"Is it a human?" I breathed.
"Yes. I am a human." The thing responded.
I looked it up and down again with big, dreadful eyes. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive." It said. I could tell in its deep voice that it was amused.
"I-I don't think so." I choked. My eyes only came to his broad chest that was covered in a thin black t-shirt that squeezed his bulging muscles.
"My name is Darren." It said.
"Holly, let's go." Ryder said from beside me.
I spun around to look at him, to get away from this... thing but was only faced with another one of them. I jumped and let out a terrified squeal. "There's two of them!" I squealed.
"Yeah, I usually have two body guards with me. Now, let's go." Ryder took my wrist and dragged me along towards the entrance to the mall.
Darren had sandy blonde hair on top of his (yes, I decided to accept his humanity) head, but I was surprised I could see it at all since he towered over me. Heck, he towered over the Empire State Building! The worst part was that the other one was just as tall. With just as much raging muscles fighting against the matching black t-shirt. Only the other guy was darker, he looked mixed to me and his hair was jet black. He kind of looked like Roshon Fegan on steroids, especially with the dimples he was sporting. Now that Ryder mentioned body guards, I could totally see it because they were both dressed in all black with ear pieces sticking out of their ears with curly wires hooking onto their shirts. At least we were safe.
"This is Danny, by the way." Ryder said, gesturing towards Mr. Roshon.
I just nodded as we walked through the glass doors of the huge Hollywood Mall. Darren was in front of us and Danny was behind us.
"So where are we going?" Ryder asked in a bored tone.
"Ryder, you can't be bored yet. We haven't even started. Let's go to..." I trailed off as my eyes scanned a nearby map. "Build- A- Bear! Can we go there?!" I squealed with excitement, causing Darren to turn around and chuckle at me.
"Why do you want to build a bear? We can just buy a stupid bear somewhere else." Ryder mumbled.
"Then he won't have the heart or the love or the outfits." I defended. I also noticed that we were getting a lot of weird looks and whispers as we walked down the wide, tiled hallway of the mall. Potted plants dotted the sides as a cute decoration as we passed store by store. It wasn't too busy, but the crowd was mostly little kids with parents or teens. Like usual malls.
"Let's do that later." Ryder mumbled.
"No fun." I huffed as I led the guys into Hollister.
"How long will this take?" Ryder asked.
I shrugged. "I know my size, so I don't even have to try them on." I defended.
"Really?" He asked with shock.
I chuckled. "Yeah. See? I told you this wouldn't be so bad."
Within ten minutes, I had twelve pairs of shorts picked out of various colors from hot pink to obnoxious orange, but keeping a few of the ordinary denim blues.
"Which ones do you like?" I asked Ryder, holding a few pairs out in front of me to him where he was standing awkwardly with his two buff body guards at the front of the store.
"Just buy them all." Ryder said with a shrug.
"I can't buy them all, they're expensive!" I yelped.
"And you don't have a limit on the credit card Jackson gave you."
"He'll still have to pay for it." I huffed.
"Holly, I'm sure if you doubled the price of all of these, it still wouldn't match the price of one of Jackson's shoes. Not a pair, just one. He won't even bat an eye when he pays this bill."
"Are you sure?" I asked slowly. "I don't want to put him in debt or anything."
"I'm sure you could buy this whole mall without him even flinching." Ryder chuckled.
I sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll get them all." I said, grabbing my large pile of clothes and taking them over to the cash register.
"So are you his girlfriend or something?" The cashier asked, her eyes basically raping Ryder who was standing across the store, in a conversation with the body guards.
I matched her gaze before turning back around to her. "Ryder? Oh, no. We're just friends."
She looked back to me, that dreamy look stuck in her brown eyes. "You're so lucky."
I slid the credit card over to her with an awkward smile on my face. "Uh, thanks."
She swiped the card and gave it back before handing me two large, heavy bags full of denim shorts.
"Can you give this to him?" The lady asked as I went to turn around. She handed me a piece of paper that read "Jenny" at the top with a phone number below it.
My inability to be mean, I just plastered a smile on my face, took the paper, and nodded before hurrying towards Ryder. I stuffed the number inside the bag, having no intentions on giving it to Ryder. I mean, I'm sure he gets that a lot and it would probably just annoy him.
"Okay, now where to?" I asked.
"That's your choice. That faster we get through this, the faster we get to leave." Ryder said.
I smiled. "Ah, that's the spirit."
We left the Hollister store with Darren in front, Danny behind us. I'm beginning to think that they have a system...
We didn't get three feet before we heard a shrill scream coming from just a little bit down the hall. "Just ignore it, it happens every time." Ryder bent down and whispered to me.
I was about to ask him what he meant when my answer came to me. "Oh my gosh! It's Ryder West!!!" That shrill scream said, followed by a bunch of high pitched screams. All at once, all of the people around us had sprinted to be as close to Ryder as they possibly could. Which was kind of stupid because I know for a fact that most of the people that were around us had seen us because I saw them looking and whispering. I guess they needed confirmation or somebody to act first.
Whatever the case was, Darren and Danny were easily holding back the noisy crowd.
"You're used to this?" I yelled to Ryder who was walking, nonchalantly, by my side like nothing was happening, when in fact my ears were about to blast.
He smiled at me and held something out for me. "Here, use these. They help."
I looked down at his palm to see a small plastic box with two orange balls inside that I could tell were hear plugs. I rolled my eyes before quickly stuffing them inside my ears, immediately cutting off most of the sound of the chaotic crowd. I tugged on Ryder's sleeve and pointed towards the Victoria Secret store.
He gave me an 'are you kidding?' look and I just rolled my eyes, walking towards the store with Ryder at my heals and the bubble that Darren and Danny had created was moving with us into the store. When we walked in, the two body guards stopped at the door so that nobody else could get in.
"I'm not going underwear shopping with you." Ryder said with an embarrassed smile once we were inside and rid of the ear plugs.
I rolled my eyes once again. "Sweats. I'm just getting some sweats and maybe a few tanks. No lingerie, I promise."
He cracked a smile. "Okay."
"You should smile more." I said quietly. "It suits you."
He sighed but I swear I saw a blush. "I do smile."
"Well, not enough." I said, turning around, just to be faced with a big mess of blonde hair and big boobs. By the black shirt and name tag suffocating said boobs, I could tell she was a worker here, since we were the only ones in the provocative store.
"Ryder West!" The lady squealed. "What can I help you with?" Queue the boob squeeze.
I was now behind her as she tried to suffocate Ryder with her breasts. "I'm not shopping, she is." He said, pointing to me.
She didn't even turn around to face me. "I'm sure there's something you need." She purred.
"Hey, Holly, hurry up there." He said to me with a desperate look on his face.
I saluted him sarcastically and turned to the rack of sweat pants. We were checked out in twenty minutes tops and back into the crowded, screaming hallway with a little bubble of space as we walked down the hallway.
As we walked towards the next store, we talked over the crowd and we laughed a lot. Turns out, Ryder has a really cool sense of humor.
"Let's go in there." Ryder said, pointing to the costume store.
I grinned and looked up at him with an excited nod before he took my hand and practically dragged me into the store. Darren and Danny stood at the entrance so that none of the obsessed teen shoppers could come into the costume shop. The tall racks were full of multi colored feathered and surprisingly creepy masks. In the back, there was a small counter where an oldish lady was sitting and smiling sweetly at us. I don't even think that she noticed the crowd outside the store and I think she was too old to even know who Ryder was.
"So why are we in here? Not that I'm complaining." I said, looking around the racks of colorful, sequin- filled costumes. The smell of cheap fabric was almost overwhelming, but it was a cute, small store.
"Because I'm tired of clothes shopping."
"But these are clothes." I pointed out.
"But these are more fun." He countered, walking over to the closest rack and pulling something off it and shoving it at me. "Here, try this one."
I held the hanger out in front of me, examining the red polka dotted dress with a shiny black corset that came with Minnie Mouse ears.
"And what are you going to try on?" I asked with raised eyebrows. "What about this one?" I grabbed something pink and smothered in feathers.
"No thanks." Ryder chuckled. "I'll find something."
I giggled and turned towards the small dressing rooms towards the back of the small store. I quickly slipped into the dress and looked in the mirror. The sleeves poofed out but stopped around my shoulders and the dress flowed to about mid- thigh with black hose that passed my knee with red bows on the top.
"I look ridiculous." I laughed, not opening the door of the dressing room.
"Just come out. Nobody can see except for me." He said from the other side. "Besides, you should see me, I look worse, I promise."
Out of pure curiosity, I instantly swung the door open to see Ryder in a rainbow clown afro and a red nose on his face. I bit my tongue so that I didn't start laughing loudly that would probably lead to a snort. He looked incredibly out of place.
"You don't look ridiculous." He spoke. "You look... cute."
As you have probably picked up, I blush easily. I looked down at the ground like I usually did to let my hair fall in front of my face to hide my blush.
"That doesn't work when you're wearing a head band." Ryder said with an amused smile.
"Well it was worth a shot." I muttered, taking the ears off of my head, hiding behind my curtain of blonde waves.
"You blush easily."
I crinkled my nose and looked up at him with a giggle. "I can't take you seriously with that clown fro on."
"I think it looks handsome." He defended, putting his hands up to it and adjusting the enormous ball of colored hair on his head.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Very handsome." I agreed sarcastically.
After the Minnie Mouse costume, I had tried on a total of five other costumes.
When I tried on the purple crayon, I got a cool purple hat that looked like the tip of a crayon.
"How do I look?" I asked Ryder who was wearing a cowboy hat and a weird handlebar mustache.
"You look like a preschooler." He said with brows furrowed. "But a hot one."
I looked down at the dress that was a little tight and cut off a little bit above my knees. "Now you're just saying that to make me blush." I muttered.
"Yeah, a little bit. But just because you look cute when you blush. Like a shy puppy." He said with a soft smile that was partially hidden by his cowboy mustache.
"You're making it worse." I mumbled. "Shut up." With that, I spun around and went back into the dressing room and came back out dressed as a Queen of Hearts and then a black and white music dress with a key board trimming the bottom.
"I like this one." I chuckled, opening the dressing room door to show the hippie style dress. It was pretty short and long sleeved with a thick black belt under my boobs. The colorful pattern was very psychedelic. And I hate that word.
"Why?" Ryder scoffed.
"Are you kidding?" I squealed, dancing with my fingers around my eyes like they did whenever hippies were cool. "This is fun."
"I like this one better." Ryder declared when I came out of the dressing room in a boxer costume. It was almost a sports bra with short silver, shiny shorts with a loose, silky robe that boxers wear right before they go on for a match or whatever. My hands were engulfed in red boxing gloves.
"Perv." I muttered, trying to cover my bare belly with the silky robe. When he started laughing I started throwing fake punches at him. "I'll fight you."
"I'm pretty scared." He said sarcastically.
I stuck my tongue out and went back into the dressing room. "I have enough clothes to last me a year, let's go eat." I said, getting dressed in my normal clothes again.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked when I opened the door with the costumes in hand. We put them on their racks before I grabbed my heavy bags and we started for the exit where the ruckus had died down, but there were still a few eager and persistent teenagers there, waiting for a glimpse at the very Ryder West. I smiled to myself, thinking that just a week ago, I would have killed to be one of those girls. And now I'm shopping with him. Just me and Ryder... and two body guards, of course.
I jumped out of my daze when I felt all the weight of my bags leave my hands. I looked down, expecting to see ten bags of clothes sprawled out on the floor but was surprised when the tiles were clean of any expensive clothes or shopping bags. When I looked up in confusion, I saw Ryder holding all of the bags from multiple stores.
"I thought you said you weren't going to carry my bags." I said with a small smile as Darren led us down the hallway with the loud crowd forming larger once again and we headed for the doors.
He shrugged. "I changed my mind."
"Thanks." I said softly as we walked out of the huge mall and to Ryder's expensive car that was parked in the front. When the glass doors shut behind us, Ryder turned around and offered a wave to the crowd, watching dreamful out the doors of the mall.
"Aw, you waved." I cooed.
"Yeah, and I probably just made their day." He defended.
"Try their whole lives." I snorted.
"That's drastic." Ryder mumbled.
"Whatever." I sang as we approached the car. "Anyway, food. I need food. Where do you guys want to go?" I asked the two scary looking body guards.
"Oh, we're not coming." Darren said awkwardly.
"Why not?" I nearly whined. "You followed us around a crowded mall all day, doing nothing but getting swarmed by screaming teenage girls. The least we can do is buy you lunch." I turned to look at Ryder. "Right Ryder? They can come. It'll be fun."
He just shrugged. "Of course but I was lugged around the mall all day too, you aren't going to buy me lunch too?"
"No." I chuckled. "Because you had fun, don't lie."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure."
"Just be lucky you didn't have to go dress shopping with me. Because that, my friend, is a job nobody wants."
He just chuckled and rolled his eyes once more. "Wait in the car, I'll be in in a second." Ryder said, putting all of the bags in the back seat.
I smiled a small smile before nodding and walking around the car and slipping into the passenger side seat.
"She's different than the other girls you take out." I heard Darren say. If Ryder wanted to keep this conversation away from me then he shouldn't have left his window cracked. Ha!
"I'm not taking her out, she's Jackson's little sister. I just lost the bet and had to bring her shopping today." Ryder defended.
"Didn't seem that way." Danny sang.
"Well it is that way." Ryder snapped. "Besides, she's with Kale." I coughed in surprise as the world's biggest blush crossed over my face. I wanted to protest to his statement but I kept my trap shut and continued eavesdropping.
"That makes more sense." Darren mumbled.
"Mhmm." Ryder grumbled as his door swung open and he was in the driver's seat. "They'll meet us there." He said to me.
"Where are we going?" I asked quietly.
"A burger place. Do you like hamburgers?" He asked as we pulled out of the parking lot. I noticed that we were being followed by a large SUV and just wishfully assumed that it was Darren and Danny.
"Yeah, that's fine." I chirped.
"Okay. So did you get everything that you needed?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for taking me, by the way. I mean, I know you lost the bet or whatever but I had fun. So thanks."
He looked over at me and smiled before turning back towards the road. "I'm glad you had fun. I guess I wasn't as miserable as I had planned. It wasn't that gruesome."
I smiled. "I'm glad I wasn't too miserable and gruesome." I joked.
Ryder nodded. "You're not too bad, Holly."
__________________________________________
ANYWAY... Kale or Ryder???
The gorgeous cover to the side is by alana_bitch!!!
Vote- Comment- Fan <3