Arranged Fate

“This is your house,” I say in awe as I get out of the cab. Oliver comes around to my side of the cab and pays the driver before answering me.

“For now,” He grumbles as the cab pulls away from the sidewalk.

“They must have really pissed you off to make you leave,” I comment, taking in the entire house in front of me. It was magical. This house only existed in movies until right now. But even now, I wasn’t convinced it was real. It was too perfect. It put the white house to shame.

“They did, now come on,” Oliver says, snapping me out of my thoughts. He grabbed me by the wrist and drags me through the front gates and up the long driveway. Along each side of the driveway were trees that were just beginning to bloom with pink flowers. The word magical ran through my head again.

Oliver came to a sudden stop in front of a garage door. I nearly ran into his back but caught myself before doing so. I took a look around and realized there were five other garage doors. Yes, five.

After typing in a code, the garage door in front of us opened.

I bet it’s an Italian sports car.

My mouth dropped when the garage door finally revealed what was behind it. That definitely wasn’t an Italian sports car.

“You’re drooling,” Oliver sang, chuckling as lightly nudged me inside the garage. “Not what you expected is it?”

“Not exactly,” I admit, walking over to the passenger seat and looking inside. Even the inside was different than I expected. “No black lights or disco balls?”

“No,” He laughs, walking to the back wall and pulling one of four key chains off a hook. Who needs four keys for one car?

Rich people.

“She’s a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle. I fixed her up with a friend of mine last summer.” He says, admiring the car. I couldn’t help but do it as well. It was a beautiful car. “Alright, come on; let’s not make Marissa wait any longer.”

“Maria,” I correct as we slide into the car. He waves me off before starting up the car.

The car ride to the mall is relatively silent. A good silence though. There wasn’t any awkward tension between the two of us. Oliver had turned on a local radio station on and it was blasting a song that I didn’t know. But it wasn’t that bad. He had also rolled his window down, letting the warm spring breeze flow through the car.

I sent a text to Maria letting her know I would be at the mall soon. I still hadn’t changed my mind about her meeting Oliver though.

“Alright,” Oliver says as we park in the lot closest to Macy’s. “What’s the plan?”

“Maria has dance tonight, so we’ll only be a couple of hours.” I tell him, holding my hand out for his phone. “Phone.”

He shook his head, “I’m getting a new one. I turned mine off because I know everyone is probably trying to call me.”

“Right,” I say, dropping my hand. “Well, just don’t leave me then. I’ll meet you by the arcade around 3?”

“Works for me,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.

“Great!” I smile. Once we’re out of the car, my phone starts ringing. It’s Maria. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” She whines in her tired voice.

“I’m walking in right now,” I answer with a laugh as Oliver opens the door for me. I mouth thank you to him and he just smiles back.

“Where?” She whines again.

“Macy’s. I’ll come to you. Where are you at?” I question, waving to Oliver as he takes off to the men’s section of Macy’s.

“The food court,” She mumbles. “The pretzel bites, I swear, they’re just calling out for me. Eat me… Eat me…”

“You’ve got some serious mental issues babe,” I laugh loudly. A few people glance my way, giving me strange looks. “But you’re still so good in bed.” I say, making sure the people that were giving me strange looks heard me.

“Oh my god!” Maria bursts out laughing.

“They were staring at me! I had to do something,” I say with a laugh as I round the corner to the food court. I can see Maria in her favorite bright pink shirt, clutching her stomach as she laughs at one of the tables. I end the call as I get closer but she still doesn’t notice me. She continues to laugh, not even realizing that I ended the call and am now standing right in front of her.

Finally, when she tries to get her laughing under control, she sees me.

“Holy fuck!” She says, a little too loud. A couple that is sitting behind her with their two kids send her dirty looks. “You scared me.”

“I noticed,” I chuckle. “Come on, I’ve got money burning a hole in my pocket and Victoria’s Secret just came out with a new bra.”

“Oh!” She says, jumping up from her chair. “Let’s go!”

We make our way through the mall to Victoria’s Secret which happens to be the farthest store away from the food court. I’m pretty sure they did that on purpose.

Every few seconds, I feel like I see Oliver walking past us or coming out of a store. But it’s never him. I can’t tell if I’m paranoid about Maria seeing him or I just miss him.

I’m probably paranoid.

Finally, we make it to Victoria’s Secret and I excitedly pull Maria over to the stand that has their new bra. But then something else catches my eye.

Oliver?

He’s flirting with two girls that are checking out the yoga pants. Well, he’s mostly flirting with one while the other looks like she wants to punch her friend in the face. A small giggle slipped out of my lips before I could stop it.

“What?” Maria questions, looking in the direction I was. “Whoa, he’s cute!”

You’re tellin’ me.

I nod in response, averting my attention back to the bra in front of me. The girl Oliver was flirting with talked way too loud though. So it was hard not to listen.

“Oh, you are just so funny!” She let out a high pitched laugh. I couldn’t help it. I had to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Maria asks from next to me.

“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head with a small smile on my face now. “Let’s go try these on?”

“Sure!” She says, bending down to the drawer with her size. I glance over at Oliver who was obviously regretting his decision to flirt with this girl now.

After we find out size in the color we want, we walk over to the dressing room. While we wait for someone to open a room for us, I notice Oliver looking my way. He mouths something to me but I couldn’t make it out before a girl came over and led us to a dressing room. Maria and I didn’t bother getting two. We needed each other’s opinions.

But we did demand that the other closed their eyes while we changed.

“Alright, what do you think?” I say, letting Maria open her eyes.

“Talk about false advertising! Look at those puppies,” She says, poking the top of my boob. “They actually look big!”

“Shut up,” I say, swatting her hand away as she tries to poke it again. “Just because you have D cup boobs, doesn’t mean you can make fun of my B cup.”

“But as your best friend, I can make fun of them all I want,” She smirks. “You have to get it.”

“Planning on it,” I say as I turn to look in the mirror. She was right. My boobs actually did look big for once.

After changing back into our clothes, we make our way to the registers to pay. Oliver was nowhere in sight, but the girl and her friend were pouting by the yoga pants.

“He wasn’t even that cute,” He friend said, patting the blonde’s back. I shook my head, something I had been doing too much of today. Oliver came off as a player, and really was a player!

Jackass

Maria and I paid for our bras and then made our way around the mall, trying on clothes and buying a few things. By 2:50, I had a bra, two new tank tops, a replacement for the shirt I ruined last week and a bathing suit. Summer was just around the corner and I planned on spending all my days by the pool.

“Do you need a ride home?” Maria asked me.

“No, I’ll be fine walking,” I tell her with a smile. She wraps me in the best hug she can manage with all her bags hanging from her arms, and then takes off to her car. I wait until she’s gone before I head back inside and go over to the arcade.

I find Oliver in the seat of a racing game, yelling at the car that just passed him. I chuckle to myself and make my way over to him. I drop my bags behind the seat of the game before I walk to his side and lean over to his ear.

“Boo,” I whisper.

“I have peripheral vision, you know,” He says with a smirk, his eyes focused on the screen.

“Damn,” I sigh, sitting in the chair for the racing game next to him. “So what happened with that girl in Victoria’s Secret? Not your type?”

“I have never met a girl so annoying in my life,” He groans, hitting the wheel with his hand as another car passes him. “This game is rigged!”

“Or maybe you’re just bad at it,” I chuckle.

“I am not!” He defends himself. “I still hold the high score to this day.”

“Really?” I ask. “That’s really hard to believe.” I say, watching another car pass him.

“Bloody fucking hell,” He says under his breath. “I give up!” He stands up from the chair and leans against the side of the machine. I quickly jump into his seat and take his spot. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” I question, stepping on the gas pedal.

“It looks like you’re about to lose,” He chuckles when a car passes me.

“You’re right, this game is rigged,” I say, taking my foot off the pedal just as time runs out and the game ends.

“Told you,” Oliver sings, patting my head. “Let’s go. I’m bored,” He says, walking around the chair and grabbing my bags. “And if you don’t come with, I’m trashing your things.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I say, jumping up and following him out. “Just when you do something nice, you turn it into something mean.”

“That’s how I work, sweetheart.”