11/28 by uliaj06

twenty

4:10

Before I knew it, I was standing again, pulling Tate to the end of the sidewalk.

I felt bold, surprised at myself for having enough confidence to hold his wrist, and drag him to walk with me. Surprisingly enough, he easily followed, not questioning why we're walking all of a sudden, or where we were going now, he just voluntarily followed without question.

"Do you remember the wedding that Angie invited you to?" I mention when we get to the end of the sidewalk.

I press the button to let us cross the road, waiting for the red hand to turn into a white light of a person.

"I'm bad with names." I hear him ask from next to me. "Angie?"

"Red hair, the restaurant..." I turn to see if he was catching on.

He looks like he was slowly remembering who I'm talking about, but not really. The few people that were around us started walking, crossing the street, and I take that as my cue to cross with them since the light was now white.

We get to the other side of the street, and it was only then that I realize I'm still holding onto his wrist.

Instinctively, I let go, wondering why I didn't do that moments ago. Wondering why he didn't make a comment about it. Then wondering if he – like me – maybe didn't even realize it too.

"So what about the wedding?" His voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, um I need a dress." I tell him, eyeing the boutique a few stores down. People passed by us, always in a hurry, cars driving past us too, I can hear the honks in the distance.

It's convenient really, since I needed a dress for Angie's wedding and there's a boutique here.

I am one of her bridesmaids and typically the bride chooses a dress design for all the bridesmaids to wear but, this is Angie, and Angie said she's too preoccupied to be deciding that. So, why not us, the bridesmaids, just pick out what we want to wear. It's a win-win for all of us, Angie taking one thing off of the list of her the many things to do, and us choosing which dress is most comfortable with us.

Since everyone has their own styles anyways, it's better to have an assortment instead of everyone wearing the same dresses.

It has to be in a specific color though, this shade of blue. I still don't know the theme of the wedding – to be fair, I don't think she does either yet – but I'm sure she has an idea since she wants us to wear a light blue dress.

"You don't have a dress already?" He questions before opening the door to go inside, both of us standing in front of the door.

I shake my head no. "I usually ask Cay for one but.." I point to the dress shop. "We are here already, and you didoffer to buy me anything I wanted, insisted actually. So... do you want to buy me a dress, Mr. Woods?" I cheekily say as I open the door.

He scoffs, grinning while shaking his head. "Whatever you want, Ro." He hands me his credit card.

"What a gentleman." I taking the black card from him.

I didn't want to use him but... through everything he's put me through I think I deserve to be spoiled. Just a little bit.

Plus, I think he finds my delight entertaining.

As soon as his card went back into my grasp, I felt that power and excitement coursing through me again.

A man in a bow tie greets us as soon as we enter the place. "Hi! I'll be right with you to assist in whatever you might need. Feel free to look around, I'll just be right back, we're a little busy right now." He says quickly, flashing is a friendly smile before running off to somewhere around the store.

I notice now that this place not only sells dresses but other forms of clothing too, like jackets and t-shirts.

Convenient.

My eyes jump around the place, searching for the area of dresses. There were some on display, but I knew there was more. I start to walk, not caring whether Tate follows or not, in search for the dresses.

Honestly, I don't prefer wearing dresses.

But there are some dresses that make me eager to wear them.

I didn't want my dress to be too eye catching since it's her wedding and I didn't want the focus to be on me, I'm just using this as an excuse to wear a pretty dress.

Something not too simple and boring for my taste, but nothing too big or puffy.

"What would you do if I just took this and ran?" An idea popped into my head.

Tate stood next to me, as he did almost everywhere we went. "I probably wouldn't care." He simply says.

"How are you acting like it's worth pennies, like it's nothing?"

He looks down at me. "I could always close the account, Ro." Right. Smart. "One phone call." He drops his voice.

"Very smart." His voice made my heart rate pick up unexpectedly.

"I do miss having to work for something and feeling that achievement once I finally get it." He released a breath. "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but when you can have everything you want, it gets pretty fucking boring." He elaborates.

"So you'd rather spend it on others?" I confirm.

"Very much so." His eye contact remains strong.

"If I bought seventeen designer dresses, it would make you happy?" With him, it's like I can't hold eye contact like I normally could. Every time I look back at him, his eyes would always catch mine.

"Only if you tried them on after." He says. "And let me see."

Is he flirting?

He better not be.