One day // anne x gilbert

2

I continue pushing through people as I hear the boy calling for me. I keep on walking down the sidewalk until I reach a vintage shop. I walk inside and get greeted by the old lady who owns the store, Mrs. Honey.

I look around at all of the amazing clothing and decor that's for sale. I pick up a blush-pink sweater that has large sleeves and is cropped. 

"You would look beautiful in that," I jump and turn around to find the same boy from the library. 

"Why did you follow me?" I ask quietly, glancing over at Mrs. Honey who is busy doing paperwork. 

"Honestly, I don't know. You seem interesting to me," he replies. Looking at him now that we're not on the ground picking up books, I can see how much taller he is than me, his slightly muscular arms and his-- stop it!

"You should buy that," he says, releasing me from my stupid thoughts.

I look at the sweater in my hand, "No I could never."

"Why not?"

"Because girls with red hair don't wear pink. It's like a rule," I look at him and he looks confused from my statement. I place the sweater back on the rack and frown, "I would look horrendous." 

I walk away from him and the gorgeous sweater and walk to another section. 

"Can you please try it on for me?" he asks from behind me. I turn around and he's holding the sweater in his hand. 

"I can't. I'm not allowed," I reply. 

He rolls his eyes, "Why? Because society says so? the colour of your hair shouldn't affect what you want to wear."

I go silent because I don't know what to comeback with. He's right. It's because of society and what people told me that I wouldn't even think about wearing something pink. Instead, I would watch from afar as girls with brown or blonde hair wore pink blouses and pink dresses etc.

I take the sweater from his hand and walk to a changeroom. I put the sweater on and look in the mirror. I look... great. I would've imagined myself wearing pink and being happy with what I saw in the mirror. I know that he's going to hate it.

I walk out of the changeroom and look at his face. I can't read his expression.

"You look beautiful," he says no louder than a whisper. I blush and look down at the sweater. 

"So are you gonna tell me your name or what?" he asks. I stay silent. I can't get too attached to this stranger when I have to leave tonight. Maybe its for the best that he doesn't know my na-

"Oh my goodness, Anne! You look amazing!" Mrs. Honey exclaims as she's putting clothes away on racks. The boy glances over at me and smirks. I roll my eyes. Thank you so much Mrs. Honey.

"Anne. It suits you," he says. I turn around and walk back into the changeroom and replace the pink sweater with my green jacket. I walk out of the changeroom and place the sweater back on its rack. 

"Woah woah woah. You're not leaving that here!" the boy exclaims as I begin walking out of the store. 

"Yeah, it doesn't suit me," I reply. Hopefully he can just drop it and move on with his life, but he doesn't. He grabs the sweater and heads to the cash register where Mrs. Honey is standing.

I remain as still as a statue. Just watching him talk and laugh with Mrs. Honey as she's punching in numbers into the cash register makes me want to laugh and cry. Flashbacks begin going through my mind of my ex-boyfriend Billy and how he would've told me that I looked like street-trash and probably would've hit me if I tried to buy it.

The boy walks up to me with a bag in his hand. "Anne? Are you ok?"

I look up and say, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." He wipes the tears that I didn't realize were in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. 

"Thank you," I say softly and he smiles. 

That smile...