Disloyal

~3~

Chapter Three- The Agreement

"Wow, you look awful," I remark, plopping next to him on his bed.

"How did you get in here?!" He asks, shock and anger painted all over his face.

"A key under the ceramic turtle? Really, Rivera? How unoriginal. You expect me not to find it there?"

"I didn't expect a lunatic to barge into my house, freak!" He shoves me off the bed and I gasp in pain as I make contact with the cold, hard floor.

"Well, that was rude and unnecessary."

"Look," he sighs, rubbing his face with his hands." I've been thinking and maybe this idea isn't such a bad one."

I squeal in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, I want to keep Parker away from that jerk."

I groan. "He's not a jerk, he's my boyfriend, but whatever. What's first?"

He sits up and my heart sinks as I see an evil glint in his eye. "Come on, let's go."

~•~

"I. Hate. This. Store."

"Sure ya don't!" He grins cheekily as I hold my head in my hands in misery.

"Is that the start of a headache? I'd better get home."

He rolls his eyes and drags me to a sales associate. "Take care of her, please."

Twenty minutes later, I'm unceremoniously shoved into a dressing room holding five dresses that could be mistaken for really fancy shirts and three pairs of ankle-breaking high heels. Quickly, I pull on a random dress, mumbling under my breath about how stupid this all is.

"Come on out and show us when you're done, love," the sales associate calls.

I stick my tongue out at her through the door and stomp into the shoes. "Done." I trudge out of the door, trying to pull the dress fabric down as low as possible.

"Oh, I don't know, it looks a little too modest, don't you think?" Chase asks the sales person jokingly as he side-eyes the outfit. "I think we need something with just a bit more... coverage."

"The other dresses are way worse," I cry in exasperation. "Can I please see something that doesn't risk me revealing Victoria's secret to the entire world every step I take?"

The sales woman nods and heads out before returning with four significantly less racy dresses.

Two long, hard, awful hours later, we decide on five dresses, all much more revealing and fancy than I was used to. My suspicions that Chase is getting a kick out of my misery is confirmed when he sticks out his foot 'by accident', causing me to drop the dresses and fall flat on my face.

On the car ride home, he asks if I like what we bought.

"Of course not. Why do I have to wear these? I like the way I dress."

"You do, but Cam the Loser does not, and the point of this is to show him a Cam Approved you."

I look suspiciously at him through slanted eyelids. "Why can't he approve of me the way I am? I don't like Cam Approved me."

"Neither do I. You look uncomfortable. But I've known Cameron my whole life, and if you want to win him back this is the way to do it, as degrading and stupid as I think it is."

"You know what? I don't like you, nor do I trust you."

"I think we both know that's not true, Ann. I saw the way you stared at me today. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested, okay?"

I scream in outrage and hit him. "One, talk to me like that again and I'll slap you into Texas." I pull at my hair, a nervous habit of mine. Slowly, I add, "two, you know I have a boyfriend."

His mood darkens instantly. "Yeah, you do. For some reason."

I shift and stare at the view outside the car window, at the setting sun and the explosion of pink and purple it casts on the sky surrounding it.

"And for your information, it was a joke," he adds.

"Well. I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't."

I don't like the sound of the silence that follows.