8. Alana
ALANA
Eden had been busy with hockey the entire rest of the week, so we decided to hold off on his plans until today.
I didn’t mind having another six days to myself, living in the shadows before he’d come in with a wrecking ball, tear down my walls, and put me on a stage.
Last night, he sent me a message on Instagram saying to meet up before classes started so he could walk me to mine, as that would, apparently, cause people to start talking. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to him knocking at my apartment door instead.
“Good morning,” Eden said, handing me a cup of coffee like it was totally normal for him to show up uninvited at the crack of dawn. He looked so… awake. Bright-eyed, clean hoodie, and not a single hair out of place.
“What time is it?” I mumbled, dragging the back of my hand across my eyes as if that would magically make me function like a person.
“Six-thirty,” he said, strolling right past me and into my apartment like he owned the place.
I blinked after him, then shut the door and turned around, only to find him standing in the middle of my living room, analyzing the place like a real estate agent. That’s when it hit me. “Wait… how are you even here?”
“Took my car?” he offered, like that explained anything.
“No, I mean, how do you know where I live?” I’d never told him. Not once.
“Asked Kaan. And by the way, the front door downstairs? Wide open. That’s stupid. Anyone could walk in.” He shook his head disapprovingly, like he hadn’t just been the exact kind of person who’d walked in.
His gaze swept around the room like he was rating it. “Is that your bedroom?” he asked, pointing like he was about to give himself a tour.
“Uh… yeah. Why?”
But instead of answering, Eden just started walking straight toward it.
“Excuse you?” I said, trailing after him, but he was already inside and throwing open my closet doors like this was his morning routine and not mine.
“We’re picking out something for you to wear,” he said, matter-of-fact, already pulling out shirts and tossing them on my bed like he had every right to be here.
“Okay… but why are we doing that?”
He didn’t respond right away, just turned to look at me. And for a second, his expression softened—not playful or smug, just… serious. Warm.
“Because our deal starts today,” he said simply. “And you can’t be trusted putting your own outfit together. At least not on your first day.”
How fucking dare he?
Eden had seriously crossed more than one line by assuming he had any right to invade my personal space the way he did. And why would he think I’d ever let him decide what I would wear?
My blood boiled with anger as I watched him rummage through my clothes, picking out piece after piece and throwing them onto my bed. Some things he threw over his shoulders—stuff he liked, I assumed.
Eventually, I’d had enough and grabbed his arm, forcing him to face me. “You have no right to barge into my home and act like it’s yours,” I snapped, my voice laced with fury.
He blinked in surprise at my outburst, as if he couldn’t quite grasp why I was angry at him. “Relax, Ally-Bear, I’m just trying to help you out. If you keep dressing like an elderly librarian, nobody’s ever going to want to fuck you. Even I can’t help you then.”
His words stung, but I refused to let him see how much they affected me. My cheeks were burning with both embarrassment and anger.
“How dare you?” I hissed through gritted teeth. “I don’t need your help, Eden. I don’t dress to impress you or whoever you think would want to sleep with me. And I certainly don’t care if you’re embarrassed by me.”
Only that I did care. If he was embarrassed to be seen with me, there was no doubt in my mind that Austin would find me just as embarrassing.
“If it were up to me, you could walk around in your grandma-style clothes all day, every day. I wouldn’t give a shit about it.
In fact, I think they look pretty adorable on you, though I think that sounds like an insult.
Anyway, you want to be noticed by Austin.
You want to get out of your comfort zone, so we’re starting with your clothes, since I’m pretty sure that’s your way of hiding.
Also, back to the Austin argument, he won’t like your style.
Changing for a guy is stupid, but for some reason, you want him, so that’s what you’re going to have to do. ”
I couldn’t stand the way he was talking to me, like I was some project he could mold into his ideal image.
Taking a deep breath, I tried my best to stay calm and give in. Or at least I was curious enough to see what he had in mind that I should wear to my classes today.
He continued to look through my closet, getting frustrated when all he could find were oversized T-shirts and hoodies… until he found a bag way back in my closet. While he was yet to find out what was inside, a shudder already ran down my spine.
In this bag were all the clothes Asiya got for me in hopes I’d wear them one day when I got more comfortable in my own skin.
I’d never worn any of the clothes.
“If I open this, will I find stuff I don’t want to see? Like… sex toys or something?” He looked at me, eyebrows raised expectantly.
I had the chance to say yes and hoped he would let it go, but what came out of me was, “No, they’re clothes.”
“Good.” He set the bag down, unzipping it, then turned it upside-down to dump the entire contents out onto my floor. “Actually, I could’ve lived with seeing sex toys. A severed head, however, would’ve been a different topic.”
There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t have minded finding sex toys. In fact, I was almost sure that if he had seen some, he would’ve said something even worse.
“Hey, what are you doing after school?” he suddenly asked at the same time as he handed me a sheer, black long-sleeve and a white tube top for underneath.
I didn’t want to take the tops because I knew, if I did, he’d make me put them on, but I had no other choice.
While I was certain Austin should like me for who I was, no matter how I dressed, if I wanted him to notice me, I had to listen to Eden. He’d know what was going to catch popular guys’ attention.
After all, he was one of them.
“Go back home and study,” I replied while taking a closer look at the tops he handed me. They were definitely way out of my comfort zone.
“Wrong.” Eden held up a pair of black tights, waiting for me to take them. “You’re going shopping with my sister and me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, it’s alright. I knew you’d find that strange at first.” He got off the floor, laying what looked like a black skirt on the pile of clothes in my hands.
“We’re going with my younger sister. Nova’s still sixteen, though she turns seventeen soon, and has a better sense of fashion than I do.
I mean, I’d ask Brooke, but she’s probably busy, so Nova it is.
Plus, Nova isn’t as curious to know anyone in my life as my older sister would be. ”
“I’m not going shopping with you.”
Eden cocked his head at me, eyebrows scrunched together like he seriously couldn’t understand why I was against shopping with him. “With me or with me and my sister? Because if my sister’s the problem, I’ll just ask her to send me pictures and we’ll buy whatever she suggests.”
“Eden.” I sighed. “I don’t want to meet your family.”
He shook his head at me. “You agreed to the deal, Ally-Bear. You knew you’d meet my family.”
“Yeah… but it’s been six days. I had time to think about it, and I realized that meeting your family is scary.” Admittedly, I’d spent the past six days looking up Eden and his family on the Internet. Everyone in Eden King’s stupid life was so goddamn gorgeous, I wanted to rip my eyes out.
Ever since I knew what his parents and siblings looked like, and his brother-in-law’s family, I just couldn’t imagine ever being in their proximity. It was basically a whole family of supermodels. I didn’t belong in that picture, not even as a temporary, fake girlfriend.
“I mean, if you really don’t want to meet them, I’ll think of other events to drag you to.
But just so you know, the ones with my family present are the least likely to suck, so…
” He shrugged. “And you really do need new clothes, Alana. That stuff in there is anything but a confidence boost. Again, not judging or anything. They are cute. However, they’re your comfort clothes, no? ”
“Fine.” It was only for a few more months anyway. Eden would graduate soon, so once he was gone, I could go back to wearing what I felt most comfortable in.