How To Play The Game.

twelve - lily

If there was one thing that Lily had learned in her four month relationship with Michael, it was that he hated shopping. A lot.

Lily loved shopping, she could go shopping every day of her life if she needed to, and she didn't understand how Michael despised it so much. Shopping was something that everyone should like, it wasn't just for girls. Even Luke liked shopping.

Lily needed to take Michael shopped with her just once so he could get something to wear for her father's party, which was in only a couple days. She looked through his entire closet and couldn't find one piece of clothing that was acceptable.

All Michael owned was ripped skinny jeans, band t-shirts, sweaters, old combat boots and converse that were so worn down they literally had holes in the sides. He also had the ugly jean jacket and one leather jacket, but of course Michael couldn't wear any of that to the party.

It was a very important party. Lily's father, Andrew Hemmings, was going to have all of his colleagues there, and Michael was obviously going to be introduced to all of them. That's what always happened when Lily brought a boyfriend to a party. Michael couldn't just show up wearing what he normally wore.

"Baby, you should try this shirt." Lily said to Michael, grabbing a white button up shirt off of a rack and turning towards Michael. He was leaning up against a wall and staring down at his phone, not enjoying this nearly as much as Lily was.

"Hmm?" Michael questioned, glancing up from his phone. "Okay, babe, you can add it to the pile."

"Can you at least pretend that you're not totally bored?" Lily groaned, walking over to Michael and slapping him on the shoulder. He put his phone in his back pocket and turned towards Lily.

"I don't think I could pretend that I enjoy this if my life was depending on it." Michael chuckled. Lily frowned and Michael laughed even harder, wrapping his arms around Lily's waist and kissing her on the top of her head.

Lily loved that Michael was clingy, in a sense. It seemed like he always wanted to be touching her, even if it was just something super small like intertwining their fingers or resting his hand on her thigh. Michael wanted to be as close to Lily as he could at all times, and while some people would get annoyed by that, Lily thought it was adorable.

"I really don't understand why you hate shopping so much." Lily sighed, hugging Michael tightly. "It's so much fun, don't you like getting new clothes?"

"I like getting new clothes when they don't cost over $100 per shirt." Michael scoffed. "I honestly can't believe that you shop at places like this on a regular basis."

"The $100 shirts are worth it, Michael." Lily pouted up at him, still not understanding. She was trying to see Michael's point of view about this, she really was, but this was the way Lily grew up and it was hard for her to think about anyone's life being different from hers.

If Lily needed a new shirt, she'd go out and get a new shirt. If she needed a new dress for a party, even if she was only going to wear it for one night, Lily would go out and get a new dress. It didn't matter what the price was, Lily was just fortunate to not have to worry about that stuff.

"I can get the same thing for less than half the price at - "

"I just really want you to look good for this party." Lily said, interrupting him. She was really trying to work on kicking that habit. "It's important that you make a good first impression."

"I thought you said your parents are nice." Michael countered, furrowing his eyebrows at Lily. "I didn't think I was going to need to worry about making a good first impression."