burning red • joe burrow

006

charlie, lily, and rory offered to go to the mall with tara, she debated on excepting. she didn't have any money to spend on clothes.

yes, she had money but joe gave it to her and she wanted it to last as long as it could.

"no," tara said. "thank you guys though."

"please tara," charlie said. "you don't even have to buy anything."

"yeah, it's a bonding experience." rory said. "and if you see something you want, one of us can buy it for you."

"i'm not a charity case guys." tara said.

"we know." lily said. "we just really want you to come to the mall with us."

"please tara?" charlie said. tara knew that even if she said no, they had another way to convince her.

tara started contemplating her options. "okay, i'll go." tara said.

they all got in the car, lily and rory in the front, charlie and tara sat in the back. lily's car was nice, it was a jeep.

"today," rory said, patting her legs making it sound like a drumroll. "we are taking you on a shopping spree."

"i have clothes." tara said. she only had old t-shirts and stuff like that.

"no offense, tara." charlie said thinning her lips. "but, i think they might be a little, outdated."

"so," lily said. "as your new besties, we will be treating you to a self care shopping spree day."

tara thought about it. this was really sweet of them, considering they just met. "thank you guys." tara said.

"and we are gonna get our nails done too." rory said. "i love days like these."

• • •

once they arrived at the mall, tara was overwhelmed by all the things she wanted to buy and it was only the first store.

"go crazy, get whatever you want." charlie said.

tara looked at some clothes, they were nice but definitely out of her comfort zone.

"t, your comfort zone consists of t-shirts and and joggers. you gotta expand." rory said.

tara shrugged her shoulders and put the shirt over her arm.

she got a couple of things from that store. a couple of pairs of jeans, and a bunch of different shirts.

by the time they were done in the mall, they were struggling to carry all of the bags.

"thank you guys." tara said, placing the bags in the trunk of the car. "you didn't have to do all this."

"we just wanted to help you out." rory said. "it's not a big deal."

"well, it means a lot to me." tara said getting in the car. "so, thank you."

lily drove to the nail salon. once they got there, tara was overly indecisive on what color to get.

she decided to just get white, it matched everything.

they all had gotten their nails done first, then their toes. "thank you guys." tara said once they got back into the car.

"you say thank you so much, tara." rory said with a laugh.

"sorry, but i really mean it, thank you." tara said. the real reason why she was saying thank you so much is yes, she was really thankful. but also, if she didn't say thank you for every little thing that finn did, he hit her.