Niall:
We pulled up into the garage of the mall and sat in the car for a minute. Laney turned to face me and then looked down at her hands. They were all knotted together again as she started to speak. “Riley’s funeral’s in three days and I need an outfit. Of course you don’t need to go to the funeral with me, you can do whatever you want that day, but could you help me find something to wear?” Her voice was soft and slow. I put a hand on her shoulder and told her of course and that I would go with her if she wanted. The two of us left the car in its space and headed into the mall.
As we walked into the mall Laney led me straight into the huge Nordstrom. We found our way through the maze of clothes rack and over to a section of dresses. “Help me find one?” Laney held her hand out and I grabbed it. Rubbing her fingers in between mine I told her I would for sure. She picked up a black dress with lace sleeves and I gave her a thumbs up. She picked up two more and threw them over her shoulder. One was strapless with a big black bow across her middle and the other was strapless with a flowy skirt. She walked to the changing room and carried the dresses in with her. I waited patiently outside the room for her to show me the dresses. She came out with the flowing skirt on first. She twirled a little and gave me a sweet smile. I gave her a smile back and a little nod. “I tried the first one on but I didn’t like it. So I’m going to try the bow one on and then we can pay and get out of here, alright?” she asked walking backwards into the small changing room. I nodded again as she turned around and closed the door. She came back out minutes later holding the front of the dress. “What are you doing?” I asked confused. “Can you help me zip it?” I nodded and stood up. She turned around and pulled her hair away from the zipper. I could see her shoulder blades as I pulled the zipper up. She turned to face me and my eyes widened. A giddy smile plastered itself across my face and I nodded. “I’m guessing you like this one?”
Once Laney was back in her clothes she paid for the dress and we went back out to the mall. I tried to hand the woman the money for the dress but Laney pushed my hand away and slid her card. “Fine, but we’re going shopping.” She sighed and agreed and we walked to Forever 21. “Okay, I’ll pick out clothes and you have to try them on for me.” Laney rolled her eyes with a giggle and took my hand. “You don’t know my size though” she said poking my tummy. I held my hand up about her height. “That big” I said with a laugh. She made a face at me and I poked her nose. “I love when you do that.” She furrowed her eyebrows as she asked “do what?” I imitated her face by scrunching my nose up and pursing my lips. I shook my head all around and she grabbed my face in her hand. Squeezing my face she told me to stop with her cute laugh. “You’re a goof” she said as we walked to the racks of shorts.
She was hanging onto my right arm as I picked up a pair of light jean shorts. They were high-waisted and had an Irish flag on one of the butt pockets. “I like these ones!” Laney grabbed them from my hand and agreed to trying them on. “Okay but I need a shirt to try it on with” she said pointing to her romper. “Right” I grabbed a loose white crop top and handed it to her.
We grabbed tons more stuff and headed to a changing room. First she tried on the shorts that I picked out and she came out with them and the white crop top on. “Okay, if you don’t buy those I will” I said as she bit her lip to hold back a laugh. An hour later we walked up to the cashier and dropped two armfuls of clothes onto the counter. “Whoa look at that skirt” I shouted pointing to a random display in the middle of the store. As Laney turned her attention to the other side of the store I held my finger to my lips, signaling the cashier to stay quiet. I slid my card and grabbed the bags from the very grumpy worker. “Well, let’s go then.” Laney’s jaw dropped as she looked at the receipt in my hand and I ran out of the store holding the bags of clothes. I ran through the mall with her not too far behind me. I finally reached the food court out of breath and turned around. “Awe come here Laney I need a hug” but she wasn’t behind me.
“I’ll have two double cheeseburgers, a large fry and a water.” The cashier clicked my order into the computer just as I felt two hands slide across my waist. They met over my stomach and tugged. I felt a head against my back as I stood perfectly still. a soft giggle was let out and trickled down my back. I smiled as I realized who it was and spun around on my heels. Laney fell to the tiled floor and scrunched her nose up at me. I leaned down and planted a kiss right on it and helped her up.
We walked to a table together and I noticed she had a bag with her. “What’s that?” I asked taking a handful of fries and filling my mouth with the salty sticks. “Nothing” she said grinning at the bag in her lap. My eyes widened and she pulled a receipt out of her pocket. She told me she’d be right back and I watched her walk over to the taco bell across the food court. She came back and handed me the receipt. “What’s this?” she stole one of my fries and I just laughed. “You ask a lot of questions” she said with a smile that showed of her dimples that were set at the top of her cheeks. I shrugged and looked down at the receipt. Hooded sweatshirt, t shirt, t shirt, t shirt, knit boxer, knit boxer, knit boxer, knit boxer, print boxer, print boxer, print boxer. I felt my cheeks warm as I looked up from the receipt. At the top of the receipt it said American Eagle Outifitters which explained the bag.
I finished my two cheeseburgers as she sipped my water. “Let me see the receipt from my clothes” she asked taking a long sip of water. She always put her whole mouth around the top of the bottle, but I didn’t mind. I shook my head but she started to pout. I pulled it out of my pocket and slid it across the table. Before I lifted my hand off of it I looked into her eyes “but listen to me, its fine, really. I wanted to buy them for you, and I definitely had the extra cash.” She rolled her eyes. “I hope you know I’m not poor, I actually have quite a lot of unnecessary money floating around.” I lifted my hand off of the receipt and leaned back in my chair, folding my arms behind my head. “Doesn’t mean I can’t buy pretty things for a pretty girl.” My eyes were mostly closed but I could see her blush from the slits in them. She picked up the receipt and I watched her finger scan each price. She crumbled it into a ball and threw it at my head. I opened my eyes and sat up. Her arms were folded as she spoke. “You spent nearly double what I spent.” Her voice was low but clearly upset. I leaned forward but I couldn’t reach her. I stood up on my chair and leaned over the table to give her a big sloppy kiss on her mouth. As I pulled away, she laughed.
The two of us stood up and locked fingers as we carried our bags out to the car. We loaded them into the trunk and went around to the front. We both sat in our seats and buckled as Laney’s phone lit up on the dashboard. The word mom was flashing at the top of the screen and a picture of a blonde haired woman appeared underneath it. “Shit” she mumbled sliding her finger across the screen. She put her finger to her lips telling me not to speak and I turned my attention out the window.
