CHAOS

LAYLA

Shopping was something I usually enjoyed. Key word: usually.

Usually, my mates keep me the best company while shopping, but these people were boring.

This morning all of us had 'caught up' with everything. And had decided to go to the mall, 

"Chose one already!" Timothy groaned.
And the silent man, with his hands, crossed to his chest, stared at the 3 mobile phones.

"So, sir. These three are the same size and shape, both have touchy screens but different prices," he said, glaring at the vendor who was looking like he pissed his pants

I rolled my eyes,
"It's not just about shape and size-" I was cut off by Emma.

"It's about colour too," she said with a hand in the air and nodding.

"No, it's about storage and quality and battery and camera," I repeated the mans words.

Joseph stared at me for a good amount of time before saying
"Which do you prefer?" He asked, I pointed at the first one, which was the most costly but it seemed great, and colour was great too. 

"Okay, I mean its not my money," he shrugged. I scoffed.
"I'm just glad we're done here," I said slapping my credit card on the cash counter.

____

"Look at the colour, and the size and the little logo," I nervously presented it to Joseph who stood there again with his hands crossed to his chest. AGAIN. 
"But this is RED is so much better and manlier. You have to take this one. It's kinda cheaper too" Timothy said, flexing his muscles

"But I'm paying, and cheap of you to say 'manlier'" I interrupted, 

Knowing I wouldn't win in this, I put the shirt on me, it was bigger in size but it looked great

"Okay- miss, shopping for Josey," Timothy said,
"You should buy the red one. It can be your new colour," I said, looking at Joseph through the mirror.

"I'll take the blue one, actually," he said, a challenging look in settled in his eyes as I glared at him.

___

We were definitely looking like a gang coming down the escalator, three to 4 couples turned their backs to just look at us.

Never looked at 4 clueless people in a mall? Or-
They, recognize me.
Fuck.

I slowly slid down and gestured for Tim to give me his glasses, I slowly put them on and jumped back up.
"What's this?" Timothy asked.

"Protection," I said.

"choosing to ignore that. What's our next spot?" Timothy asked, I slowly set my eyes on the sneaker shop.

"Shoes," I said.

____

"I haven't spent this much money on myself in almost 7 years. The last time, I thought I won the lottery but didn't. And then was in debt for 2 years," Emma said, taking a deep breath, and looking at a set of pink socks.

"Congratulations, those might be the biggest batch of words you said to us since you showed up," Timothy, clapped in celebration.
I glared at him.

"Well, you can get some stuff. It's on me this time," I smiled, taking another pair of pink socks she was holding and putting them in the cart.

I walked two aisles and found Josh sitting still on the chair.

"You're still not done yet," I said, walking towards him and looking at the pair of shoes he chose.

"Have you tried them?" I asked looking at his dropped head. He shook his head.

"What happened?" I asked, crouching down beside him.

I immediately noticed the moisture in his eyes. On instinct, I held his head in my hands, making him look at me. 

"What happened?" I asked, his hands made their way on my waist and my breath hitched, but I ignored it.

"I-" he cut himself off.

Looking down at his shoes,

"I forgot, how..." he said, and I immediately understood. 

"Hey, look at me," I said, and he did.
"It's okay-" 
"No its not fucking okay," he said, 

"Shut up," I said, to which he obeyed.

I leaned down to his shoes and tied his laces, when I looked back at him. 

He averted his gaze. Not wanting to look at me.

I sighed.