“So then I told him I wasn’t interested and next thing I know, we’re both making out in the back of his car.”
Kim sighed as if she couldn’t for the life of her imagine how she ended up in the back of a car with her classmate. One she claimed to not like but hadn’t stopped talking about for the past hour and even dragged our small group to the mall to pick up new clothes for her date tonight.
I scratched under my cast as Kim held up two identical tight, black dresses.
“They’re exactly the same,” Evelyn said, furrowing her eyebrows.
“No they’re not,” Kim said, shaking the dresses as if that would somehow make us see a difference in them. “One is shorter than the other.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Go with the longer one. Maybe it’ll help keep your legs closed for the night.”
I choked on my spit.
“Damn, girl. No need to drag me like that,” Kim laughed.
“So if you aren’t interested, why go in the first place?” I asked, clearing my throat.
Kim tsked at me. “My sweet, innocent child. I’m going for the free food, free alcohol, and wild sex. Plus, he’s cute and fit so I couldn’t say no.”
Couldn’t say no, as if someone was forcing her to go. I rolled my eyes. “Well if you ask me, I think you care.”
“Well nobody asked you, so zip it and help me choose a dress.”
“Evelyn already said to go with the longer one.” I sighed. Shopping wasn’t really my idea of fun on a good day, and with a cast on my leg… Well, I was one more outfit away from bopping Kim on the head with a crutch.
Kim pouted and put the dresses back on the rack. She came over to sit with us on the floor. “What about you, V?” she asked. “Found love yet working in that store with gramps?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Unlike you, I’m not on the hunt for a man,” I sniffed. “But… I did run into a barista who works in the coffee shop across the store. He said he wanted to go out sometime, but we haven’t set anything up yet.”
Speaking of, I really should text him. At least to apologize for not texting.
“Why not?” Kim demanded. “If you don’t go out with him—”
“Chill, Kim,” I interrupted her before she could nag me about growing old and letting my youth go to waste. “It’s not that I don’t want to— trust me, I do. I’ve just got a lot on my plate right now. There’s this other person I met who kind of threw my life into chaos and I just don’t think I could deal with dating right now, on top of all that.”
The smug grin Kim’s face had me trying to suppress a groan.
“Our baby girl has two boys?”
“— I never said it was a boy.”
“A goodie and a baddie, at that. I wonder who she’ll pick,” Kim teased.
I sighed. If only she knew how accurate that felt. Especially with Lucifer— the literal devil. The literal and very handsome devil.
I shook my head. “Girl, please. I’m not picking anyone until I can get my one true love to love me back— but Dash doesn’t seem to like me any more than when I first brought him into the store last year.”
“Get outta here with that nastiness,” Kim laughed, shoving my shoulder.
I laughed even though pain shot up my leg as I put too much pressure on the broken thing.
“What about you, Evelyn?” I asked, giving her a chance to reenter the conversation and also to get the attention off of me.
She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have anyone in my life.”
“Depressing,” Kim said, pretending to wipe a tear away. “But seriously, there’s no one who’s caught your attention?”
We both looked at Evelyn and her neck turned a delicate shade of pink. I leaned closer as my curiosity was piqued.
“Well… There’s this guy I see around every now and then, just minding his own business and doing his job.”
“And?” Kim asked.
“I admire him,” Evelyn said with a shrug.
“That’s it?” Kim asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Why?” I cut in before Kim could attack the poor girl.
Evelyn scrunched her face in confusion.
“Why do you admire him?” I repeated. Her eyes seemed to lose focus as a soft smile appeared on her lips.
“He’s nice. He has one of the hardest jobs I know of, but he knows exactly how to deal with it. He doesn’t let it get him down. He’s also very gentle with those around him, even when they don’t deserve it. And despite having to make judgments for his job, he’s a very nonjudgemental person.”
I watched the way her eyes lit up and her voice softened when talking about him. I was curious to know who had this much power over her. It was weird to see this usually hard chick becoming mush just by talking about him.
“You need to talk to him! Tell him how you feel!” Kim spoke up, sounding way too dramatic for the moment.
Evelyn looked collected, but her hands were fiddling in her lap.
“I can’t,” she said softly, the meanness in her face disappearing as she looked down at her hands. “He tends to run with the wrong crowd. Although, he could be with anyone he wanted to because he’s neither here nor there.”
“Mysterious,” I muttered, intrigued by what she meant.
“The best kind,” Kim grinned. “I still say you should talk to him because otherwise, you’ll never know. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”
Evelyn opened her mouth but Kim interrupted her.
“Alright, now that we’ve had a bit of a break, let’s go back to looking for a dress. I’m not about to show up naked to the date.”
They helped me stand up and waited until I had my crutches under my arms to move. As they continued to search for date-appropriate clothes I noticed Evelyn pursing her lips and frowning to herself.
“Hey,” I said, limping over to her as she looked at shirts. She tensed up.
“Look, I just wanted to say that you don’t have to do anything of what Kim told you to.”
“What?” she asked, furrowing her dark eyebrows.
I hesitated. “It’s just that you seemed to be taking her words to heart and I want you to know that you don’t have to feel pressured into doing what she wants. If you don’t want to talk to him that’s fine— you don’t have to. It’s very easy for us to say go ahead but that’s because it’s not our lives. You’re the one who actually has to deal with whatever happens afterward.
“She’ll encourage you because she wants to see you happy, but just be yourself and do what feels comfortable. If you don’t think telling him right now would be a good idea, then don’t. Take your time.”
Evelyn looked at me with a bit of a shocked expression. I pressed my lips into a thin smile. Was it really that hard to believe that I was trying to help her? Well, then again, this was the most I’ve spoken to her in all the time we’ve known each other, so I guess her reaction made sense.
“Hey, guys, which of these shoes do you think would go best with the dress?” Kim asked, bringing us out of whatever haze we were in.
“What? Didn’t you put that dress back?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I actually kind of like it so I went back. So?” she asked, holding up a pair of red heels and one exactly the same but in black.
“Go with the black ones— you could use it for other outfits,” Evelyn said beside me.
“But I don’t have red heels and these are really cute.”
“Then go with the red,” I suggested.
“But the black ones would be more—”
I met Evelyn’s gaze. She rolled her eyes and offered me a smile. I grinned back.
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