She Asks Your Opinion A Lot

On the way to the Merch store, Emily tries to feel you out a little bit on your style preferences. She asks you a bunch of questions about what you like to wear, what you normally have on, etc.

She even gets a little bit on the bolder side on occasion and starts to ask you what you think is cute, what you find attractive, etc. which surprises you probably a little bit more than it should. Instead of focusing on teasing you on the way there, she simply tries to get to know your style tastes a little bit better, which likewise probably surprises you a bit.

While she’s definitely enjoying teasing you and making fun of you, undoubtedly, it is still somewhat clear that she’s doing so because she has some level of interest in you. Otherwise she wouldn’t have gone to eat with you, wanted you to go with her around campus, and she wouldn’t spend half the day alone with a boy she didn’t at least have a positive opinion on. Even if you aren’t being the most manly macho man alpha like you are on the field, at least you’re not being toxic or rude or mean to her.

Besides, you get the feeling she kinda likes being in charge and in control a little bit. Even if you may think it’s your role to take the lead and you have this idea in your head that as the guy you should be the assertive one, she can tell you’re new to the whole talking to girls thing. She likes that you want to be respectful and make her happy for the most part. Being manly and tough is about timing and situations, you realize. You are still strong, and even if she makes you feel **** and weak to her sometimes, you can still be a little bit dominant in certain areas too.

The more you think about it, the store is the perfect case to showcase some of that. While she seems to be pretty excited about the idea of shopping in any form, you kind of just shrug it off. You understand now why she wanted to go here of course, but it’s not something that excites you the same way it does her.

“Lucas… Are you alive in there, hollow head?” She asks, knocking lightly on your head. You chuckle and nod.

“Yeah, I’m just not super excited about shopping is all.” You shrug. “I am a guy still, you know.” You remind her almost as if she needs to be reminded after how dominant she’s been lately. She smiles a little bit, glad to see that you’re not a complete wimp and you are at least a little bit masculine. You take that as a win, and better yet, it slows her down a little bit too. Even though you know you’re still not completely in charge of this situation, she’s proven that she is at least for now, it’s nice to get the little wins when you can get them and prove to her that you’re worth it. Being a puppet isn’t what she wants either. You can tell she kinda likes the idea of control and power, but she still wants the boy to have his own opinions and ideas and beliefs that are different from hers and put up a little bit of resistance. That’s what makes it fun for her.

“You know, some guys do like shopping…” She tries half heartedly, just to see if maybe you’ll be weak enough to go along with it, but you obviously don’t bite.

“I’m not one of them. I shop because I have to, or because I want something specific. Not because I enjoy it or want to go to every store in the mall.” You explain to her. You don’t know whether she’s disappointed that she can’t tease you about this, or whether she’s glad that you have a masculine energy when it comes to this. Probably a little bit of both.

Once you get to the store, she keeps trying to ask for your opinion, but ultimately you’re pretty blunt and honest with her, which was not what she was expecting at all. She was expecting you to kinda just say stuff like “I like everything you wear” or “You look cute regardless” or something at least once at some point. Instead, you hold the line and just straight up give her your opinion on what you like vs. what you don’t when she asks you. She seems to have mixed feelings about this too. She likes and respects the honesty, but not outright complimenting her leaves her slightly disappointed. It becomes very clear that if she wants someone to tell her everything looks good and that she should get everything in the store, she’s going to need to find an actual girl to go with her, and that you won’t be that for her.

Ultimately, she has **** but to let you be you on this one, with you taking a major step forward in proving your manliness to her. Maybe you are a true alpha guy after all. This boosts your confidence a good bit, though you still look for some Cardinal gear and pick up a hat and shirt you like to not make it a wasted trip. You find what you want in the span of under 5 minutes, while she excitedly looks around the whole shop, going back and forth from aisle to aisle, wall to wall, shelf to shelf, double checking things, looking in mirrors, and doing other girly stuff.

After about a half hour of her going through the entire store, she finally turns around and looks back at you. “You already found what you want?” She looks surprised, as if you shouldn’t even be close to deciding.

“Yeah, I decided like, a half hour ago.” You tell her bluntly. Her jaw drops, almost as if in horror at this fact. This makes you chuckle a little bit. “I’m a guy. I find what I want, and then I leave. Simple.”

“That’s so boring! You’re such a guy!” She crosses her arms, fake pouting. “How do you even know what you want if you haven’t looked at everything yet! Have you even looked at the pants aisle, or the shorts aisle, did you even think to look at the accessories?” She asks on speedrun form.

“Nope. Not today.” You say simply shrugging. She looks like she saw a ghost. The way you just completely dismissed looking down every single aisle at every single thing in the store like that in just 3 words was a total shock to her system that she was NOT expecting.

After about 5 seconds at just staring at you in shock and horror, she finally realizes she can’t actually win this one for a change. You’ve finally stood tough and actually, truly resisted her, taking control of this situation. You aren’t going so far as to be rude or mean and telling her she has to hurry or we need to go and rushing her, you aren’t that bold, but it’s still a clear stance that you two can be a little bit dominant if you want to be some times, and you definitely do still have your own thoughts that aren’t just do what she wants.

“Fine… I was hoping you would enjoy this as much as I do.” She tries one last tactic looking sad and disappointed that you don’t enjoy shopping as much as she does, trying to see how you’ll react to this. One more time, you have to find the perfect guy answer. What to say back to this that won’t make her mad or cry, but also won’t make you look weak either…