First Choice (Sam Wilkinson/Nash Grier)

Chapter 63

Sam’s POV

“What about this one?” Jasmine asks, her eyes cheerily gazing up and down the black dress in her hands. Her surprise party is today and I am currently distracting her by telling her I planned a day just for us to hang out like old times. I’ve taken her to breakfast, and now we are currently in PacSun looking for her outfit for the party though she thinks it’s actually for me to take her out for a nice dinner to celebrate her birthday. I’ve told her it’s at an expensive place so she should dress up.

We’ve been in this damn mall for over an hour and she’s got nothing. I already made it clear to her that I’m paying for everything but she still insists on only buying from the clearance rack which only has shitty clothes.

“What about this one?” I grab a dress off of the rack beside us. The top is black and strapless, a strap of silver glittery fabric across the waist, and a fluffy, frilly, mint green bottom that flares out. Her eyes light up as she snatches the dress out of my hands and runs her hand over the fabric.

“It’s perfect!” She squeals, the moment cut short as her little hand begins searching for the price tag.

"Come on, it's fine." I whine.

“Forty six dollars?” She hisses, eyes widening as she shoves the dress back onto the rack.

“What? No! Get it babe.”

It slipped.

She blushes as soon as I say the word but doesn’t say anything, and I'm glad she didn't because I wouldn't have taken it back.

“Sammy I can’t. It’s too expensive and you don’t have an infinite amount of money.”

If only she knew how right she was…

“I don’t care. I’ve want you to wear this tonight. Please.” I beg, giving her my best attempt at puppy eyes.

“No, besides its strapless and I… Just no Sam.”  She mumbles, looking down at her boots.

I hate that she feels this way about her body. I hate that she thinks she’ll look terrible in that dress when I’m already falling in love with the way I’m imagining her body will look in it.

“Jasmine, it’s your birthday and I’ll feel so guilty if you don’t get that dress because you would look so good in it. Trust me for once, huh?” I nudge her cheek with my knuckles softly, trailing my thumb along her jaw. She nods slowly under my touch.

“Alright.” She says quietly, grabbing the dress once again.

“Well, it’s settled then. Give me this,” I take the dress out of her hands and grab a hoodie I saw her eyeballing earlier off the rack beside us and she frowns but doesn’t say anything, “I’ll pay and you go wait for me.” I nod to the entrance. She glares at me playfully but doesn’t try to fight me for once.

I hope that when Nash gets back, she doesn’t begin to distance herself from me. I won’t be able to take it if she starts pushing me away again. Things used to be so perfect between us before all these complications, but now it’s always a slippery slope. We’re either doing good, and when we’re doing good it’s great, or we aren’t doing good at all and she begins resenting me once again.

I hand the cashier the clothes and she smiles as she rings me up.

“But I haven’t done anything wrong.” I hear Jasmine yell.

I turn to see her standing outside the store talking to some white security guard as he tries to reach for her purse. She clutches it to her side and turns that side of her body away from him.