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I let out a sigh as I got up, hoping it was true that she was fine. I walked to my closet and grabbed a hoodie before going back to the living room.
"How is she?" Brandon asked as soon as he saw me.
"Fine, according to her," I said. "Do you wanna go out?" I didn't want to talk more about her. It would only add to my worries.
"Really?" Brandon asked, his face lighting up.
"Yeah, the rain has stopped." It had rained for ten minutes only, and now the sun was starting to come out again, but the weather was still chilly.
"Can we go to the mall? There are some shoes I saw there and I want to buy them," he said expectantly.
"Sure, why not," I said, putting on my hoodie. "Go grab a sweater first, it's cold. I wouldn't want Chase blaming me for making his boyfriend sick."
"Okay," he said cheerfully, getting up.
"You'll find me in the car," I said before he shut the front door behind him. I grabbed my car and house keys from the TV stand and headed out.
Brandon was taking forever to come down. I was about to ring him when I saw him approaching the car.
"About time," I said as he got into the passenger seat, buckling his seatbelt.
"Sorry," he said, "I couldn't find my lucky sweater."
"Lucky sweater?" I asked, shaking my head, amused.
"Yeah, I always wear it when I go shopping. I always get stuff on offer when I wear it," he explained. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
"And it's the sweater that makes you get things on offer?" I asked, a smile still on my face. I don't know how long I could survive in Brandon's brain. It seemed so complicated.
"Exactly! And stop taking it as a joke, I'm serious," he said, his voice a little loud.
"Okay," I said, my eyes on the road. The rest of the way, Brandon rattled on about the sweater.
By the time we got to the mall, I had the full history of the sweater.
"We're going to a clothing store first," he said as we walked inside.
"What about this one?" I asked, pointing at a boutique. The place was filled with people — you'd think it was Christmas season. It wasn't my ideal place, but right now I just wanted something that would distract me. And what's better than people bumping into you with all kinds of awful perfume while shouting at each other?
"It's perfect!" Brandon shouted, grabbing my hand to pull me inside. I pulled my hand from his grip, tucking it into my hoodie pocket.
"Stay close or I'll lose you," Brandon said, heading farther in.
"I'm not a child, Brandon. And we have phones if we lose each other," I said, brows furrowed.
"What do you think about this one?" he asked, holding a T-shirt up. It was blue with some Chinese writing on it.
"It's cute," I said. "Do you know what it says?"
"Not really. But it's so cute I'm getting it."
"Okay," I said, following behind him.
We spent about an hour in the store, moving from aisle to aisle. Brandon had a basket full of clothes and shoes — both his and Chase's. I had a basket too, though not as full as his. I had found some clothes I liked and some Brandon had forced me to take.
"Chase is so gonna love these shoes," Brandon said, his smile reaching his ears. "I can't wait to show him." He hurried ahead of me, rushing to the car. We had just paid for the shopping.
After tossing the shopping bags into the back seat, he turned to look at me.
"Can we go for ice cream before going back?" he asked, his puppy face on.
"Sure." I wasn't ready to go back yet either.
We walked back into the mall, searching for an ice cream shop. We found one that also sold chicken and pizza. We walked in and headed straight for the counter. There wasn't a long queue, so it didn't take long to make our order.
We searched for empty seats and found some at a table at the end of the store. Just as I was about to dig into my vanilla ice cream, I heard a familiar voice — a voice I knew very well. A knot formed in my stomach. I wasn't expecting to see her today or any day soon, for that matter.
I turned my head toward the direction the voice was coming from. I couldn't see her face because she was turned away from me, but I recognized her instantly. She was talking to her little sister.
"Sandy! Your friend!" her sister suddenly shouted, earning herself a few stares from nearby people. She was pointing straight at me. I didn't think she would recognize me — the last time we met, she had been too young to remember me.
I kept my gaze on them as Sandy turned to see who her sister was pointing at. I wasn't sure what to do. Should I go over to their table and say hi? That would be a bad move, right? She had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me.
My breathing hitched as soon as our eyes met. She looked shocked. She hadn't expected to see me either. Our gaze stayed locked, but my shocked expression slowly faded into a blank one. I didn't know what to feel — or rather, I didn't let myself feel anything. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing how much she hurt me
She seemed anxious, like she wanted to do something but couldn't. My phone vibrated in my pocket, making me break eye contact. I turned to check the phone only to find Brandon looking in Sandy's direction.
"Sam?" I muttered as I realized who had texted me. Before I could open the text, she called, making my heart skip. I wasn't expecting that. I felt nervous immediately — whatever she had to say must be urgent. I took a deep breath before picking up.
"Hi," I greeted as soon as I answered.
"Hi." She paused. "I'm at your door. Can you open up?"
"Ummm… I'm not at home right now," I said.
"Oh." The disappointment in her voice was obvious.
"But I think Chase is home by now. You can wait for me there. I'm on my way back," I said, getting up. Brandon looked disappointed — he hadn't even started eating his ice cream. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Okay." She hung up after a moment.
"Sorry, Sam is at my door waiting for me," I said to Brandon, who was pouting and mumbling something under his breath.
"It's okay, but you'll have to bring me for ice cream again," he said, getting up too.
I glanced one more time at Sandy before leaving. She was still looking at me. I ignored her and headed out, leading Brandon to the car.
I wasn't going to waste my energy on someone who made it clear she didn't want anything to do with me — not when someone else actually needed me.
"Are you okay?" Brandon asked as soon as we got in the car. "That was tense," he said, and I assumed he was referring to me and Sandy.
"I'm good," I said, starting the car. My mind was now on Sam. She had sounded low on the phone, like something was wrong. She wasn't okay. My mind was racing with a million scenarios.
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