The next day was insanely cold. On the news the following morning, while I slid downstairs wrapped in a blanket, the weather man warned the viewers of a cold front hitting Washington and neighboring states. Great; I had little to no winter clothes. I sat down next to Evey on the couch as she sipped her tea, watching the man explain incoming rain and snow showers. Snow. My eyes lit up and Evey chuckled next to me.
"What?" I asked her, who just continued to chuckle. "You know I love snow."
"I know I know. It's just quite funny how you react to the news sometimes," she set her tea down and leaned back on the couch, arm slung behind me. She rubbed my blanket covered shoulder and said with a questioning expression, "I know you love snow, but how in the world are you going to survive with the clothes you brought?"
I shrugged and she smirked. "It's not my fault Mexico is the hottest place on earth."
She looked at the TV screen and put her hands behind her head, "True. But if we're going to survive this winter, we need to get some proper clothes." Oh no, I knew what was going to come. She better not say it. She better not.
"We need to go shopping."
No! Anything but that. As much as I needed clothes, I hated shopping with Evey because she always took forever to buy things, especially shoes and purses. I groaned in reply, knowing that I had no choice but to give in. "Okay... fine... but ONLY for winter clothes. I do have to get boots, but if we end up in the store for more than two hours, I'm leaving and heading back home, by myself." She nodded to say she got the message.
"When do you want to leave?" she asked, standing up and taking her tea to the sink to dump. I continued watching the news, not hearing her until she slapped the back of my head. I protested and she crossed her arms at me.
"What?" I softly growled, rubbing where she slapped me.
"We're going to leave in an hour, be ready by then okay?" she stated. I nodded in reply still rubbing my head. She walked off to her room and I continued watching the news a bit more. One story startled me: a kid was declared missing this past month, and it was sometime this week that somebody found him. The lady who found him ended up in the hospital and claimed that the boy attacked her then ran off. It startled me, like this boy changed from a sweet loving son to a monster. I shivered and turned off the TV unsuccessfully. There were too many remotes so I left it going. I trotted up the stairs to get ready. The only warm clothes I had was a gray, midriff sweater and skinny jeans. I wore a dark green camisole underneath the sweater and started to apply some makeup when I heard Evey shouting at me to hurry up. I combed my hair the best I could, which was less curly as hell, and hopped downstairs. I had one pair of boots, knee-high and brown. I rarely wore them, and when I tugged them on in the Jeep (Evey was able to use one from the res) my toes had limited room.
The drive to Seattle was long, and the roads were growing busier by the minute. It must be because of early holiday shopping. It was just the start of November, so I could understand. I slunk lower in my seat though, knowing that our shopping spree will take longer than an hour. Great…
Once we claimed a parking spot on the outskirts of the mall parking lot, Evey and I nearly sprinted to go inside. Neither of us had coats nor jackets, so we were freezing our butts off even when we got inside the building. Shivering like crazy, I told Evey, "W-We sh-should get c-coats first…" She nodded and we took a look at a mall directory to find our way.
After a good hour of shopping, I craved for the couch back at home. I was carrying nearly all of our bags and Evey was busy helping me pick the right type of boots. I liked the knee-high boots and was trying some on while Evey was sweet-talking one of the workers. Sighing, I kicked off the black boots out of disgust. They weren't leather and were attracting a lot of lint. Plus, they were a bit too big. I ran a hand through my ever-so-curly hair and glanced around. There were enough people here to call it a danger if there was a fire. But I couldn't do anything about it so I waited until Evey was done. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the perfect pair of boots. Checking to make sure Evey was close enough in case somebody tried to take our bags, I walked over in just socks and took them off their display. They were perfect, and a good price too. I glanced up just when Evey called me over to see that blonde man again. He was in the men's section and was walking around. I was frozen on the spot, watching him eye the shoes. As if he sensed me staring at him, he looked over at me and also stopped. His eyes were golden, an odd color on anybody, and he was as pale as me.
"Alaina!" Evey turned me around by the shoulder harshly. I spun on my heel still holding the boots. She was about to scold me on ignoring her when she saw what I had. "Oh sweetie those boots are adorable! Have you tried them on? Let me get you your size." She talked to that same worker again and he brought out my size. They were perfect and Evey beamed. I let out a stuttering sigh of relief, glad that I finally found a pair and that that man wasn't staring at me anymore. Well was he? As we checked out I scanned the men's section. He wasn't there anymore and that left an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I thought the man was still in Mexico, but I guess he followed me here. Maybe I should tell Evey? I thought as we walked out towards the Jeep. We were wearing our new jackets, mine a dark green almost black suede jacket. The thought about the man never left my mind, and I was brought back to reality when a car horn blared. I jumped, dropping the bags I was holding and slipped on the asphalt. Wincing, I sat up to see an SUV towering over me. He almost hit me; I must've walked in front of him without knowing. He honked again and I scrambled for the bags with the help of Evey.
"Dear god Al," she said as we jogged out of the road. She was horrified that I almost got ran over and kept close to me as we arrived at the Jeep. I shivered, trying to shove the thought of that man out of my mind. He felt important, that I needed to know who he was, but I didn't want to alarm Evey. "Al, are you alright?"
We were now driving and I rubbed one of my temples. I shook my head slightly and a reassuring hand rested on my leg. "S-Sorry… just… shaken up…" I muttered out. I was, but mostly because of how much that man affected me. What was so important about him that caused him to be there all the time? He's following me, it's quite obvious. But why me? Is he planning to kidnap me? Is he part of the government? Is he a spy?
"Al, I want you to take a bath today alright? Or at least a shower, you look like you've seen a ghost," Evey said while pulling onto the freeway. It did feel like I saw a ghost. The man had the palest skin in the world and had those strange gold eyes. Maybe he wasn't real. Just a figment of my imagination.
I nodded in response, "A bath sounds good… but wasn't Sam going to introduce me to the… 'boys'?" I almost forgot about that. Plus, I wanted to take a swim.
Evey shrugged, "You can still meet them, but after your bath. I want you to relax first. I'll make you some hot cocoa when we get home."
"Sounds good," I replied while looking out the window. A small white thing landed on the glass and my mouth opened in surprise. More clung to the glass and I smiled happily. It was snowing, the first snow I've seen in a long time. The road ahead of us started to grow more hazy due to the weather, and red lights turned on one by one. It was going to be a long drive back home, but I didn't care. I rolled down the window despite Evey's complaint of the cold and stuck my head out. The snow felt good against my skin and I laughed despite my concern about that man. Washington was known for its recurring snow. I was going to like it here.
The warm towel wrapped around my body slipped and I struggled to keep it in place. I was trying to untangle my hair while the tub drained. Sam told me he was going to introduce me to the boys around 3:30, and it was a quarter after. I didn't want to look like a slob, so I added a bit more makeup and tried to straighten my hair. The humidity in the bathroom wasn't helping. Sighing, I gave up on my hair and trotted into my room, the cold floor making me hop up and down.
"Alaina! Sam's here!" I heard Evey call as I slipped on a sweater. I tugged on my worn jeans and shouted back, "Coming!" I decided not to swim today since I already took a bath. When I was halfway downstairs, I heard Sam and Evey talking about me. I could hear words like "different," "dislike," and a couple others that were hard to make out. Taking a deep breath, I made my steps more defined as I came down, causing both of them to stop whispering and look at me.
"Do you have your coat? It's really cold outside," Evey said with a smile. She was tense; she was hiding something from me. I nodded, not wanting to show that I heard their conversation earlier and grabbed my coat off a chair.
"Ready?" Sam asked with a bit of concern in his voice. Again I nodded, knowing he was unsure about me meeting the guys. It was obvious they weren't going to like me. Sighing to myself, I followed him outside to be welcomed by the falling snow. I smiled as we walked towards the beach. There was a large group of guys kicking around a soccer ball; one of my favorite sports. They were pushing each other around and laughing, shouting, teasing each other. Like brothers, I thought to myself when Sam called out to them in some bird call. They all stopped and I got a better look at them. They all looked the same: tan/brown skin, burly and toned, dark hair, etc. It felt like I was living amongst clones. Plus, they all looked at me the same way Billy did, like a piece of meat.