The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 50: Florence

-Florence’s P.O.V-

“I still think that the blue suits you better,” Joullian eyed my outfit thoughtfully. We had decided to take a trip to the shopping centre in the next town over as a sort of date, which consisted of me tirelessly trying on clothes and Joullian voicing his thoughts from a chair outside the fitting room.

“So should I get the blue one?”

“Sure,” Joullian smiled. It still astounded me that he wasn’t bored after such a large amount of time spent sitting in various chairs and commenting on clothes, I kind of dubbed that sort of thing not in his collection of interests.

I grinned and changed back into my old clothes. Emerging from the fitting room, I paid for the blue frilly top that I had taken a fancy to, and we were off again. As we walked, our hands swung and Joullian’s warm palm touched mine. His hand immediately enclosed mine and I let out a small smile, it was nice acting like a couple. As much as I tried to lose myself in the moment though; my mind refused to stop darting back to thoughts about Kyle, and our little trip on the weekend. It didn’t feel completely right to have my interest so intertwined with two boys at one time, whatever I did it felt like I wasn’t being fair to the other. They were both equally nice, with different qualities, so much so that it was impossible to choose a favourite.

Now I was ruining the moment, thinking of complicated problems when I was meant to be enjoying the day. I should have been smiling and acting carefree with this boy that had taken time out of his day to spend it with me, and I felt terrible that it wasn’t the reality. Joullian seemed to notice my vacant expression as my thoughts swirled past my eyes and distracted me from keeping a happy smile on my face.

“Are you alright Florence? You seem distracted.”

I couldn’t possibly ruin the occasion for him too, and the lie tumbled easily off of my lips. “Sorry, I think I must be hungry. My mind’s wandering to lunch options,” I gestured to the food court that we were walking by, with signs depicting various enticing foods.

“I think that calls for a food break then,” he smiled and directed me to a table where I deposited my shopping bags. “Here,” he counted out a few notes and handed them to me. “You buy something for yourself and I’ll mind the table.”

It was yet another sweet little gesture that had me even more befuddled as to who to choose. Perhaps I should just let it go for now. Sauntering up to the nearest fast food outlet, I surveyed their options. Their chicken burger looked tasty, but the cheese burger equally so too. I didn’t like mayo with my chicken, but then again aioli wasn’t good with the cheese either. It took me a moment to figure out that I had taken three minutes to deliberate which lunch meal to buy. Had I always been this indecisive? I sighed inwardly, reminded of my boy situation. I immediately scolded myself, I had to enjoy the present and put that to the back of my mind.

I chose the beef burger without cheese, aioli, mayo or chicken, a satisfactory third option.

When I made my way back to Joullian, he was rapidly texting away on his sleek, black phone, putting it away when I arrived. He smiled at my choice. “I didn’t pick you for a girl who enjoys large sized burgers…”

I shrugged. “I guess there’s more than meets the eye,” I suggested playfully and sat down, digging into my lunch. I was wrong earlier, eating didn’t put my mind at ease, but perhaps conversation would.

“So are you thinking of going to university?” I asked him between mouthfuls.

He shook his head. “I’ve thought about it, but I’d rather follow in my father’s footsteps. He owns a security firm that works globally.”