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ALLIE
“So, how do you like them?” the associate at All Your Eye Needsasked me after school.
I stared at myself in one of their mirrors and scrunched my nose at my new glasses. I had vowed to try to switch things up and take care of myself for once, so I switched from semi-rimless square frames to circle ones.
My eyesight had been getting worse this past year, and I had been saving up money to buy new glasses for the past six months because I refused to use Harlan’s money, especially after Jace had told me that Harlan had a dark past. I just hoped to God that he didn’t hurt Mom.
“Can I have a minute alone?” I asked, wanting to hold in my disappointment until he left.
The man nodded and walked toward his desk. I gnawed on the inside of my lip and inched closer to the mirror. I’d had those square frames for almost four years now. Something this dramatic wasn’t what I was going for. Hell, when I had picked them out a couple days ago, I’d thought they looked fine, but now, I was regretting everything.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” Jace asked. “You weren’t at the field. We need to talk.”
“I’m at the mall, getting new glasses.”
Jace paused. “Did you walk? I would’ve brought you if you—”
“No, I didn’t walk. Imani brought me, but she had to leave.”
“I’ll be there—”
“You look beautiful in them!” the associate said, walking back to me and staring me down in the mirror.
This man must’ve wanted me out of the store as soon as possible or something. He probably knew that a young girl with a damn hole in her sweater wouldn’t be spending any more of her money here and didn’t want the brand of the store to depreciate with me standing next to the hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise.
“Who is that?” Jace asked, an edginess to his voice. He almost sounded … jealous.
It made me warm and giddy on the inside.
“Nobody,” I said with a smile. “Better get here before any guy tries to pick me up.”
Before he could respond, I hung the phone up and stuffed it into my pocket. “These are good,” I said to the associate, taking the glasses off, setting them back in their case, and putting on my old ones. “Thanks. I don’t need them readjusted. I’ll be leaving now.”
So, you don’t have to worry about all the billionaires in Redwood not coming into your store because a homeless-looking kid raised on the other side of town wanted to see better.
Walking back through the mall to the exit, I rubbed my sweaty palms together. As soon as Jace pulled up, I would be out of here because I didn’t want him coming in and walking around with me. I’d barely survived lunch today when he sat next to me. I really wouldn’t be able to survive the constant stares as Jace and I shopped together.
“Waiting for me?” Jace asked, wrapping his arms around me from behind and stuffing his face into my neck.
I tensed up and stepped away from him, heart racing inside my chest. He stood there, brows furrowed together and looking sad that I had pulled away from him.
“Where did you come from?” I asked.
“Entrance on the other side of the mall,” he said, hiking his thumb back toward the shops. He furrowed his brows harder. “Where are your glasses? I thought you were getting new ones?”
I gnawed on the inside of my lip and glanced down at the case in my hand. “I did.”
“And … you’re not wearing them?”
My cheeks flushed. I didn’t want him to feel bad for me. I had spent all the money I’d saved to buy new glasses, only to be disappointed in the way they looked on me. I couldn’t return them, and I didn’t have any more cash to buy new ones.
“I, um … I think they look kinda weird on me.”
Jace reached for them. “Let me see them on you.”
Some people from school walked by us and waved at Jace. I pressed my lips together and looked down at my toes, stepping farther away from him so it wouldn’t seem like we were a couple. I wanted to be with him again more than anything, but I wanted to be cautious and didn’t want to run into this blindly.
