Ness's point of view:

I purposely thought of watching another episode of Charmed when I walked back into the living room. Mom and dad both stood up from their relaxed position on the couch. My dad looked at me and asked if I wanted him to get me my DVD collection.

'Actually dad, I was thinking of going out with Sass. Maybe we should go shopping'

Mom laughed. I turned around and saw Alice on the staircase. She paused.

'Would you let me come with Nessie?'

'Aw don't you wish he could see me? Then you could tell me what my answer will be'

She looked down, a line between her eyes.

'Fine' she said and went back upstairs.

'Where is she?' I asked.

'In the library, looking at our DVD collection. She's thinking of Two and a Half Men.

I nodded and headed into the library.

Sass was standing there, with her weight mainly on one foot. She had one hand still on the shelf, and another hand holding open a DVD case. She was reading the blurb, a small smile on her lips.

I sneaked in behind her and sang out 'Guess who?'

She didn't turn around, still mesmerised in reading.

'Hey Ness' then she turned around and looked at me. 'Have you seen this?'

I peered over her shoulder. It was indeed her favourite show.

'Yes, I love it too, but it's mainly for you.'

'Do you mean to say' her voice rose up in a squeak 'that you bought it just for me?!'

'Mm-hmm'

'Oh my god!! Thankyou so much babe! I love you! But wait' she paused 'when did you even buy this?'

'Ever since I found out you loved this show. I bought it for you. I know you don't have the seasons'

She laughed.

'What a terrible fan I am eh?'

I held out my hands, and she reached out as well.

'Do you want to come shopping with me?'

'Do I?!' she paused. 'Who else is coming? Your sister, the one you were telling me about-Alice! Is she coming?'

'No it's okay, you can relax'

Was I mistaken, or was she actually pouting?

'Oh'

'Did you want her to come with?'

'Well…yeah actually' She released my hands and put the DVD back on the shelf. 'She would be able to help with it all'

'Are you kidding? She'll probably make you try out every single good item in the store and then buy it all! She needs to learn 'everything in moderation'.'

Sass made a face.

'Yeah. Alright. So it's just us and Jacob?'

I blinked.

'Sorry?'

'Well, I'm sure now you're going to miss him too much to keep your hands off of each other.'

I bit back a snort. She was describing her own relationships.

'Don't worry about it Sass. It'll give you lines.'

Oh, she mouthed, quickly rubbing the corners of her eyes.

I laughed again.

'Can we leave now then?'

'Sure!'

'Should I wait here while you say a tearful goodbye to your beloved?'

I picked up the nearest soft thing (which was a pillow on a nearby chair) and chucked it at her.

She raised her arms up and said 'Are we good now?'

'Yes. We can leave now'

She grabbed her handbag and threw on a little beret.

'It's summer-' I began to complain.

'Yeah well, I don't want to get freckles!'

I paused and looked at her tanned face.

'Honey, you tan, you don't freckle.'

'Oh yeah?' she pointed at her face, her varnished fingernail poised on some part of her cheekbone. Even with my vampiric eyesight, I couldn't see anything.

'I don't see anything'

'I saw it in the dressing room at Macy's!' she howled.

'Are you sure? Maybe there was some dust on the lights.'

'Yeah. Right. Macy's lights are impeccable'

'Uh huh. So that would mean that even though my infallible eyesight can't see anything on your face, you can?'

She glared at me through a gap in her fringe.

I held her hand as I pulled her through to the living room. Jacob was standing there waiting for me, as well as my mother and father.

'It's bright outside' my father pointed out.

My mother gave him a reproachful look and told me 'Don't worry about it, you can go out. You only give off a slight glow; the type humans give off after putting on lotion. You look wonderful, but not supernaturally so.'

I gave a small grin, and gave her a kiss and my father a hug. I paused at Jacob, who leaned down, and kissed my neck.

Sass pulled me out of the door, and sat in my car with an impish smile. I buckled myself in. The nearest shopping centre was twenty-four miles away. I adjusted my rear mirror again, and then looked back to her. She always made a point of sitting behind me, because according to her dad, that was the safest place to be. She never wanted anyone to sit in the passenger seat.

As I mused over her little habits, we drove over a raised bit of ground.

'Holy moley!' she shrieked as we went over.

'What?' I was afraid my driving, so like that of my family's had scared her.

She looked at me with her piercing green eyes, so stunning with her dark brown hair. Her mouth was open and she looked positively delirious.

'Wow! That was like a roller coaster!'

I looked at her, with my head tilted.

The smile on her face was growing bigger, and soon I could see all of her teeth. She put her earphones in, and fell back into her seat with a look of contentment on her face.

'Let's hear it' I said, motioning to her.

She pulled out of her little bubble, and handed me the iPod. I put it in the loudspeaker and turned the volume up.

'Ahh' I said in understanding.

The strains of 'Here (In Your Arms)' began. Her favourite song.

She smiled even wider.

'Don't you love it too?'

'Yes. It is quite addictive isn't it?'

'You don't like techno though do you?'

'No, not all that much. I prefer Muse'

'Quite old now though aren't they?'

I turned around and gave her a wink.

'They're never old. Never out of style'

She shrugged, and looked out the window.

I followed her line of sight, but where she saw barely anything, I saw a werewolf, moving at a tremendous speed. Was it Jacob, following me here? I narrowed my eyes, and saw that the shapeshifter was moving along the direction we came.

Sass touched my arm, a worried look in her eye.

'It's nothing' I assured her.

'No I know. But what is it?'

'I think it's a werewolf. It just passed us by'

She continued to stare out the window. Then she snapped her head to the front, and gave a small groan. I looked out that way too, and saw the shopping centre's tall building tower over all the other ones. Then I looked down, and noticed the way there was completely blocked with traffic.

Sass put her head in her hands and shook her hair about. Then she moved forward and put her hands on my steering wheel. The sound of my car's horn blew up alarmingly. The cars around us didn't notice, as they were also tooting their own horns. She blew a bit of her hair off her face, and leaned back into her seat.

The driver closest to us turned slightly to look at her. He gave her a small smile and a wink. Then a small line between his eyes grew and he looked to see who the driver of this rather ostentatious car was. He saw me, and his eyes widened. I could hear his heart race faster, and the saliva in his mouth dry up. My soft brown eyes, inherited from my mother, smiled at him. I bit my lip slightly, dimples showing up on my cheeks. I didn't mean for him to become entranced…

Sass gave another groan, and she pushed down on my wheel again.

I turned away from the young man who was still looking at me, and turned to Sass. She noticed the man and said, in standard Sass manner 'He's cute isn't he? Blonde hair, cute face and nice arms'

Then she looked back at me and asked 'Is there any way we can get out of this block?'

I looked around, and noticed a car park on the other side of the road. No one was bothering to park over there, as most people were going to use the shopping centre's underground parking. I turned the car back around, ignoring the angry protests of the drivers, and wedged the car into a small shortcut to the car park.

'I could run us there'

'And you're sure no one would notice?'

I gave a small smile.

'I run fast'

Sass grinned. She loved the exhilarating runs my family gave. Although she noted the speed of the true vampires were faster, she preferred me, as in her words 'You're warm, if not soft'.

She wrapped herself around me, as if giving me a hug from the back. Sass wasn't the only one who loved travelling fast. I needed to give it my all, if no one was to see us. Almost instantly, I pushed my legs to go. The car park melted away, and yet I could see the crowded street go by. The wind flew by (no, I was making wind; we were cutting through air) and before Sass could close her eyes, we were outside the automatic doors.

Her arms were still clamped tightly around me. I nudged her in the sides. She got off, no expression on her face whatsoever. Then her face split in half as she gave the cheesiest smile.

'You should warn me when we're there'

'I did. Before I ran'

She blinked at me. Then she gave me a backhanded hit, and stalked into the shopping centre. I caught up with one skip, and asked her what she needed.

'Well, I really want to buy some summer singlets, cropped blazers, and dresses. I think I've got enough leggings and shorts'

She didn't really like wearing shorts. She said it brought out her thighs.

'What do you want?'

'I'll come with you'

So we went. Perhaps an hour and a half later, we finished the first floor. Sass had this talent of finding something in every store. Alice would be proud. As we were making our way to the escalators carrying the shopping bags, a young blonde man stopped us.

'Would you ladies like a special offer?'

I didn't really care. We had a lot of shopping before us, and just because some one wanted something from us, didn't mean we had to give it to them.

'No thankyou. Excuse me'

'Ness! What do you think we're doing? Of course we would!' She glared at me and then mouthed be polite! And please, I want to see what he's on about.

'It's him! The guy who was winking at you before!' I gasped to her.

He turned around.

'I'm sorry?' Then he looked at me and blinked. His breath got caught in his throat…again.

'It's you!' he blurted out.

'I'm sorry?'

'It's you! I saw you before; when-when there was that traffic block! You-you were driving!'

Sass put one hand on her hips.

'Yeah, and now we're coming with you' I said.

'So what's the special offer?'

'A haircut' he replied to Sass, eyes still on me.

Her eyes open as wide as they would go; she pulled my arm, motioning for the man to keep walking.

'You could use a new hairstyle. I mean, you could go short' she hissed at me out of the little gap between her lips. I rolled my eyes. Sass could get rather jealous, but 'with reason' Aunt Rose always told me.

He didn't take us far, just to this very shiny and full salon close by the escalators.

'Please, sit down' he said to me, pushing me onto the seat closest to the window. He snapped his fingers (!) and some girl ran up and sat Sass down too.

'We'll be right back' he smiled at me.

I gingerly tilted my head back, careful not for my curls to brush past my neck. I looked over at Sass, whose pointed little anime-like nose was scrunched up. I guess the smell was quite bad. It was very overwhelming for me, but I'm not sure what it would be like for a human. Sass stretched out and reached behind her for some magazines. She chucked one over at me.

'Hey!' I called to her.

'What?'

'What do you want?'

She gave a shrug and then betrayed her nonchalant-ness by adding 'Well, my hair (thank god) is long enough for it to be changed completely. But I don't want it cut short! I just think I've outgrown my anime/manga phase'

I blinked. She always looked so adorable and yet so cheeky with her dark brown spiky bangs and her straight hair.

'But you look so great!'

'Yeah…well. Hey what about you? Any changes? You would look good with anything'

'I think I'm just going to get a trim, and get it shaped again'

The blonde man came over again. He seemed determined to cut my hair himself.

'Now' he said 'I have a great new hairstyle I want to try out on you'

'Me? Why me?'

'Because' he said with a small smile 'you would look good with anything, so if God forbid, I do stuff up, it wouldn't matter!' As he said this, he threw a white bib over my head, and pinned it behind me.

'Wait! Are you a Hair and Makeup student or something? Just out of grad school? You shouldn't be experimenting on my hair!' I was about to stand up and rip the stupid bib off when his hands pushed me back down again. I was sure he noticed how hard I was.

'That is why I'm giving you forty percent off'

Sass caught my eye and held her hands up in a pleading stance.

'Fine. But you could do my friend instead. She looks good with anything too, and she's been dying for a new hair style'

He raised one eyebrow. I gave him a glittering smile.

'Alrighty then! Who's ready for a new hair style?' he said, and threw his hands up in the air.

Are you sure he likes you? Sass mouthed at me. He seems to be uh… really girly!

I stifled a giggle and waved at her.

A woman of perhaps in her mid forties came my way.

'Now my dear, do you have anything in mind?'

I smiled at her. She reminded me of Grandma Esme.

'Your hair looks wonderful'

'Oh thankyou dear!'

'Actually I was just looking for a trim, and something that would suit me'

'So something subtle? Something a bit different, but not extremely noticeable?'

'Something along those lines, yes'

She gave me a smile and I looked at her nametag. Eve.

'How's your friend doing?' she said to me.

'Er, pardon?' I glanced over at Sass and the blonde guy, who seemed to be miming something extravagant with his hands.

'That's Leo. He's…a free spirit'

'Is he new?'

'Actually? No, he owns the place'

'What?'

'Mm yes he does. Looks can be deceiving, this year is his thirtieth birthday' Eve pulled back sections of my hair and pinned them up. I contemplated that, as she trimmed my hair, and cut me a fringe. She really seemed to know what she was doing. I just hoped that despite what Sass and I thought of Chris, he was doing a good job on her too.

Yay it took me a couple of tries, but I finally finished writing and editing this chapter! It's been changed a bit, so if you have read this story before, you might want to read it again, as I've added/deleted things. R&R too!