Wild Heart | Jiara

Chapter 6

It's a couple days later and I find myself at the mall with Sarah. We don't really have a mall where we live so we had to drive a couple hours to the nearest city. I tried to invite Pope, but he didn't want to stand around at the mall all day with us and he hates shopping. Sarah is in the process of picking out an outfit for my date with JJ later this week. I still haven't told Pope about it. I've had opportunities, but every time I'm about to I think about what he said about him being a "bad influence". To be honest, I think he's just misunderstood. Everyone is so quick to assume without getting to know him first. I shake my head as if ridding myself of those thoughts and focus on finding an outfit. I look over and see Sarah has a handful of things for me to try on and still looking for more things to add to the pile. I sigh and just accept my fate.

"Okay Kie, I couldn't narrow it down so everything that caught my eye is an option. Now go try these on please." She hands me the pile of clothes and we head towards the dressing rooms. She sits on the bench outside the dressing rooms. I go in and close the door behind me. As I'm trying on several outfits, none of them feel right or seem like me. Then I try on a dress that doesn't look terrible on me. It's a V-neck short sleeve button down bright blue dress. It's loose fitting and has a bit of ruffles at the bottom. This will do. I open the door and show Sarah.

"Do a little twirl for me." She insists while studying the dress. "You look cute, I like it."

"I hope you aren't just saying that. I want to look nice, beautiful even." I look at myself in the mirror not far from Sarah. "It's cute but is it good enough?"

"Seriously, you're gorgeous in anything Kie. You look great." We make eye contact in the mirror, and she smiles at me. I return her smile and go back inside the dressing room to change. When I walk out again, I hand Sarah the huge pile of clothes I decided not to go with. I make my way to the checkout line and pay for the dress. We go inside a few more stores and look around. Sarah ends up buying me a party dress that shows way more skin than I feel comfortable showing. "You'll thank me for this later." She promises with a wink.

I tell her I'm hungry, so we head to the food court. I don't know what I'm in the mood for, so I let her choose what we eat. I choose a table for us to sit at while Sarah orders us some food. I text Pope and ask him what he's up to. He responds that he's working a shift at Heyward's. Sarah comes back with two slices of pepperoni pizza and two waters. I thank her and we both dig in. "What's the plan after the mall?" I ask her in between bites.

She swallows, "Probably hangout with Topper."

"Sarah," I set my pizza down. "I thought you were done with him?"

She glances at me then looks down at her plate. "I am, I just don't know what else to do. I'm bored. I guess I don't know how to be by myself."

"You shouldn't give him the wrong idea. He probably thinks that you guys are getting back together soon."

"I'm not going back to him. That's one thing I'm sure about."

"You can always hangout with me and Pope. You're always welcome with us." I reach over and squeeze her hand and send her a smile.

"I know." She smiles. "I just don't want to be a third wheel and ruin the whole dynamic between you two."

"You won't. You're my friend too, remember?"

I give her one last smile and we finish our pizza while talking about nothing in particular. I make a mental note to try and spend more time with Sarah.