“Nerd.”
  Her teasing was just that, teasing, and Caiden knew that. She could call him a nerd all she wanted, he didn’t care. He had known Pauline for so many years now, and he honestly didn’t know where he would be without her. Always late for class, that was for sure! Most likely stuck in a comic or with a video game, home and alone.
  He could tell this store had been around for a while, there was so much stuff to look at and some issues of the comics were years old, so he could only imagine what treasures was hiding in here. Caiden knew not to browse around for too long, as Pauline wanted to leave for some shopping of her own. He already knew he was coming back here in the future, and then he was going to be sure he could spend some time in here. With the new Superman in hand he turned to Pauline and nodded at the counter, before going there.

She had taken him to store after store, and Caiden wasn’t sure what this one was called. It didn’t matter to him. What he knew was that Pauline was done shopping. At least for herself, because this was always how it went. When she had found what she wanted, she started looking for stuff that she thought he would look good in. So here they were, in some store he didn’t know the name of, in the men’s section. And she was looking at God-knows-what, while all he wanted to do was return to the dorm to read Superman. He stalked after her without paying attention to what she was doing, until he could hear her voice and she stopped in front of him. Two more steps and he would have walked into her.
  “How about this one?” She shoved a green shirt on a hanger to his chest. “It matches your eyes.”
  Pauline pointed at a mirror on the other side of the aisle, like he didn’t know the color of his own eyes. The shirt was darker than his eyes, and he didn’t need to have a look to know she was right. Caiden took the skirt in his hand to touch the fabric, and nodded with a smile.
  “If you think it looks good on me, sure.”
  “I don’t think it is, I know it is.”
  Pauline had always had strong opinions, and he didn’t mind. Sometimes was it good to have someone who told you what would look good on you. And all the other shit she dared to tell him.
  “So, how’s your roommate?” she asked, as she walked for the counter.
  He hadn’t notice her checking the size of the shirt, but he only had to give it one look to see. She knew exactly what he liked and what would fit him. When had he ever shopped anything without her? But once again, he didn’t mind.
  “I don’t know if he’s an ass, or if I kind of like him… as a kind of friend, if someone ever could be friends with this dude. I’m not sure if he wants to be friends with anyone, except that girl”, Caiden answered her as he went up to the counter with the shirt.