I nodded, taking it all in. I still had so much to learn about Aron and his family. And he still has to meet mine! I’d been avoiding calling my mom to set something up. I didn’t want to deal with it, not yet, and after today, I wasn’t sure I was going to want to for a while. If people at school, my best friends even, thought I was a gold digger, what would my own family think?
And last night … the fight between us had been … hard. The fight scared me. I knew every couple fought, but this was our first one. Would we be able to make it through this?
Aron pulled me closer to him, his arm wrapping around my shoulder, and for a split second, I felt better about everything. I felt like everything would be okay, and like we would be okay. I leaned into him as much as I could while we walked into the mall, and Aron led the way into a store that I’d never even dream of going into normally. Aron didn’t seem phased by the stares he got from the women.
“Well,” he whispered in my ear. “What ones do you like?”
“All of them,” I retorted.
He laughed softly as I pulled away from him and went over to look at a pair of blue lace stilettos. I picked them up, looking them over, and then I looked down at the price tag. My eyes widened and I put them back quickly.
“Excuse me.” Aron grabbed the shoes and held them up. “Could we get these in a seven, please?”
“Of course.” One of the girls headed for the back room as quickly as she could.
“Dude,” I muttered. “Those are like $600.”
“So? I thought that was quite reasonable for Monola Blahnik.”
I stared at him with wide eyes. It wasn’t the brand; it was the price, no matter the brand of shoes. How could he be so clam about spending that much on a single pair of shoes?
Before I could ask, the girl came out with a box and handed them to me.
“Um, thank you,” I managed. I sat down with the box and kicked off my $7 thrift store shoes. I had some designer shoes, after New York. But, as materialistic as it was, I really liked the idea of having more. I wanted more.
I wanted to have high-end stuff. My heart skipped a beat. Why? I’ve never cared about expensive stuff before. But … I’d never been in a situation where I might be able to afford it.
An hour later, we walked out of our third store and headed down a few feet before entering the next one. Aron had already made one trip back out to the car to put some bags in there.
“Where to now?” he asked.
I bit my lip, mulling it over. Where did I need to go? I’d gotten shoes, purses, clothing … there really wasn’t much else to get. I could get some more clothes, I thought. “How about there?” I pointed to one of the stores.
“Sounds perfect.” Aron and I headed towards it.
My heart skipped a beat as I looked at all the gorgeous clothing in the store. The employees looked so well put together and so did the dummies in front of the glass that had drawn my eye in.
I headed for the back of the room because even in high-end stores, the sales racks were at the back. I wanted to explore every inch of this store, but I forced myself back to the sales rack before I was tempted to try on a leather jacket that had caught my eye.
I reached out and touched black fabric that caught my eye. Actually, it was the blue flower print on it that caught my eye. It almost felt like silk.
I pulled it off the rack and looked at it. Might be a little too small. But I might fit into it. I mean, there was a good chance I could. I pondered, really wanting to try it on. Fine, I’ll try it on if I can find a couple other things to try on with it.
So, the search began. I was determined to find at least three things; otherwise, I wasn’t going to waste my time trying shit on.
“What about this?”
I spun to see Aron holding a navy blue dress. I stared at it. “Um, sure.” I reached out and took it on a hanger. I couldn’t tell much about it. It looked a little boxy, and I could tell that there was a slit above the chest, but I’d give it a shot and see how it looked on me.
I turned my attention back to the rack. I have no idea where I would even wear that. But I’d humor Aron.
I scanned the rows of sale items, slowly making my way closer and closer towards the end of the racks, my fingers running over the fabric gently until my eye caught a teal. I stopped and pulled the shirt out. It was a deep V with a chain going across it, obviously meant for something to be under it. A halter top. I touched the soft fabric, biting my lip.
Fuck it; I’ll give it a shot, I thought before checking the tag to make sure it was the right size. Bingo. I pulled it off the rack and headed for a change room.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Aron cooed softly, making my heart skip a beat. He’d seemed more than happy to buy me whatever shoes I wanted, despite the price on some of them, and when it came to the purses and the clothes, he hadn’t seemed to blink at the bill. The girls stared at him wide-eyed as he calmly offered his debt card up to them. One of the girls working here noticed me heading towards the change room; she hurried over and unlocked it for me.
“Did you find everything you were looking for?”
“Yes,” I said. I noticed her look me up and down and wrinkle her nose, but I ignored it.
“Thank you.” I gave her a quick smile as I ducked into the change room and closed the door behind me. I took a deep breath, looking at myself in the mirror. I bit my lip. No one she wrinkled her nose at me. I was wearing a pair of dirty jeans and a black three-day-old tank top. She probably thought there was no chance I’d be able to afford anything in here. And she’d be right. I couldn’t afford to shop here.
I blew out a deep breath. Is this stupid? Maybe I should just take everything back and not do this. I knew it was childish to act out like this. Doesn’t matter. I wasn’t going to go back on this.
I was going to buy a fucking $300 shirt; I was going to wear it to school tomorrow with my $600 shoes, and I was going to rock it.
I pulled my pants off and reached for the skirt. I slipped into it, running my fingers over the soft fabric, turning on an angle so I could see my butt. I reached for the shirt. Maybe they didn’t quite go, but I’d put them on together because they were both way too nice to put on with the dingy clothes I was wearing. I stared at myself in the mirror. I’m not sure if it’s that I knew how much it cost me or if it was actually the fabric and the quality, but it felt so much nicer than it normally did trying on clothes.
I turned away from the mirror and stepped out of the change room.
Aron looked me up and down.
“Wow.” His eyes sparkled.
“You like them? I mean, not together obviously.”
“I think you look amazing in them.” He stared at me, taking everything in.
I felt my cheeks burn.
“Go put the other one on.”
“Alright.”
I headed into the change room, stripped quickly and changed into the dress Aron had picked out for me. I stared at it in the mirror.
It hugged my curves; I was wrong about it being boxy, and the soft slit above my breast was just enough skin.
I stepped out of the change room, not daring to admit how much I loved it.
“I have no clue where I would wear this,” I said shrugging.
“A job interview.”
“In two years?” I raised an eyebrow.
“No, next week.” I stared at him, my brow furrowing. “I have a client who is interested in hiring someone. I’m too busy, so I told him I’d send over a sample of a friend’s work. He liked it.”
“You … you found my samples?”
“Yea. I didn’t want to mention it to you in case he wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to get your hopes up for nothing and cause you more stress when I’m sure school and work are stressful enough.”
I stared at him speechlessly.
“I … I could have an interview?”
“He said he’d like to me
et you some time to discuss details.”
Aron and I made our way to the counter and placed the three garments on the counter in front of the sales girl.
She looked us up and down, then smiled as her eyes locked on to Aron.
“I hope you were able to find everything you wanted.” She gave him a flirty smile, despite the fact that she looked my age, or even younger.
As stupid as it was, I liked that she looked like she was younger than me and still seemed more than into him.
“I did, yes.” He smiled as she scanned the items and packed them into a bag. “Alright.”
She motioned to the chip reader where he could pay.
Aron nodded before tapping his card against it. I glanced over just in time to see Rejected pop up across the screen. A soft beep after it.
My heart skipped a beat. I had never been around when a card was rejected.
I felt my cheeks go dark. Did we spend too much? I wasn’t sure I’d be able to live with myself if I drained his bank account.
“Um ...” She stared at it, her cheeks flushing.
“Hmm.” Aron didn’t sound worried. “It was debit, right?”
She stared at him with wide eyes. “Uh, no. I’m so sorry, sir. I just assumed ...”
I saw a tight smile spread across his lips. “That might be the issue then. I’d like to pay with debit. Not credit.”
I saw the girl’s cheeks darken. She nodded as she got the machine set up for debit—not credit.
This time, the card was approved right away, and she printed off the receipt, putting it into the bag before handing it to me.
“Have a nice day,” she called as we headed out of the store.
I waited until we were out of the store before opening my mouth.
“I gotta admit, I was freaked out for a second there.”
“What?” He laughed softly. “You thought we had drained my account?”
“I considered it,” I admitted, my cheeks flushing.
Aron laughed, pulling me closer to him. “It will take a lot more shopping to do that to me ... Like, say a new car.”
“Maybe some other time,” I said, not really meaning a word I spoke.
His eyes sparkled and he looked so happy, though, that I didn’t mind lying. I knew I should have felt bad for it, but I didn’t.
We made our way through the mall slowly, looking around for the next store to make our way into.
“How about a phone?’ he asked, guiding me towards a store that had displayed dozens.
“Oh no, I’ve only had mine for five years.”
Aron came to a stop, jerking me to a halt. “You what?” He stared at me with wide eyes.
I stared at him. He looked at me like I had said something horrid to him. “We are going to get you a new phone.”
Without another word, he pulled me into the store.
“Alright, what do you like?”
“How about this one?” I pointed towards a pink one. It looked like it might be a couple models out of date, but it was cute.
“No.” He sounded disgusted. He pulled me away from it and headed towards the newest models.
I tried to fight but eventually gave up. We compromised; I got last season’s top model phone, and it saved us $200 off the bat.
As we walked out of the store, I stared down at the bag carrying my new phone. I couldn’t believe here I was with a brand new phone.
“Are you ready to head back to the place?” I asked.
“Actually, I was thinking about one more thing we needed to do for you.” He paused.
I stared at him. “What was that?”
I wasn’t sure how much more I was willing to let him spend on me. I bit my lip. The more he buys for me, the harder it is for me to say no to him. I knew it was true, but I really hated the idea of saying no to him. No, I hated the idea of not letting him buy me something—as bad as I knew it was.
“Your hair.”
I touched my hair instinctively. “You … don’t like it?”
“It’s not that!” he said quickly. “I just thought it might be a nice change, that’s all.”
I bit my lip, mulling to over. I’d never done anything really fancy with my hair before. It might be fun to try something.
“Did you have somewhere in mind?”
“I think there is a salon in the mall,” he said, looking around.
We made our way over to a mall map, then across the building to the salon, where Aron paid for me to get my hair done.
By the time I was done with my hair, I was done shopping for the day. I was tired and wanted nothing more than to just get home, and go to sleep. When we got home, it took two trips to make it into Aron’s house with all the bags that we had.
We put them all down in the guest room and stared at all the new things I now had.
Damn, tomorrow is going to be fun.
Chapter Sixteen
I gotta admit it, I felt damn good as I pulled into the school in an Audi just in time to see Rebecca step out of her Ford Escort.
As much as I liked them, I felt so much better in a car that Aron had called “cheap” at over $80,000. I gave her a wide smile and a wave.
She stared at me, speechless.
“You … your hair looks nice.”
“Oh.” I flipped it over my shoulder.
A smile spread across my lips as my fingers played with the newly blonde strands. “I thought it might be nice to change it up.” I shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal—but in my new shoes, I was standing four inches taller than her. I tried not to let it get to my head.
I tried to remain nice to her, though it took me a couple seconds to remember that she hadn’t called me a gold digger... to my face, at least.
“So, how was your night last night?”
“It was ... fine. I wondered what happened to you when you disappeared from school yesterday.”
“Oh, yea ... I needed to get away from it for a little while; that’s all. Aron took me out shopping.”
“For a new car, too?” I saw her eye it. I could tell she wanted to look at it more, but she forced herself to look back at me.
I gave her a soft smile. “Oh no, that’s just one of Aron’s cheaper cars that he’s letting me borrow.” A grin spread over my lips as I saw John coming towards us. He stared at me wide-eyed for a long time.
Rebecca noticed him a couple seconds after I did. She cleared her throat and straightened herself, and of course put on a flirty smile—the one she wore around John so often that he probably didn’t even realize it wasn’t her normal smile by this point.
“Hey, John.” Rebecca beamed.
“Becca’s ...” He gave her a nod, then turned his full attention back to me. “Mel, you look good.”
“Aron took me out shopping yesterday.” I gave him a soft smile, trying to make sure it wasn’t too snide.
“Oh, that’s so nice of him!” I could hear the jealousy in Rebecca’s voice.
I shrugged. “He’s been wanting to do it for a long time. Apparently, he got me a job interview without telling me about it, so he wanted to get me some clothes for it. And then, of course, that turned into new shoes, new bags, clothes, a new phone, and the hair.”
“Not the car?” John raised an eyebrow.
“He tried, but I had to say no somewhere.” I grinned, then turned on my heel as I pulled my new phone out of my pocket and glanced down at the time. I didn’t want to be late for class after all.
Rebecca was eager to keep up with me as we headed down the hallway.
“You look great.”
“Thanks.” I gave her a smile, and for a split second, I wasn’t sure if she was lying to me or trying to manipulate me. All I cared about was that my friend thought I was pretty,
“So, were you celebrating something?”
“Nope. We just decided to go out. I know everyone thinks I’m this big gold digger and everything, and Aron’s be
en bugging me to let him pay for a couple new outfits ... After yesterday, I just figured why not? I mean really, why spend my life fighting what people think about me when I can just do whatever I want? Aron wanted to treat me; I wanted to let him do something nice for me, and he had the money to do it.”
“Don’t you feel like you’re taking advantage of him?” John asked.
“No,” I lied. Because I didn’t want to admit that I did. “I mean, we’re not consenting adults here.
“Err, yea I guess that makes sense.” I could tell part of her didn’t agree, but she didn’t want to say it to me, and that was fine—I didn’t want to hear it.
I forced a smile over my face as we made our way towards class. As much as I hated admitting it, it was beginning to look like Becca and I might not be friends for much longer.
I took a deep breath, trying to pretend that it didn’t hurt and trying to pretend that I didn’t realize it was happening.
“So, what are you doing tonight?” I asked, trying to make some conversation.
“I have a date,” John said.
Rebecca stopped, turning to stare at him. Her face pale and her eyes wide, she just stood there, staring blankly at him.
“Wow.” I cleared my throat. “That’s great!” I tried to make up for the lack of words Rebecca was saying and take the focus off her so she could have a couple seconds to recover.
“Thanks, I figured it was about time I actually ask her out.” He grinned widely. “And she said yes. So we’re going to a movie tonight.”
“Oh, that’s great!” I gushed. “I hope you guys have a wonderful time.”
“Yea, awesome,” Becca piped up. I could hardly hear her voice, but I knew she’d spoken.
I glanced over at her, giving her a soft smile, but she didn’t dare meet my eyes as if this was somehow my fault.
It’s not like I’m the one he’s going on a date with, I thought, but I didn’t dare say it out loud.
The rest of the walk towards our classroom was spent in total silence. I had no clue what I was supposed to say to any of it.
As soon as we headed into the classroom, I found a seat at the back of the room, thankfully without any free seats beside it. I ignored everyone around me as I reached into my purse and pulled out my laptop for taking notes.
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