My Next Door Neighbor Joe Sugg

Chapter 23

We arrived at the shopping mall and I immediately asked to go to Zara. Joe laughed and nodded his head as I excitedly pulled him towards the store. It was one of the many stores I wanted to visit.

Joe and I tried on some clothes and laughed as we modeled for each other. I helped Joe decide between a blue or black jumper which he ended up picking the black one. We paid for our clothing and went into many other different shops.

I spotted a MAC cosmetics store and asked Joe if he could come inside with me. He agreed and walked into the store with me. I looked at all the makeup and spotted the liquid lipsticks. I happily walked over and began scanning each color.

I grabbed a light pink lipstick and tried it on my hand. Joe looked at me confusingly as I looked at the color. "Why do you do that?" He chuckled and looked at my hand.

"To test the color, I have to make sure it's what I want." I picked out another lipstick and was about to put it on my hand but Joe stopped me. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Just try it on me, we have about the same skin tone anyway. I don't want you ruining your hand like that." He held out his hand to me and waited patiently for me to apply it.

"Are you sure? My hand is fine with having some color on it." I chuckled but Joe insisted I do it. I shrugged my shoulders and applied it onto Joe's hand. He squirmed a bit and said the brush tickled.

I laughed and began applying more colorful shades onto Joe's hand. By the time I chose a color I liked, Joe's hand had about ten different shades of lipstick but he didn't seem to complain.

I was set on buying just the lipstick but Joe practically begged me to buy more makeup. "I know you love makeup, so go crazy and buy the whole store if you want. I brought you out to treat you." Joe said as I walked over to the array of different eyeshadow palates.

After some time, I was content with what I picked and walked over to pay for the items. Joe stood next to me with his credit card already in his hand. The cashier told us the price and Joe immediately scanned his card before I could protest.

His hand showed and it was filled with all of my swatches I had made. The cashier laughed as she saw Joe's hand. "Looks like she made you get some swatches on your hand. I've seen it happen before, guys can never escape cosmetic stores without a few marks of makeup."

Joe smiled and shook his head. "Actually, I told her to do it. I don't mind having a couple colors on my hand." He proudly told the cashier as she bagged my makeup.

She grinned and looked at me. "That's a good partner you have there. It's rare for a guy to not be ashamed of that." She handed me my bag and gave me a wink as she handed Joe a makeup remover wipe from behind the counter.

Joe and I laughed as he rubbed off the lipstick shades and threw away the wipe in a bin. He held my hand and walked me into another clothing store. "I need to do something real quick, how about you look around the store and I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Is that alright?" Joe said and began to back away from me slowly.

"Yes but where are you going?" I stepped closer to him and he stopped to think. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for his answer.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a bit. It's nothing important really." He began to speak quickly as he started backing away again. I nodded my head hesitantly and went further into the store. I turned back only to see that Joe was gone.

~~~~~

I spent some time browsing around the clothing and looking at different fragrances. I sighed as I was starting to get bored and strolled over to look at some jumpers.

Suddenly, a pair of hands covered my eyes. "Joe, stop messing around." I chuckled as the hands were quickly  removed from my face.

"How did you know it was me?" Joe pouted and widened his eyes.

"You're ring, I could feel it on my face." I pointed to Joe's finger and he rolled his eyes. "So, where did you go for so long? It's almost evening time."

Joe shifted his gaze away from me and bit his lip. "It doesn't matter, how about we go to the park now?"

"Doesn't matter? Are you really going to hide things from me now? Also, these shoes are not made for walking." I lifted my leg slightly as we walked to the parking lot. My feet already hurt from walking at the shopping mall.

"I'm not trying to hide anything and it won't be a long walk, I just want us to see the sunset together." Joe looked out the window and squinted his eyes as the sun was already beginning to set.

I nodded slightly, still confused as to why Joe was trying to hide whatever he did. He seemed excited and not worried at all. I guess it's nothing bad that he's hiding but either way, it would be nice to know.

As we arrived at the park, Joe shifted something in his back pocket. I glanced at him but he pretended as if nothing happened. His pocket seemed fuller than usual and I knew it wasn't his wallet but I decided not to say anything.

Joe walked me hand in hand to the center of the park. The sun was setting and the street lights were beginning to turn on. We sat on a bench, right under a tall tree and looked out towards the river.

"How are you liking our date so far?" Joe said to me and held my hands. I shivered a bit and Joe seemed to notice. He took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.

I smiled and looked at Joe. "I'm loving it. Is there more to it?" I closed Joe's jacket with my hand and held onto to it tightly as I felt a small breeze.

"I think this part will be you're favorite." Joe's eyes filled with excitement as he reached into his back pocket.

He pulled out a small red velvet box. I widened my eyes and waited for Joe to open it, showing me what was inside. It was a small ring, lined with small diamonds and a diamond shaped heart placed in the middle with rose gold lining around it.

Joe knelt down and got on one knee. His eyes were glazed over and I felt my heart speed up. I covered my mouth with my hands, trying to hold in all of my feelings. "Joe, what's this?" I said through my hands as my voice was shaking.

"It's a promise ring. I bought it while we were shopping, this is the thing I was hiding." He smiled and gave out a small chuckle. "Vanessa, I promise I'll never leave you and I'll always be by your side from now and forever." Joe looked straight at me with hope in his eyes and took the ring from the box. He gently grabbed my hand and squeezed it as he presented me the ring.

"Will you accept this promise ring and make me the happiest man alive?"