13 #2
“Please never call me sunshine again.” I sit down at the breakfast bar. The red chairs I have were from my Grams. She wanted me to have a piece of her home.
He taps his chin. “What should I call you then? I need a new nickname.”
“How about my name?” I roll my eyes.
“No, I need something fun.” It can’t be ‘Butterfly’ again, I guess. I want it to be; no other nickname compares to that. Butterfly was more like an original.
“Cupcake? Honeybuns?”
“I’m not a dessert.” I laugh, he places the NYU mug down in front of me, then sits beside me with the polar bear mug that Aurora got me for Christmas last year.
“Princess. I like that one.” I sort of like it, but it makes it seem like we’re dating. Which we aren’t. I’m scared he will hurt me again for the sake of his career, but now that we are both semi-famous, or I’m just semi-famous, we could be together. “You should call me Scotty again.”
“You lost the privilege.” He frowns.
“Don’t pout, I’m not the one who left.” He goes quiet. “Sorry, too blunt?”
“Yeah,” he says softly.
“Do you want to do something today?” I ask. It’s Halloween, so I’m hoping he’ll say yes; otherwise, Aurora will drag me to multiple parties.
“Why not?” He shrugs. He takes our empty mugs and sets them down in the sink after washing them out.
“I need to change.” I walk into my room, put on a pink off-the-shoulder sweater, and some plain jeans.
“You look nice,” Scott says as I walk out of my bedroom in my new outfit. I roll my eyes and grab my purse off the counter.
“Thanks,” I say sarcastically.
“Someone's feisty.” He grins.
“Maybe you just put me in a bad mood.” I shoot back, he just laughs.
“Whatever you say, princess.”
**
We take a cab to the mall to go shopping. I purposely left my wallet at home so Scott has to pay for me, he doesn’t think it’s a problem though, he actually told me, “I’d gladly spend all my money on you.” Whatever that means.
Now we are sitting down, enjoying some pretzel bites, dipping them in hot cheese sauce. We haven’t gone to any stores yet because I was starving and wanted to enjoy some pretzels.
“Slow down, the food isn’t going to run away.” I shoot him a dirty look. He raises his hands in defense. “Sorry.”
“You basically just called me fat.”
“You’re the skinniest person I know.” Scott rolls his eyes.
He’s still wearing the same thing as yesterday; I didn’t give him a chance to go home to change. This time, I do not have his sweat set in my closet.
“Thank you?” I say.
“Why did you say it like a question?” He raises an eyebrow.
“It’s like the oddest compliment I’ve ever gotten.”
“That’s a lie.” He’s right, it is a lie. A few weeks ago, a guy told me I have a very strong nose. Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
“What store should we go to first?” Scott asks me.
I shrug. “I don’t know, you pick.”
He stands up, tossing the trash from our food into the garbage, and brushes the salt crumbs off his lap. “I heard a new clothing store opened up. Do you want to go there?”
“Sure.”
I follow him across the mall to this big store with huge bright lights.
The sign says “Ivory Street.” We both walk inside, I am immediately overwhelmed by the amount of pink and purple there is.
Scott picks up a pink and white striped babydoll top with lace trimming.
It’s gorgeous, not for this current weather.
It’s like 50-60 degrees outside at all times, but this top is perfect for summer.
“You’d look amazing in this.” Scott smiles at me.
I take the top out of his hands and stare at it for a long moment. “Will you buy this for me?”
“Fine. Let’s get a basket, there's going to be a lot more.”
“Oh my god, Scott, look!” I pick up the most gorgeous pink plaid skirt, it’s perfect for any occasion, I watch him roll his eyes.
“I knew it.” He sighs.
**
After a long day of shopping, I have about 3 bags from that one store, full to the brim.
Scott looks exhausted from me trying stuff on, but my stomach is growling so much not even pretzel bites can fill it.
I convinced Scott to buy us dinner after spending $2000 on clothes.
Not that it matters for him, as he is a pro basketball player.
We picked a burger joint, I ordered the juiciest burger there was because, of course, I’m starving. Scott told the waiter he wanted a salad, and I kicked him under the table so he chose what I got.
“I can’t eat all of this,” Scott said, picking up his burger. “I need to eat healthy.”
“This is meat, it’s healthy.” I take a big bite out of my burger.
“This is 100% processed meat.” I roll my eyes at his defiance. Old Scott would’ve eaten this thing in under 5 minutes.
“Eat the damn burger.” I scold.
“Yes, ma’am.”
**
“I spent over $2000 today. What else could you possibly want?” Scott says, groaning as he puts my shopping bags in the trunk of the taxi.
“A bag.” We both get into the backseat of the cab.
He raises an eyebrow. “What kind of bag?”
I show him a picture of this black bag. “That’s cute, how much is it?” he asks me.
“$1000, but it’s a really nice bag.” I’m mostly just making him spend money on me to piss him off, and get payback for him leaving me all those years ago, maybe I’m just obsessed with the past, who knows.
“Done.” He presses some buttons on his phone. “It will be here in a week. I paid for express shipping.” Scott Delgado going from buying me books to a designer bag.
“You seriously just bought that?!”
“Of course. Does this mean I earn the title of best friend?” Right, just friends, I forgot. This day felt so date like I almost forgot we were just friends.
“Yes.” I nod. The cab pulls up in front of my apartment building, I get out of the car, grab my stuff from the back, and Scott walks me up to my apartment.
“Thank you for today,” I tell him, as we stand in front of my door.
“Anytime, princess.” He gives me the sweetest smile ever. I just want to grab his face and kiss him.
“We should do this again, hang out, I mean.”
“Yeah, of course.” I turn the doorknob to my apartment, about to step inside, when he stops me.
“Wait,” I turn around to face him. “Come to my next game, I have front row tickets.”
“When is it?” I ask.
“Tuesday, please.”
“Fine. I’ll go, but you have to go to my book signing on Thursday.” I demand, staring into his eyes.
“I’ll be in Atlanta.” I groan. Is he serious? Being ‘friends’ with a professional basketball player is so difficult.
“Fine, I’ll still come to your game.” He grins.
“Thank you.” He grabs my face, kissing me on the forehead. The forehead kiss of doom. What are we? I want to ask, but he is gone too soon. I plop down face-first in my bed, thinking about everything that happened the past day.
First, he slept over at my house, and we cuddled the whole time.
Next, we spent the whole day together, hanging out and shopping.
We eat at the restaurant like a couple; this can’t be casual friend behavior.
I don’t want it to be. I want to be a couple, but he doesn’t.
Just friends, I remind myself. Just friends.