In Your Eyes

III

"What a stupid main character," Eli grumbled as we read the book. "She just can't admit shit."

Not that it took him long to read that last page. He just skipped through it and gathered all the information within seconds, while I was still on the first paragraph.

"She wasn't even sure if he loved her, Eli." I rolled my eyes. After all these years, he still didn't quite understand how humans worked. Or that they had feelings like, I don't know, embarrassment? Insecurities and self-doubt, maybe? I seriously didn't know how he felt no shame whatsoever. He just said whatever was on his mind. Granted, I was the only one who could hear him, but it was still crazy to me.

Eli was just about to give me a sassy remark when the door was abruptly opened by no other than my mom. She didn't care much for knocking. Never had.

"What's up?" I mumbled.

My mom peeked through the door, slowly walking into my room a second later. "We're going shopping," She announced with no room for any arguments.

"Okay. But why?" I asked her as I walked towards my closet and picked out some clothes that looked halfway decent.

"School's starting on Monday, and you have nothing but sweatpants and one pair of jeans, Chloe," mom sighed, obviously disappointed. "What would Melissa say?"

Melissa. I hadn't even texted her to let her know we got here safely. Eli ripped me from my thoughts, reminding me that I still hadn't answered mom's question.

"Melissa wouldn't let me hear the end of it." I scoffed. Did I look like I needed to dress up for a place that made me want to crawl into a hole and die anyway? Melissa would come over to my house every morning before school just to make sure I wouldn't wear hoodies. Something about needing to impress boys.

"Exactly. You need new shirts. And pants. And dresses. And maybe cute necklaces? We have the resources, and I think we should use them."

The hell was a necklace going go do for me?
Mom clapped her hands once in finality.

"Look at your shirt. How long have you had it for? Two years?" She scrunched up her nose in disgust, and I awkwardly shrugged. From behind me, I could hear Eli trying to suppress a laugh. What a dumbass. "I can't let you waste your time as a beautiful young woman looking like... that!"

What about sustainability? And since when was having the same clothes for a little over two years so outrageous? I saw people on the streets who still wore clothes from the 90s, because it was back in style.

"You mean the two of us can't let her do that, Jane! I'm here too, you know?" Eli muttered as he looked at my mother with annoyance clear in his features.

"Since when do you care about fashion?" I narrowed my eyes at Eli, who was, conveniently, standing right beside mom.

"Are you kidding?" Mom gasped, oblivious to the fact that I wasn't talking to her. "I look like I came fresh from the runway every time I go to work! The teachers love my blouses and dresses!"

Mom was an educator. Thankfully not at my school, though. I sighed. There was no point in refusing any offers my mother made. If she wanted to go shopping, we were going to go shopping. There was no way I could get out of this.

We finally reached the mall after 10 minutes of cringe-worthy singing and almost crashing into a car. Apparently, mom had to sing with her eyes closed, because if she didn't, she 'wouldn't have been able to hit the high keys'. Her argument, not mine. And obviously, her driving with closed eyes resulted in us almost crashing into a car. Twice. Or three times. I stopped counting. My mother wasn't a really good driver. However, we thankfully managed to survive, despite her reckless driving.