Meet Cute (Page 32)

“Good idea!” She nabs the tank and disappears back inside the changing room.

Dax groans under his breath. “Freaking belly tops?”

I pat his shoulder. “This is only the beginning.”

“Did you wear belly tops?”

I lift a shoulder. “I had a couple.”

He looks me over again, this time with a hint of something like disapproval. “Yeah, well, she’s only thirteen. She needs to dress like the kid she is, not a miniature adult looking to go to the club.”

“She’s not walking around in booty shorts and bandeau bras, Dax.”

“And she never will.”

I laugh at his dark expression.

Emme comes out a minute later with the bright green tank under the shirt. “That’s perfect! Isn’t it, Dax?” I nudge him.

“Oh yeah, looks great.” He gives Emme two thumbs-up.

We spend another half an hour in the store, Emme modeling outfits, Dax moaning about gray hair and committing murder and then balking at the five-hundred-dollar bill.

He trails behind us, laden down with bags, complaining about being hungry.

“Just one more store and we can break for something to eat,” Emme calls over her shoulder.

She elbows me in the side and nods in the direction of a store. “I wanna go in there, but I don’t really want Dax to come.”

I follow her gaze to the teenage version of Victoria’s Secret. “I’ll take care of it. You go on ahead and I’ll meet you in there.”

“What are you going to say?”

“I’ll just tell him this store is girls only.”

“Okay.” She hugs me—something I’ve come to expect these days—and then rushes on ahead, disappearing inside.

I turn, watching Dax’s eyes go wide as he takes in the storefront. He makes flailing hand gestures. “I thought we were clothes shopping.”

“Bras and underwear constitute as clothes.”

“For fuck’s sake. I’m going to need therapy after this.”

I put a hand on his chest to stop him from following Emme into the store. “You’re not invited to this part of the shopping experience.”

He frowns and sighs. Then digs around in his pocket and pulls out his wallet. Flipping it open, he fishes out a few hundred dollars. “Will this be enough?”

“I should hope so.”

He slips the money into my hand and then clasps it in both of mine. “Please just no thongs. I need her to be more little girl than teenager for a while longer. Then I can fool myself into believing boys aren’t going to be a problem soon.”

“No thongs, and nothing lacy or satin. I promise, only cotton.”

“Thank you.” He presses a soft kiss to my knuckle and his gaze lifts, along with the corner of his mouth. “Feel free to pick up something for yourself, too.”

I roll my eyes. “I’ll text when we’re done.”

I find Emme in the pajama section. “Thanks a lot for coming with us today. It would’ve been embarrassing to bring Dax in here.”

“I’m more than happy to have an excuse to go shopping.” I give her a side hug and we browse the pajamas.

“You know, Dax talks about you a lot.”

“Oh?” I’m not sure what to say to that.

Emme chews on her ragged thumbnail. “He really likes you.”

“Well, I like him, too. And I like you.” I knock my shoulder against hers. I have a feeling I know where she’s going with this, and I’d prefer to have a conversation with Dax, and maybe ask him exactly what he’s said about me. “Oh! These are fun!” I hold up a pair of black pajama pants covered in glow-in-thedark stars.

“Those are cool.” She picks up the pair with a black skull and pink rose design. “But do you, like, like him like him, or just like him?”

I feign ignorance. “What do you mean?”

Emme shrugs. “I don’t know. Are you guys just, like, friends and stuff?”

“We’re friends like you and I are friends.”

“Right. Yeah. That’s what I thought.” She looks disappointed, which makes me question exactly how Dax and I need to manage this moving forward. It’s the reason I haven’t committed to anything either way. I can manage a broken heart, but I can’t deal with breaking Emme’s if Dax and I don’t work out.

Emme and I spend the next half hour picking out bras and underwear, a couple of new pairs of pajamas, and some athletic wear.

“These are fun!” Emme picks up a pair of hot-pink boy shorts covered in cherries. I don’t think she gets what they mean yet. “Are you going to buy anything? You should get something, too.”

I humor her and let her pick out a few pairs of underwear for me. My personal favorite are the black and gold leopard-print ones that say GO WILD! over the crotch.

Dax is sitting on a bench, playing on his phone, when we come out of the store. He glances up, taking in Emme’s bag and my own much smaller one. “Successful?”

I pass him the change—there isn’t much. “Very.”

His gaze goes to the bag hanging from my finger, his eyebrow raised in question. “What’d you get?”

“We picked out some fun underwear for Kailyn!” Emme says, rather loudly, while grinning.

“Did you, now?” Dax smirks while my face turns red.

“I don’t know about either of you, but I’m starving! We should definitely find a place to eat.” Based on Emme’s smile, I have a feeling she might’ve invited me on this shopping trip with ulterior motives.

We end up at a sushi place and spend another two hours shopping after that. Dax is a trooper, giving his opinion when he sees something he likes. And of course I end up trying on a bunch of things, too, because Emme seems to think it’s funny for us to wear the same outfits, seeing as I’m not much taller than she is. I imagine when she hits her growth spurt she’ll shoot up.

The best part of the entire shopping experience is our stop in the kitschy little store that sells memorabilia inspired by TV shows and movies. “Let’s see if they have It’s My Life stuff!” I thread my arm through Emme’s and drag her inside. I don’t even check to see if Dax follows.

I head straight for the posters. They have lots of old movie ones but nothing from Dax’s show, so I move on to the T-shirts, rummaging around in the last-chance rack, because sometimes they have great finds. “Oh my God!” I shriek when I find the one shirt I’ve been dying to own since forever, and it’s on sale. “Look at this!” I hold up the It’s My Life T-shirt and then hug it to my chest. It features Dax in a Tiger Beat–style pose, wearing his signature smirk with #1 Dustin Fan in bright yellow letters.

The teenager behind the cash register barely spares me a glance, and Emme looks at me like I’ve gone crazy. Dax is standing with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing pretty much the same expression as he is on the shirt. It’s a small, but I’ll squeeze my chest into it.

“This is a classic! Season two, episode seven. Best hair episode in the entire season, maybe the whole show! I’m so getting this! Oh! I wonder if they have anything else. Excuse me,” I call to the kid at the register. “Do you have any more It’s My Life stuff?”

He’s busy texting, so it takes several seconds before he finds the will to lift his eyes from the screen and shrug. “Uh, maybe in the clearance section?”

“I’m sure anything you find in here will be in the basement at my house,” Dax mutters.

“But this is way more fun than going through boxes in a basement!” I practically skip my way over to the clearance bin and rummage around while Emme tries on weird hats. I find a chipped mug with Dax on it that matches my new shirt, a bobblehead, and a keychain.

Impressed with my haul, I head for the checkout.

Dax gives me a look. “What’re you doing?”

“Buying treasures.” I dump my armload on the counter.

Dax picks up the mug. “Don’t buy this. It’s broken.”

I grab it from him and hug it to my chest. “It’s chipped, which is not the same. And it matches my new shirt, so I need it.”

“Don’t you already have a mug with my face on it?”

“That’s my Monday mug. This can be my rest of the week mug.” The truth is, I have a couple other mugs at home, but he doesn’t need to know that. I only have the one at work. A backup is always a good idea.

By the time we’re done shopping, it’s after four.

“Can you come over for dinner? Dax, Kailyn should totally come for dinner, right? We can order takeout or something. Please?” Emme hangs off her brother’s arm.

“We’ve monopolized Kailyn’s entire day already. She might have plans tonight.”

Emme frowns, as if the thought displeases her. “Do you have plans?”

I laugh, almost embarrassed that my social life is so lackluster. “Uh, no, no plans.”

“So you can come have dinner with us. We can hang out in our new pajamas and play video games or watch a movie.”

She looks so hopeful, and so does Dax.

How can I say no?

chapter fifteen

JUST DANCE