The Matchmaker

Chapter 20

If I give her a hateful stare it'd be entirely understandable, instead my body reacts on it's own, and my cheeks colour slightly while I try to convey with gestures that we didn't have that kind of relationship. 

Waving both my hands back and forth in grand sweeps, her mouth forms into an 'O' and just when I think I've dealt with the misunderstanding, Zander turns around and looks right at me. "Hmm what do I like?"

The store employee looks between us, confusion written clearly on her face. "Uhh, I just thought the gloss looked good on your...ah girlfriend?" Did she not see how mismatched we look standing next to one another?

"Yeah Cat you look nice."

"Um, thanks." I mumble bitterly, already glancing away to look at some citrus scent.

I have to tell myself to stay calm and not scowl out of irritation; I close my eyes briefly before whirling around, hauling Zander out of the store.

"What did I do? No need to be so aggressive."

Scoffing, I ignore his question; he should know what he did. "Let's go somewhere else," I said acidly. Am I the only one here who takes relationship titles seriously? Or am I just being overly sensitive towards a momentary slip-up? Settling for the latter, I internally chide myself to get over it.

"Like?" Zander asks, breaking into the train of my thoughts.

"Like Animal Kingdom," I grumble out, already spotting the store nearby.

His eyebrows furrow quizzically, "you like stuff animals?"

"Who doesn't? But no, I just need to check something for Celia."

"But they only have stuff animals."

"So? You got your toy, why can't I get mine?"

He considers what I've just said for a moment before nodding, "Fine, but we're going to the sports store after so I can admire the new sneakers that just dropped."

I could facepalm myself this instance. What kind of bizarre argument are two semi-grown people having? This is the outcome of being placed in your twenties, we're adults with an inner child...gone mad.

"Okay, but in between I'm getting some ice cream," I say pointedly, my stomach already protesting with hunger.

"Ice cream? No, when at the mall one gets a burger." He says it with such conviction, that it takes all my might and effort from preventing him to walk off in the direction of the food court.

"Then you get yourself a burger and I'll get an ice cream. I can decide what I want but we're doing this after Animal Kingdom and before the sports store."

Grumbling, he gives me a frown and I almost become scared stiff by his broodiness but relax once he sighs and begins walking towards Animal Kingdom looking like a sad large lug. Was it just me or did I display a bit of boldness I didn't think I possessed any longer? Shaking my head, I run after him and begin ogling the adorable bears on display.

Suddenly startled by the sharp intake of breath next to me, I stare at Zander imploringly. "Is that a pony?"

Glancing back and forth between him and the display case, my eyes land on the purple pony. "Yeah, it's one of those Magical Pony stuff animals."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO!" Zander laments, frightened by the mythical purple beast.

"Why?"

Clasping his hands on my shoulder he shakes my frame lightly as my eyebrows knit together perplexed. "That brings back horrible nightmares."