he’d got off to.
After paying I wandered out into the corridor and waited for a few moments, digging around in my bag for my phone.
“Boo!” shouted a voice in my ear, causing me to jump.
“Oh my god, you nearly scared the life out of me!” I said turning towards Aston who was laughing hysterically at me. “Where have you been?”
“No where,” he said with a glint in his eyes.
“Ugh fine, let’s go and get a snack, I’m starving.”
We wandered to the part of the mall with all of the food and ordered up some chips to split. I managed to save a portion of them from being doused in ketchup and we sat chatting away while we enjoyed our snack.
“So I got you something,” said Aston after awhile of joking.
“What? When?” I asked, shocked.
“Just… before…” he said mysteriously, pulling out a small bag and passing it to me. It was from one of my favorite stores. “Open it,” he said.
“Wha…” I started, as I opened the bag and unwrapped some tissue to find a gorgeous long silver chain with a leaf charm at the end. “Ast… this is… Wow…” I said, actually speechless.
“I saw you admiring it,” he said. “And then when you got the skirt, I thought it would go perfect with it.”
“Thanks Ast,” I said smiling and slipping it on. “Was really thoughtful of you.”
First he was telling me I was gorgeous, then he was buying me presents? What was going on? I couldn’t imagine how this evening was going to go… wait, was it a date?
