Only I Know

Chapter 7: Masquerade Shopping

When we both finished our breakfast, we were waiting for our waiter to come back. "If you don't mind me asking," Aidan started to say, "but have you ever been in a relationship before?" My face started to turn red. The only boy I knew was Nessa's cousin, Tristan (no I don't like him). "Um, no." I said, as I looked down at the floor. "Who did Hannah cheat on you with?" I asked. "With my best friend, Elijah." "Damn, your own best friend?" I said in shock. I couldn't even imagine what I would do if my boyfriend (that is if I ever get one) would cheat on me with my best friend. "How did you find out?" I asked. "I saw them kissing." Aidan said, placing his hands back on the table. I put my hand back on top of his, and he looked at me. We held eye contact for what seemed like years, and I really enjoyed that.
   Aidan and I both pulled our hands away, again, when the waiter came back. "Here you go, and you have to pay in the front before you leave. Have a great rest of your day." He said. "Thank you, you too." Aidan said, as he showed his smile. The waiter walked away, and Aidan and I just looked at each other. He got out of his seat, and made his way to the front. I sat there, wishing that he would have stayed. I got up from my seat, grabbed the backpack, and went to the front. "Have a nice day!" Angelica said, as she was waving at us. I waved back, and Aidan and I walked out of the restaurant. When we reached the car, Aidan unlocked it, and we both got in. I set the bag down, and then laid my back against the seat. "Let's go find outfits." He said, as he started the car. "Aidan, are you okay-" "Yes, Y/N, I'm fine." Aidan said quickly. He sounded annoyed. He turned on the radio, and the song everything i wanted by Billie Eilish started to play. Now my feelings are even more mixed. Does he hate me now? Did I actually think that he would like me? I hate how he acts, because it sometimes messes with how I feel.
   After a while, Aidan started to pull up into a parking lot. When he stopped the car, he didn't say anything. He just got out, and was waiting for me. I took the backpack, and got out as well. When I closed the door, Aidan locked it, and then we started walking towards the entrance. As we were walking, I read the sign of the store, and it said Cinderella's Closet. I liked the name. When we got closer to the store, I saw posters of models wearing dresses and suits. Aidan opened the door for me, and I stepped in. "Hi, welcome to Cinderella's Closet, can I help you with anything? Are you two looking for anything in particular?" The lady asked. "Uh, I'm just looking for a regular black tux, with shoes?" Aidan said. "Okay, let me get someone for you." She said, as she walked to the back counter. She started to talk into her ear piece, and then a man came out from one of the aisles. He started to walk over to us. "Nice to meet you, my name is Sam, and I will help you find a tux." Sam said, as he shook Aidan's hand. "I'm just gonna look around for some dresses, and try them on." I said. "Okay." Aidan said. His voice sounded like he didn't care at all, and that bothered me.
    I made my way over to an aisle, and started to look at the dresses. None of them seem to look like something I would want to wear, or they just looked like prom dresses. When I got towards the end, I found something that really caught my eye. It was a blood-red, off the shoulder dress, and it had a slit on the right leg. It was the last dress (that looked like that) and it was my size. I took it into my hands, and walked over to the dressing room. "Hi, um, may I please try on this dress?" I asked, as I walked up to one of the workers. "Of course, let me just check to see if there are any rooms available." She said, as she looked at me, and then went to check the rooms. "This one is available." She said. I walked over and said, "Thank you." When she walked away, I entered the room, and closed the door. I hung up the backpack, and started to get out of my clothes, and then slip into the dress. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I loved how the dress looked on me, and the way it fit so perfectly on my body. I was going to send Aidan a picture, but I feel like he wouldn't care.
   I got out of the dress, and put back on my regular clothes. I put the dress back in the bag (not the backpack), put the backpack on my back, and then walked out. When I was about to say, "Thank you," to the lady, I noticed something. She had a rottweiler tattoo on her neck. "Um, excuse me, but there's a problem in this dressing room." I lied, as I pointed to the one that I just walked out of. I quickly looked around, and noticed that there were no cameras. I quickly put gloves on, and grabbed a knife. I closed the door, set the dress down, and pinned her against the wall; I put the knife to her throat. "I know you work for Andrew Gallagher." I said. She smirked at me and said, "So, I'm assuming that you and Aidan are going to the ball tonight?" I ignored her question and said, "What do you want?" "My mission is to kill Aidan. He's a great disgrace, and he doesn't even love you." She said, as she grinned at me. "He's only using you so you can help him; he will never love you." Something in my stomach started to twist in anger.
     Without even thinking twice, I slit her throat open. She was holding onto her neck, and I could tell that she was trying to hold her blood in. Her body fell to the floor, and I watched her bleed out. I took what I needed and walked out. Before I could leave the area, I grabbed the keys, locked the door and then hid the keys in a huge pile of clothes. I set the backpack down, and grabbed my hoodie and mask out of the backpack, along with a gun. I put my mask on, and threw my hood on, over my head, and started to walk to the entrance. I saw Aidan waiting there. I walked up to the counter, and grabbed something off of it. "What the hell are you doing?" Aidan whispered to me, as I was about to walk out. "You have to pay for that!" Someone shouted out. I stopped, and turned around. I put my left arm (the dress was in that hand) around Aidan's neck, and pointed a gun to his head.
"Tell anyone, and I won't only kill him, but I will come back and kill all of you!" I shouted. The lady backed up, frightened. I walked backwards, while I was still holding onto Aidan. When we got out of the store, I let go of him. "What the hell was that for?!" He said, as we walked to the car. "Just unlock the fucking car." I said (as I was standing by the passenger side). Aidan unlocked the car, and we both got in. I put the dress, and his suit and shoes in the back. "You got me heels?" I said, as I looked at them, and then at him. "Yeah, I did, and what did you grab off the counter?" He asked, as I put the heels in the back. "A thigh strap, so I could hide a knife." I said, as I showed it to him. I then put it in the backpack, along with the mask. I took off my hoodie, and set it on my lap.
"What did you do?" Aidan asked. "Someone was working for Andrew. I saw her with the tattoo." I told him, as I was messing with the sleeves of the hoodie. "If she told you, what was her plan?" he asked. "She said that she noticed you in the store and was going to kill you." I lied. I wasn't gonna tell him the truth, because then that would just make everything awkward. "Can you at least put the gun back in the bag, I don't want you to hurt yourself." Oh, now he shows that he cares. I listened to him, and put it back in the backpack. Aidan finally started the car, and he drove back to the hotel. We didn't speak to each other for the whole ride. As Aidan was looking at the road ahead of him, I was watching the cars we were passing by.
After a few minutes, Aidan pulled up into a Walmart parking lot. "Why are we here?" I asked, as I looked at the store and then at Aidan. "We need to get masquerade masks." He said, as he opened his door and got out. Once again, he was waiting for me. I grabbed my hoodie, and the backpack, and got out of the car. I gave Aidan the bag so I could put on my hoodie. When I did, I saw that Aidan had the backpack on his back. "I was going to carry it. I just wanted to-" "It's fine, I'm already carrying it." He said. I was smiling, but that quickly ran away after he interrupted me. I started to walk closer to the store, and Aidan was walking behind me. We entered the store, and a cold breeze passed my body. I was walking ahead, and left Aidan behind. I didn't feel like talking to him (that is if we were ever going to talk to each other).
I walked to one of the ailes (that was for girls) and Aidan walked to the other one (which was just one aisle over). The masks that they had either looked stupid, or just didn't really go with my dress. When I was reaching the end of the aisle, a mask caught my eye. The mask was black, and it had black feathers that covered a little bit of the forehead (if you were to put it on). It had beautiful designs on it, and the mask itself just looked amazing. I took it off the hook, and walked over to the hair section. I wanted to curl my hair, so I grabbed a curling iron, and made my way to the checkout line. I then felt a hand touch my shoulder, but I already knew that it was Aidan. "What mask did you get?" He asked, as he wrapped his arm more around my shoulders. "This one." I said, as I showed it to him."Fancy, I got this one." He said, as he showed me the one he picked out. The mask was gold, with really fancy designs, and it had little music notes on it as well. "I really like that one." I said, as I looked at him, and then ahead of me. Aidan took his arm off of me when it was our turn for the self check-out. When I was about to start scanning, Aidan called a worker over. "What are you doing?" I whispered, as a worker came walking towards us.
Aidan wrapped his right arm around the employee, and I heard him whisper, "I have a gun. If you let us walk out I won't hurt you, but if you make a scene, or report this to the police, I will kill you, because I know the mafia." The worker nodded his head, and stepped back (you could tell he was trying to hide his scaredness). Aidan looked at me, and we headed towards the doors. When we left the store, Aidan started laughing. His laugh made me smile. When we got to the car, and he unlocked it, we both got in. "Okay, let's head back to the hotel, discuss the plan, and then get ourselves ready." Aidan said, as he was looking at me. I nodded my head in agreement as he turned on the car. Aidan gave me a little smile, and then drove out of the Walmart parking lot.