The Reaper

Chapter 9

"You like her, don't you?" Ben asked, grinning wider than the Pacific Ocean or something else that's really wide.

"I do not," I dismissed, trying to ignore his taunting. I didn't like Janice, at least not in the way Ben was implying.

"Sure," he drawled, "you two were totally not flirting in English Class."

I glared at him,"we're just friends."

He nodded, but it was a dismissive nod, the kind of nod you do when you want someone to shut up. "Whatever you say, Einstein."

"Shut up," I reply with an eye roll.

"So, where is she? She's not joining us in your makeover?"

"First of all, no. Second of all, you're just buying me a new shirt," I said.

"It's all technicalities with you," he sighed.

We got to the store in around a half an hour. Ben mostly stopped pestering me about Janice, but would occasionally offer a "when's the wedding?" or "what are you gonna name the kids?". I opened the door to the shop, allowing Ben to enter before slipping in as well.

"So, what type of look should we go for?" Ben inquired, staring at me with a squint.

I groan, "I just want a shirt, Ben."

"No shirt is ever just 'a shirt'," he said, making air quotes around 'a shirt'.

I rolled my eyes, walking over to the men's section. I didn't want to stay here for longer than I deemed necessary, which was precisely ten minutes and eighteen seconds.  So far, around three minutes had passed.

The store wasn't as busy as it would have been on say, a Friday, so there was that. I hated shopping in crowded stores. I didn't have anxiety or anything like that, at least I'd never been diagnosed. I just always not the feeling someone would catch a glance at the item I was looking at and think he buys generic brand cereal? What a cheap bag. or something dumb like that. Although I stood by generic brand Fruity Pebbles.

"Hey, what about this?" Ben asked, holding up a gray V-neck.

I shook my head, "V-necks are for the likes of douchebags and con men."

"Really? I think it'd look good on you," he replied, but put it back on the rack.

I took a dark red t-shirt from the nearby shelf. "How about this?"

Ben nodded thoughtfully, "that's pretty nice, but could you find one with a pocket?"

"A pocket?"

"Yeah, it's practical," he said.

"This is the only type in this color," I replied, sighing.

"Well then it'll do."

I raised an eyebrow, "Really, you aren't going to argue with me?"

He shrugged. "It's approaching your time limit. I figured you'd want to leave."

I nodded, surprised he remembered about my ten minute eighteen second shopping limit.

"Let me guess, Janice will be buying the groceries."

"We're not getting married, Ben," I said softly.

He smiled, "yeah, keep telling yourself that." 

He took the bag and hands it to me. I was surprised he didn't buy himself anything. While I dreaded all things store, Ben was a complete shopaholic. I was fully convinced that if Ben was female, he'd be the one at the mall with forty bags of shoes. I however, would walk out of that place after buying a taco from the food court with no extra bags in tow.

"But come on, you like her," he said as we exited the store.

"Just as a friend," I muttered.

"For now," he smirked.

"Are you trying to hook us up?" I asked.

He sniggered, "your doing a fine job of that yourself, Einstein."

I rolled my eyes, punching him in the shoulder.

"Now I'm gonna be bruised, thanks."

"You're welcome," I smirked.

He stayed quiet for the rest of the walk, until I approached my front door, at which point I heard him whisper.

"Make sure to give her a kiss." Before he turned the corner and continued to his house.

Authors Note: So, here's the new chapter, I guess. Just Ben and Andrew buying a shirt, and Andrew being the picky little chipmunk he is about shopping time limits. And yeah, Ben ships Andrew/Janice. A lot. I think he writes fanfiction in his spare time, while I'm not writing him. Andrew doesn't ship it as much. But then again, do the people in the ship ever ship the ship? But I have a question. It involves Ships. It's a battle between Andrew/Janice and Ben/Andrew. I know there's room for Janice/Ben in there, but they haven't interacted enough yet. Anyway, which ship? I'll shut up now and let you carry on with your day.