After waiting for another five minutes, my patience runs dry.
“Ivy, if you don’t come out by the time I count to five, I’m coming in.”
There’s silence. I start mentally counting down and when number five comes up, I push the door open with all my force and—
It takes me a full five seconds before I can register anything. Yet it takes Ivy another five seconds for her to come out of shock. And that’s when the banshee starts.
“Close your eyes, Zac. Close your eyes. Don’t look at me.”
I’m still partially stunned to see Ivy half dressed like this. She’s just in her bra with her dress at her waist. I’ve never seen a girl half naked before, but goddamn, Ivy is beautiful.
“Zac, close your eyes. I said close your eyes!”
With Ivy’s further prompting, I wake from my trance. I immediately turn to face the door and shut my eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see anything.” I can hear Ivy shuffling the dress on. After some time, I ask her “Are you done? Can I open my eyes now?”
“Um…” Comes her reply.
“Is that a yes?” I ask her, still with my eyes closed.
“Um…” Comes her reply again. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Are you fully dressed yet or not? So I can open my eyes.”
“I… um… I need help.”
Upon hearing the word help, I jerk my body around to see Ivy holding up the blue dress, covering only her breasts.
“I… I…” She looks up at me through the mirror and then turns around to face me, her cheeks blushing pink. “I can’t zip the back. Can you help me?”
I smile at her with so much love in my eyes. “Of course. Turn around. I’ll zip it up for you.”
She does as I tell her.
I place the many scarves onto the hook of the changing room and then turn to face Ivy’s back, and that’s when my hands decide to freeze up.
Oh my God. I’m so nervous. My palms feel all sweaty.
I wipe them on my pants and look at her back again. I slowly part her hair. The zip runs all the way down to the small of her back. I swallow nervously and hold out the long tresses of hair that hang down like a waterfall over her back.
“Can… can you hold your hair for me,” I stutter out. “I can’t see with your hair in the way.”
“Mmm,” Ivy replies and takes it to rest over her shoulder.
My heart is pumping with adrenaline. My eyes become sharp and clear as I stare fixatedly at her back. Creamy pale flesh. Right before my eyes. Is God testing me here, tempting a little lamb right in front of a lion’s eyes?
Oh God, I want to run my hands down that back. I really want to, but I don’t. Instead, I feast my eyes on her, embedding every curve on her slender back into my brain so I can replay them later when I’m alone.
I take a deep breath and take the task in hand. Slowly, ever so slowly, I pull the zipper. Up and up, slower and slower, until about a minute has gone past and I’m still not even halfway done yet. I cough and stare at Ivy. She has her eyes closed, waiting so patiently for me to finish zipping her up.
God, Ivy. Why are you so innocent? I’m a man here. A boy of healthy appetite whose sexual needs are being repressed, who hasn’t had his first taste of a woman. Yet here you are, tempting me, trusting me to zip you up, exposing your slender back to me. Why? Why? Why do you trust me that much?
I shake my head as I’m prepared to attempt the second half of the task. Once again, I find myself stopping every so often to stare at her creamy flesh, wanting so very much to touch her but unable to because of the trust Ivy places in me. To touch her back would be an act of betrayal.
I swallow and pick up the little zipper in my hand again. I’m about to continue on my journey of moving the zipper up when Ivy prompts me out of my task.
“Zac. Is the zipper broken?”
“Huh? Oh, just the zip is quite small and my fingers… they’re quite big, so I can’t get a good grip of it.”
Liar. Liar. I’m so going to burn in hell for this.
“Oh, would you go and get the sales assistant, then. She’ll be able to help me.”’
“What? No. No. I’ll do it. I’ll do it.”
There’s no way I’m letting anyone see Ivy’s back. No one but me. Male or female. Period.
When it’s done, I step back and look at her in the mirror.
God, Ivy is so beautiful. She looks like an angel descended from heaven. But with the blue scarf around her neck, I bet she would look even more celestial.
Then suddenly, as if noticing for the first time the lion is in the same changing room as the lamb, Ivy turns to me with a look of fright on her face. I knew she’d catch on soon.
“Oh, Zac! I forgot to ask you. What are you doing in my changing room? What if someone sees you?” Ah? That’s unexpected. She’s more concerned about me than her chastity. “You better get out now before someone sees you.”
Oh, Ivy, my Juliet. It’s a bit too late now. You’ve should’ve sent me away before I had a bite of the apple, but now it’s too late. I’ve tasted it so I’m not going anywhere.
“Get out now. Someone might prosecute you for being in a female changing room,” she tells me while her hands push me to get out.
“You don’t have to worry for my wellbeing,” I tell her. No one is in any of the changing rooms. There’s not even an assistant to help us.” Okay, that one’s a lie. “So I’m helping you instead.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she suddenly lowers her voice and whispers up to me. “Someone might come in soon. And then they’ll see you.”
“Mmmm.” I ignore her panicked look to pick up the blue scarf from the hook. I start winding it around her neck. As if knowing she will not win her argument with me, she stands still and allows me to continue my job.
Around and around, on and on, around her soft delicate neck, covering it up until only a little portion of the scarf lies lose over her shoulder.
I look up at her reflection in the mirror when I finish the job. “You look nice with this scarf on too. I’ll buy you this scarf.”
“No,” Ivy says, pulling at the scarf. “I don’t want the scarf. One dress is enough.”
“Two dresses and a scarf.” I bargain with her, preventing her from pulling that scarf away from her neck.
“You’ve already paid for my food. I haven’t given you anything yet for our friendship gift. So one dress and it’s a deal.” She tries peeling my hands from the scarf, but I refuse to let go.
“Two dresses and a scarf, then. Plus, I’ll let you pay for my meal next time we go out.” I put in my offer, gripping her scarf tighter so she won’t try to peel my fingers off again.
Ivy thinks again for some time. Then she finally says, “One dress and that scarf. And I will pay for your meal next time you take me out. Do we have a deal? Otherwise, I won’t agree to be your friend anymore.” Then she pinches my hand and I yelp, letting her scarf go.
“Ivy. Seriously. You want to sever our friendship just because I want to buy you the two dresses and the scarf?” I ask playfully, holding on to the blue scarf again.
“Yes. So do we have a deal?” Ivy starts peeling at my fingers again.
“Yes, we have a deal.” I smile.
“Good, now let go of the scarf. I’m suffocating here.”
“Oh, sorry.” I let my hands go. “I thought you hated the scarf; that’s why you were pulling it off.”
“I like the scarf. It’s nice,” she comments, feeling the fabric between her fingers. “It’s just that you wound it too tight around my neck.”
I smile again, this time winding the scarf around her neck more loosely. Then I hug her body close to mine.
“Look, Ivy. Look at yourself.” I gesture for her to look at herself in the mirror.
Ivy stares at her own image. I also look up at her, admiring her beautiful figure and the dress and scarf.
I hope she can understand what I’m doing. I love her. I want her
to understand how I feel. I want to tell her I love her, but I’m afraid it’s too early yet. I want to spend some more time with her first. So I decide to drop another hint instead.
I wind my arms around her small body so she’s pressed close to my chest. Then I rest my chin on her head and say, “You seriously look beautiful, Ivy. I would really like a girl like you to be my girlfriend.”
Chapter 17
IVY
Revenge and Conflict
My breath shudders when Zac says, “You seriously look beautiful, Ivy. I would really like a girl like you to be my girlfriend.”
I wish he would stop saying that. Stop using me as an example.
I wedge out of his embrace and tell him to wait outside while I get changed. Zac reluctantly goes out with a little push. I hear him chuckle, which puts a smile on my lips.
Oh how I wish he were more than just my friend. He was such a gentleman when he helped me with that zipper, despite his hands being too big and clumsy.
I shake my head to get myself out of the fantasy world, then hear Zac say from outside the door, “I’ll wait outside for you, then. When you’re done, give me the dresses and scarf and I’ll put them through.”
“Okay,” I reply.
I like the blue and green ones, but not the black one. I hate the color black. It reminds me too much of that accident. Wearing black clothing to the funeral, waking up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare in the dark. It’s all black. Everything that gives me pain. Nightmares, deaths, darkness. All black.
I pick up the blue and green ones. Zac didn’t get to see me in the green dress, but he did see me in the blue one.
I smile. As if wanting to please him, I pick the blue one, along with the blue scarf that he put on me.
Zac is still with the assistant, putting through the items, when I come out. I go to stand beside him. The lady assistant smiles at me.
“The blue one, Zac,” I tell him.
“Sure thing.” He gives me the cheesiest smile ever and then turns to the assistant.
She smiles like she finds something adorable, then says, “Oh, so sweet.”
I don’t understand what she means by that. Instead, I go to look at the row of dresses along the other rack.
This store has such lovely dresses. I pull one of the dresses off of the rack and look at it. This one looks similar to mine. I turn to look at the price tag and nearly drop my eyeballs. $400. This dress costs $400. I put that one back and pick up another one. $350. I pick up the next one. $475. Oh God. Next one. $380. Next one. $500!
God help me. Are none of these dresses under fifty dollars? What kind of store is this? Why are all the dresses so expensive?
I rush back to Zac, hoping he hasn’t put any of the items through yet. If this friendship gift thing is going to be this expensive, then I don’t want it all at. Just a simple exchange of books would be fine.
“Zac, Zac,” I call out to him when I see him standing next to the counter. But my timing is so bad. By the time I arrive, he’s already swiped his card through.
“Zac, don’t. Don’t buy any of them. Get a refund. I don’t want them anymore,” I tell him, tugging at his arm.
The sales assistant doesn’t know what to do by this point. She stares between me and Zac with a perplexed look on her face.
“It’s okay, Ivy. It’s fine. I’ve already paid for them.”
“But, Zac. They’re so expensive. How am I supposed to buy you something that’s that expensive?’
Zac only chuckles as he sees my worried scrunched-up face, like I’m about to cry.
Instead of comforting me like usual, he turns to the sales assistant instead. “It’s okay. We’re not going to exchange them.”
I snap my head up when he says this.
“Zac!”
“What? Come on. You’re scaring the sales assistant.” Zac drags me away from the counter.
I dejectedly follow him, my head hanging low.
That dress, that blue dress and scarf that I don’t think I’m going to wear, have cost Zac over half a thousand dollars.
“Give me the bag,” I say gloomily.
I want to see what they look like again, that dress and scarf that would have cost me an arm and a leg if I were to buy them myself.
Zac offers the bag to me with a smile. I just want to hit him right now. How can he still have that smile on his face when he had to spend over $500 for a friendship gift for a girl who only agreed to be his friend last week?
“Did you pay with a MasterCard or a Visa?” I ask him.
“No. I paid for them using Eftpos.”
Oh God. Is he trying to tell me he’s rich?
I peek inside. If my eyes were like yo-yos, they would’ve bounced to the floor and up to the ceiling again because inside I see a green dress too.
“Zac, you bought the green dress too?” I ask just to make sure. If he didn’t buy it, then the assistant must have accidently put it in the bag and we have to return it.
“Yes, I did. I like the blue dress on you, but I didn’t get to see the green one, so I bought it too.”
No, no, no. I agreed on a blue one, plus the scarf. There isn’t supposed to be a green one at all.
“Zac.” I take hold of his hand. “We’re going back to the counter.”
“Why?” He chuckles, a light twinkling in his eyes.
“We’re going to return the green dress. I’ve agreed to the blue one, but the green one was never in our bargain.” I drag him back, but Zac puts his weight all on his heels and I can’t even move him with my small frame.
“Ah… ah… ah…” Zac stops me, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. I like the green one too. Plus, it’s too late to return it now. I threw the receipt away.”
What! How can you throw the receipt away? What happens if that dress doesn’t fit me? I vow revenge. No way is he paying for two dresses and a scarf. All three items would amount to… help me, a thousand dollars.
Oh God. How am I supposed to find a gift that would equate to a thousand dollars? I only have two thousand in my bank account. I can’t use that money to buy such expensive gifts for Zac.
He did say I could pay for his meals when we go out. But a meal would only cost about twenty dollars for the two of us. How many meals do I need to pay for him in order to reach a thousand? Let’s see, divide that by twenty… Oh god, fifty times. I have to cover meals for Zac fifty times. That’s just crazy. I’m only going to see him until the end of this year.
“Zac, you liar. Come here.” I throw my bags at him and drag him along this time.
“Ivy.” He chuckles, holding on to my bags of dresses. “Where are you taking me?”
I don’t reply. I’m too thirsty for my revenge. He bought all that for me without informing me of the price.
No, it’s not his fault. It’s my fault for assuming the dresses would cost no more than fifty dollars. But still, to drag me here and pay for a dress that is way over our limit, that’s just wrong. We are high school students. We can’t afford these kinds of things. What is he thinking, bringing me here?
I bite my lips and drag him all the way to the men’s formal section, then grab a select few shirts and push him into the changing room.
“You’re very bossy today, Ivy. What do you want me to do with these?” He chuckles, looking at the items I dumped in his hands.
“What do you think? Throw them in the garbage of course,” I say sarcastically.
“Oooh, Ivy. I like when you act like this. Such a refreshing change from your usual icy glare.” He chuckles again.
My heart stops for a second when he says the word “like,” then resumes its normal beating again. “Stop chuckling like a moron and get in the changing room and change. When you’re done, come out. I want to see it.”
“Aye, aye, Mistress Ivy.” Zac laughs playfully again and then salutes me before going into the changing room.
I bite my lips. Just you wait, Zac. I’m going to let you try on every
single one of these shirts here in the entire store. I feel a little guilty for doing this because the sales assistant will have a hard time putting the clothing back on the rack, but there’s no way around it. Zac needs to be taught a lesson. He cannot do this to me and get away with it.
Zac comes out of the changing room at that minute and I almost lose my breath.
Why is Zac so handsome? With just his jeans and that white shirt on, he looks to die for. If Mandy or Ashley or any one of those hens were here now, they would be screaming their heads off.
“Well?” Zac asks. I blink and find myself back on Earth. The mission needs to go on, despite only seeing Zac with that one shirt. He needs to move on to the next one.
“Horrible. Next,” I say and hand him another shirt.
“Really?” he mumbles before going back into the changing room.
Zac comes out again, this time wearing the blue shirt. I almost capsize backward in my seat. Zac looks too… too… hot for me to breathe. I’m almost suffocating in this air-conditioned store.
I cough, trying to appease my dry throat, walk up to him, and pretend to survey him, up and down and then around. With a disapproving look that I try very hard to paste on, I say, “Absolutely unsuitable. It doesn’t suit you. Next one.”
“Really. What part is unsuitable?” he asks. “I like this one. The color matches your dress.”
“It’s just… it’s just…” What do I say? I can’t find the word. Zac just looks too handsome and cute and hot and every single word that would describe a hot guy, and I can’t even find the word to describe him that is the opposite.
I’m not making sense right now, am I?
“It’s just… it’s… just…” I bite my lip again.
“What is it? Spit it out. Do I really look that bad?”
“It’s just… It looks unsuitable,” I puff out again.
“You just said that. What part is unsuitable?” Zac asks for details. “Is it my arms? Are they too long for this shirt? Or am I too tall? Do I need another size?”
Let Me Love You: A Novel Page 16
