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A few hourslater and I’m done with the mall. Shopping with Jade is beyond frustrating, and surprisingly it has nothing to do with her. Over the years, we've gone to the mall many times with Clair. Seeing the way she can shop, it’s never quick or easy, and by the end, we are all more than ready to leave and never come back.
The problem with shopping with Jade is she has no idea how to shop or what to get. She doesn’t know any of her sizes and doesn’t have her own style. It takes a few stores and countless times in the changing rooms to see how things fit before she starts to get an idea of what sizes she needs. We didn’t even buy anything in the first three stores. And don't get me started on her lack of knowledge of prices and the overall concept of money.
Eventually, she starts to get it, but finding her own style takes more work. The number of times she asked if we liked something or what we thought genuinely starts to grate on my nerves.
“Who the fuck cares if we like it, Jade?” I yell after she asks for what feels like the millionth time. Her eyes flick up to meet mine before she looks down at her feet. Great, now I feel like an ass.
Damn it.
I walk up to her without taking my eyes off her, Waiting for her to meet my gaze again. She doesn’t. Instead, she keeps her focus on the ground, as if afraid or ashamed. I take a deep breath and let it out before I reach forward and grab her chin lightly but sternly enough that she hopefully won't pull away, tilting her face up to look at me.
“It doesn’t matter if we like it. The question here is, do you like it? If the answer is yes, then who gives a damn what we think?” Her eyes go wide at my words.
“You keep coming back to us with questions that put our opinion above your own. Stop it. If you want to know what we think, fine, ask but don’t let it be a deciding factor here. If you put something on and it makes you feel like a goddess or a badass, and I say I don't like it, oh well. We don’t get to decide. We don’t own you!” I can’t keep the anger from my tone at the end, but from the look in her eyes, she understands it’s not directed at her.
“Ok?” I ask her just to be sure.
She nods, and I release my grip on her chin before I turn and head back to the chairs where Rick still sits. He gives me a nod as I sit back down. The look on his face lets me know he felt the same.
Zander is nowhere in sight, but that’s not crazy. We would have to leash him to keep tabs on him, and even then, I’m sure he would find a way out of it. He’ll be back eventually; he always comes back.
Thankfully my words seem to get through to her. By the time we finish at a few more stores, I’m pretty sure she has at least a basic wardrobe, which is better than what she started with.
Her style seems to be all over the place, from cute sundresses to combat boots and a leather jacket, but the smile on her face when she tries something on that she likes makes me hold my tongue. But I’m sure she will figure it out on her own now.
One of our last stops is Victoria’s Secret. She gives us a backward glance when we decide to wait outside the store with her bags. But she continues inside, and that’s progress, so I’ll take it.
I lean against the wall next to Rick. We just stand silent for a while, still no Zander.
“This whole situation pisses me off the more I think about it.” Rick finally says I don’t need to ask to know what he means.
Jade is grown, with little to no life skills but has probably seen and been through shit that could make grown men cry. It’s disgusting.
I just nod because I really don’t want to talk about it in the middle of the mall, and he lets it drop, seemingly understanding like he always does.
Zander, Rick, and I may not be brothers by blood, but I would argue that we’re closer than most siblings who are actually related. We have been through everything together. They are in just about every memory I have for as far back as I can remember, and that makes for a level of understanding that’s hard to come by.
Add that to the fact that we run part of the city together, and you have a few guys who know each other more than they probably should.
Rick digs in his pocket for his phone. He doesn’t get to look at it before Zander comes flying around the corner, almost slamming into him.
He sidesteps and takes off into the store in the blink of an eye, more than likely in search of Jade, with Rick left to glare after him. I let my head fall against the wall and reach up to rub my temples. Man, I wish I had his endless energy supply, but fuck is he exhausting.
Rick goes back to his phone after a moment. Movement catches my attention from the corner of my eye, and I look up to see Jade and Zander heading toward us.
Zander holds her bag, and I’m glad she found something and seemed to handle paying all on her own. They're still a bit further back in the store, so I can’t hear what they are saying, but they're both smiling. They stop for a moment, and Zander offers her something on a fork. After a moment, she leans forward and takes a bite, though she still seems hesitant.
The moment her lips curl around the fork, her eyes widen, and I notice the small cup of food in Zander's hand for the first time.
He got her Cinnabon.
Judging by her reaction, I would bet money she’s never had anything like that before, and she seems to be enjoying it.
No wonder he was in such a rush to get to her. Everyone knows it’s best while it's warm, and since it’s on the other side of the mall, he was racing against the clock to get it to her.
“Fuck!” Rick’s voice carries to me, even though he hardly said it louder than a whisper.
I turn to face him and find his eyes on his phone screen.
