Trust Me

Chapter 13

“So, how’s the Camaro coming along?” Persephone questioned when we pulled into the parking lot at the mall.  Today had been our designated shopping day to pick out dresses and accessories for Homecoming.  It was also the last day before Isaiah left for vacation in Florida.  My mind was running on crazy mode with it having been a week since I had talked to Aidan.  Why did he have such an effect on me?

“Horribly.  Aidan turned into a creep, so I stopped talking to him.  I’ll never get that 700,” I groaned. 

“Why does it not surprise me that he turned into a creep?  What did he do?” she questioned. 

Both of us stepped out of her car to go into the mall, which is when I spotted a few red pickup trucks.  I feared that all of them belonged to Aidan.  I couldn’t stand to see him again.  I hated not talking to him, because I couldn’t lie to myself, there really was that unexplainable draw.  But I hated talking to him because he knew a lot more than I had told him, and it freaked me out.  How had he known that?  But how could I go so long without talking to him?  What if I had broken his heart?  What if he had gone home and done something drastic?  Would his parents be able to keep him from doing something stupid?  Why had he never told me about his parents, anyways?

“He was… I don’t know.  Acting like he was stalking me.  He knew about my dad, and I haven’t even thought about my dad in forever,” I explained.

“Wow.  What a creep.  Definitely best not to talk to him,” Persephone agreed.

We entered the mall, and the first thing I saw was black hair with red tips.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered to myself.

With my defenses instantly raised, I grabbed Persephone’s wrist and dragged her off in the opposite direction towards a good store to look for dresses. 

We spent a half an hour in that store trying on dresses, but none of them worked.  I had tried on dresses of all colors, but definitely wanted something in red.  The black dresses had looked good on me, but not nearly as good as red.  A nice, crimson dress would look perfect on me.

“So, maybe this store wasn’t the perfect place to try.  We have the entire mall to look at,” Persephone pointed out. 

I glanced up and saw him standing outside talking to a couple of his friends that I had never seen before.  There was no way I was taking a chance at running into him.  Not after the week of silence.  And if he hadn’t spotted me yet, I wasn’t taking a chance at having that change, either. 

A pink dress caught my eye, and instantly I had it off the rack and was tearing back into the dressing room at the speed of light.  I could tell Persephone was confused, but I continued to try on the ugly piece of fabric and pretend like I had thought it was gorgeous.

“How’s it look?” she asked through the door.

“It was definitely prettier on the rack.  Now it just looks like a huge mistake,” I replied. 

“Well, let me see it.  Maybe it’s not that bad,” she suggested. 

I stepped out of the dressing room to allow her to see the ugly dress I had chosen.  While she was examining it, I subtly peeked over her shoulder to see if he was still standing outside.  His bright red tips were nowhere in sight. 

One sigh of relief, disapproval from Persephone, and quick stop in the changing room later, we were leaving the store and finding another one to search in.  Why today?  Why had both of us chosen to go to the mall today?  Had he known I was going to be here?  He seemed to know everything about me.  Had he been stalking me and wanted to see me again?  Was it merely a coincidence?