The Boy from New York City

It was close to the end of the week. Five days have I spent here in this mansion, unpacking, shopping, learning to cook…life seemed to be on repeat.

There was a knock at my door, forcing me to look away from the view I knew too well. “Come in!”

Alexzander enters with a younger girl at his side, “hey Sam,” he says, coming up to me and kissing me on the cheek. We hadn’t fully discussed the public display of affection that this relationship would require, but the occasional kiss on the cheek wasn’t breaking any rules in my books.

“Hey,” I reply, glancing at the girl who was now standing in front of us, “um, care to introduce us Alexzander?”

He smirks at me, “yes, of course. Sam, this is my younger pain-in-the-butt sister, Allison. Allison, this is the girl I was talking about, Sam Rose.”

“Oh my gosh! You are so much prettier than Alex describe.” She slaps her brother’s arm, “you didn’t do her justice!”

I smile and lean into Alexzander some, “well since no one should judge others on their looks, I’m glad he didn’t focus all his energy on describing me.”

Her perfect look that I’m sure she spends hours practicing falters a little at my comment, “he was definitely correct on the independence part.”

Before I could reply, Alexzander cuts in, “Allison is here to take you dress shopping hun.”

“And it looks like I’ll be giving manner lessons too,” his sister scoffs, crossing her arms.

“Allison…” Alexzander says, trailing off in that ‘don’t start’ tone.

“What? I’m just saying that she obviously needs some lessons in manners.”

“For your information, I have perfect manners when it’s necessary. I just don’t find talking with you to be that important.”

“Not important? Do you realize who you’re speaking to?”

“I know very well who I’m speaking to. But you’re no better than someone on the street.”

“Do you hear this Alexzander?! How could you date such a—a lowlife?” My eyes narrow and I could tell she noticed. Allison definitely knew she hit a sore spot for me. “Where exactly did you come from, Samantha?”

If Alexzander wasn’t holding onto me, his grip tightening at her words, I would have started a physical fight with her. But to my dismay, I could only use my words. “My name is Sam, not Samantha.”

“Oh, sorry, it’s just that I don’t believe you. Sam isn’t something parents name their kids.”

Alexzander takes more of a defense this time, stepping a little in front of me. “Allison, stop right now.” In most scenarios I would be pissed that he took charge. I can fight my own fights; I don’t need some guy to do it for me. But then I realized that if I’m going to start dating this guy, I better suck it up and let him save me every once in a while.

“What? I’m just saying that Sam is a nickname, not an actual name.”

I could tell that he was about to say something he’d regret. In all honesty, I’m probably about to do the same. But I’d rather have his sister hate me, than him hating his sister. “Look, I can go shopping on my own. I do know how to buy a dress Alexzander.”

“You sure about that?” Allison remarks, resurfacing her brothers’ anger. And just when I started to calm him down.

“Get out Allison.” He says, his voice was anything but nice and soft now.

“But-”

“Allison Grey Leighton get out of my house and don’t come back without an apology.” She stomps off at his words and moments later the front door is slammed shut. Alexander turns to me with a small smile, “sorry about that. She’s going through her bitchy teenage years. She’s really not that bad…all the time.”

I shrug, “it’s okay. I should be the one apologizing; I kinda got carried away there.” I grab his hand and pull him towards the door, “now come on, I’m not going to suffer shopping all by myself.”
I was waiting for the groan that most every guy would give me. Just like me, they dreaded the word ‘shopping.’ Instead though, I find myself tumbling over as Alexzander stops without letting go of my hand. “You know, I was thinking we should really talk this out. Obviously some PDA is okay with you.” He says, motioning to our hands which were still attached, even after I fell to the ground.

“And you know what you could do with our interlaced hands? Help me up!”

He sighs, sitting down on the step above my head. I have yet to move from my laying down position on the stairs, “Sam, I’m being serious.”

“So am I.” When he doesn’t reply I move my gaze from the ceiling to looking up at him, “I honestly don’t see why we need to discuss this, but if you insist I won’t argue. I think it would be best if we just let things physically move forward at a natural pace. Beyond simple things as holding hands, hugs, and a kiss on the cheek, things that we don’t so much want the media to see. Obviously though we’ll have to put up a front for the media, and the way we acted in front of your sister seems like the way we should be acting in front of everyone.”

Alexzander stands up, thankfully pulling me up with him, “well, that works for me. Now come on, we have to find you a dress and I have a feeling that it’s not going to be easy.”

Hours later, and an impossible number of dresses, we still had not come to one fit for the party tomorrow night. It had to be elegant but casual, colorful but mysterious, and, well, Alexzander definitely preferred short. “Well pigs must be flying because I never thought I’d find Alex Leighton in a dress shop.” I hear outside my dressing room door.

“I’m here with my girlfriend.” He explains simply, probably waiting for me to exit the dressing room to save him.

“Oh yes, I heard about her. Alex Lucas Leighton with a girlfriend, it’s the news of the century.”

“Shut-up.” Alexzander say, “I really love her. This is serious, not just some other girl.”

“You know I’m happy for you Alex. And hey, maybe someday there will be a glorious wedding for me to attend.”

“Maybe.”

I choose that time to walk out into the room. The dress I was wearing was one that Alexzander had chosen and was just terrible. It was short with kind of a jungle design going on. Whatever it was supposed to be, I knew I would never be caught dead in it.

“Dear god, what are you wearing?” The woman asks who was now sitting next to Alexzander on the bench.

I smile, knowing that I would like this woman much better than his sister. “Ask the idiot next to you.”

She rolls her eyes and smiles at me, “I’m Sara. Sara Johnson.”

“Sam. But it seems you already knew that.” I turn to Alexzander who seemed to still be studying this dress on me, trying to figure out why it doesn’t work.

“The whole world knows about you. The real question is why you brought your boyfriend dress shopping?”

I chuckle as Alexzander glares at me. “Well, he told me I had to get a dress, and I hate shopping. So I asked him to come along to ease the pain.”

“Actually, she dragged me out of the house so that she didn’t have to suffer alone. Like literally, dragged me.”

“I did not. I’m sure Sara is smart enough to realize it would be physically impossible for me to literally drag you Alexzander.”

Sara laughs and intervenes before our bickering gets to be too much. “Jason is at that video game place you guys love so much, Alex. Why don’t you head over there and let us finish the dress shopping.”

Alexzander jumps up from his seat, fist pumping the air. “Thank you Sara! I knew there was a reason you were my best friend.” He turns to me, “are you okay with Sara? I promise she’s nicer than my sister.”

I smile, and this time it wasn’t forced. Alexzander’s excitement was just so adorable, I couldn’t help but smile. “Of course Alexzander, go meet up with Jason.”

“Thanks sweetie. I know you’ll find the perfect dress.” He kisses my forehead, and waves to Sara before darting out of there as fast as he could.

Once he’s out of sight Sara and I burst into a fit of giggles, “I almost wish we made him sit here and suffer.” Sara comments, “but then again, if he’s going to choose dresses like that…”

“I know! But I felt obligated to try them on for him.” I explain, glancing down at the ugly dress I was wearing.

“Well, go change into your normal clothes and we’ll start to shop for real.” I smile and do as she says, finally taking off the jungle that I was wearing. Once we start looking around again, Sara starts with the questions that I knew were to come. “So of course I know the story of you two, Alex wouldn’t shut-up about it when I demanded an explanation. But just between you and me, you’re not really from a rich family, are you?”

I shake my head no, “obviously not. I mean look at me, I would think most people could tell.”

“You’d be surprised at what some celebrities are wearing these days.” She pulls off a floor length gown in a bright turquoise color, “what about this one?”

“Alexzander prefers short.”

Sara puts the dress back onto the rack and walks up to me, “so, you really do call him Alexzander, huh?”

“Uh, yeah. That is his name.”

“Yes, but he’s never let anyone call him that. It’s always been Alex. Never told any of us why, but he’ll get pissed if I call him Alexzander.”

I look down at my shoes, embarrassed now. “Oh, maybe I should ask him about it. I don’t want to be offending him.”

“Trust me, if he minded, he would have told you about now.” Sara pulls another dress off the rack, “now this is perfect.”
I look at the short, kind of spunky dress in her hands, “are you sure? It doesn’t seem elegant enough.” I ask, worried. I didn’t want to go to the party as an outcast.

“Sam, do you know what party this is for?” I shake my head no, “it’s my engagement party. Jason, that’s my fiancé. I’m here because my dress didn’t exactly get approved for the party by the wedding planner my parents hired. So I have to find a new one. Trust me when I say this is the perfect dress.”

“Fine. But if everyone stares, I’m blaming you.” I go into the dressing room and slip the dress on. It was actually really pretty on me and fit perfectly. The dress came down just above the knees, with a lace top and multi-colored fabric as the skirt. I step out to show Sara and she stands there, gawking.

“Damn, I’m good. You can definitely blame me if people are staring, Sam, I’d be honored in that sense.”

“Great! Now we need to find your dress.”

“Oh, I’m sure my mother has already called ahead and found a dress for me.” I stare at her, waiting for the punch line, “I’m not joking Sam, that’s kind of how things are done around here.”

I follow her up to the counter to find that she was indeed correct. In the back room a very detailed bright yellow dress was waiting for Sara. “See? And surprisingly, it’s not that bad looking.”
I laugh at her comment and step up to pay for my dress. The lady looks at me strangely but scans the tag anyways. “So where to next?” I ask, walking up to Sara.

“The guys got us a table at Osborn. We’re meeting them for dinner of course.”

“Great! Where is it?”

“Oh, just up about three blocks from here. I’ll have my limo come around to pick us up.”

I shrug and start towards the exit, “it’s fine, we can just walk,” I say, not seeing the point to drive a couple of blocks.

“Walk? Why would we walk?” Sara asks. She wasn’t being snobby about it but this definitely wasn’t something she was used to.

“Well, not only is it healthier for us as individuals, it’s also better for the environment and cheaper. Not to mention quicker since you’re driver would have to get here and then get us to the restaurant. Walking should only take about 5 minutes, 10 tops.”

Sara stands there and blinks a few times, as if she were trying to register what I just said. “Um, okay? I guess we can walk.”

“You guess? I was going to walk either way. Anyways, left or right?” I ask, finally getting to the end of the parking lot and needing a bit of direction.

Exactly seven minutes later we entered the restaurant. Sara was a bit out of breath, but that may have been a lot from the complaining she did on the walk over. Of course, I myself have had enough practice of walking everywhere and a small three blocks didn’t affect me.

“Your girlfriend is crazy,” Sara tells Alexzander, the instant she sits down. He just chuckles and puts an arm around my shoulder. “I’m not joking here; you should have her checked out.”

“What did she do this time?” he asks, obviously not believing I was that insane. Or at least I hope he didn’t.

“At first it was normal; we found her a gorgeous dress. And then I picked up the dress my mom had pre-ordered for me. It was great, we had a wonderful time. Then she did the unthinkable.”

I laugh, “I wouldn’t exactly call it unthinkable, Sara, most people go through with the action I did.”

“I know very few people who actually pay for their clothes. I mean, your dress touched that counter, that’s disgusting!”

“Okay, at least can you explain this one to me? I grew up paying for everything I owned, or else I wouldn’t own it.” Alexzander smirks next to me, knowing that that obviously wasn’t true.

“It’s quite simple Sam; you are Sam Rose, you are Alex Leighton’s girlfriend, you will be wearing that dress while attending my engagement party. The company would be honored beyond belief to have you wearing their clothing. Therefore, no need to pay them.”

My mouth drops, “that’s terrible! Those people work just like any other. They should be paid for their work just the same. It doesn’t matter how big a name is, the employees have payments and families. They need the money much more than you do. I had the money, so I might as well actually pay for my item.”

“The thought is just so ridiculous to me.” She comments and then on with the reasons in why I was crazy. “Anyways, she then has us walk here from the mall. I offered to call my driver, but no, she insisted we walk.”

Jason was the one to roll his eyes this time, “it’s like three blocks honey, and you made it here alive.”

“Yes, but still, she’s crazy. In a good way, of course. Got a lot of opinions.”

“Everyone should be kept well informed. My father always taught me that.”

Slyly changing the subject, Jason interferes, “and what great advice that is. Alex says you’ll be attending Barnard?”

“Yes, I’ll be starting this winter.”

“It’s a great school. My cousin went there a couple years back. What will you be studying?”

“Economics and Women Studies,” I answer, smiling politely, “I know the two don’t really go together but I couldn’t decide between my two passions.”

Through my answer the guys started talking business. Jason is all about there being another recession in 2013 while Alexzander says that it won’t happen. Though I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to automatically agree with Alexzander, I couldn’t help but agree with Jason. Through recent events in the stock market and business shows a small repeat in history.

“I just think the government will handle things better than time around.” Alexzander says, defending himself.

I roll my eyes, “you don’t have to get defensive, Alexzander, it’s okay to be naïve about some subjects.”

Sara and Jason laugh while Alexzander just stares at me. “Oh my, he’s shocked from being insulted,” Sara comments, breaking out into another laugh.

Jason lifts his glass to me, “props to Sam. No one has the guts to insult a Leighton these days.”

I just laugh and nudge Alexzander, “I’m just kidding sweetie, I’m sure that the government will learn from their mistakes. But that doesn’t mean they won’t make new ones.”

“So philosophical of you to say,” He replies with a smirk, “you’ll fit right in at Barnard.”

We all laugh and continue with the meal. By the end I realized that this was just a small insight to my new life. Eating out, shopping, talking about business…it’s all familiar, but new. This relationship might be a lot tougher than I first imagined.