Chapter 8
"Are you...Umm, by any chance-?" I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing.
"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Gay?" It took so much effort to hold in my laughter that was threatening to slip out.
His eyes narrowed into slits with a questioning look on his face.
"Well, you're the only guy I've ever met who's fond of shopping?" I bit the inside of my cheek to supress a giggle.
I wasn't able to hold it in any longer so I laughed at him. If it wasn't for all the girls he'd probably slept with, I'd be 100% sure that he was not straight.
"I didn't mean shopping. What I meant was, we have to buy you clothes. I'll just drive you there and accompany you." He told me, making my laughter slowly decrease.
Oh.
"So..you're straight?" I cocked my eyebrow at him.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I'm straight! I thought the number of girls I've fucked would support that." He shouted, not ashamed of anyone hearing.
"Could be a cover-up?" I suggested, but raised my arms in mock surrender when I saw the dark look on his face.
I grabbed my clothes from last night and clutched them to my chest.
"Where's the bathroom?" I asked him.
"Third door across the hall." He replied as he jumped back onto his bed and buried his face deep into his pillow.
Oh God he's going to sleep again, I thought we were going out soon!
"Aren't you going to take a shower?" I asked him, my voice raising a little.
"I'll take a bath fast." His voice was muffled by the pillow.
Within a few seconds he suddenly lifted his face up from his pillow and gave me a knowing look as a large smirk spread across his face.
"You want me to join you. don't you?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
What is he saying? Join me where?
Oh. OH.
"Oh my god no. You perverted douchebag!" I screamed as I ran right out of his room.
I heard him laugh as I closed the door and a blush appeared on my face.
I locked the bathroom door and stripped off Carson's shirt, climbing into the bath tub.
I let the hot water run over my body. I looked at my arms, bruises were everywhere, a large purple bruise covered my entire stomach. I felt my tears mixing with the hot water and wished that my brother was here to protect me.
BANG
I jumped in surprise, causing the water underneath my feet to splash in various directions.
"Hurry up Carson!" I heard a manly voice yell and it wasn't familiar.
I quickly got out of the tub and shimmied on my undergarments. I wrapped the towel around myself just as the door burst open.
My eyes widened as I let out an ear-piercing scream, hearing other footsteps rushing towards the bathroom.
"Cass! What happened?" I heard Carson's voice from afar.
His eyes widened as he saw me wrapped only in a towel then finally looked in the direction I was looking.
"You're hot." The guy winked at me, raking his gaze from top to bottom, earning a smack from Carson.
Carson rushed towards me and placed himself in front of me.
"What the hell Brandon!" He growled at him.
I took a good look at the guy, he was cute, not gorgeous like Carson, but adorable with brown sandy hair tousled messily, crystal blue eyes and he was reasonably tall. He was almost a smaller version of Carson.
"I'm sorry okay!"
His eyes darted to mine, "Who's this hot little lady?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
Yup. Definitely brothers. Both cocky, perverted and douches.
"Back off." Carson growled. Brandon backed away quickly and left the bathroom.
Whoa, possessive much?
Carson turned around to face me with a concerned look.
"Are you alright?" He scanned my face.
"Yeah. He's your brother?"
"Yup, my younger brother." He shrugged.
"How old is he?"
"15. You might want to wear your clothes now." He chuckled.
My face flushed as I remembered my state of undress.
"Get out!" I screamed, my cheeks getting hotter.
He laughed out loud as he walked out of the bathroom. I slammed the door shut and put on my sweatpants and tank top from last night.
I walked out of the bathroom with my head down, embarrassed of what had just happened.
THUMP
I hit into something hard. I looked up to find a smirking Brandon and rolled my eyes.
"Well hello..."
"Don't act all cocky cause that's your brothers game and it gets him nowhere. Oh and, younger guys don't flirt with older girls." I winked at him.
I didn't know I had the courage in me to say those words. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Carson's laughter.
"How did you know my age?" He pouted like a child.
"I told her of course." Carson said, still chuckling.
He glared at him with a light pink blush tinting his cheeks. Carson and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Carson wasn't that bad, maybe I should give him a chance? Brandon scowled at us and walked away stomping, which only made us laugh louder.
"I don't remember being related to an elephant!" Carson shouted.
We doubled over with laughter which made my sides and stomach hurt. After a good five minutes of non-stop laughter, we finally calmed down. We stared into each others eyes, I wanted to look away but I couldn't help but admire his glossy blue-green eyes. A tension was rising between us.
"Cashidy!" I heard Mady coming out of her room and tackled my leg with a hug.
I looked down at her and gave her my sweetest smile.
"What? You give her a smile but all I get is a glare?" Carson pouted.
"It's because she's cute and you're not."
"I'm definitely not cute, because I'm hot." He winked at me.
I had almost forgotten Mady was there until she tugged at my sweatpants and made me look at her.
"Can you play with me?" She chirped.
"I'm afraid not Mads, we're going somewhere." Carson answered before I could open my mouth.
Mady's face fell the moment she heard that I couldn't play with her.
"But we can play later if you want?" I suggested with a smile.
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. She flashed me the biggest smile I'd ever seen in my entire life.
"Otay! Bye Cashidy! Bye Carson!" She hugged us for the last time and left us.
"My sister likes you." Carson blurted out randomly.
"I like her too." I admitted confidently.
"She's never been this happy since...We need to go before the mall gets crowded." His playful voice changed to serious.
He walked out of the hallway leaving me clueless to what he had just said. I followed him. I was about to open the door when suddenly someone called us.
"Carson! Aren't you going to eat breakfast and invite that friend of yours?" I heard a girly voice ask.
I turned to find a gorgeous lady standing before me. She had curly blonde hair, crystal blue eyes a curvy figure and an average height. I wouldn't have ever thought she were a mother, she was so flawless, but the eye and hair colour similar to Carson were too familiar to ignore.
"No mum, we have to go." Carson shouted from outside.
Her eyes darted in my direction. She smiled at me, flashing her pearly white teeth.
"What about you sweetie?" She asked me sweetly.
"I have to go ma'am, I'm sorry." I flashed her an apologetic look.
"It's okay honey, my name is Rachel, next time make sure to eat with us. I didn't catch your name though?"
"Cassidy Taylor," I smiled at her.
She pulled me into a hug which took me by surprise but after a few seconds I gained my senses and hugged her back.
The car honked continuously causing Rachel to pull away from me. She smiled at me with a strange expression on her face.
"Well then Cass, you should go now before my son leaves without you, don't forget to visit again!" She winked at me.
I nodded and bid her goodbye. She was more like a teenager than a mother. I entered Carson's BMW and buckled my seatbelt.
"What took you so long?" He glanced at me.
"I talked to your mom."
"Oh. You can just ignore her you know?"
"You don't have to be rude, you know?" I rolled my eyes.
"Am not!" He argued.
"Are too!" I argued back.
"Am not!" He fired back again.
"Fine!" I groaned, giving up as I crossed my arms.
He smiled triumphantly and started pulling away from the lot.
He drove quietly throughout the entire trip.
"We're here."
He unbuckled his seat belt then got out of his car and started walking towards the entrance of the mall.
Wow, what a gentleman.
He didn't even wait for me. I shot daggers behind his back.
I walked faster to catch up but he stopped dead in his tracks which made me bump my face into his back.
"Owww!" I hissed in pain. I think I broke my nose. He turned around and chuckled.
Can you believe it? That was his fault yet he still has the guts to laugh at me?
"Not my fault." He shrugged, giving me an innocent look.
I glared at him, smacking the back of his head, earning a hiss from him. It was my turn to laugh. He glared at me.
"Where do you want to go first?" He finally asked.
"Forever 21." I announced.
"Alright. Let's go." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the store.
I started scanning the sale racks and picked out a grey hoody with the words 'To infinity and beyond' printed on it. Then I picked up a white floral cropped shirt. I saw Carson pull out a black dress from afar. He walked closer and handed the dress to me.
The dress was absolutely stunning. It was a sleeveless sparkly dress with a ribbon around the waistline. I looked at the price tag and my eyes widened.
$450.35
"It's too expensive."
"Don't worry, I'll pay for it." He shrugged then left.
I put the dress back, I didn't want to owe him anything. I went towards a rack with a 50% off sign.
I scanned the rack and found a white knit wear with some sequins on it, I put it in my basket and scoured the rack again. I got a pink skater skirt I could pair with my tops.
I went to the cashier and waited for my turn. I glanced at my basket and at the extra clothes I had added in. I had neon pink studded flats, an anchor printed t-shirt, faded blue jeans and purple ombre shorts.
The girl at the desk scanned my clothes and I stood idly as I waited for the bill.
"That's $350.50." The girl said.
I reached for my wallet and pulled out four $100 dollar bills. I handed the money over to her and leaned across the counter.
"Change of $49.50. Have a nice day." She smiled at me.
I walked out of the store to find Carson with a blonde attached to him. He looked highly uncomfortable as he sent me a pleading look.
As I got closer I realised who the blonde was. Rose. She gave me a disgusted look when she noticed me standing there.
"What are you doing here?" She asked me.
"She's actually here with me, can you let go?" Carson answered as he pushed Rose's hands from his arms.
"You're with this filthy bitch?" She raised her voice.
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"But she's a bitch!" She whined like a whiny bitch.
"And you're a whore." I mocked her high pitched voice.
Carson laughed out loud and I joined in. Rose was fuming with anger, I felt a pain as something hit my face.
I immediately stopped laughing.
I stumbled backwards, realising she had slapped me. I wasted no time in returning a slap.
"Did you just slap me?" Her face was red with anger, the red hand mark she now displayed on the side of her face still visible.
"I think I just did." "I think she just did." Carson and I answered in unison, we laughed again.
She screamed then stormed off. I couldn't even believe what I had just done.
"Are you hungry?" Carson asked me.
"Yup."
"Then let's go." He replied, grabbing my hand and pulling me along to the fast food area.
I looked down sheepishly at our joint hands.