I tap my foot impatiently, settling further into the plush leather couch. "This is ridiculous Ace. Why should I have to buy you clothes? For that matter, why do I have to wait here while you spend my money?"
She steps out of the change room, and my breath catches. This could be dangerous. I think as I take in the barely decent black skirt and tight blue sweater. "We had this discussion already Logan. You made the coffee go away; therefore I wandered around all day in my pyjamas. Now, we have to have dinner at my grandmother's, and don't have time to go back to Yale so I can change."
"Yes, but why do I have to pay again?"
"You're the one who made the coffee go away." She repeats, turning to me and placing her hands on her hips. "Good?" she asks, twirling a bit.
I swallow deeply. "Good." I nod.
She walks closer, and holds the tags before me. "I'm going to grab my stuff so we can go get shoes." She smiles.
I grab her arm as she walks away. "You never said anything about shoes Ace." I say darkly. Shoe shopping?
She looks back at me with one eyebrow arched. "If you honestly think I can get away with wearing my torn sneakers A) with this outfit and B) to my grandmother's for dinner, we'll head right on over to her house now."
I sigh, and loosen my grip on her arm so that my hand falls to grasp hers lightly. "Shoes?" I offer lamely, locking my eyes with hers.
She bites her lip a bit. "I promise to be quick." She offers. "We're going to be late as it is, and I may have neglected to tell her you're coming." She shuffles into the change room and I cross to the checkout, handing the salesgirl the tags and my credit card."
"You know that if she wears them out they'll be final sale, right?" the girl asks calmly.
I smile. "Yeah. I figured as much."
I feel her come up behind me, and glance down as she drops her pyjamas on the counter. "Could you hand me a bag?" she asks the girl.
"I can put those in for you."
Ace waves a hand. "Don't worry about it. I'll stuff them in on my way across the mall." She explains, taking the offered bag, and then glancing at me. "I'll be at ALDO." She grins, and walks out.
I glance back at the salesgirl, and shrug. "How much?"
"Eighty-three fifty nine, including the stockings." She offers.
I stare at her. "What stockings?"
The girl laughs. "The ones for the garter she grabbed while you were busying yourself staring at her ass." She hands me a slip, and I quickly sign it, noticing Ace on her phone. "Meeting the family?"
I glance back. "It's a little more complicated than that. We're not dating, but I have to apologize to her mother for something."
She lifts her eyebrows. "You're not dating?" she asks incredulously.
"No."
"Huh."
I shake my head, and head out of the store. Why did she sound so surprised by that? I approach Ace and smile as she flips her phone closed. "Consider yourself lucky. I bought us all of ten minutes to pick out, try on, and buy me a pair of shoes." She comments.
"This is lucky because?"
She smiles. "I am notorious for not being able to decide on a proper pair of shoes. It's one of my few girlie vices." She offers, and hurries into the store.
I can't help but stare at her legs as she walks away from me. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. This is not the time, or the place to be thinking about the fact that you just bought her a garter. You're on your way to her GRANDMOTHER'S house for Christ's sake. Shaking my head, I walk slowly into the store, only to find she is quite literally surrounded by shoeboxes. "How could you possibly have managed to find that many shoes in the thirty seconds you've been in here?" I ask carefully.
She smiles slightly, blushing a bit. "Like I said, I'm not very good at choosing shoes, so I just walked in and told them to start bringing things out in my size." She shrugs as a salesperson brings over three more boxes.
"She has enough." I say quickly to him, and take a seat next to her. "So what should we be looking for?"
"You're going to help?"
"The faster you pick, the sooner we get to leave." I offer, glancing down at her legs again. Damn.
"Good point." She glances at the shoes carefully, picking up a few here and there.
"Ace, we don't have time for this." I comment a couple minutes later.
She sighs. "I know. But I swear, it's between the black sling backs, knee high boots, and pumps."
I look at the distress on her face. "Don't ever tell anyone I did this." I say darkly, and then look at the guy. "She'll take them all. Can you just ring them up?"
"Logan, you don't have to –
"Will it get us out of here faster?" I ask, swallowing as she slides on the five inch heeled sling backs.
"Well, yeah, but the boots are like two hundred dollars."
I look at her sharply. "For a pair of shoes?"
"For a pair of knee high, lambskin leather stiletto boots."
I look at the salesperson. "Ring them up. If we stay here any longer she'll find more."
"Did you see those pink ballet slipper style shoes?" she asks.
"Those too, but that's it." I tell the guy, handing him my credit card, and then turn back to her. "And only because I'm hoping it'll impact this so called retribution of yours."
Her smile sends chills down my spine. "I stand by my word. What I have planned for you is a thousand times worse than retribution."
The sales guy comes back with the receipt and a bag, and I sign quickly as she walks out of the store. She should wear heels more often.
