Suit & Tie

Chapter 49 - Mental mode & monday mornings

I was just sort of numb and all I could think about were Shawn's old warnings about relationships. More than that, I didn't want to talk about it. Because it seemed like one big fucking joke that all I wanted was a relationship with Shawn and I was also the one to end it. Naturally, I ended up stuffing my face with waffles before heading out to go shop with Russo and Tyler .

"Blue or green?" Tyler asked, holding up two beanies. I cocked my head to the side.

"Green, definitely."

"Thought so."

We sorted through the racks of clothes side by side, lapsed in a quiet silence because both Tyler and Russo were acting like one wrong word out of their mouths and I was going to snap. I hummed to myself as I tugged out a fitted red dress. "What do you think?"

"Well," He mused, "not sure about the neckline? I like the color, though, and the fit. Just not the neckline."

"Yeah, yeah," I agreed, shoving the dress back onto the rack. "I just remember Shawn liked that style dress, though, so -- I meant myself. I liked that style. Me. Have you taken your medicine this morning?"

"Oh my god." I turned back to the rack and tugged out the first random article of clothing I could find. "Maybe this one?"

"Norah."

"Is it that ugly?" Tyler gave me another bewilderment look and a shake of his head before walking away to the other side of the store, where Russo had picked out an array of hats and was motioning for him to come over. I stuck out my tongue at the pair as I pulled another dress to try on. The two boys were now (very obviously) whispering about me across the store, but I chose to ignore them and go back to figuring out what to buy, because Cosmo said to slightly make over my look. And it was at this exact moment that everything went to shit, because I was taking breakup advice from a magazine. My first reaction was to turn and look around wildly for the two boys. And then my second reaction was to fight back a scream, because Shawn had really walked away and left me in the middle of the hospital crying and that was so far from okay and I was so in love with him it hurt.

"It's happening!" I heard a voice shriek. And then I was being tugged out of the store and into the cool New York City area, where they hailed a cab and shoved me in the back.

"Norah," Tyler hissed, poking the side of my cheek. "Save the mental breakdown until we're out of the cab." I sniffled against his shoulder.

"I haven't cried since he left. And I really, really thought he would stay. I wanted him to stay even when I wanted him to go."

"I'm so confused," He mumbled, wiping my tears away. "And in case you were worried, I put those hats on hold so I could go back and get them once the mental breakdown is over."

"Save the hats." He brushed away another tear. "It's our new battle cry: save the hats, cover Tyler's stitches!"

"Not very uplifting, babe," Russo chimed in from the front of the cab. "Not really at all."

"Can we order a pizza?"

"We are in mental breakdown mode. That is so obviously a yes."

I let out a quiet laugh at that and the cab continued to drive through the city, eventually pulling up outside our comely apartment. We filed out one by one and made the climb up to our floor. Before we were even inside, Russo had already ordered our food. The couch turned into our little cuddling place and we piled in with blankets covering us and 2 Chainz splayed out over all of our legs. Once we were all settled (wrapped around each other in a giant heap of arms and legs and blankets), Tyler spoke.