Boys

Chapter 1. Easy Lies

"How does this one look, Natalie?"

"It looks fine I guess."

Lie.

"Do you like this one better on me or the last one?"

"They both look wonderful on you I suppose."

Lie.

"Natalie! This is important and I really need the feed back! Which reminds me... Why haven't you chosen your dress yet? I mean we're at the mall anyway we might as well get all of our dresses."

"I just... Haven't found one that I like yet... That's all..."

It's all a lie.

"Well you need to find something breathtaking for the Summer Fest this year! After all it's the last Summer Fest we'll celebrate together before you go to Tokyo!"

"I'll find something Blaze-Chan I promise. I just haven't seen anything in this shop that catches my eye."

Lies are the only thing I know.

"I think that green will look absolutely gorgeous on you Natalie-Chan!"

"I suppose it would... Although maybe something with less frill..."

Lies roll off my tongue like water.

"Blaze, I'm going to take Natalie to find a dress in another store. We'll meet at the food courts once we find the right garment."

"Alright Nicole! Something green!"

"Of course!"

"Nikki I really don't want to-"

She scoffed in that familiar 'shut up and follow me' kind of way and dragged me away from the clothing shop that Gou Matsuoka had recommended to Blaze several weeks ago. The smell of deep fried food and sweets filled the air as we made our way up the escalators and towards another store somewhere on the second floor of the large mall. Why was I even in the damn mall to begin with? It wasn't because it was the only mall in Iwatobi and it definitely wasn't because of its wide variety in clothes and accessories. I hated all of those aspects of the place and I didn't need a mall to buy what I needed for my everyday life when I lived near the local market so why the fuck was I here? 

To be honest, shopping was not a pass time I particularly enjoyed, especially when I was forced into the boring activity with my best friends, Nicole Olzanski and Blazio Boyce. Nikki never really gave me much shit while we shopped, but Blaze always made me and Nikki sit in a store for hours as she had a mini fashion show for us so we could help her pick out her outfits for stupid events like the Summer Fest that we'd be attending at the end of the week. I didn't care about any of the appearances or the people or what they thought if I showed up in jeans and a t-shirt though. I just wanted to help out my friends as much as I could so when they asked ahead of time I never had a problem with tagging along, but it got irritating when Blaze started trying to pick girly outfits for me to wear. Nicole knew very well that I hated shopping for the sole reason that I didn't care for female garments or accessories, and she knew I hated being subject to being a life sized dress-up doll more than anything.