Loving Him (Ashton Irwin a.u.)

Chapter 26

A few weeks later Saskia took me shopping. She was unaware of my night with Ashton, but it took her very little time to work it all out.

"You totally did it, didn't you?" she whispered excitedly as we entered a shoe shop.

"Woah, woah, hey, woah, hey, no, woah, no, psshhhh, hey, no, what, no, woah, hey, pshhhhh..."

"Oh my god!" she squealed. "Finally, oh my god!"

"Don't make a big deal," I pleaded. "It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal!"

"It really isn't a big deal."

"Stop, of course it is!"

I rolled my eyes. "It really isn't," I muttered to myself, and, thankfully, she didn't hear me. Or she chose to ignore me. It doesn't matter which.

"Can I get these in a five?" she asked the clerk as she pointed her toes and wiggled them around to fully display the somewhat ambitiously tall heels she had picked out. "Thanks."

"I'm not saying it had to be a big deal," she continued and I huffed loudly. "I just think that you putting it off made it a big deal. So I'm not making it a big deal, you are."

"I can't believe I'm listening to this."

Saskia laughed and gratefully took the shoebox that was conveniently handed to her at that moment. With a dramatic gasp and a raise of her eyebrows she enthused, "These are gorgeous! Maisie, look at these! Oh my god, I'm in love!"

"They're lovely shoes, Kia," I agreed, "but you can't afford them and neither can I."

An hour or so passed in that shoe shop before we both picked a pair we liked and bought them.

"So then I was like, 'Put the spoons down, J, they're not sex toys!'" Kia wheezed out with a slap of her thigh. I laughed with her, leaning against the wall for support as I felt my legs give way. Just as the laughter began to die down she shouted, "Sex toys!" and we broke down again.

Several strange looks and a meter down the street later we eventually composed ourselves and carried on walking to the next shop.

"Ah," I said as I raised a pointed finger. "I need to go to the pharmacy."

"What? Why?"

"Nothing," I dismissed as we entered. "I'll just see if they've got anything for, like, feeling sick or something."

"What?!" she shouted, receiving even more dirty looks. "What!" she repeated in a whisper.

"This is why I didn't tell you."

"No, tell me why you need sickness stuff!"

"Because sometimes I feel sick."

"Yeah, but why do you feel sick?"

We walked straight through the store, passing by makeup stands and rows of perfumes until we got to the counter where they sold medication.

"I don't know why I feel sick," I told Kia knowing I was I earshot of the lady behind the til. "I just do."

The lady behind the desk looked between each of us curiously as she leaned forwards on her hands which were splayed out on the desk in front of her. "Eaten anything funny?" she asked eventually as her eyes studied me relentlessly.