After I thanked him a thousand times for letting me stay with him, Matty and I decided to go shopping. Well, Matty decided that we should go shopping. I protested and promised him what I had was fine, but he insisted that I couldn't wear the same 5 shirts for the rest of my life. Maybe that was a little exaggerated, but you get the picture.
I let Matty drag me around London, going into different stores to see what I liked. There were so many different kinds of clothes. Every store had something completely different from the last and I was blown away. I'd never really been shopping before. My father had taken me once when all of my clothes from childhood grew too small, but of course that was very short lived.
We walked into a store called Forever 21 and I fell in love immediately. Matty told me to pick out anything I wanted and left me to look through all the different clothing options I had. Lots of things had floral print, which I liked, but most items I thought were cute from afar turned out to be not so cute up close. I spotted a cute jacket that I fell in love with from across the store, but as I took it off the rack and spun it around, I was disappointed by the big sequin letters spelling out 'k, bye' on the back. I put the jacket back on the rack and continued wandering around.
"Do you need any help finding anything?" A girl with shoulder length blonde hair asked me.
She looked young, but not younger than me. Maybe 22, give or take a year or two. Her eyes were a piercing blue and she had an overall friendly vibe.
"Um, I don't think so." I said awkwardly.
She smiled at me.
"Alright, well my name is Jenna, I'll be over by the dresses if you need me."
I continued shuffling through the seemingly endless racks of clothing, finding a few cute things that weren't too expensive. So far, I had found 4 shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, and socks. That was enough to last me right? If I get any more I'll feel bad.
Wandering towards the other side of the store, I searched for Matty. He was looking through a rack of shirts, seemingly uninterested in all of them. He looked up and smiled at me, letting the shirt in his hand go.
"That's all you found?" He asked, looking at the small bundle of clothing in my hand.
"I didn't want to get too much." I said sheepishly.
Rolling his eyes in a playful way, he dragged me back to the other side of the store, looking through shirts for me.
"What about this?"
He held up a t-shirt that had been cut to a very low v-neck with the collar still attached. I shook my head. He put it back and sifted through the different shirts there were to choose from.
"I like this one."
He held up a black button up shirt with floral patterns swirling around it.
I nodded.
"Me too."
Once we had finished shopping, Matty went to shower and I sat on the couch, finally responding to George's frantic messages.
Hey, sorry, I could barely even walk last night. Matty let me stay at his flat for the night, so I'm alright. I didn't get kidnapped.
Backing out of the conversation, I saw a contact I didn't recognize.
Vee? Who's Vee?
Sending a text to the number, I tried to recall the events of last night.
Who is this?
I got a response within a few minutes.
Vee: I'm Vee. Who is this?
H: Hayley. Sorry, but I still don't know who you are
Vee: We met last night after some creep tried to kidnap you in the toilets and I brought you back to your friend.
Trying to remember even the smallest detail from the night before, but my brain refused to cooperate.
H: I'm sorry, I can't remember anything from last night. But I'll take your word for it.
Vee: You did seem pretty drunk. If you wouldn't mind, we could meet up somewhere. That might help you remember
I thought about the consequences of meeting up with a possible stranger in a city I wasn't familiar with.
I mean, I did meet George on a train here and ended up going home with him. He's a nice guy.
H: Where do you want to meet?
Vee: There's a coffee shop near the mall we could go to f you're into that sort of thing
H: Sounds good. What's the address?
She texted me the address and I stood from my spot on the couch, looking down at what I was wearing. Matty put my clothes in the laundry so I was still wearing his shirt, tucked into my jeans. Grabbing a jacket Matty had bought me, I threw it on and texted Matty, telling him I was going to meet up with a the girl from last night. I typed out a response to Vee, letting her know I was on my way and left out into the streets of London.
I arrived at a cute little cafe not far from Matty's place and looked around at the different people in the shop. A girl with purple hair looked up from her phone and waved me over to a table near the back of the cafe.
I sat down in the chair opposite of her and smiled, reflecting her expression.
"It's good to see you again. Except this time, you know, not drunk and in the bathrooms." She laughed.
I nodded and smiled.
"Yeah."
She did look familiar, but I still couldn't remember anything.
"Do you want coffee, tea, anything? It's on me."
I shrugged.
"Sure. I don't know what's good here, you can choose something for me."
She stood from her seat and walked to the counter, much more comfortable with talking to the barista than I could ever be.
She ordered our drinks and turned around to smile at me. I gave her a weak one back.
Her memory was fuzzy in my head. I could remember the long, purple hair, but not much else. I can remember her pulling me through people, the both of us getting looks of disgust as she said a polite "excuse me" whenever she'd bump into someone. Everything else about her was a blur.
She sat back down in her seat, pushing a paper cup across the table.
"I got you a chai tea. I didn't know if I should have gotten coffee or tea, so I decided on a sort of middle ground." She smiled.
"Thank you." I said, taking a small sip.
It burned my mouth, but it was still good.
I took in her features. Her long, purple hair was trapped under the gray beanie pulled over her head. Her hair was perfectly straight and went down to nearly her butt, stopping at the middle of her back. She wore a cute gray sweater that matched her beanie, and dark blue skinny jeans. She was pale, but not too pale. Freckles dotted her nose, complimenting the specks of brown in her green eyes. Honestly, I was jealous. She was gorgeous. I couldn't believe she'd want to hang out with someone like me.
"So," She started. "How did things go after I left?"
Vee's voice snapped me out of thought.
"Um, I don't really remember. Most of last night is a huge blur. I can remember you dragging me through the crowd and not much else."
She nodded.
"Your friend seemed really worried."
"Yeah. I didn't really expect him to be." I half-heartedly laughed.
Her eyebrows furrowed together.
"Why not?"
I sighed, debating if I should tell her the real reason why.
"To put it a short way, we don't know each other very well."
She raised an eyebrow at me.
"What do you mean?"
I set down my cup and sighed, preparing myself for the story of my London situation.
"Well, I met his best friend on a train to London..."
"So after knowing him for not even three days, he asked you to live with him?" Vee scoffed.
"Yes, but I had nowhere to go! He was just being nice." I defended.
She shook her head.
"For all you know, he could be a serial killer, or an axe murderer, or a kidnapper!"
I laughed.
"I doubt he's any of those things, Vee."
"How do you know?"
I rolled my eyes at her.
"I don't, but he's a little too nice to be an axe murderer. Don't you think he'd of killed me by now?"
She shrugged.
"Maybe he wants to make you trust him first, then kill you. Some people get off on that."
"Ew!" I exclaimed. "Don't say that!"
We laughed.
"He seems like a nice guy though. He seems like he cares."
I looked out the window and smiled.
"Yeah."