Eternal Adoration [ON PAUSE]

14. Mall

SERAPHINA

Agree to marry me, Seraphina.

Only for a few months, maybe a year, and you won't have to worry about it all anymore. You won't have to figure it all out in this beautiful head of yours.

What the heck have I gotten myself into? And why, oh why, am I even considering the absurdity that Aristide is calling a 'deal'?

"This would look cute on you, don't you think?" Jaya asks, playing with the sheer material of the shimmering top. "And it's breezy, good for the summer."

"Mm, yeah." I nod distractedly, observing as the light twinkles on the gold accents of the top.

"You could pair it with those straight-leg jeans, or maybe the bell bottoms," she continues, putting together outfits in her mind from the pile we already compiled, which I'm currently holding like a swaddled baby, "or even the leather skirt."

She seems to ponder this for a while longer, tapping her chin in thought, and narrowing her eyes at the top. When a petulant braid strays to the front of her face, she hastily pushes it behind her ear, huffing lightly before regarding the top once more.

"I knew that we should have convinced Amara to come," she mutters, "she's not as indecisive as I am."

I nod slowly, trying very hard to muster any sort of interest in the task at hand. Shopping should be fun. Girls usually like shopping, according to popular culture's rhetoric. Spending money, buying pretty things, moving from aisle to aisle. I don't really know, it sounds like slight torture to me. Especially the part of money leaving my account.

Though, in this case, that isn't a point of worry because I have a credit card burning a hole in my pocket. A credit card that Aristide gave me with a demand to buy myself more clothes, toiletries, and, 'whatever else you might need.'

Of course, I'd stood there, barely awake, blinking down at the black card like it would rouse from sleep and bite my hand if I dared to reach for it. I guess he'd taken that as confusion on my part, because he'd cursed lowly and said that, of course, he would come with me.

"I just thought you would want to have some"-He'd run a hand across his jaw, looking for the right word-"privacy while shopping. Maybe go with a friend. A girl." He'd emphasized that word as if I had enough friends to have the choice of a guy friend to take shopping with me. "But I'll go with you. It will just have to be later in the day because I have some meetings scheduled. But I could-"

Realizing he was potentially about to upend his day because of me, I had quickly shaken my head and pulled my lips into a semblance of a smile, telling him that he didn't have to change his day around for me.

He acquiesced, albeit reluctantly, then pushed the card into my hands when I stood there staring from it to him. Then as if I wasn't holding an amount of money that was practically unlimited-which I couldn't even make sense of-he moved to the kitchen and asked me if I felt like having oatmeal for breakfast.

"Freaking Jacob has been taking too much of her damn time," Jaya says, now stretching the shirt to test the extent of its elasticity. "Don't get me wrong, I love that she's finally giving him a chance, but damn, would it kill him if she's out of his sight for a few hours? Ugh, men," she scoffs and finally places the top on the pile in my arms.

I don't say anything, but shake my head in agreement when her eyes cut to mine, though internally I know that her frustration has nothing to do with Amara and Jacob but more to do with her own currently shaky love life with another Stick. The blonde, bespectacled, and reserved but nice one. Finley Barton, I think is his name.