The Elemental Trials

Three

Luke
I was freaking out. I didn't know what to do. I sat as stiff as a bored staring blankly forward, as the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen rested her head on my shoulder. She was fast asleep, clonked right out practically as soon as the car started, and the last thing I wanted to do was disturb her. This was the second time one of the girls had fallen asleep of me today, except the last time it was only Skye's legs that were on me. This time, if I so much as scratched my head I'd be risking waking up this sleeping beauty. So I remained perfectly still, listening to her quiet breathing. I spared a glance at Skye and was somewhat surprised to see that she had already been looking my way, but she quickly spun her head round as soon as she saw me looking and instead stared out the window. I hoped she wasn't pissed at me, I thought that maybe she spotted me talking to Aurora in the changing rooms and that shifted whatever vendetta she had against the girl onto me as well. I hadn't done it to spite her, I just knew Aurora would be upset and wanted to help. Would have done the same if the roles had been reversed. It was a strange encounter however, and I was starting to think back to it. I was stood outside the changing rooms, not to spy on the girls or anything, just to pick out some clothes that happened to be beside them. I heard Skye's sudden outburst, then the curtain shutting, and before I knew it the girl was storming right past me and towards the checkout. I knew hardly anything about Aurora, but Skye's words would have hurt anyone in the same situation as her, so I headed into the changing rooms to provide some sort of comfort. I hesitantly walked inside and over to the curtain I assumed she was behind "Hey...Aurora?" I waited for a response, and one came after a second long pause. "Luke? Hi...what-...what do you need?" Her voice was quiet, she sounded a lot less shaky than I thought she would, but it may have just been that she was good at hiding it. "I heard the whole thing with Skye." I said, waiting to hear what she'd say about that. In hearing her silence, I went on "I just thought I'd check on you." Suddenly the curtain was pulled open, revealing Aurora in what must have been some of her new clothes. It summed up her fashion sense immediately. Skirts and blue. That wasn't what surprised me though, what surprised me was the fact that there wasn't a single tear on her face. None in her eyes either. In fact, rather than seeming the least bit upset about Skye's comments, she looked rather irritated "Did I do something wrong to her? If she didn't like me asking her opinion she could have said no when I first asked." I was a little stunned by this, but gave a small nod of my head "I really don't know. I only met her a few hours ago, I have no clue why she got so mad" I admitted, glancing over to where Skye and Marcus were buying their things. "I feel like I shouldn't let it bother me but...it was so out of nowhere, I just-" She let out a small sigh, leaning against the wall of the changing room "I was just trying to be friends with her. I already feel like an outcast here, I thought I could change that." I stared at her for a few seconds, not quite sure how I was meant to reply to that. She must have taken my silence as me not caring about what she was saying, because she looked over at me and flashed me a polite smile, before moving to the curtain, obviously planning on pulling it shut yet again "I'm sorry for rambling, I know we only just met and you probably don't want to hear about...this. Thank you, though." She said to me, one hand on the curtain as she started to pull it closed. Before I even knew it my hand was in the way, blocking the curtain as I looked at her "Show me instead." I said, to which she responded by simply giving me a confused look. Uncertainty bubbled up inside me, but I didn't let it deter me "The clothes you wanted Skye's opinion on, show me instead. I don't know a huge deal on fashion-" I motioned down at my clothes, which got her to let out a soft chuckle at my expense "-but I'll give you an honest opinion." She looked at me for a second, trying to test my seriousness, before she tugged on the curtain again and I instinctively moved my hand, allowing her to close it. I had no idea what that meant, whether she was taking me up on my offer or wanted me to leave her alone. She didn't say anything and I was too cautious to ask, so I glanced over at the checkout, where the other two were now missing, before taking a single step towards the exit of the changing rooms. "Stay there bozo." Aurora's voice came from the changing room, and although I couldn't see her I managed to sense the amusement in her words. I paused, before smiling a little as I walked over to one of the benches in front of the changing room, waiting patiently for the curtain to open. It didn't take long for it to, and when it did I was stunned into silence. Aurora was stood wearing some sort of dressy top, plain white with certain bits looking to have different dotted silver areas which reflected the light brilliantly. She wore some silky looking grey trousers with it, which she stuck her hands into as she gave a quick twirl, a smile on her face "Well?" Wow was the only word I could think of at the time, and that's exactly what I heard come out of my mouth. A quiet giggle escaped her lips, she seemed pretty giddy about my response "Not too flashy?" She asked, which is when the rest of my vocabulary managed to kick in "No, it's not. It's definitely...not bad." I managed to stutter out, which she grinned at before shutting the curtain again. We repeated this for a good while, her quickly changing into different outfits and gauging my awestruck reaction to figure out just what sort of effect the clothes had on me, even striking a few joking poses occasionally. Each outfit was incredible, the girl had a crazy fashion sense, even if practically all of it was what you'd most likely find on a catwalk during some big fancy fashion show. Eventually she brought up the fact that the other two were waiting, and quickly changed back into the clothes she was wearing initially. The two of us left the changing room, and almost as soon as we had she spoke up "I'm not buying any of them." She said, a slightly amused expression on her face despite the fact she was looking straight forward. It was like she knew this information would shock me, which it certainly did. "What?! Why not?" I asked, immediately confused and surprised in hearing this. She let out a laugh at the way I sounded "Because, they're all...crap. Maybe they'd be good to wear once in a while on a special occasion but...everyday? On an island?" She gave me a look that said 'yeah right' before giving me a sympathetic pat on the arm, like she was saying sorry for disappointing me. "That's...a fair point. But I don't understand, what was the point on getting my opinion?" "Oh yeah, cause 'wow' is great feedback for literally every single outfit." She said sarcastically, having a dig at the way I practically drooled each time the curtain opened "But seriously, I never wanted your opinion. Much like I never wanted Skye's. It wasn't about the clothes, it was about getting to talk to you. And now we're on our way to a pretty solid friendship, don't you think?" She gave me a teasing smirk as I stood there, stupidly dumbfounded. "You're all sorts of surprising, you know that." I said simply, which she pridefully grinned at, showing her perfect teeth. "We should go buy our clothes, no doubt the other two are getting impatient." I told her, to which she nodded in agreement. We separated and went to go and find our own clothes. I'm assuming she put all the ones she previously picked back and chose more, but I didn't get the chance to look at anything she bought since I was busy grabbing all the nice clothes I had picked out during my browse. I got to the checkout first and bought all my clothes with Alex's card, which I'm assuming Marcus or Skye left. Aurora arrived at the cashier beside me not long later, and I immediately noticed the overload of things she bought. Even if she wasn't buying the flashy clothes, she clearly still had a liking towards different outfits. After paying we headed out of the store and met up with Marcus and Skye, before finding Alex already waiting for us outside of the mall. I was finally brought back to reality in noticing Marcus shift slightly from his spot in the front seat, turning around to look at me. Skye was asleep against the window by now, which I saw Marcus notice, before his eyes landed on Aurora's head on my shoulder and ultimately me. I mouthed a "Help me." to him, which he simply let out a quiet chuckle at. "Lucky." He mouthed back, grinning slightly as I shook my head, despite wearing my own slight smile. I mouthed for him to shut it, and he let out a small snort before returning to sitting normally. I looked out Aurora's window as we drove, watching as all the scenery passed by. I never slept that journey, simply sat alone with my thoughts, occasionally taking a glance at Aurora sleeping soundly and smiling to myself.