Come Around

After making him try on the most ridiculous thing she could find at Ecko, Cassie pulled Alex into Urban Outfitters to try to find something a little more realistic. She was walking toward the men's department and didn't even realize he had stopped until he called out to her.

"Hey," he said, getting her to turn around, "Will you model this for me?" he asked, holding up a short sleeved flannel shirt.

"With what?" she asked, walking toward him.

"Nothing. Just the shirt."

Cassie's eyes grew wide and she hit Alex's arm, making a loud smacking sound. He grinned and rubbed his arm, which was quickly turning red. After only a few seconds, you could clearly see the mark of her hand.

"Damn, why do you always have to abuse me?" he asked.

"Why do you have to be such a creep?" she shot back.

"Oh come on. It's not like I was asking you to get naked. I was just kidding anyway!" he said, only being partially honest.

She stared at him for a good minute, her expression hard. He put the shirt back on the rack and made a pouty face at her. Finally, her face softened.

"Find a pair of pants to go with it and I'll try it on," she said, "No skinny jeans though! I refuse to wear them."

"What about shorts?" he asked.

"Nothing too short," she replied and his jaw dropped.

"Why not? You have amazing legs. You should show them off," he said.

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Just find whatever and I'll try it on. I guess I owe you a little after you tried on all that stuff in the Ecko store" she said, heading to the men's department to find something for Alex.

About twenty minutes later, he had three outfits and two swimsuits for Cassie to try on. He wandered over to the men's department and found her. She had an entire outfit picked out for him to try on, from a hat all the way to a pair of shoes. Most of it looked like something he would willingly try on, but he was a little skeptical of the pants.

As if she was reading his mind, she said, "I wanted to see you in something that doesn't look like it's painted on your skin yet falls off your ass constantly," she said, "And don't take this the wrong way, you have chicken legs. These are slim fit straight leg jeans, and they should look really nice on."

He nodded and took the outfit from her, giving her all the things he had found.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked, "You really want me to try on two swimsuits? You have no idea how many of these things I have."

"Just try them on. No one said you had to buy either of them."

She sighed, "Alright, fine. You go first though, since you got so many things for me."

They made their way to dressing rooms and Cassie sat on the bench in the room across from the one Alex was in. After a few minutes, he emerged.

"I'm not really feeling the hat," he said.

Cassie scrunched her nose, "I agree, it looked better in my head," she said, standing and taking the hat off of him and put it on her own head, "What do you think of the pants?"

"I think you look ridiculously cute in that hat," he said, ignoring her question entirely.

She laughed, "Thank you. What do you think of the pants?" she asked again.

"They're different," he said, "But I think I like them."

"You want my opinion?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure I'll hear it even if I say no," Alex said.

"Right you are, young man," she said, "They look fantastic. You should've been wearing pants like that all along. They're a much better style and fit for you."

He laughed and closed the door to his dressing room. Cassie did the same and slipped into the simple jeans and v neck tee combo he had picked out for her. Smiling at her reflection, she put the hat that she had found for him back on her head and opened the door.

Alex raised his eyebrows at the sight of her, "Not to shabby, if I do say so myself," he said.

Cassie laughed, "Agreed," she said, closing the door and changing into the next outfit, yet another pair of jeans and the flannel he had showed her earlier.

"Very nice," he said as she came out of the dressing room, "You should get that."

"Maybe," she shrugged. She hadn't planned on buying anything, only just looking.

She tried on the rest of the things Alex had chosen for her. Each time, he complimented her, but when she showed him the last swim suit, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. It was all she could do to keep from laughing at him. For the amount of skin it showed, it was hard to expect anything less. When she came out of the dressing room for the last time, in her own clothes, Alex quickly grabbed a few things from her and started to walk away.

"What are you doing?" she asked, following him.

"Buying these."

"Don't," she said.

"Why not?" he asked, "You didn't like them?"

She sighed, "No, I did. It's just... You don't have to," she said.

"I know I don't have to. But I want to. They looked good on you and I want you to have them. But I could tell by the look on your face when I said you should get them that you weren't going to."

Cassie sighed again, knowing this was an argument he wasn't going to let her win. She let it go and followed him to the cash register. While the cashier was ringing up the clothes, Cassie played with the displays on the counter.

"I wanted to get this hat for my boyfriend but it looked weird on him," the cashier told Alex as she scanned the hat.

He laughed, "Yeah, she had me try it on and it looked funny on me. Then she put it on and it looked so much better on her."

"Your girlfriend is so pretty. I'm sure just about anything would look good on her," the cashier said.

Alex grinned, "Thank you. I think so too." he said, not bothering to correct her.

Cassie was only half paying attention and by the time she realized what the girl behind the counter had said, Alex had already paid and was nudging her toward the door.

"Why didn't you tell her that I'm not your girlfriend?" she asked.

"Why would I?" Alex replied.

"Well, gosh, I don't know. Maybe because I'm not."

He laughed, "Are you seriously upset about this? Who cares if that girl thinks we're dating. What's so wrong with me just wanting to accept a compliment from her instead of telling her that we're just friends?"

Cassie sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry," she said as they approached her car.

Neither of them spoke on the drive to the restaurant. Alex sang along softly to the songs on the mixed CD she was playing and Cassie focused on the road. When they arrived, she turned off the car and dropped her hands into her lap.

"You really didn't have to buy those clothes for me," she said.

Alex laughed, "I know," he said, "I wanted to, and that's why I did. Relax, okay? This is supposed to be fun."

She nodded and they both got out of the car and made their way inside the restaurant. In no time, they found their friends. The guys were on one side of the table and Angie was by herself on the other side. Cassie took a seat next to her friend and across from Rian, who glared at Alex as he high fived Jack across the table before sitting down.

"Have you all been here long?" Cassie asked, "I didn't think we were late."

"You're not," Angie said.

After they ordered, Jack struck up a conversation. Cassie felt a someone kick her sharply in the leg under the table. When she looked up, Rian was staring at her. He moved his head slightly in the direction of the door and she nodded. They both stood without saying a word to anyone. She could feel everyone's eyes on them as they walked outside.

"You really need to be careful," Rian said as soon as the door shut behind them.

"Excuse me?" she said.

"Alex is bad news, Cassie."

She laughed, "Dude, he's one of your best friends."

"Exactly. That's why I can tell you with confidence that he's not the kind of guy you want to get too involved with."

"Rian," she began.

"He's going to let you down. You have to trust me on this one," he said.

"Rian," she said again.

"I've known him for a long time," he continued.

Cassie grabbed his arm to get his attention, "Rian! We're just trying to get to know each other," she said, "I understand that you're concerned, and I appreciate that, but you're freaking out over nothing. I know what I'm doing."

He sighed, "It's just, I know both of you..."

Cassie interrupted, "I know. You're a good friend. But you need to relax."

Rian sighed again, not wanting to let the subject drop, "Let's go back inside."

"You go ahead," she told him, "I'll be there in a minute."

As he disappeared back inside the restaurant, Cassie pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her purse. It was going to be a long night.