All Yours

5. Nothing Like New, Pre-sweated Used Clothes

We were walking down the streets of some outlet mall south of L.A. as I stopped in front of the stores.

"What about here?" I pointed to the Goodwill sign above the doors in front of us. Griffin's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Goodwill?" he grimaced. "Gross, no, let's go somewhere that doesn't have pre-sweated clothes." I twisted my own face at the way he put it, but persisted anyway.

"Oh come on," I chuckled mockingly. "Nothing like new, pre-sweated used clothes!" He shot me a I'm-not-buying-it look as I exhaled, my feet beginning to grow tired. "Well we have to go somewhere."

We were currently on a mission to buy me new clothes, seeing as I would be staying in L.A. for the next few days or so and all of my clothes were still back home. 3,000 miles away.

Only so was my money. Which means anything I buy now, Griffin will be paying for. And although he insists on saying, I'm still gonna pay him back whether he likes it or not. The thing now is then I already have to reimburse him from yesterday's errand, so I don't want to keep racking up a lot of debt. Besides, whatever I get now is still using his hard earned money, even if it is only temporary. I don't want to leave him broke until I can give him his money back.

That's why I keep trying to go into all the cheap store - even it is only has used, pre-sweated items. But every time I point one out, Griffin shoots it down, saying he wants me to have good clothes. And then whenever he suggests a nice store, then I'm the one saying no because it's too expensive.

It's a vicious cycle that's been going on for about 20 minutes now and all I want to do at this point is sit down and give my aching feet a break. And so I do, taking the nearest bench along the sidewalk.

"This is going nowhere," I sighed as I plopped down. "Goodwill's not so bad. I don't mind. Really."

He just shook his head as he sat down next to me. "Why don't we just go to American Eagle?" he said again, referencing the first he suggested. "It at least has something you know you'll like."

This is true, I have to admit. And he knows it. It's my all-time favorite store. Like, ever.

I gave him one last look before I gave in. "Fine," I stood up. "But I'm paying you back." I started to walk down the sidewalk towards American Eagle Outfitters, trying to get the last word so he can't oppose. But it didn't take him long before he was at my side again.

"Not so fast," he said once he caught up with my speed walking. "You're paying me back. And not for yesterday either, ok? It's my treat." The adoring smile plastered on his was almost too cute to refuse. Almost.

"Griffin-"

"Don't," he interrupted me, the same smile peeking through. "I want to."

I just smiled and shook y head as I looked away. "Then we're going somewhere with decent prices."

"We're not going to Goodwill."

"Alright," I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. Turning my head to the side at the store coming up, I pointed. "Then what about here?"

"Griffin turned and looked just beyond my pointer finger. A few feet above the double glass doors hung a sign that said Drew's. I've never heard of it before, but looking at the models on display through the side windows the clothes looked like something I would wear. And the interior didn't look obnoxiously fancy or anything so the prices must not be too bad.

Griffin shrugged with a thoughtful hmm, before walking up and opening one of the doors. I followed him in as he held the door open for me.

Stepping in, a clean, almost piney smell filled my nostrils. My eyes bounced from one rack of clothes to the next, the feel of the store settling in. Despite its woodsy smell, which originally made me think it would only have the type of clothes you'd wear out camping, it actually had a nice selections of women's clothing. Varying from sporty/tom-boy to dressy and chic, I was impressed at the options.