Nessa's outfit
I stare at the groupchat on my phone. Kyler was going to drive me to the mall. The same Kyler who saved me just last night from total humiliation. And we were going to the mall to meet my ex best friend and his sneaky girlfriend! Kyler texts me separately saying he'll be here soon and I realize my attire was not appropriate for going out (sweats and sports bra). I quickly throw on some more presentable clothes that included an oversized shirt and my favorite leather pants. To top it off I threw on some sunglasses and grabbed my purse. I didn't have enough time to put on concealer to hide my under-eye bags so I just prayed they weren't too obvious. Kyler pulls into the driveway just as I come downstairs.
"Hey," he greets me as I rush to the jeep.
"Hey yourself," I smile shyly. I get into the co-pilot seat and hand him his clothes from last night. I had thrown them in the washing machine after I had gotten home.
"Thank you, we can trade. Here, I picked up some Dunkin on the way to your house, figured you could use a cup of coffee." Kyler motions to two cups of iced drinks that were neatly placed in the cup holders between us.
"Oh thank you, you didn't have to, really." I blush pretending to be busy inspecting the drinks to avoid eye contact.
"No it's cool. I grabbed you a medium iced hazelnut swirl latte with oatmilk, not whole milk. Oh, and one sugar. I figured you might like oatmilk, I know you told me last night you drink coffee with almond milk but I thought..." he trails off.
I was speechless, then realizing my silence I say: "Ohmy gosh, Kyler! You're amazing! I definitely would be down to try oatmilk! I've never had hazelnut swirl but I'm sure it'll be great! Thank you so much! I can't believe you remembered one sugar!"
Kyler taps his head, "I have a very good memory ya know."
I laugh, "So, what did you get? I thought you said you didn't drink coffee?"
"Yeah, well it's some mocha crap...I can only handle this because it has chocolate."
I wrinkle my nose, "Ew, chocolate and coffee do not go together."
"They do too!"
"Nah, it's a gross combination." I reply sipping some of my drink. I motion for him to turn right at a light, "So, are you excited to hang out at this mall with the gang?" I ask changing the subject.
"Yeah, seems cool. I didn't know that you, Sofie, and Faith were really close with Sam and his gang. Or like close enough to have some group chat."
"Yeah it's weird," I then proceed to tell Kyler about how it used to be for a group project, "I mean we talked less over the years and it's a bit awkward and stuff. I mean I don't typically hang with Sam and those guys...usually stick to Sofie and Faith." I shrug.
"That's cool, but I shouldn't be expecting this group chat to be active most of the time?" he asks.
"Yeah, don't get your hopes up. I mean you've probably been added to some Snap group chat for the football players."
"Yeah, I am...it's odd. They are always talking about hitting up parties...or girls." he glances at me and then looks back at the road.
"Hmmm...I'm sure Sofie's name is thrown in there a lot."
"Surprisingly, no."
"What?"
He shrugs, "They usually talk about which girls have gotten hotter and who they want to ask out or hook up with."
"Gross." I roll my eyes assuming they're talking about Alex since she's all hot and stuff.
When we get to the mall Sofie is waiting in the food court. Next to her is Alex and Nik who are making out. I roll my eyes and ignore them, heading over to Sofie and Faith.
"Where's Sam? I thought he was giving you a ride." I ask Sofie.
Rolling her eyes Sofie sighs, "He had to get some girl's number who's working at American Eagle."
"Weirdo." I mutter. Linking arms with Sofie I turn to address Alex and Nik, "So where do you two want to go?" I ask interrupting their makeout session.
Alex pulls away from Nik and glares at me, "Wherever you aren't."
I flash her a fake smile but before I can say anything Sofie steps in, "Sure, we'll be at Journeys and you can go to Whore-nation? I bet they're willing to give you a discount since you're like the model for it." she remarks snidely.
I struggle to hide a laugh.
"What's up, you're finally here!" Sam's booming voice appears out of nowhere and for once, I'm glad he's his obnoxious self.
"Sam, there was traffic." I tell him.
"Nah, Kyler's just a lousy driver." he replies smirking at Kyler who's standing behind us awkwardly.
"He is not," I defend him laughing. "Come on, where to?"
"Let's go to Journeys," Sofie suggests.
"Rue21!" I argue.
"Spencer's!" Sam interjects.
Sofie and I roll our eyes at this.
"Forever21!" Alex tells us, with that said she starts walking towards it.
"Bye, whore." Sofie calls out to her. She grabs my hand, "Let's go the opposite way. We can go to Rue21 for all I care...as long as she's nowhere near us."
"Agreed." I motion to Kyler and Sam, "You coming?"
"I really think we should stick together," Kyler says awkwardly watching Alex who's marching away and Nik following her reluctantly.
"Yeah, come with us, stick together." Sofie says.
"Yeah, they're going to hook up in the bathroom or something." Sam shrugs, "Plus, Sofie is way hotter than her, and available." he winks.
"Disgusting." Sofie mutters as Sam links his arm on her other arm. She unlinks her arm with mine to sock Sam in the shoulder.
"Jesus, woman! What did I ever do to you?!" Sam shouts.
"Well," Sofie begins a tangent.
Blocking it out I turn to Kyler, "Sorry if this is awkward...we don't normally have new kids hanging around...this is going to take a while. Also, don't interrupt Sofie when she's in an argument...it's best to let her go off. I'm just gonna check something on my phone...it'll be over in a sec." I tell him.
"Okay..." Kyler nods.
I turn away from him and check my email. Cade and I hadn't been able to watch a movie before we both had to leave for a party. We had briefly emailed each other before we had left to share stuff about our day. I said I met a new kid who was rather interesting (I didn't go into details, just said he didn't seem like other guys) and then he told me about how he had instantly hated art this year. We had left it with that so I email him back.
hey. maybe we can watch that movie tonight?
- sparrow
I reload the page to see if he's replied in the last two seconds after I hit send but there's nothing. I turn around to see Kyler on his phone. He smiles and then begins to type something. He's probably talking to an old friend or his parents or something. A new email shows up in my inbox. Cade.
yeah i'd be down! how's 6:30 work?
- cade
I smile and reply with sure thing. Shutting off my phone I look at Sam and Sofie who seem to be calm. They're laughing about something.
"You two ready to go now?" I call out.
Sofie snorts, "Yeah, just waiting on you and Kyler who seem to find their phones more interesting than the people in front of them."
"Damn the shade!" Sam grins.
"Come on, let's go." I motion for Kyler to follow us. Sam slings an arm over Sofie shoulder which she surprisingly doesn't shrug off. They're chatting about something leading me and Kyler to trail behind them.
"Hey, I found this song my daily recommended and I think you'd really like it," Kyler says holding out an Airpod.
Curious, I put it in my ear. He clicks play and I instantly fall in love. With the song that is. The intro is all piano. A drum comes in later on and then a man singing. He's amazing. I love his voice. It's unique, slightly raspy but clear at the same time. It's kind of folk and pop all mixed together with a slight bit of country.
There she is, standing in that loose fitted jean skirt,
downing that beer,
damn it looks like it gotta hurt...
He continues singing about how he is falling in love with the woman. The words are beautiful. The lead sings about how beautiful the girl is, not just because of her face or body but because of her love for long car rides and playing with cute animals. I love the song.
"Who's this by? What's it called?" I ask when the song has finished. I was sad it ended that fast. It felt like just a second ago it began.
Kyler takes out his phone and shows me, "Seduct!on, they've been around for only like five years, I've only heard this song and some other one called Gemma."
"Wow they're amazing! What was the song we just heard called?" I ask.
"There She Is,"
"Wow, I love it!" I smile.
Kyler hands me his phone so I can check out some more of Seduct!on's music. They're underground, with only about 500,000 listeners. 500,000 listeners with great taste. I click on the top song they have on Spotify. It's called Dead Grl. It's just as amazing as There She Is, I can't choose between the two of them. Kyler then plays me Gemma and I love that one too. We listen to all of the top Seduct!on songs which are all unique. Some of the songs are pop rock, others are folk pop and some are more soulful. I love them all. While we listen we look around for clothes with Sofie and Sam who are laughing and talking to each other, almost forgetting about Kyler and I. They would make a cute couple if Sofie went for obnoxious guys like Sam. Kyler gets a t-shirt and a pair of jeans which he tries on in the changing room while I try on a skirt in the other changing room. We have Airpods in and as long as we don't stray too far from one another we can both hear the music. After Kyler, Sofie, Sam and I shop for a while at one end of the store, we bump into Alex and Nik who look like they just had sex a few minutes ago. Alex's hair is all messy and Nik's button down shirt is wrinkled.
"Sup!" Sam greets them oblivious to this.
"Hey," Nik nods, "wanna get some food?"
"Sure." Sam says without asking if the rest of us want some. We all follow him, Kyler is still playing Seduct!on's music as we order. I order some fries and a hot dog and sit down next to Sofie. Sam is sitting across from her telling her some dumb joke. Kyler slides into a seat on the other side of me after he orders his food and Nik and Alex follow behind. Nik sits across from me, Alex sits next to him, across from Kyler. They begin arguing about how Nik ordered a hot dog which Alex is offended about since she doesn't eat meat. I close my eyes to block them out. Kyler turns up the music and leans over towards me: "I meant to tell you this before but you look especially gorgeous today."
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