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Whitney smirked. “Good one.” She dumped two spoonfuls of sugar into her cup and took a sip. “I need you to come shopping with me. You’ve known him for ages. You’re one of his closest friends. I’m calling in reinforcements.”
“You want to take me shopping? Do you know me?” I made a face. Shopping was my idea of hell and everyone knew it.
Whitney clasped her hands together in front of her in a pleading gesture. “Please, Sky. I’m desperate.”
“You must be if you drove all the way out here to ask me to spend the day shopping with you.” I drank my coffee quickly and got up to pour myself another one. I was going to need the fortitude it seemed. “Why didn’t you ask Meg? Or Lena? Or just about anyone else?”
“Because Meg ends up shopping for everything but what we came there for. And Lena wouldn’t know what to get him either. It’s you, Sky. You’re my only hope,” Whitney intoned dramatically in her movie trailer voice.
“It just so happens I was looking for an excuse to procrastinate today. Which is the only reason I’m agreeing to this insanity,” I warned her.
Whitney let out a whoop. “Thank you, Sky. You’re the best. I thought we could hit up the new clothing store on Maple. It looks really nice.”
“You didn’t say shopping would involve clothing,” I groaned. “Let me get changed and we can head out. But you’re buying me lunch.”
“Of course!”
Twenty minutes later we were parked outside of the new clothes store called Amalie’s.
“I never even knew this was here. How long has it been open?” I asked as we got out of the car.
Whitney lifted her eyebrows and answered me in the blandest of bland voices. “About a year.”
“Wow, I need to get out more,” I muttered.
Whitney patted my back. “Yes, my friend, you do. Now come on.”
The shop was a whirlwind of shirts and dresses. It seemed to cater to everyone. There was a stack of designer jeans next to a rack of plaid, button-up work shirts. It was a strange mish-mash of styles and colors.
“What do you think of this?” Whitney held up what appeared to be a tight-fitting graphic t-shirt with a red and green dragon printed on the shoulder and draping down the back.
I scrunched up my nose. “Web isn’t a twenty-year-old fuckboy. Come on now.”
Whitney sighed. “You’re right. You’d think since I’ve been married to the guy for over a year I’d have more of a clue what to get him. I just want to buy him something that isn’t a black t-shirt.”
“How about this?” I asked, holding up a bright yellow polo that I knew he’d hate at first sight.
Whitney gave me a look that let me know I wasn’t being the help she needed me to be, so I begrudgingly put it back.
We kept browsing, putting things in a ‘maybe’ pile to be decided on at the end.
The store was pretty busy. A woman was shopping nearby, and I frequently had to move out the way to avoid smacking her with the shirts Whitney loaded me up with.
“Sorry,” I told the stranger when I accidentally smacked her with a hanger.
The woman laughed. “Looks like you girls are on a mission. I’ll try to stay out of the way.”
“So, I hear things were a bit tense with you and Mr. Robert Jenkins at Meg’s this past weekend.” Whitney handed me two more shirts to put on the pile.
I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Did Meg tell you that? Because she wasn’t even there. She was upstairs with Tyler.” I felt myself becoming instantly defensive. I didn’t like people talking about my personal life behind my back. Not even my best friends.
“Actually, Adam mentioned it. You know what gossip he can be,” Whitney said. “He was very confused by it considering he has no idea what was going on with the two of you.”
“Dear lord, Whit, for the hundredth time—”
“Nothing was going on, blah, blah, blah. If you think any of us believe that for a second, you’re deluding yourself,” Whitney interrupted.
I moved out of the nice lady’s way again. I glanced her way, not a big fan of talking about personal stuff in public, but she seemed oblivious.
“Okay, so I liked him. A lot. And we were kinda, sorta seeing each other,” I admitted.
“Finally!” Whitney raised her hands to the sky. “Acknowledgement!”
I dropped the clothes on the growing pile and glowered at her. “Yes fine. I thought we might be starting to date, but then he had to go and be all aloof and shady and I had had enough evasive bullshit with Mac. I’m not ready to sign up for more.”
“Robert is not Mac, Skylar. I don’t think you’re being fair to him. He’s a really good guy,” Whitney scolded. “Just because the guy didn’t give you his life story right away doesn’t mean you should ice him out. I don’t think that’s too cool of you.”
