Flirting with Danger Bk 1

I sighed and put a hand to my head. I couldn’t deal with this right now. I just wanted to be happy and have fun shopping with my friends and my new boyfriend. Man, I thought, just thinking that Louis was already my boyfriend was weird. Maybe we were going too fast. I’m really going to have to talk to Louis about this.
“Kota? Are you alright?” I heard Johanna and another pair of footsteps walking towards the dressing rooms.
“Uh, yeah.” I said, standing and opening the door.
“Oh, that looks great on you!” said Diane, standing behind Johanna.
“Kota, what’s wrong?” asked Johanna, her face concerned.
“Can I tell you something?” I asked.
“Sure, just let us get in our own rooms and go on.” said Johanna and she and Diane got in the dressing rooms on either side of me.
“Well, you know how Connelly left me.” I said, closing my room back up and sitting back down.
“Yeah, he is such a jerk.” said Johanna.
“You totally don’t deserve him.” agreed Diane. I smiled at their support.
“Well, I had nightmares about it last night, but then it suddenly changed to when Louis and I waltzed. And I guess I was really numb that night because I could feel all these things that I didn’t remember really feeling when they happened.” I said.
“Well you know, dreams can change memories sometimes. But you were pretty shut down after Connelly left.” said Johanna.
“Yeah, it wasn’t until after the competition that you started acting better.” agreed Diane.
“Well, when I woke up this morning Louis came up and gave me a yellow Mimosa flower and a card.” I said.
“Why?” asked Diane.
“Probably to make up for what Connelly did. You know, he likes you a lot.” said Johanna.
“Yeah well, he went through a lot to get me this stuff. It turns out that today is Festa della Donne, which means the festival of women. All the guys give flowers, usually yellow Mimosa, to the girls in their lives. I think it’s like an Italian Valentine’s Day or something. But anyway, he went to ten stores to find the flower and ended up beating a guy up for the flower, and then went to the only card maker in the city and had him make me a card.” I looked at both of the walls on either side of me when I heard an awed sigh.
“That’s beautiful!” gushed Diane.
“That is so romantic!” Johanna sighed.
“Yeah, and way before this whole thing with Connelly even started, he told me he loved me and that he wouldn’t stop trying to be with me. And just a minute ago I heard Dale telling Louis that he was my rebound guy. What do you guys think, am I using Louis to get away from my problems with Connelly?” I asked and then there were two knocks on my door. I opened it and they were standing there.
“Well, how are your feelings for Louis?” asked Johanna.
“I’ve always liked him, even when I was with Connelly.” I said.
“Well, that’s a good sign.” said Diane.
“Yeah, it was really hard for me to decide between him and Connelly.” I said.
“I personally don’t think you’re doing anything wrong, but maybe you’re going too fast. I mean, Connelly just left you last night and you’re already with Louis?” said Johanna.
“I feel exactly the same way.” I said, happy that someone understood.
“Well, maybe you just need to talk to him.” Diane said as she and Johanna returned to their dressing rooms.
“I’ll do that.” I said, closing my door and changing back into my own skirt with a smile. “Thanks guys, for listening to me.” I walked out of the room just as they did.
“No problem.” said Diane.
“We’re always here to help.” said Johanna, giving me a hug. “What’re friends for?” We all smiled and went back to our shopping.
We all bought at least one thing for ourselves, including Louis, which I covered, and then went onto other stores. By lunchtime we’d already gone through three stores and were starving to death. We stopped at the same restaurant the last time we’d gone exploring and ordered the same thing since it was so good, and like I said before. It was the only thing we could understand.
“So, how’re we doing on time?” I asked, looking over at Dale as I speared a big hollow noodle.
“We’ve got about an hour and a half, two hours.” he said, looking at his watch.
“Okay then, we’ll hit a couple more stores and then head back to the hotel. How’s everyone doing on money?” I asked and looked around.
“Well, I’ve already gone through mine,” said Diane. “I spent the last of it on jewelry at the last store.”
“Me too.” agreed Johanna. “But I spent mine on shoes and clothes.”
“I still have a few hundred, but I’m saving mine for when I get back home.” Jason said and Jack agreed. I looked over at Sue, who was playing with her noodles and not saying anything. She’d hardly spoken a word the whole time we’d been out and had barely spent any of her money, except on a dress she said she knew Ivan would like her in when he came back.
“I’ve got a suspicion.” said Louis and I looked over at him and saw him looking at me like I was the culprit. I made sure to look like an angel.
“What are you looking at me for?” I asked, sounding like I had no idea what he was hinting at.
“You’re still giving me my five hundred dollar share, aren’t you.” he said, smiling as he accused me.
“What?” I said, acting like I couldn’t believe he was saying this, that I would purposefully buy him things he liked and things I liked for him, all the while secretly using up his five hundred dollar cut. I was completely caught off guard by this. Hee, hee.
“You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been getting me things all day, using your money to buy them. Admit it, you’re still giving me five hundred dollars, just in material items.” he said and smiled, like he knew he’d caught me.
“Actually I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said, making a straight face, which was completely unnatural for me, and ate a noodle. “I would never do such a thing.” They all laughed at that, slightly breaking me of my straight face and making me smile.
“I knew it.” he said.
“Fine, but it’s my money and I’ll spend it on what I want.” I said, looking over at him. He just laughed and nodded in a way that said, “Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that”, or maybe, “Yeah, sure”.
We all discussed what stores to visit and then finished lunch with an hour to spare, during which we only went to one other store before heading back to the hotel because most of us were broke anyway. Except for me at least. Since I had more money than them, I still had about a thousand dollars left, but I was saving it for a special occasion.
When we got back to the hotel we spent the rest of our free time packing, checking, double-checking, and running around the hotel looking for things we’d misplaced. I was currently in my room looking under my bed when there was a knock at my door. I looked up, because I’d left the door open, and saw Louis standing there.
“You almost ready?” he asked, coming over to me.

“Yeah, I’m just looking for my last pair of pj’s. Do you think the maid might have taken it?” I asked, going to look in the bathroom.

“Yeah, that’s what maids are going to steal. A seventeen year old’s dirty tweety pajamas.” he said, smiling at his own sarcasm.

“They can wash it.” I said and he laughed.

“Maybe you packed it.” he said, pointing out the obvious wrong thing.

“If I packed it, I would’ve remembered.” I said, but came back over to the bed and checked anyway. As soon as I unzipped the bag, the pj’s were staring at me. I raised my eyebrows in a “What do you know about that?” way and zipped it back up.

“They’re in there aren’t they?” he asked, giving me a smarty pants look.

“Maybe.” I said, going around him to the other side of my bed for my shoes. He turned with me as I got my shoes and then as I walked back around and put them in the bag.

“Kota,” he said, his tone not playful anymore. “We need to talk.”