“Tay, come on,” I said, pulling Taylor out into the main room. “We have to do some public displays of affection or they’ll catch on!”
“But, it’s a show! I can’t be making out with you and doing everything else at the same time.” We were at the arena, and I was tired of seeing Zac and Lauryn together and Taylor on the other side of the room. “Anyway,” he continued, “kissing you would be weird.”
“I’m sorry but you’re going to have to do it. Just so other people know we’re together.” I stopped. “Try it. Right here. Kiss me.”
“But it’s weird!”
“I think it’s weird too, Taylor. But if we’re a couple, we’ve got to play the part.”
“Sure, you’ll kiss me but you won’t have sex with me.”
“Taylor! You think kissing me is weird, but having sex isn’t?” He nodded. “You are a little whore!”
“Me? No I’m not! I just have sex a lot.”
“Whore.”
“Bitch.”
“Are you going to kiss me or not?” I asked. He pressed his lips against mine, surprising me with his forcefulness. He was right; kissing him was weird. But for some reason, it seemed right.
“There you go,” he said, after pulling away. “I’ll be going back to my work now. See you after the show.” He walked away. I could barely take two steps before Darling was on my case.
“Now you’re kissing him in public? It’s bad enough you’re faking the relationship, you don’t have to show it in front of other people.”
“Well I’m sorry if I love my boyfriend.”
“No, you don’t. He’s not even your boyfriend!”
“Quiet down, Darling. I don’t want Zac or Lauryn finding out. I’m going to the symphony with Zac tomorrow. Everything’s working so far. Before you know it, you won’t have to worry anymore.”
“But Nic, it’s not going to work. I personally don’t know why Zac’s going to the symphony with you. I know Lauryn doesn’t like all that type of stuff, so he must just be going with you.”
“Yeah. Zac and me. Alone. For a whole night. Something’s bound to happen.” Darling looked at me and sighed.
“I personally don’t think so. You and Zac are friends. That’s the extent of it.” I huffed. “Hey, I just don’t want you to keep pursuing it and end up getting let down.”
“I won’t get let down. I know we’re just friends now but things will happen. As long as my wish comes true.”
"Well keep wishing. I don’t see it happening." Darling walked away. I huffed again and sat down on a chair at a nearby table. My wish was going to come true, and I wasn’t going to let Darling or anybody get in the way of that. I didn’t care how guilty I’d feel or whatever. Zac didn’t belong with her and he knew it.
“Hey,” Zac said, sitting in a chair in front of me. I looked up and smiled. “We still on for the symphony tomorrow night?” he asked. “I haven’t checked with Taylor, I just went out on a limb and asked you.”
“No, he said it was fine. He was actually pretty glad we’re talking again.” I paused. “You know I don’t have anything nice to wear.”
“Then tomorrow we’ll go out and get you something nice to wear. I’m sure there’s somewhere around here that can sell you a dress.”
“No, we’re not going. I’m going. If you go, you’ll insist on buying my dress for me. I do have money, you know. I can buy my own dress.”
“But I invited you. You shouldn’t have to buy anything for something I invited you to.” I shrugged.
“I need a dress anyway.”
“I just don’t feel right about it, Nic. I invited you. I should buy your dress.”
“I’m probably going to buy an expensive one. And I don’t want you blowing your money on me when you could be blowing it on something else. Like yourself, your girlfriend. I’m just a friend.”
“I’m buying your dress.”
“No you’re not! I’m not going to tell you when I’m going to buy it. I’ll leave when you’re still asleep and buy it myself.”
“Why are you so against my buying you things? It’s just more money for you and a new dress you didn’t have to pay for.”
“Well why are you so insistent on buying a dress for me?”
“I asked you first.” I groaned. “Just let me buy you a dress, Nicole.”
“You’re buying her a dress too?” Lauryn’s piercing voice said, making me cringe. “I want a dress.”
“Well you didn’t want to go with me to the symphony, so there’s no reason for me to buy you one. Nic is going with me now. She doesn’t have a nice outfit to wear. Since I invited her, I don’t feel right for her to buy a dress.”
“So I didn’t want to go to some people playing instruments for a few hours.” I glanced at Zac.
“Then why are you here?” I asked, referring to the show. “All they do here is music.”
“Well…” she didn’t have a reason. She didn’t want to say just for Zac; she wanted to sound intelligent. I knew it wasn’t going to happen. She walked away. Zac put his head down on the table.
“Thank God you’re going with me. I don’t think I can handle her whining about the symphony while we’re there. I don’t think I can handle her whining at all!”
“I think someone needs a break.”
“That’s another reason I want to go get your dress. Tomorrow I just want to take a break from her.”
“I can imagine what you’ll be like in a few weeks. We’ve only been here for two or three days.”
“I shouldn’t have invited her.”
“Why did you?”
“I hadn’t seen her in a while. I wanted to spend time with her. But now we’re just spending too much time together. I don’t want to offend her and stick her in the girl’s room, but I’m going to have to.”
“I’m sure if you say it’s too much she’ll understand.” I said. Oh she’s so going to cry, I thought.
“Are you sure?”
“I guess.”
“I’ll ask her later. It’ll be nice to be alone for a while.” I looked away, over at Darling. She was looking at me, of course, and shaking her head. She didn’t approve. I really didn’t like this idea, so I decided not to try very hard.
I hate guilt. Guilt is one of the worst feelings someone could have. And not being able to get rid of that guilt, that’s what put it over the top. That’s what tears at your insides over and over again until you have nothing left inside. Yeah, that’s how I feel right now. But as much as I wanted to stop, I wasn’t in this alone. I had Taylor with me. I couldn’t just back out and leave him hanging. No matter what, if I hated him or if I loved him, I wouldn’t do something like that.
“Okay, Nic, we don’t have all the time in the world here, so find a dress.”
“You take me to a department store and tell me not to take all the time in the world? Come on, Zac, it’s obvious you’ve never been shopping with a girl before.”
“It’s one dress!”
“No, it’s a dress, shoes, a purse, and accessories.”
“Oh no, I’m not buying you a purse and accessories. I’ll buy shoes. I can understand shoes. But accessories? What the hell?”
“I’m kidding. I’ll buy that. You don’t have to.”
“Good, because I wasn’t going to. Now look, rummage, find.” I smiled and began to sort through dresses, looking for one that stood out and would look good on me. Every now and then I’d find one that stood out, and gave it to Zac to hold. Once I found three or four, we went to the dressing rooms.
“You know I’ve never seen you in a dress before,” Zac told me.
“Well there’s a first for everything. If I like what I put on I’ll come out here to show you. And if you’re pulling the bored look, I’ll make sure to take forever.”
“Alright, I won’t. I’ll be good.”
“You better be.” I went in the dressing room and hung up the dresses. I tried on the first one, and immediately didn’t like it. I suddenly remember why I don’t wear dresses, I thought. It just looked so blah on me. I tried on the next one. It wasn’t any better. Five minutes later I walked out of the dressing room with the dresses in my and. “I don’t like any of them.”
“Oh God we’re going to be here forever,” Zac said, groaning.
“Shut up,” I told him. I put the dresses on the reject rack and went to find more. Zac stood up and followed me.
“Why didn’t you like them? That might help you find what you want.”
“They all looked bad on me. It’s like they did nothing for me.” Zac rolled his eyes. “Shut up, you.”
“I didn’t even get to see any of them. I didn’t get to say if they looked good on you or not.”
“Like you would ever say it looked bad. You’d say ‘it’s fine’ without even looking at me.”
“No I wouldn’t.” I shook my head and began to look for more. “How about this one?” he asked, pointing to an orange dress towards the back of the rack.
“Zac, it’s orange.”
“So?”
“I’ll look like a fricken pumpkin. No. It’s ugly.”
“I’m just trying to help.” I continued to look through dress after dress. They were all the same kind of dress that I’d already tried on and didn’t like. I wasn’t finding anything I was liking. I’d find a pretty dress, but in the wrong size and there’s only one, or the design was nice but all the colors sucked.
“This one’s pretty,” he said, and pulled out a dress.
“Is it orange?” I asked.
“No, it’s blue.” He showed me a rather simple light blue dress. It was strapless with what appeared to be a long slit on one side. “I’m not too sure about the straps, but the rest is pretty.” I laughed. “What?”
“Zac, this is a strapless dress. Those are just there so you can put it on a hanger.” A look of embarrassment crossed his face.
“I knew that.” He gave it to me. “Try it on. I want to see it on you. Or is it too ugly and I have no sense in fashion whatsoever?”
“Everyone knows you have no sense in fashion. But I like this one.” I checked the size. “And you even picked out the right size! You’re getting good at this.”
“No, cause when we get to the shoes I’ll pick out red grandma shoes or something.” I smiled and walked into the dressing room. I tried it on and looked at myself from three different angles. It was surprisingly perfect. It accented every curve in just the right way, it laid right and even accented my eyes. It’d be perfect. I stepped out of the dressing room to show Zac. The slit on the side went to mid-thigh, only noticeable when I walked. The top sucked in my stomach and pushed up my bust, which was always a plus in this instance.
I saw Zac sitting in a chair, not only looked bored but very tired. “So what do you think?” I asked. His eyes drifted over and widened as he saw me and I saw his jaw drop slightly. I knew what he was thinking. Dude, you’ve got a girlfriend!
"It’s..." He cleared his throat. “It’s fine.” He could have said I looked like a clown, but I knew otherwise.
“You think I should get it?” I asked, lightly giggling as I shifted my weight, causing the slit to show off my leg. His eyes gazed at my leg and he bit his lip before looking at my eyes. I fiddled with my necklace, drawing attention to my chest. I saw him glance at my chest and turn a slight shade of red.
“Oh, yeah. If you want.”
“I think I will.” I walked back towards the dressing room.
“Okay…” When I was back in the dressing room, I bit my lip to keep in my scream. He was uncomfortable because he thought I looked downright sexy. I knew it.
I quickly changed and put the dress back on the hanger. I checked for any flaws, and luckily there was none. I walked back to Zac. “Okay, do you want to pay for it first of check out the shoes?” I asked.
“They don’t have a very wide selection of shoes, so let’s pay for it first.” I shrugged. We went over to a cashier. I hadn’t even bothered to check the price and neither did Zac, but I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.
“This one was on sale,” the saleslady said.
“Hey, it was even on sale,” I said to Zac. “You know how to pick ‘em.”
“The total comes to $215.79.” My eyes widened. And that was on sale! Zac didn’t even think about it as he pulled out his wallet.
“Wait, Zac, you’re actually going to pay two hundred and fifteen dollars for a dress I’m going to wear once?” I asked.
“You can wear it again. It’s a really nice dress.” Without any further discussion, he paid for the dress. As we walked over to the shoes, I opened my mouth to speak. “No, I paid for it, you’re not giving me any money or anything,” he told me, already knowing what I was going to say.
“Zac! It was two hundred and fifteen dollars. You’re not buying anything else for me.”
“I have the money, Nic. I have enough to buy you a dress and shoes and even everything else you want for tonight. After seeing you in that dress I’m willing to pay for everything.”
“So you think I looked good?”
“I think you should start wearing dresses more often. I think you looked very beautiful.” I grinned. “That dress was very flattering.”
“Yeah it was.”
I looked over the set of shoes. None of them were all that great. “Why don’t we go out in the mall? I know one of those stores have really nice shoes.”
“Okay.” We went out into the mall. I took my bag from Zac.
“You bought it, you shouldn’t have to hold it.” Silence fell over the two of us. Zac was uncontrollably nervous about tonight, I could tell by the way he wouldn’t stop fidgeting. The dress was affecting a lot, I didn’t try to make myself look attractive and the dress completely changed my look.
I turned into a store and almost immediately found the shoes I wanted. They were a soft black with light blue stones that matched my dress. They were thin and strappy. I asked the clerk for them in my size.
I sat down on a rather fluffy couch and looked up at Zac. “Are you buying my shoes?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
The clerk came back with my shoes. I tried them on. “Alright, I’m getting these,” I said, not even taking time to look over any of the other ones. I put my sandals back on. “Are you going to buy me a purse too?” I asked. He shook his head. “Please?”
“I thought you didn’t want me buying you things? I thought I was spending too much money on you.”
“Please Zac? Please? It’s not that much. Just a purse and a necklace and earrings and maybe a bracelet.”
“That’s a lot.”
“And maybe a ring too.” I stood up and put my arms around his neck. “Please? I’ll be your best friend.”
“Fine.”
“Ooh I love you!” I kissed him on the cheek and went to check out the jewelry before I got a purse.
“Oh no, we’re not getting cheap jewelry here. You can’t buy a two hundred dollar dress and…” he glanced at the price on the shoebox, “…sixty dollar shoes and get buy one get one free jewelry. No way.”
“Those are sixty dollars?” I asked. “Put them back. I’ll wear my sandals. That’s too much.”
“No it’s not. I’m taking you back to a jewelry store for jewelry. Give me those, I’m going to pay for them now.” He grabbed the box from my hands and walked to the cashier.
“Zac…”
“No, I’m buying them right now and you can’t stop me.”
“Fine then. If you buy me shoes I’ll wear my own jewelry. You’re not buying me anything else.” I grabbed a tiny purse that caught my eye. “Except for this purse.” I walked over to him.
“Alright, I won’t buy you anything else. We can just go back to the hotel after this.” I eyed him. “I’m just agreeing with you.”
“Why? What are you going to do?” I asked.
“Nothing. I’m just agreeing with you. You look beautiful enough without any jewelry. You don’t need any more.”
“Okay.” The cashier rung up the shoes and the purse. I looked at the price; I hadn’t checked the price on the purse. My eyes widened as it read twenty dollars.
“Twenty dollars for a purse I could barely stick my lipstick in?” I asked.
“Nic, shut up.”
“Now you’re definitely not buying me any jewelry.” Zac rolled his eyes. He paid for the purse and the shoes and we left.