"Okay girls, I know the last two weeks have been up and down crazy, but now we are going to return to sanity by shopping our assess off for the cutest dresses we can possibly find." I informed them both sternly as we walked into the mall. "I don't care if I have to limp around all day, we are going to be hot, gorgeous and downright sexy. So, to the shops, ladies." Taking charge of the situation, as it seems like both Allison and surprisingly Lydia did not seem to be in the mood for dress shopping for the winter formal. Something was going on between the two of them, a tension in the air that I could almost taste in my mouth and it was really starting to bug me. "Okay, what is with you two?"
"What makes you think something's up?" Lydia immediately answered, twirling her hair as we stepped onto the escalator to head up a floor.
"Nothing's wrong, I just…I have a lot on my mind." Rather unhelpful, Allison, considering you look as sour as a lemon right now. Seriously, this was supposed to be fun! Considering the fact I've been on bed rest for the past two weeks, this has been the first time I've been allowed out by my mom to go dress shopping for formal which I had every intention of attending, and these two are really killing the mood.
"You could smile, at least. Ever heard of the saying, 'never frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile'?" I sent Lydia a look, knowing full well that she was not into all that fortune cookie crap. "Smile, Allison. I'm buying you a dress."
"Have to admit as far as apologies go, that's more than I expected." Alright, so there was something going on between them. You know what? I'm not going to even ask why Lydia has to apologise to Allison for something, but if she was buying her a dress then it had to be some massive ass apology. "But not as much as I'm going to ask." Reaching the top of the escalator the three of us stepped off, Lydia's face dropping into an expression of panic.
"What? What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you're going to cancel on whatever dumb, roided-up jock you said yes to and you're going to go with somebody else." Looking across to the perfume stand, I saw none other than that Stiles boy who had always had the hugest crush on Lydia. Oh this is going to be good. "Him." As much as I loved Lydia, I couldn't help but also revel in her horror as Allison smiled almost mockingly at her. "Don't frown, Lydia. Someone could be falling in love with your smile." Maybe this shopping trip is going to be fun after all.
In any case, Lydia agreed to Allison's terms and I couldn't help but ask what that had all been about, but Lydia refused to tell me, grumpily grabbing dresses left right and centre and tossing them to Stiles for him to catch. Well I guess if she's stuck with the guy it makes sense to use him as she saw fit. "Oh, okay, so are you just gonna try these on right now? All of them?" The poor boy obviously did not understand just how girls shopped, this was nothing. All around me I could sense the internal pain of tortured young adolescents and their despair made me feel so much better about myself. since their life seemed to suck at the moment, mine was looking pretty great in comparison.
Now, to focus on the real mission at hand. Finding a knockout dress to make myself feel better about my scratched up and mangled leg. With several candidates already having asked me to the formal, I had to think about which dress would go with which guy so that I wouldn't clash with his appearance and such. This was a serious business and I was determined to be the most beautiful girl at that dance, Lydia and Allison aside. Maybe even prettier than them, who knows? Several dresses had caught my eye and I was beginning to collect them one by one in my size, looking at their style, material and colour when I looked through a rail towards Allison who was standing in front of a mirror with a dress in hand only to be approached by some stranger.
All at once I dropped the dresses in my arms, feeling them fall to the floor as I became overcome by the sense of danger and the feeling of fear towards that man who was now focused entirely on Allison. I couldn't understand how I felt it, but when I saw him I could feel this burning, unprecedented rage which seemed to tear away internally, a wrath which made him destructive and someone you would want to avoid at all costs. And he was talking to Allison. "That's not your colour." Also, what the hell would a guy know about colour coordination? Please. "Sorry if that was intrusive, but considering your skin tone, I'd go lighter." Jerking myself awake from the freaky sensations I'd just experienced, I hurriedly grabbed the dresses back off the floor to put them back on a random rail, keeping an eye on Allison.
"Because I'm pale?"
"Fair. I mean, you can't call skin like yours pale. Not skin that perfect." Stalker much? Seriously, this guy was trouble and Allison needs to get away from him immediately. Call it a gut feeling, a sixth sense or anything you want, but something in me seemed to instinctively know that this guy had not approached her with pure intentions. In fact, something in the back of my mind seemed to whisper that he intended to hurt her somehow. Literally. I could hear whispers in the back of my head, drowning out all background noise to a blank nothingness, focusing only on the stranger's voice and Allison's. "Trust me, I have a unique perspective on the subject. Do you mind?"
Having picked up a dress of a paler colour, the stranger reached out to take Allison's hand in order to keep her with him, fingers reaching across the distance towards her but before I even knew what was happening, I was right there beside her and my hand grabbed hold of the stranger's wrist to stop him, keeping him from touching Allison. I could practically feel my vision swimming, the voices in my head whispering as my own came out in a lulling murmur as the stranger stared at me in surprise. "You're dangerous." All of my instincts had propelled me into action and making me speak without even knowing what I was saying, but as the stranger and I faced one another down, neither of us backed down.
It was only when the loudspeaker dialled that I suddenly snapped awake, blinking in confusion and frowning as I looked around me, wondering how the hell did I get over here when last I remembered, I was standing two rows over. "Attention shoppers. To the owner of a blue Mazda, license plate…"
"Did she just say a blue Mazda?" Listening to the license plate, Allison hurriedly searched for her keys. "That's my car!" Letting go of the stranger I awkwardly glanced his way, frowning in confusion before hurriedly limping after Allison, wanting to get away from him as fast as possible.
"Ali. Allison. Allison!" Grabbing her arm to slow her down so that I didn't have to power walk after her, I ignored the throbbing sensation in my leg in order to talk to her in a panicked whisper. "Who the hell was that?! Did you know him? Why'd he walk up to you like that?"
"I don't know I have no idea who he is, he just suddenly came up to me and started talking about my skin tone. Apparently it's 'fair'." Okay, now that is just creepy.
"I'm getting security." I decided instantly, not wanting to take any chances that this guy might be some psycho who was stalking Allison and probably other cute girls in the store. What the heck was a guy doing in here anyway? This was the women's floor.
"What? No, no I'm sure it's fine, he was probably just trying to be helpful or nice or…"
"Allison, you're cute and all, but one day that naivety of yours is going to get you killed." I told her bluntly, making her mouth slam shut. "People aren't always nice, and that guy…he just felt off, okay? Usually my impressions of people are right on the mark and I did not like him one bit. Don't trust him, don't let him talk to you ever again, you understand me?" As I talked, my eyes had focused in on hers and she seemed to space out a little, agreeing to my instructions a little dopily. Honestly, what would this girl do without me? I let her go to sort out the problem whilst I found security and told them what had just happened, demanding that they either remove the guy from the store or warn him not to approach us again.
"Thank you ma'am, we'll take care of it. Can you give a description or point him out to us?" Fully willing to do so, I scanned the store in order to find the guy but had no luck, so I gave a detailed description of his appearance, down to his shoes and the scent of his deodorant. Hugo Boss. Guess the guy liked expensive. I'm more of an Armani girl myself. Thankfully the stalker didn't show up again so we all bought our dresses in peace, Stiles being left to carry the bags as I opted to take a break from standing, feeling my leg starting to throb.
"Are you okay? Do you need some help?" Allison asked me as I sat down for a minute, stretching out my leg and wincing when I touched where the bandages kept the injuries covered.
"You know if you'd used the crutches like the doctor said you should, you wouldn't be hurting right now." Lydia told me smartly so I just rolled my eyes at her. Like I was going to walk around with a couple of crutches like some invalid. No way. Those things are ugly.
"You know what? Maybe a break is a good idea. We should get some food or something." Stiles suggested, drowning under all the bags we three girls had bought.
"I can't, my dad has enforced curfew and wants me back home soon." Allison informed us all but I merely waved my hand dismissively.
"We'll stop at a drive through to grab something, your dad won't mind us being a little late if I explain things, he loves me." Shoot, I still haven't thanked the guy for saving me from being eaten by a cougar. Should I buy him something as a thank you? What kind of gift do you buy an arms trader? Maybe I should ask Allison, also I should probably ask her if she'd find it weird if I bought him something. Maybe she'd have a better idea. You know what? I can't think right now, I'll just thank the guy when I see him and worry about it later.
"Then we should probably get going." Lydia urged us, so with a deep breath I got up onto my feet and walked slowly back to the car. We'd taken mine since I'd felt up to driving on the way here, but now my leg was hurting maybe I should have thought this through. Still, I played it off and just drove carefully, picking up food along the way and eating before dropping people off. Lydia was first and then Stiles who was awkward the entire time and usually either talked nonstop about boring crap or not at all. Such a weird kid.
When it was just me and Allison, I took the opportunity to talk to her about some things, sensing that she had a lot on her mind. "So, tell me what's been bothering you all day."
"What do you mean?" Trying to play dumb Allison? Really?
"Come on. You've been miserable all day and have barely spoken a word the entire time. This was supposed to be fun! Yet here we have you stuck in your own head about something that's obviously bothering you and Lydia who's torn up about Jackson been an absolute ass, which he's always been. So come on, fess up. What's going on?"
"It's just family stuff. I can't really talk about it to anyone but I…I don't know what to do. I feel like ever since coming to Beacon Hills everything has just become one thing after another and I don't know how to handle it." Hearing her voice break slightly I slowed down the car so that I could reach across and hold her hand.
"Well, whatever it is, you can always talk to me about it. I know I'm usually focused on myself and don't have time for other people, but this is clearly bothering you so much that it's affecting you mentally and physically." I told her gently as I came to a stop at a red light, pausing a moment before I began to speak again. "No matter what expectations people place on you, there is nothing in this world that dictates that you have to do anything someone else wants you to." Having no idea where these words were coming from, I just went with the flow and continued. "Whatever it is your family has done which has you all freaked out like this, you don't have to be a part of it."
"Wow." Allison breathed, staring at me as the light changed and we went forwards. "I really needed to hear that. Thank you."
"No problem. It's a gift I have." Boasting proudly, I smiled as I took a right in order to take her home. Pulling up about fifteen minutes after her curfew, her dad came out of the house and folded his arms as she got out the car, groaning to herself. From the look on Mr Argent's face, he was not happy. Quickly I unbuckled myself and got out as well, stepping up so that I could smile brightly at Mr Argent. "Hey Mr Argent! I'm so sorry she's late it was all my fault, I had to stop and take a break for a while because my leg had started to hurt. Please don't be mad at her?" I begged him cutely as Allison gathered her stuff.
His shoulders relaxed and his arms dropped to his sides, nodding acceptingly before coming down the porch and onto the driveway. "It's not a problem, thank you for bringing her home. How's the leg?"
"Well, I didn't lose it so that's something at least." I joked, giving a smile as I turned my leg to show him the bandages. "Unfortunately it'll scar, but I guess I should be grateful that's all that happened. You know, I never got the chance to thank you for what you did. You saved my life, Mr Argent."
"It was nothing, I'm just glad you're alright now." He said as he looked over to Allison and the numerous bags she carried. "I see you girls had a good time. I'm not going to check my bank account and start despairing for my losses am I?" Allison shook her head with a small smile, explaining that Lydia had paid for her dress and I had paid for some new shoes and accessories. The rest were just additions Lydia and I had felt her closet desperately needed. "Really? Well that was very nice of you girls. You take good care of my daughter."
"It's our pleasure Mr Argent. It's a belated birthday gift for Allison since we didn't get a chance to celebrate much on her birthday." Turning up the charm, I gave Mr Argent one of my dazzling smiles before hugging Allison goodbye. "See you in school tomorrow!"
"Yeah, thanks again for everything." Going into the house, Mr Argent said he'd be in a second, making me pause. I got the sense that he wanted to ask me something, and when I looked at him again, a chill fluttered down my spine. His usually warm eyes were now wary and distant, looking at me suspiciously for a brief moment before he collected himself and returned to being Allison's good looking father.
"Back at the school, when the cougar attacked, you didn't happen to notice anything strange did you?"
"You mean other than a mountain lion suddenly appearing at a teacher parent conference?" Yeah, other than that, no.
"Exactly." Thinking with pursed lips I shook my head, unable to remember anything odd happening that might have drawn it to the car park or anything else otherwise. "What I mean is, when you screamed." Huh? "You have a pretty impressive set of lungs there Cordy, I could have sworn I saw some windows shaking." Oh right, the windows. I'd almost completely forgotten about that.
"Well, I don't tell a lot of people this but I think I can trust you Mr Argent, you seem like a man who can keep a secret." I told him a little flirtatiously, unable to help myself. Mr Argent blinked but nodded his head, looking at me steadily as I smirked and stepped a little closer, lowering my voice to a whisper. "You see…I sing opera." The look on his face was well worth it, it dropped in half a second and he stared at me in utter confusion. "Yep, I like classical music and I sing opera. I have a four octave range which is very impressive. I can hit notes so high I've been able to make crystal ring because of the pitch. Impressive, am I right?"
"Wow, I am impressed. So when you screamed like that, you just hit a pitch that resonated with the glass around you?" Nodding my head, I flashed him a big smile as I pushed back my hair from my face.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to but I was in a panic because I thought I was going to get eaten. I think part of me hoped that if I could reach a pitch that only animals could hear like a dog whistle, it would just send the cougar away or something dumb like that. Thankfully you were there to save the day, although it's a shame the cougar had to be shot, I'd rather it than me." All previous wariness was now completely gone from Mr Argent's face, smiling at me warmly as he gestured with a nod of his head.
"Well, I'm glad you're all in one piece. You take care of that leg and be careful getting yourself home. If it's bothering you I could give you a ride and leave your car here?" Tempting, but I didn't like the idea of leaving my car behind and I was already owing this guy my life, I would be a real sucky person if I accepted anymore favours off of him.
"I'll be okay, but thank you." Saying goodbye, I paused a moment to consider telling him that Allison was having some problems with something to do with the family, but decided against it. It wasn't any of my business, and I didn't want to make matters worse for her by snitching on her. So with a final wave to Mr Argent, I drove off to head home, frowning to myself and wondering, when did everything in our lives get so ambiguous and complicated?