Shopping Date

Borrowing a change of clothes from Paige, I had mixed feelings about my girlfriend’s change in style. Kaylee always managed a professional hotness to her. There were moments where she had that casual look about her, but more often than not, she went with a clean and expensive style that highlighted her fantastic looks. A perfect balance between presenting herself seriously and flaunting what made her irresistible.

Paige’s style skipped the serious side and went full flaunting.

Kaylee’s current outfit was a black crop top that seemed a size too small, a jacket, and jeans that were so full of holes, I wondered what the point of them was. It wasn’t the outfit for the middle of winter, but she didn’t seem to care. I don’t think other people did either. Heads turned everywhere we went. Envious looks from girls and lustful ones from boys. Kaylee was putting it all out there and making it abundantly clear to everyone who she belonged to. Her clinging to me was a horrific mismatch of epic proportions but she wouldn’t let me go for a moment. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was terrified that letting me go would have me run off at a moment's notice.

We still hadn’t talked about last night. I knew she was dying to talk about it, but I wasn’t ready. After a night's sleep and a long morning of reflection, I had the answer to her questions but didn’t have the words figured out. A part of me enjoyed last night. As much as I hated to admit that, I couldn’t run from that truth forever. The issue wasn’t that it existed, it was figuring out the part that rejected everything. Judging from my reaction, something had been off. I’d sat through countless tales of Kaylee and other guys. There were a few things that made last night different, but which one was causing the meltdown? Her giving me a handjob? The way she told it? Talking about how she was thinking of me during it? Or was it because she was my girlfriend now and that changed everything?

I didn’t know, and more importantly, was it important to know? Was this something I wanted to be comfortable with?

It wasn’t hard to figure out Kaylee’s feelings about how things went. There was no mistaking the enjoyment and pleasure in her voice. Glancing over at her, she caught me looking and gave me a dazzling smile oblivious to my thoughts. Once more, I found myself contemplating how to mold myself better to her wants and desires. It infuriated me how naturally that came to me. My instinct was to automatically adapt myself to her while asking nothing in return. Well, not nothing. I never wanted for her attention and affection.

We needed to find our balance, but I had no idea how to do that when I was so god damn malleable and sensitive to her wants and desires and her being a hammer, beating things to fit her needs.

“Oh! We should stop in here!” Kaylee said, tugging at my arm for my attention. Looking over to where she was looking, I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

“I’m not buying my sister lingerie for her birthday.”

Kaylee rolled her eyes. “Not for her.” She frowned. “Unless you aren’t interested in me wearing something like that.” I followed her finger to the window display. That was stupidly expensive for something that had so little fabric involved in its construction.

“I let you go in there, I have to let you go into the next store. And the next. And the next, and the next—”

“Okay, okay,” she said with a pout. Her eyes lingered on the display. I had to admit, imagining that on her…

No. I needed to be strong. She would spend hours in there and then every other store that caught her attention. We were here for one thing and one thing only: a gift for Paige.

“Do you even know what you are going to get her?”

“Yep.” She looked surprised. “What? Don’t think I know what my own sister wants?” She nodded. “Hey!”

“You two are so drastically different. It’s hard to think of you as twins.”

“You and me both.”

“So? What are you getting her?” she asked as we continued walking.

I pointed to a store in the distance and saw Kaylee’s face twist into disapproval. “A gift card to Trendy Topixs.”

“Ugh. That is two negatives right there. First, a gift card? Really? And secondly… A gift card to there? Your sister doesn’t even shop there!”

“Sure she does.”

Kaylee was frowning as she looked up at me. “I’ve seen her wardrobe. She wouldn’t be caught dead in anything from that place.”

I was grinning ear to ear. “Oh, how little you know…” She eyed me suspiciously. “Paige loves that poppy boy band music to death. Trendy Topixs is pretty much the only place that has any decent selection of boy band merch. Thus, the best gift to get her is from here.”

She was silent for a moment. “Okay. But a gift card? Really?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what all she has already, and I can’t tell one band apart from the other. Best to let her pick out what she wants on her own. Besides, that isn’t the only gift I’m giving her.” Kaylee gave me a look with her eyebrows raised. “I got her two tickets to go see Steel Guns. It’s a bit of a drive since it’s in the state over, but I figure she’d enjoy the road trip.”

“Wow. That must have set you back.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah… It was more of a, ‘My idea and Mom and Dad pay for most of it’ sort of thing.”

“Which is why you're also getting her the gift card.”

“I figure she’ll buy some Steel Gun stuff to wear to the concert.”

“I suppose that is acceptable.”

“So glad you approve.”

Tilting her head back, she grinned at me. “If you get me a gift card for my birthday…” Her voice was honeyed, but the threat was loud and clear.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“That’s great to hear! Come on. After this, I want to grab something to eat and there are a few stores I want to check out.”

I resisted a sigh. Of course she did…