Red

Chapter Five

Chandler POV:

I pick up a pair of bright red sunglasses from off of one of the displays, putting them on. I peer into the tiny mirror set up on the table. They look good. I turn to Veronica. "What do you think?" I ask.

"Well, they match everything else you own," she says with a laugh.

"I didn't know it was a crime to like the color red, Sawyer," I reply defensively, taking off the sunglasses and putting them back.

"I was just kidding," she replies. "Come on, they were cute. You should buy them."

"Clearly I own enough red things," I tease.

"If you won't buy them, I'm buying them for you." She reaches over and picks them up off of the display.

"You don't have to do that," I say. "It's fine. I've got three pairs at home."

"No, it's ok," she says, smiling slightly. "I want to."

"I'm not letting you buy me a pair of sunglasses," I tell her with a bit more forcefulness to my voice. I expect this to make her as nervous as it makes other people, but she just smirks.

"It wasn't exactly your choice," she tells me, taking a step forward in line as the person in front of her moves. It seems as though there's no changing her mind at this point, so I sigh in defeat, standing beside her. As we wait, I notice a pair of the same sunglasses in blue, and I pick them up. She seems to take notice. "What? No. You aren't getting me a pair."

"It wasn't exactly your choice," I say, mocking her. "You like blue, don't you?

"It's my favorite color," she says.

"Well, there you have it, then," I reply.

She seems to give in, and I smile, satisfied.

***

Just moments later, we're walking out of the store with our respective pairs of sunglasses in little H&M bags. As we walk out into the mall, Veronica looks over at me. "Where do you want to go now?" she asks.

I think about the skirt I threw away and push back the sick feeling it gives me. "I need some new clothes," I say.

"There's a Macy's in the mall somewhere," Veronica says. "Is that...?"

"That's fine," I reply. "Let's go."

I start walking ahead of her, and she follows behind. As we're walking, my phone vibrates in my blazer pocket. I take it out, checking the text.

Duke: fleming is asking where you are

Shit. I type back a quick response.

Me: tell her i'm sick then

"Everything ok?" Veronica asks.

"It's Duke," I tell her, watching the bubbles on the screen that let me know that she's about to type a response. "Fleming's looking for me. I had English first."

"Damn," Veronica replies. "I hope Mr. Johnson isn't wondering why I'm not in math, because if I get caught-"

"Hey, calm down," I tell her. "It's fine. Duke's going to tell Fleming that we're sick. It's ok." My phone buzzes again, and I look down at the text on the screen.

Duke: what, did ram fuck you too hard last night?

I feel myself shut down. That fucking bitch. My mouth gets dry, and my throat closes up. I'm not going to have a panic attack in the middle of the mall. I can't. Especially not while I'm with Veronica. She'll just worry, and she's had to deal with too much of my bullshit in the past twenty-four hours to deal with any more.