metulji - jan peteh

Primark

The cool air graced our faces as we left the restaurant, the feeling of freedom taking both of our hands and leading us into the town centre. Jan spun me under his shoulder and caught me in his arms when I almost tripped over the pavement. Now, the liberty of finally being alone was taking us to new highs; the boys had decided to stay inside until we met at the band shoot later, promising to either stay at brunch or return to the apartment, an agreement mainly lead by Kris and Nace, but decided upon by the whole group.

We were alone at last.

We wandered through the Liverpudlian streets, which were alive with the sound of buskers and chatter from excited girls on their way to the commercial district. With these huge crowds, no attention would be on us as it had been the night we had first met; we were free to dance and play without a single camera around.

'I need to go to Primark.' I told him, looking up to meet his dark eyes. 'This is my only outfit.' I was lucky to have chosen to wear jeans instead of a true party dress last night, otherwise I would not have been able to leave the apartment for fear of being stared down or laughed at.

'Primark? Surely not.'

'Cheap, satisfactory. I'll probably only be here for a few days, and it's not exactly like I can take the clothes back with me.' I replied.

'Primark it is.' he sighed, not wanting to fight against my perfectly valid argument. He geared himself up by taking in a deep breath before walking with me into the babble of teenagers entering the store. His reaction looked so genuine that, if I hadn't known better, I would've taken it as fact.

Traipsing around behind me, Jan allowed me adequate space to pick out some new clothes. After a minute or of silence, due to me making critical decisions about which tops to buy, he shoved something into my hand.

'What about this?' he joked, and I gave him a look before staring down at the bright, neon yellow jumpsuit that was now in my grasp. It almost blinded me, but I braced through it, in ordet to keep up the gag.

'Oh yes, this is clearly the most flattering thing.' I stated sarcastically, holding it up to myself, pretending to model it with different poses.

'Who are you trying to impress?' he laughed. He paused for a few seconds, milking the joke dry, before speaking again. 'On a more serious note, what about this?' He held up a dark green long-sleeve top, one that looked as though it would cling to all of the right places, carving out my chest with a dip in the front which was framed with lace. It was ribbed, skin-tight. Scandalous.

He looked pretty impressed with his pick, and even more so with my reaction - he could tell I wanted to wear it by the way I said nothing and just kept looking it up and down. 'You like it.' he said; not as a question, as a fact.

'I do. Why did you pick it?' I quizzed innocently, faking total cluelessnese.

I didn't expect to see Jan fluster so easily, his cheeks reddening slightly, as he rapidly looked from the top to me, trying to figure out what to say without either offending me or sounding thirsty. Despite his efforts, I could still feel his intention radiating off him like heat from a barbecue.

'It's definitely something you would wear.' he stated simply, trying to avoid my gaze as he cleared his throat.

'And you think I'd look good in it?' I took a step closer to him. This section itself was pretty dead, only a few middle-aged ladies milling around and gasping at the prices; the perfect place to taunt Jan. I wanted to reach out to him, gain access to his face, ask again why he would pick out such a revealing piece of clothing.

'You'd look good in anything.' he whispered, his breathing noticeably more heavy than it had been a few minutes ago. Teasing him, I responded with a one-word answer before picking it from his hand and walking swiftly away.