Dying to Breathe

4.2: creator of fantasies

A/N: Holy crap guys, this is one dang intense chapter at the end. Beware of the chills you (hopefully!) will get. Here's a random song I clicked shuffle to get: 

Chapter 4, Part 2: creator of fantasies

"Are you buying something for El?" Nina cooed as Gabriel rifled through the menswear.

Gabriel scoffed as Penelope held up a dress to her figure, copying Coraline and Juliet blindly as she watched him cautiously, "What makes you think I'm not looking for me?"

Nina laughed, patting his tanned arm, "The day you pull off a floral pattern, is the day I pull off pink—it just isn't going to happen."

Levi, Wyatt, and Wren were joking around in the back of the store as Gabriel gave up his search, deciding to join them with a surrendering grumble, "He told me to grab him something since he couldn't come."

"Can I?" Juliet interrupted, smiling brightly, "He's so fun to shop for."

"Have at it." Gabriel threw his hands up, before leaving the girls be—throwing a secret wink at Penelope as he walked off.

Her stomach filled with butterflies before she could stop them.

"What's this 'El' person like," Penelope, attempting to distract herself, looked at the price tag on the purple dress, feeling her blood run cold from the number of zeros shown across the flat tag.

"He's..." Coraline struggled with words, "Eccentric?"

Juliet giggled, "He's like if Jack Sparrow, the Mad Hatter, and Edward Scissorhands—and maybe all of Johnny Depp's eccentric characters (like Sweeny Todd)—got together and made a baby."

Penelope didn't even try to picture it as she shook her head of any image attempting to assault her brain.

"But a very wealthy version of them all—with no life goals whatsoever or fucks given about much." Nina added, "And obviously super sexy."

Penelope's lips quirked up; the curl inevitable as she remembered just how often she'd heard Nina stick up for this El person. Except, now she was practically bashing the guy.

"Don't get me wrong," Nina added, seeing Penelope's smirk, "He's amazing and has crazy substance." She quickly backtracked, "He just doesn't take anything seriously—he gets bored often and he moves on to new things mercilessly. Which is probably thanks to having his future laid out for him by his dad. But he just has this charm... He's a mess, but he's a wonderful guy. A beautiful mess." Nina sighed dreamily, most-likely picturing him in her mind.

"Poetic." Penelope snickered, dropping the topic as she grabbed a fuzzy sweatshirt.

"When you meet him, you'll understand." Coraline chuckled under her breath, pulling up a dress that looked like it came from a 1950's housewife's closet to her body. "Have you all decided what you're doing next year?" She asked, twirling around with the stiff skirt against her body.

"I'm applying to the art school here—I've always wanted to pursue art like my mother did." Juliet quickly replied, trying on sunglasses. "I want to travel and paint someday."

"Well, I'll still be at the academy." Nina pouted as she sat down on the window seat, "But after I graduate, it would be nice to maybe get my bachelor's degree—I'm thinking psychology. Maybe even a PhD if I'm motivated enough."