“What do you think about this?” Amy asked, holding up a light blue shirt. The material was light and airy, something that would be perfect now that the weather was warming up.
“That’s cute.” Emma agreed. Amy beamed and handed the shirt to the assistant who was helping them. The young woman took the shirt with a smile and walked away, taking it to the dressing room to hang up for Emma to try on when she was ready. This whole shopping spree had been like something out of a makeover fantasy. Amy had taken her everywhere, make-up stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, even to purse and perfume stores. It was the type of day most girls dream about. And yet Emma found herself wishing she was hiking around in the woods with Mark and Jason.
“Emma? Helloooo. Are you there?” Amy said, trying to get Emma’s attention.
“I’m here.” Emma replied, refocusing on Amy.
Amy propped her hands on her hips in a disapproving gesture. “I know you don’t like shopping but can’t you at least pay attention? You seem like you’re a million miles away right now.”
“I’m sorry Amy, it’s not that this isn’t fun, I guess I’m just really distracted.” Emma said, feeling a little bit guilty. Amy was doing all this to help her and Emma wasn’t exactly acting grateful.
“Distracted I am used to,” Amy said, somewhat mollified by Emma’s apology. “This is something entirely different though. What’s been going on with you lately?”
“Nothing important.” Emma said, aimlessly flipping through one of the racks of clothes.
“Really? Because you went from being meek and mild to taking on Morgan in front of half the school in just a few weeks. I think there’s more going on that just ‘nothing’.” Amy said, returning to browsing through clothes. “Although I am glad you finally used all the gossip I’ve been telling you about Morgan. I’ve been hoping you would eventually, although I thought you would use it as blackmail, not to make her the most hated person at school.”
Amy smiled when Emma blushed and ducked her head. “I didn’t mean to do that.” Emma said in an embarrassed voice, “But when she brought up my parents I just lost my temper. She crossed a line and she knew it.”
“I completely agree.” Amy nodded. “But still, I feel like there is something going on with you that you aren’t telling me.”
Emma shrugged. “I don’t know why. My life is just as boring and unexciting as ever.”
“Except for this shopping trip, because this is amazing and exciting.” Amy corrected. “What do you think about this?” She asked holding up a cardigan.
Emma scrunched her nose in distaste. “No, thanks.”
Amy shrugged and returned the cardigan to the pile she had picked it up from. “So what has been going on with you?” She asked. “You can’t tell me it’s nothing because it obviously isn’t. Is it Jason? Is something going on with the two of you?”
“What?” Emma exclaimed, looking up from the pile of clothes she had been searching through. “No! Of course not! We’ve just…become friends, I guess.”
“Mmhmm.” Amy said knowingly. “He was certainly quick to jump to your defense when Morgan went all psycho ex-girlfriend on you.” Amy picked up another shirt and showed it to Emma. When Emma nodded her approval Amy handed the shirt to the assistant to take to the dressing room.
“Seriously Ayms.” Emma said, wandering over to a new pile of clothes. “We’re friends. He was just trying to help me out because he was the one who had pulled me into the hallway that morning.”
“Alright fine,” Amy giving up on that line of questioning. “Then is it Mark?”
“Amy!” Emma exclaimed in exasperation. She didn’t want Amy asking her any more questions about Mark or Jason, her lying skills were definitely not good enough for that. Amy was bound to figure out something was up. “I’m not dating Mark or Jason, we’re just friends.”
“If it’s not boys then what has been going on with you?” Amy asked. “You’ve lost weight, you’re becoming more confident, and now you spend all of your time with two incredibly hot guys. Something had to have caused all of that.”
Emma shrugged. “The weight loss is from running and I’ve always been friends with Mark. As for Jason, well that’s just a weird situation that I don’t even know how to explain. So nothing has really changed.” She held up a pair of pants for Amy’s approval. Amy nodded and Emma handed the pants to the assistant. When the young woman walked away Emma looked at Amy. “How many clothes do we have waiting in the dressing room?” She asked curiously.
Amy looked back in the direction the girl had gone. “A lot.” She said simply. “You should probably go try some of them on before we run out of room in there.”
Emma turned to walk to the dressing room and Amy called out after her, “Let me know if you find anything cute!”