After a year and a half of trying to move on from the what-ifs, the tides have pulled Alexandra Rivera and Zachariah Kim back together again.
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In the h...
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"From a proud member of the itty-bitty-titty-committee, I'd like to offer my full support to show off the girls tonight. If you got 'em, flaunt 'em."
"That's not the kind of support I'd need with that sad excuse of a dress," I deadpanned and placed the slinky item back on the rack.
Emmie circled, trying to find something else suitable for my plans. A new outfit wasn't necessary for dinner with Calum, but giving myself an excuse to go shopping didn't require a lot of convincing, and my friend was all too willing to come along with me. Katerina would have been good company as well but she had plans with Romi.
"Where are you guys going?" she inquired, dragging her finger along the colorful fabrics.
"Bravo's," I answered. "That restaurant right below Anna Miller's outside of Pearlridge."
She looked up thoughtfully. "Random."
I eyed a crushed velvet top. "Their garlic balls are a dream though."
"The best balls."
After another five minutes of failure, I gave up and dragged Emmie out of the store. Ala Moana had the best selection of stores, but a lot of their merchandise was geared toward tourists, so it could be hit or miss. Today's attempts were an unfortunate bust, so I made the most of our trip here by forcing her to come with me to the best place in the entire mall—Cookie Corner.
Emmie watched with amusement as I grinned at the employee handing me a bag of warm chocolate chip cookies. "You're going to spoil yourself for dinner."
"What are you talking about?" I grumbled as I reached into the plastic and tore off a piece of cookie. "That's in four hours."
Emmie hooked her arm in mine while we walked through the crowd—her eyes scanning and people watching, mine focused on the gold in my hands.
"I forgot to ask you at Jem's house but how's your dad doing?"
When I arrived home after spending the weekend at Jem's house, I wasn't sure what I was going to be walking into. Dad had days that were good and some that were not-so-good, and when it came to the latter, it was a shot in the dark as to what the aftermath would look like. Our house either became complete carnage or eerily calm. After spending my entire life surrounded by that kind of uncertainty, I couldn't definitively say what was worse.
This last time was the latter. I had arrived to see my brother sitting alone at the dining table with the door to our dad's bedroom closed.
For a second, I imagined him peacefully sleeping. This was likely a far cry from the truth.
I'd dropped my bags on the floor and dragged my feet until my arms wrapped around Anthony's shoulders. We weren't the type that practiced physical displays of affection, but sometimes there were no words for how thankful I was that Anthony protected me. It wasn't fair he carried the burden all by himself.
