Not Your Typical Love Story

Chapter Ten

Chase

"So far the only difference I'm seeing between this store and the one we just walked out of is the brand name." Bianca turned away from the clothing item she was inspecting, giving me a hard look as if to say, you're tasteless.

"Trust me, they're quite different."

I rose a skeptical eyebrow, my gaze falling onto a familiar piece hanging near me. "I literally just saw this shirt in the last store," I deadpanned, making her turn to me with a huff as she looked over to the shirt I was gesturing to, looking full out ready to call me out on my bullshit.

"No you didn't," she said, and continued on before I could protest. "The sleeves are different." She stared at me, as if filled with indignation at how I could possible think they were the same.

If possible, I gave her a look that was even flatter than the one before it. "Are you serious right now?"

She wrinkled her nose at me. "Men," she scoffed, rolling her eyes before turning back to browsing through the clothes.

"Women," I mimicked, though she didn't turn around to acknowledge it. I rolled my eyes as I heard her mutter something unintelligible under her breath. Typical Bianca.

I sat back on a seat on one of the tables they had out, not willing to remain standing throughout her never ending shopping trip. One of the workers gave me a look, Which gave me the suspicion that I shouldn't have been sitting on the things they were selling, but as far as they could tell, I was a paying customer, and telling me off would not make anything in this store more attractive.

I tore my gaze away from them before they could say anything, standing up just in case before I walked further into the store, and more importantly, further from their watch. I'd loved attention when I was younger, soaked it in like it was water and I was a fish out of it. But after spending so much time trying to lay low and cool things down, I tried as best I could to stay out of the limelight. Though it seemed I wasn't trying hard enough with the way rumors at school had everyone's gazes on me while I did just about anything.

I hid behind a rack so that the worker could only see my hair, dipping my head so that it seemed like I was looking through stuff too. I began shifting through the rack absentmindedly, trying to keep occupied until Bianca was finished. My phone battery was already suffering the effects of my earlier boredom, and if I continued on that way then it'd be dead before we'd leave the mall.

I find myself genuinely looking through the rack this time, managing not to feel so out of place when the shady worker lady passes me by. She raises her brow at me in suspicion, but whether she finds it odd I'm going through the girl's stuff, she doesn't say anything of it. Instead she walked up to me, her head held high, heels clacking on her way over.

"Any way I can help you today?" Her tone is unusually chipper in comparison to the look she'd been shooting my way, though I have no doubt that it's all for show. Her smile is fake, forced, eyes dead.

I keep going through the racks, shaking my head at her offer before something I'd flashed past catches my attention. I immediately return to it, sliding it off the rack as I held it out to properly look at it. "Perfect," I say, almost jumping when I see her still standing there.

"Good taste," she says in approval of the dress I'm holding. I don't know how to deal with her weird presence.

"Um, thank you?" My voice raises at the end in confusion, but it seemed her smile became more real the more I became less comfortable.