Emily cocked an eyebrow. The attendant said what now?
“Excuse me, who do you exactly mean by ‘boyfriend’?” She asked politely, checking her temper. She had a feeling she knew who the attendant talked about but… she didn’t want to say it or it might be taken the wrong way.
“Have I made a wrong perception?” The attendant quickly corrected her mistake, “My apologies. If the fit is right, we can have it wrapped up.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you.”
“Actually, is there any way to have the laces of the bow be stitched as additional sleeves?” Jae cut in. All eyes in the room pointed at him, the sharpest pair belonging to Emily.
“Is there a problem with the sleeves?” the attendant tilted her head.
“I’m merely wondering out loud. Nothing serious,” he explained. Jae found the temptation to respond to the attendant’s words as the ‘boyfriend’ but thought better of it. The feeling of a bazooka aimed at him if he did, weighed much stronger.
Emily clicked her tongue and gaped at the guy whose name she didn’t bother to remember and kept getting wrong. His comment was clearly aimed to annoy her.
Well, her right temple certainly throbbed from it.
“The sleeves are fine” she informed the attendant, “We’re in a hurry. Kindly wrap an unused stock immediately. Thank you.”
If the attendant said anything else, it went to deaf ears. Emily pointed at Jae and seethed, “I am going to change out of this dress and then, I’ll deal with you.”
She closed the curtains once more. Their hoops clanking against the metal rods. Usually Emily moved them gently but at the moment, irritation trembled under her skin and she hardly cared about being gentle.
Logan scrunched his eyebrows, “But what about Alex?”
The person in question shifted her head towards him, “Oh, I already picked out a dress.”
The two of them created a silent agreement. The kind they had when they improvised in their English presentation—that if they talked about something else and ignored the ticking bomb inside the room then, it would be as if they weren’t in it.
Logan’s idea had been to find another changing room for Alex to try on her dress. Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out the way he thought it would.
“What? Did you even try it on?” He exasperated, straightening in his seat. The girl just took away his one way ticket out of the danger zone.
“I did” Alex nodded, “The attendant helped so I finished right away. It’s in that bag I brought with me.”
Logan whirled around to look at the shopping bags next to him. Sure enough, one of them had the “Carp Dress Emporium” label on it.
“Do you know what that means?” Alex continued.
Logan raised an eyebrow at her, “What?”
She beamed, “It’s time for ice cream.”
The word had never sounded much sweeter than in that moment to Logan. Not only did it mean they could leave but also it would be much farther away than a nearby dressing room.
“You’re hungry?” He played along, his voice displaying absolute surprise.
Alex wanted to smack him in the head for it. To her, it was obvious that Logan was only acting.
“I’m starving” she groaned and stood up. She took the bag with the dress she picked out, tapping Logan’s shoulder, “Come on, my stomach won’t stop rumbling.”
Logan didn’t need to be told twice. He bolted off his seat and followed her out the door.
Jae could hear them faintly talk about who would carry the shopping bag. A tune he pushed out of his mind as he waited for a blonde elf to emerge from behind the curtains.
It didn’t take long for Emily Greenwood to hang the two dresses neatly on the hooks above the mirrors. She would have been finished faster but she wasn’t wearing her heels and her normal height couldn’t reach them. She had to jump a bit.
Back in her sweater dress, she grabbed the two curtains and pulled them apart from each other, “What the hell is wrong with the sleeves?!”
She stomped down the platform. Despite the lack of heels, her flats thundered on solid wood then, softened when she reached the carpeted floor.
“I just think those laces are unnecessary when it could be of more use to dress” Jae huffed. He really shouldn’t have said anything. The girl clearly had a temper even from his normal teasing. Why wouldn’t she blow up from such a comment?
He stood up and walked over to the other bench, his eyes avoiding the smoke coming out of Emily’s ears.
“It’s part of the design!” Emily yelled. While Jae went behind the Logandra bench, Emily went to the front of it, “It’s almost like the cape Elsa has. It’s not the same without it.”
Jae stopped and pressed his lips together. He stared at the ceiling for a while, debating how much he should say. Then, he shrugged and answered in nonchalance, “I just think it shows off too much skin.”
Emily scoffed and gaped at him, “Are you kidding me right now? Are you blind? That dress even has a bow to cover my upper back. The only skin I’m showing are my arms, around my shoulders and going upwards!”
The older Parker brother recalled that the dress showed a bit lower than shoulders, “Why do you even dress like an adult?”
Emily fluttered her eyes a bit. She would have cleaned out her eyes with a finger but that seemed inappropriate.
“I’m sorry am I hearing what I think I’m hearing? Are you treating me like a child?” She leaned forwards and intensified the glare in her eyes. Then, hissed, “I’m 16 years old. I’m not a child. I didn’t see you having that problem when you flirted with me the moment we met.”
A new light twinkled in Jae’s eyes from her words, “So you mean if I flirt with you, it’s obviously because you’re not a kid?”
Emily cocked an eyebrow, “What are you? A pedophile?”
“And that means I also have your permission to keep flirting?”
“Huh?” She gasped. The gears in Emily’s brain had a temporary lockdown. The situation she once understood now didn’t make sense. Her face had a funny expression as she tried to comprehend what was happening.
Jae ignored her confusion and grabbed the shopping bags, “Come on, princess. I also want some ice cream. We’ll get your dress at the front desk.”
Emily shook her head out of her daze and jogged to catch up to the big oaf with long legs, “Wait a minute!”
===
At the ground floor of the Parthrenos Mall, Alex and Logan walked leisurely among the crowd. They each had a cone of rocky road ice cream. Alex held the shopping bag over her shoulder, winning the previous argument. The bag wasn’t as big as the others Emily bought. It didn’t weigh much either—even with the matching shoes inside.
“You think we’ll get in trouble for escaping?” Logan asked casually.
“Emily likes to fight her own battles” Alex reason, taking a bite off her cone, “We’ll be fine.”
The duo enjoyed their ice cream, strolling into the center section of the mall. They decided to check if there would be any event they could watch while they waited.
Plus they never know when an excuse of loud music would come in handy—like being unable to hear a phone ring.
“Welcome, welcome, everyone!” An MC yelled into a microphone. The space they rented out hardly had an audience. They didn’t bring out a stage, just a wooden platform so the MC could stand higher than the crowd. They added rotating stage lights on either side to make it resemble an actual stage with a backdrop made of red curtain.
In front of him was a huge space, encircled by red velvet rope stanchion. Some of the staff stood by wearing all black clothing.
A few heads turned at the sound of his voice. On one side, a line had already formed. Most of them seemed to be in pairs. They chatted among themselves while a staff member stood in front of the line.
“Today, we have a special treat!” The MC continued on, “We have gathered several couples for the past hour for a game. No worries. We have prizes to give away so joining won’t be in vain. Now, we only need one more pair and this time, as a twist, we’ll let our stage lights do the picking. It will rotate for a while and we yell ‘Stop!’ whoever the light lands on will join the game.”
===
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