Taylor

Chapter Twenty-two

The sound of hangers sliding over the metal pole in my closet was like nails on a chalkboard. After admitting to Luke how long it'd been since I had dated, he had insisted on helping me find the perfect first-date-in-a-long-time outfit—which was why he was at my house, going through my closet, annoying me with his judgments.

"You used to be so stylish, what happened?" He asked as he turned around and jabbed his thumb toward the clothes hanging behind him.

"I guess I stopped caring about things that weren't actually that important."

"What you wear is important. It's your first impression. And yours has become quite dull." He grinned at his jest and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, I guess that's why you're here."

"And you should be thanking God that I am. You need a whole new wardrobe. Where's the color? Where's the style? It's all gray t-shirt here and black t-shirt there." He shook his head in mock disdain. "Shame on you for letting the one thing you were good at disappear like that."

I laughed. "Alright, alright. So my choices have dwindled. I get it." I rolled my eyes as he handed me a black t-shirt and khaki shorts.

"Let's go to the mall and find you something to wear"

I stared at him. I hated the mall with a purple passion and he knew that.

Catching my hesitation, Luke sighed. "You can't go on your first date in forever wearing a plain t-shirt and shorts. You have to look nice. Haven't you noticed how Fynn dresses?"

"No." That wasn't something I had noticed about him. Being attracted to men was still a new thing, I wasn't used to it; it had only happened a few times and I had ignored it and them, including whatever clothes they had on.

"Well, he dresses very stylishly. What did you notice about him anyway?"

"Okay, enough about Fynn, I'm not interested in gossiping like girls. Let's go to the mall and get something to wear." Anything to shut him up.

Of course, shutting him up wasn't the only reason for me to go with him. Going to the mall was an opportunity to spend time together like we used.

He grinned victoriously and grabbed his keys. "Let's go then."

When we got to the mall, I let out a long, drawn-out sigh to let Luke know how annoying I found this. He laughed. He didn't care how much I hated the mall, just like when we were kids. It was the one time he would put himself first, and it was a rare occasion that he did. Which is probably why I went, because he didn't ask of it too often. But still, it always took convincing. Nothing had changed in that department except now I felt even more out of sorts as I walked amongst all the nicely dressed people. Damn Luke for making me notice.

"Alright, let's go in here. They have nice clothes."

We went into the store and Luke began to scour through the clothes looking for whatever idea was in his head. I stood back and watched. He pulled out many items but didn't find anything he seemed to like enough to have me try on. After fifteen minutes in the store, he gave up and we left for another. It wasn't until an hour of combing through different stores that Luke finally turned around with a grin spread across his face. In his hand was a dark yellow blazer with black trim on the collar.

"No way. What on earth would I wear with that?"

"I'll show you." He led me around the store until he found a black button-up shirt. Next, he grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans and I immediately laughed.

"Luke, what are you doing? I can't wear those. I'll look stupid."

He gave me a flat look and looked at his own pair.