Tattered Souls

Chapter 35: The Dressing Room

Sam

Why did no one tell me that having a dog would be so much work?

It's been a couple weeks now and things are getting better but boy is he a handful.

He's still a puppy so I understand he's going to have to tendencies but if he chews up one more pair of my shoes I might lose my mind.

Right now he's knocked out on his bed and he looks really cute, but I know the truth.

"You're such a little faker. Looking all innocent." He kicks his little foot in his sleep and I sigh.

"I might bring you back a new chew toy."

I decide to go to the mall to get some new clothes and shoes since spring was coming up and thanks to happy my shoe closet is looking low.

As I'm browsing the clothes rack I feel a tap on my shoulder and see a little sales girl standing behind me.

She's shorter than me so I have to look down a little making her blush." ummm hi do you need any help finding anything?"

I can tell she's nervous talking to me and it's kind of cute.

Usually I can tell when a girl is interested in me based off of her body language and she was definitely showing all of the signs.

I smile at her and figure I should be nice instead of shutting her down so I asked her opinion on a couple of things I'm looking at.

"I have a pretty basic style when I dress but I'm trying to change it up a bit. Think you can give me some pointers?"

 She nods more than happy to help and even found me some shoes that went with the outfits as well.

While we shopped I found out her name was Sarah and she was actually really funny.

We're looking for a shirt And I held up a tan shirt with some holes in it and she made a face.

"What? Im trying to start a trend here!" She laughs and shakes her head.

"If you're going for the homeless look by all means but that's on you."

 I laugh and put it back going with a tan short sleeve button up she chose.

I was about to ask her about getting a dressing room when out of nowhere Someone jumps up and wraps their arms around my neck almost knocking me over.

"Oh babe there you are I've been looking all over for you!" 

My eyes get huge and I'm speechless by the fact that Paige just jumped on me out of nowhere.

Did she just call me babe?

She looks back eyeing Sarah and acts surprised as if she didn't practically push her out of the way to get to me.

"Oh! Who's your friend here?"

I look over and Sarah's trying her best to smile but I can tell she's disappointed.

"Oh hello, I'm Sarah. I was just helping her find some things." Paige looks at the clothes I have and looks up at me .

"Oh well we've got to try them on so I can see how good they look on you! Do you mind getting US a dressing room?"

Sarah nods and leads us to a room and when the door closes I give Paige the craziest look I can muster.

"What the hell was that?" She sits on the bench and crosses her arms.

"Well hello to you too. Plus, I don't like how close she was to you. She was basically drooling over you." I roll my eyes at her.

" Are you serious? I was shopping. Nothing was going on Paige the poor girl was just trying to help. Besides why do you care? Shouldn't you be getting ready for your wedding or something?"

 She looks a little hurt and turns away from me messing with her hair.

"I needed to talk to you. I've been texting and calling but you won't respond. I even went by your house but you weren't there so I came here to try to clear my head. I walked by the store and I saw the way she was looking at you and just...reacted."

I scoff crossing my arms.

"You reacted? Now why would you do that? As far as I'm concerned our little "deal" is over. You got exactly what you wanted. He's head over heels for you. Even proposed. I'm happy for you guys."

 I start getting my things together and she rushes over to stand in front of the door.

"Please let me explain. I-I didn't know what to do I was so shocked. I don't want to lose you bab- "

I raised my voice a little holding a hand up to stop her from talking. "DONT."

My voice cracks a little and I try my best to hold in my emotions but standing so close to her is breaking my heart all over again.

"Don't call me that. Have a good day paige." 

I push past her as she tries to grab onto my arm but I yanked it away and keep going.

I go up to the counter and see Sarah organizing some clothes.

I tap her shoulder and she spins around with a bright smile on her face.

When she sees me her face instantly turns red. "Oh! Umm did you find everything okay?"

I smile at her and nod. "Yes thank you, I'd like to pay for all of this."

She smiles and nods helping me check out. "I apologize for upsetting your girlfriend. I hope I didn't cause any trouble."

I was about to respond when I saw Paige making her way over to me.

 I really didn't want her to cause another scene so I did the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh no worries, she's not my girlfriend, just one of my friends. I'm actually the one that caused you trouble." 

She giggles and shakes her head.

"It's perfectly fine! Umm you're all set, is there anything else I can help you with?" I smile and hand her my phone.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to take you out for coffee or something to apologize." 

She blushes hard and quickly nods her head before taking my phone and adding her number.

It may have been awhile but I still got it.

"Here you go! I get off at 5 if that's not too late?" I shrug and grab my bags.

"I'll be back at 5 then." She nods and as I'm walking away I can hear her squeal a little.

I try not to laugh, but it's cute.

When I get to my car I see paige leaning up against it and sigh.

I put my stuff in the trunk and she grabs my arm before I can get in. 

I look down at her hand confused and when I look up she has tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so so sorry. I promised you things would be different but all I did was hurt you more. I didn't expect him to propose, I panicked. I wanted to say no and tell him about us and come back to you but I made a mistake. I don't expect us be okay. I don't expect you to forgive me, but please don't push me away." 

She wraps her arms around me and cries into my chest.

When she holds me, I don't touch her instantly. It's been weeks and I've been trying my best to focus on myself and get over my feelings for her.

I accepted the fact that I never really had a chance.

She was never mine, she was always his. I was just part of the deal.

I forced myself to accept that fact.

But now that she's here in this state, I'm folding.

I gently wrap my arms around her and her sobs get more intense.

I don't know what to say.

I don't know what else to do.

I just hold her as shecries and hope that She doesn't suck me in again