Chapter Eleven
Alyssa
It was Friday, the day before Saturday which was supposed to be the day of Nathan and I's date but I wasn't sure if it was going to happen anymore. Since the dinner with his parents, Nathan has been recluse. He's barely at the house and I... miss him, so does Oliver.
He's always asking about his dad and I don't really have an answer for him. Most of the time I say he's working or asleep and he seems to be accept it but I had a feeling that he felt rejected and lonely. I had to step up my game as his stepmom.
“Oliver?” I called as I entered his room. “Oliver?”
“Yeah?” He answered, rolling over on his bed to look at me.
“I was just about to go shopping, I was thinking maybe you could come with me.” I suggested. “We could get some ice cream on the way back.”
He perked up at the mention of ice cream with a small smile. “Can I get mint chocolate chip?”
“Anyone flavor you want.”
“Ice cream!” He cheered, jumping off his bed. “I'll put on my shoes and jacket.”
He rushed to put his shoes on while I went to the living room to get my phone. To my surprise, Julia, Nathan's sister, was sitting on one of the couches, sipping some orange juice.
She smiled when she saw me and put her juice down. “Hi, Alyssa.”
“Hi, Julia. What are you doing...?” I was interrupted by a cheerful Oliver.
“Aunt Julie!!” Then he ran to her, jumping on the couch to hug her.
“How are you, my little gumdrop?” She pinched his cheeks.
“I'm not little anymore.” Oliver stated, a bright red coloring his cheeks.
“You'll anyways be my little gumdrop, no matter how much you grow.”
“So are you coming with us?”
“Us?” She looked at me with confusion.
“Oliver and I were going out.” I explained.
“Nathan said I should watch Oliver while you go out, he gave me this to give you.” She held up a black card, Nathan's no doubt, and placed it in my hand.
“But I want to go.” Oliver whined.
“How about, you come with us, Julia?” I suggested.
God knows I need a woman to help me decide on the dress.
“Yes, come with us Aunt Julie, please.” Oliver pleaded with a pout. If I were Julia I wouldn't be able to say 'no'.
“Fine.” Julia agreed. “Nathan's going to regret giving me his card, though.”
Then we were in her car on our way to any store that was within my budget. I wasn't going to use Nathan's card. He had done so much for me knowingly and unknowingly. I didn't want to depend on him more than I already did.
“Right here's okay.” I told Julia, spotting a small store, one that I got most of my clothes from.
Julia stopped the car and stared at the place for like two minutes before she simply said. “No.” Then she started the car again.
“What's the problem with that store?” I inquired.
She laughed at first then glanced at me, her smile fading. “Oh, you're serious.” I nodded. “You don't really go there to shop, do you?”
“I do.”
“Wow, that explains a lot.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “What's that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing. I just think that if you want to blow Nathan away, you should get something classier. Not something from a cheap retailer.”
“There's nothing wrong with 'a cheap retailer', I like the clothes there and I don't want any ridiculously priced clothes from a stupid high end store.” Because I can't afford it. I didn't add that of course.
She let out another laugh. “You sound like you actually like the place. Why would the daughter of billionaire, Christopher Jordan, like clothes from a cheap store? It's sounds so stupid.”
“Christopher Jordan is not my father. I'm just the niece he adopted when his brother died, not his daughter.” I said the words he told me nearly everyday bitterly.
Good thing Oliver was watching a movie on his tablet with his headphones on. I didn't want him to hear what we were saying.
“I know being related to a girl like Hailey is bad but Christopher cannot be worse than my father.”
He is. FAR worse. At least your father doesn't verbally and physically abuse you everyday.
“Let's just go to a Chanel store so we can get the perfect dress and maybe some other outfits for you.” She said after a short silence.
“Could we please just go where I wanted to go? Last I checked, I was wearing the dress, not you.” I pointed out irritably.
“Okay, fine, go ahead, buy some cheap, ugly dress that's probably going to make Nathan's eyes rot.” She snapped, putting the car in reverse.
I couldn't help but be hurt by her words. So she was faking being nice and helping me with Mason when she's just like Maria.
“That's not nice!” I heard a small voice scold.
Turned out that Oliver had taken his headphones off and heard what his aunt had said.
“Um, Oliver, why don't you put on your headphones on? Grown ups are talking.” Julia instructed but Oliver didn't listen.
“No, if I do that, you'll keep saying mean things to Ally. No one says mean thing to My Ally!”
My heart swelled with love for this boy. He was defending me even though we've known each other for barely a week.
“Oliver, it's okay, just put on your headphones, I'm fine.” I tried to convince him.
He shook his head, obviously not believing me. “I don't like when people say mean things to you.”
“Nobody likes it, Olly, but I promise, I'm fine.” Then I turned to Julia. “You can drop us off now, thanks for the ride, Julia.”
She huffed and stopped the car, letting Oliver and I get down. We walked back to the store I wanted to go to in the first place and started looking through what they had.
Because I was a regular there, the owner knew me by name and loved helping me shop personally. She smiled upon seeing me then looked down to Oliver, who was clutching my hand tightly, looking around curiously.
“Alyssa, darling, it's nice to see you again.” She beamed, grabbing me in a hug.
“Good to see you too, Cassy.” I replied, returning the hug.
Cassy was my Mom's best friend. She even wanted to adopt me after my parents died but because Christopher and I were blood related the court saw it best that I be with them. What a horrible decision that was.
“Who's this, adorable little boy?” She crouched down to Oliver's level. “What's your name, Honey?”
“Oliver.” The boy muttered shyly, hiding behind my legs. “And I'm not a little boy.”
Cassy's eyebrows shot up playfully. “Oh, really? Then what are you?”
“A young man, an adorable young man.”
The middle aged woman laughed out loud. “Really now?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then, I'll have to remember that.” She stood up straight again. “So Alyssa, what are you looking for today?”
“A dress.”
“Ooh. Someone's finally got a date, huh?” She teased. Involuntarily, my cheeks colored only making her smile more. “Then we have to get you the perfect dress, come let's go.”
She pulled Oliver and I through the store to the second floor where the dresses were arranged. We started looking through the racks, even Oliver was skimming through to find the perfect one for me.
At the end, we had a total of five dresses. Cassy and I had both picked two out and Oliver had one. I was surprised that he even chose any.
I went to one of the dressing rooms to change into the first one I picked. It was a nice lavender color. The problem I had with it was that it was backless, meaning that all the scars on my back would be visible to the world. That was not something I wanted.
The other was a deep wine color. It had really thin straps, which was a red flag for me. I just set it aside with my other choice and concluded that I didn't have a good eye when it came to my clothes.
Cassy's choices were a bit more my style. Modest and simple. I didn't like drawing attention to myself and her dresses made me blend in.
They were both black, long sleeved, bodycon dresses. The only difference between them was that one went below my knees while the other stopped right above them. If I were going to work, these would be perfect but I wasn't. I was going on my first date and I wanted to look really good. These dresses, although beautiful, were not 'date' standard.
All that was left was Oliver's outfit. Time to see what crazy piece he picked out. I lifted it by the skirt only to see that it wasn't a dress. Oliver had chosen a pastel pink pleated skirt and a plain black shirt. The sleeves of the shirt were three quarter length and the slight V-shaped neckline didn't show any of my cleavage. Paired with a nice slim black belt and some black heels this could be perfect. Casual, yet classy. Perfect. I can't believe Oliver chose this. I have to take him shopping with me more often.
When I came out and handed the ones I didn't want back to Cassy, I just had to asked Oliver how he had such good taste and his answer was unbelievable.
“My Aunt Julie always takes me shopping with her and teaches me how to pick out women's clothes for, according to her, ‘when I get a girlfriend’.”
I just laughed. With a sense of humor like his, a cute face and good taste in clothing I was already wondering how to ask him to marry me.
I got Oliver the mint chocolate chip ice cream I promised him and a Batman t-shirt he wanted. I didn't use Nathan's credit card for anything, even Oliver's shirt. I had my own money, it wasn't much but it'd do. I didn't want to depend on him any more than I already did.
He's helped me so much and I didn't want to be a bigger burden to him.