Michael and I meet at the van then start making our way to the mall.
"So, you and Braiden, huh?" Michael asks with a smirk on his face.
Man I want to slap it off.
"No! We are just friends, maybe not even that, honestly I have no clue." I explain, slightly disappointed.
How do you even know if a boy likes you?
"What do you mean just friend, have you seen the way he looks at you?" Michael retorts, making me even more confused.
"Well, you're a guy right?"
"No, I'm a woman," he says, sarcasm lacing his tone, "of course I'm a guy, Ryan!"
"Okay, you know that's not what I meant." He raises an eyebrow my way, but I continue.
"Anyways, how do I even know if he or any boy for that matter, likes me? I mean one minute he's all "you're a wonderful person" then the next he won't even talk to me!" I throw my hands up in the area and let out a frustrated sigh.
Michael glances over at me shooting me the "are you kidding me" look.
"Seriously Ryan? Do you see Braiden talking to anyone else who works with us? I mean when he looks at you I swear his whole face lights up." Michael states making me grin.
Ahh! Braiden might actually like me? A girl can dream, Right? I think to myself.
Mike and I ride in silence the rest of the way, so I use the time to take in his appearance. His blonde hair has gotten longer than usual, and falls just above his eyes. He's definitely gotten more muscular which is probably from working out with Braiden in the mornings. Overall, he is a pretty good looking kid!
I honestly don't know how I can survive all the hotness going on in the compound. Trust me though, I'm not complaining. Some girl would be lucky to have Mike. Him and I are just friends and that's all we'll ever be, but he is a great guy.
"We're here!" Michael exclaims, pulling into the parking spot closest to the doors.
I take in all of my surroundings, becoming slightly nervous. We're rarely allowed to leave due to safety concerns, so I haven't been here in a very long time. We get out of the vehicle and make our way inside. When I look over at Mike he seems nervous too.
"Hey," I tell him, "don't be worried, we'll be perfectly fine."
I'm reassuring him, but also myself.
"I don't know Ryan, I've got a weird feeling about this." He states, whipping his head around to make sure no ones following us.
This earns him an eye roll. Way to make me feel safe, not. We walk to the sign in the middle of everything checking out where all the stores are at.
"How about we start at REI?" I suggest, wanting to get some woodsy clothes.
"Are you serious right now? We're trying to make you look like a good girl who blends in, not a lumberjack. I can guarantee if you wear those clothes you'll stick out."
He's probably right, but ew. I do not want to wear some prissy, girly stuff.
"Fine," I huff, "but I'm not doing his willingly. Where do you want to start then?"
Michael carefully examines the sign when a grin spreads across his face. He grabs my hand and starts walking.
"Aren't you going to tell me which store we're going to?" I question him, pulling my hand from his grasp.
"You'll see when we get there." He replies shrugging his shoulders.
What is he, my mom? Practically dragging my feet, I follow him until I bump into something hard. My eyes meet Michael's and I realize that we're here.
"Forever Twenty One?" I ask, scrunching my face in disgust.
"Yup. We're going all out or not at all." He retorts then drags me inside.
At first glance I can tell that I'm not going to like these clothes. They're all paper thin and like twenty bucks for one t-shirt.
"What about this?" Michael asks holding up something that won't even cover my stomach.
"Umm, how 'bout no." I spit.
Who would even wear that?
"Okay, you're not being very cooperative." He mutters. "This is how we're going to do it. I'm going to pick out some clothes, you're going to try them on."
"But what if-" he cuts me off.
"No buts, I don't care if you don't like it because you aren't going to like anything."
"Ya got that right." I mumble making him glare at me.
About fifteen minutes later he walks over me plopping probably thirty articles of clothing in my arms.
"Alright, go try these on." He orders but all I can do is stare at the clothes in my arms.
His hands go on my shoulders, then I'm pushed into a dressing room. First I put on a black top that hits just below my belly button paired with a white skirt.
"Do you have something on?" He asks impatiently and I hesitantly open the door.
"Okay, what is this." I yank down on the shirt but it pops right back up.
"It's called I crop top and it looks good."
"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot I was shopping at Sluts R Us." I tell him, sarcasm dripping from every word.
Who even would want to wear this. Hey everyone, look I have a stomach!
"Put it on the yes pile, we're buying it." He commands crossing his arms over his chest.
"This sucks."
Seventeen shirts and thirteen pants later I finally have somewhat of a decent wardrobe. There's only like three things I like, which are the ripped skinny jeans and plain tees.
"Alright, let's go." I hurriedly rush to leave.
"Nuh uh, you need one more thing." He tells me with a smile on his face.
My face turns into one of confusion. "What else do I need? We've been here for two hours, I think I'm good."
"Well, you still need these."
Smirking, he reaches behind him holding up a rose, lacy bra with matching underwear. There's also a forest green one with leaves on it and a purple one.
"Michael!" I screech turning bright red. "Put those away!"
"Oh c'mon Ryan, you can't just wear sports bras all the time. Go try these on." He throws them at me causing them to hit me in the face.
"Really?"
I slip back into the dressing room and browse through all of them. There's multiple sizes, but they're all A. In sports bras I'm a small, so it makes since. Settling on the 34A I try on the forest green one first. Surprisingly, it actually makes it look like there's something there, if ya know what I mean.
"Okay, these are uncomfortable as hell." I shout over the stall making him chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah, you'll get used to it," Mike replies, "now let me see."
Did he seriously just ask that?
"What? No way!" I respond dumbfounded.
"Put a shirt on and get out here Ryan. I'm not doing this for those reasons, okay?" He says innocently.
"Fine." I call back.
Why did I ask him to come along again?
The black t-shirt I wore here goes over my head and I step outside.
"Wow, you actually have boobs." Mike states bluntly. "Braiden's going to appreciate this."
My face has probably never been so red before. I walk over and punch him in the arm, hard.
He winces, rubbing the spot then speaks again. "Jeez Ryan, I'm just kidding!"
I shoot him an icy glare which he returns with a smile.
"Love you too, hun. Alright get the other ones and let's go."
Wow, he really didn't want to see me for those reasons. My respect for him just grew, so now I actually have some.
The person checking us out is a guy which is embarrassing since he'll be seeing all the underwear. That's not the only thing he's looking at either. He's staring at me like I'm a piece of meat, causing me to shudder. Michael catches on then places his arm over my shoulders. Both with icy glares we lie everything down on the counter causing a look of horror to flit across the cashiers face. You and me both dude, you and me both. After what feels like days of waiting for all of the clothes to get rung up we finally finish.
"Alright, your total comes to $632.00." The man at the register states, causing my mouth to actually drop open.
"Close your mouth, it'll catch flies." Michael snarkily remarks pushing it closed.
"$632.00! How are we going to pay for all that?" I gape at the piles of clothing with terror.
I'm paying that much money for something I don't even want? It would be better if I just took out my wallet and burned all the money inside.
"Don't worry," Michael comforts me, "we were left with a little something from... our friends."
By friends he means the agency, but we can't say that because, well it's pretty obvious. He reaches into his wallet, pulls out seven, hundred dollar bills and slams them down on the counter. The cashier is definitely surprised, gingerly taking the money and placing it in the register. I try to act casual over the fact that Michael has been carrying seven hundred dollar around all day.
"Your change is $68.00," he hands over the money, "come again."
I take the receipt from him and go to pull away, but he grasps my wrist.
"You should definitely come again." He winks still holding on to me. Ian, his name tag says Ian.
"I don't think so buddy, you won't be seeing me back here for two reasons; the clothes and the fact that I would have to see your revolting face." The insult leaves my mouth with ease and I laugh when his expression changes from cocky to angry.
"I wouldn't be so sure about not seeing me again." He sneers, shooting me a bone chilling glare.
I flip him off as I exit the store, following Mike. What a pig, I wonder how many other girls he preys upon. The thought makes me cringe, but then I'm snapped out of it.
"Damn Ryan, way to fly under the radar. Did you really have to say that?" He's shaking his head at me looking at the ground.
"Um, hello? Did you not just see the way he talked to me? There's no way anyone should be allowed to talk to a girl like that. Someone needed to put him in his place." I shot back even though I know he's probably right.
The objective is to lay low and go unnoticed, which I did the exact opposite of. Oh well, it felt good at the time although I still am a little uneasy about the fact that he said we'd meet again.
"Look, guys say that type of stuff all the time, you're going to have to learn to just deal with it. Especially with you going to school soon, I mean, you're not ugly so guys and girls are going to make comments." He justifies and I let out a sigh.
People suck. This is exactly why my job is to kill them. Kidding, kidding, but it's not always bad. One more example of why I read books instead of interacting. Fictional people I can relate to, real ones not so much.
"Ya know, for a guy who seems to be a joker and dumbass all the time, you actually give some pretty good advice." I compliment glancing over at him.
"Aww, don't go getting all sappy on me now." He cries pretending to clutch his heart.
"Don't get ahead of yourself there buddy, did you forget the part where I called you a dumbass?" I remark making him chuckle.
"Nope. I just pretended you called me amazing instead." There's a smug grin on his face and I roll my eyes.
Boys. So full of themselves, but yet so considerate at the same time. They really are pretty cool and I'm glad to call them my friends. Oh my god, I really am getting sappy. I better shoot some targets tonight because this is getting weird.
Michael and I leave the mall and I can't help but smile. Overall, it hasn't been a horrible day which is weird. Maybe things won't be so bad after all.