{24}
“Do you miss her?” Bay asked as she pushed aside a bunch of shirts. Her attention was focused on the clothes before her but I could tell she was concentrating on the clothing in front of her so she could ignore my fixed gaze.
“Miss who?” I replied as I shoved a white shirt back onto the rack.
“Mia.”
It took me a while to reply. “Every day.”
“She wasn’t a very nice person.” Bay said with mild caution.
I snorted out a laugh and nodded, “I know. She was horrible if I’m being honest.”
“Was she different at home?”
I nodded, “Yeah. She was a lot calmer at home than she was at school. She was the definition of a daddy’s girl.”
“And you were the mommy’s girl?” she asked.
I shook my head, “At one point. My mom’s been MIA for awhile.”
“Oh… since Mia died?”
I shook my head, “She walked out on us long before that happened.”
“Mine too,” Bay said before she pulled out a long grey tank top and displayed it to me.
I scrunched up my nose and shook my head.
“So you live with your dad?” I asked her.
She shook her head, “No Mark and I live with our aunt. My dad is in prison.”
“Oh.”
“So are you and Viktor an item?”
I stopped looking through the rack of clothes and stared at Bay with wide eyes. I couldn’t stop the snort that came out of me. “Oh God no.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
Bay shrugged, “Well Carrie and I think you two make a cute couple.”
I stared at her for a few seconds before looking around the store. “Where is Carrie?”
“Food court.” Bay shrugged. “she slipped out ten minutes ago. She thought she was being sneaky but I saw her. She hates shopping. She usually just tags along for the food court food.”
I stared at Bay with an unreadable expression. “You mean to tell me, I could have escaped with her?”
Bay smiled cheekily at me, “Oh come on. Shopping isn’t that bad.”
I rolled my eyes, “I rather shop online.”
Bay laughed and sighed as she stepped away from the rack of clothes. “Alright. Come on, let’s go pay for this then we’ll go find Carrie.”
I pushed myself away from the rack and nodded, “Thank you.”
As I waited patiently by Bay as we waited in line to pay for the clothes she had picked out. I looked around, taking in my surroundings out of boredom. Few people scattered the store grounds, mostly girls in groups shopping for new clothes. It wasn’t until I passed over a guy standing at the entrance of the store looking in my direction that I fixed my gaze onto him.
Maybe it was just my imagination but I swore he was looking directly at me.
I was about to tap Bay’s arm and ask her if she saw what I was seeing when he walked away and disappeared into the crowd outside the store and in the mall.
