Beauty and The Geek

A Little Time Together

***
Clove

"That's why I will never do the laundry again." Cato and I sit on his couch, our legs intertwined with each other. I laugh as he tells me a story.

"So you flooded your house by trying to help your mom with the laundry?" I stifle a laugh.

"Yep," he nods then takes a sip of his hot-chocolate.

"You're so stupid," I laugh.

He laughs as he wraps me up in his arms and we watch a movie. I listen to him talk about basketball and science and listen to the fireplace crackle. "In our last game, I scored thirteen of our forty-one points. Gale . . ." he continues but I just look at our intertwined legs and rub circles on his thigh with my thumb. After a while, I've noticed he quit talking and his breathing is light. I look at his face, his eyes are closed and his features are relaxed. I smile as I kiss his nose.

"Good-night, Cato." I whisper in his ear and he purrs and grips me tighter in his arms as he stirs in his sleep. I grip his hand in mine as I slowly drifting off to sleep.

  ***

"Get the girth fastened?" Cato asks as he climbs onto Two-bit, his horse. I nod my head as I climb onto Bella, fastening my helmet. Cato's teaching me how to ride a horse today. He doesn't have to wear a helmet, but I do. He's scared that I'll bust my head open if Bella gets startled. He rides up beside me and comes to a halt by gently pulling Two-bit's rains. "Ready?"

I nod. "Yep," I say with a sure grin.

"Come on, then." He smiles. "Tsk-tsk. Come on, boy." He starts moving ahead of me.

I'm a little nervous about riding Bella and Cato won't let me ride Two-bit. He says Two-bit gets too excited and is hard to calm down. I like Two-bit a lot better than I like Bella. I pull her rains gently and follow him down the long path to the meadow.

"How are you doin' back 'ere, Clover?" He calls back.

"Good, but I'm a little nervous." I tell him.

He stops and I catch up to him then we start again, side by side. "Don't be," he says gently. "Loosen up your grip and just relax." His voice is soothing as he rubs a hand down her long palomino neck.

I take his advice and relax, following him. We reach the meadow. It looks different when there's no snow in it; it's not as pretty with dead grass and trees.

"What are we going to do today?" I ask as we circle each other.

"Whatever you wanna do," he says sweetly.

Worst thing he's ever said.

  ***

"Clove," Cato groans as we enter the store, "this is the hundredth store we've been in today."

I tug his arm as we down the aisles, searching for a dress. "Come on, Cato." I say, eyeing all of them. "Which one?"

"You have plenty, now can we please leave?" He begs, pleading in his eyes.

"But none of them are like these," I try to reason.

"You said that about the first thirty stores we were in," he mocks tone.

I choose to ignore his continuous griping and scan the dresses. I hold up a dark red, one-strapped, ankle-length one to my body. "What about this one?"

"It's beautiful," he says lazily, sitting in a chair with his forefinger to his temple.

"I'll try it on," I turn and walk into the dressing room, ignoring his whispered cursing. Once I get the dress on, I look in the mirror with a disgusted face and pull it off, changing back into my normal clothes and walk back out.

"Well?" He asks.

I shake my head, my nose scrunched up. "I hate it." I say nonchalantly.

"Dear God," he mutters under his breath, walking over to a rack of dresses. "This one's pretty," he holds up a pink one with a purple belt and a white skirt. I just look at him, making him drop it to the floor. "You're right, it's ugly." He says with his eyebrows raised.

We search some more. I try on various ones I don't like. "This one?" I hold a black one with see-through sparkly sleeves.

"Whatever," he says in a bored manner. I know this is a bore to him but I like spending time with him, and being friends with Glimmer Belcourt, I picked up some things about shopping. I try the dress on. "How does it look?" He asks behind the curtain.

"I look like a slut!" I exclaim, changing back into my clothes and he groans. "Shut up," I laugh, looking at him as I walk out.

We —well, I— continue the search until I find one while Cato plays on his phone. I eventually give up and we begin to leave. Suddenly, Cato stops dead in his tracks and walks over to a rack. "This one will look great on you," he says, holding a knee-length, strapless, mint green one with a white belt and a lacy skirt. I gasp as I scan it, speechlessly. I smile as I nod. "Yeah?" He asks, smiling. "Go try it on." He whispers in my ear as he hands the dress to me.

I genuinely take it and walk into the dressing room and try it on, looking into the mirror. It's perfect. I walk out to show him and his mouth drops open. "How do I look?" I ask, smiling as I push a piece of hair behind my ear, looking down at the floor.

"Beautiful," he says, smiling. "You... you look beautiful."

"Thanks," I look at it. "Too bad I can't afford it." I stare at the floor disappointedly.

He looks at the price and frowns. "It is a little pricey." He says, slinging an arm around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head as we exit the building.

I sigh as I think about the beautiful dress and how nice it would be to own it.