I examined myself in the store mirror. The letterman didn't really suit me, but there had to be a jacket that would, against all odds, make Quinn Shen look cool.
As odd as it was, Milo's little stint kind of brought Morgan and I even closer together, especially since no shit had hit the fan yet. At least, I thought it did, but maybe she felt differently. Though, if she did, she was doing a terrible job of showing it.
"Ooh, that looks so good on you!" she practically sang, eyeing my reflection in the mirror and hugging me from behind. "Tell me you're going to get this one."
"Really? This one? You think this is cool?" I asked, unsure. "I don't think the letterman suits me."
She cocked her head and gave me a puzzled smile. "Letterman?"
"Is this not a-"
Morgan burst into snickers. "Babe, this is a bomber jacket."
I blew a raspberry. "Bomber, letterman, letterman, bomber. How am I supposed to know?"
"A letterman has a letter. Man," she teased.
"Really?"
"Mhm! Riiiight... here..." she said lightly, teasingly, while drawing a delicate circle around my chest. I looked down at her head, right near my shoulder, and she smiled and gave me a kiss. Satisfied, Morgan let go and went somewhere else, allowing me to re-examine myself in my bomber jacket. After a few more seconds, I decided against the jacket and rejoined her, finding her fiddling around some shirts.
"Where's Lexi?" I asked, noting the one person we came with wasn't with us.
"She likes doing her own thing," Morgan replied, not looking away from the shirts. "But to be honest, I think she hopes she's going to have a meet cute with some hunky sales assistant who'll sweep her off her feet or something."
"What's a meet cute?"
"It's, like, what people think of when -- it's like meeting someone cute for the first time, and you both can tell instantly that it's going to be a thing."
"Sounds sappy," I chuckled.
She turned back to me and winked. "Yeah, I'd rather have what we have too," she flirted. "So, what's the verdict?"
"Death sentence," I replied, taking the jacket off. "It's not doing it for me. I think I'm just destined to dress like a nerd."
Morgan gave me a laugh with another confused expression. "It was your idea to come here," she replied, taking the jacket. "I told you, if you didn't want to dress like I do, you don't have to."
"Yeah, but, I dunno, I want to make an effort. We're doing everything together, I don't want to... make you lose street cred or something," I replied, shrugging, feeling myself get more introverted by the second.
"Did I say I was losing my street cred?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Hmm, odd. I wonder where you could be getting that impression then," she replied quickly, her tone losing emotion. I knew what that tone meant.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for presuming. I just... assume that I'm a... you know, that I..." I looked away, scratching my head in nervousness.
I didn't catch her response as I looked off to the left, finding some other racks. "Hey, what about this?" I asked in excitement, walking towards a display of jackets.
Morgan followed, looking them over. "This just looks like more bomber jackets," she lightly protested.
"Yeah, but these look kinda neat," I replied, picking one up and looking at the label. "I thought so: Harajuku style. They kinda look like a rapper or something might wear them."
"Gonna drop some bars?" I heard Lexi joke near us.
"Check it out, Lex," I replied quickly, putting it on. It had a neat pattern on it, with some explosive Harajuku-looking graffiti on the front. I posed in an over-the-top style for them. "So Morgan, what do you think?"
"Yeah, it looks good too!" Morgan said. "Do you want these because it's, like, more your culture or something?"
I gave her a look. "Harajuku is in Tokyo, Morgan."
She threw up her hands. "Oh great, now I look racist." She laughed at her own comment, and I joined her. Quickly, I ran to the mirror, and examined myself.
"Oh yeah," I told the duo, "I'm feeling this."
A weird part of me felt excited. Like, I wore plain clothes and hand-me-downs and stuff for most of my life. But this was something I was going to buy for myself, something that made me look good, with my own money that I got from my job. More importantly, something that made me feel like I wouldn't be embarrassing my girlfriend, even though bringing that up wouldn't score me any points.
"You look great, babe," Morgan told me supportively, without a smile, although that could just be because we weren't alone.
"It's a cool look, Quinn!" Lexi added happily.
"So after this, can we swing by the Sunglasses Hut or whatever they have here?" Morgan asked. "I gotta get some new ones for summer. My old ones fucking broke."
"They got some near the food court, I saw them when I was going to the washroom, but I dunno if it's Sunglasses Hut," Lexi added.
"Ooh, fuck, washrooms. Speaking of, I'm going to go. Can you two wait here for me?" Morgan asked. She didn't even wait for our answer before walking off. My eyes followed her. God damn, she had a great butt.
I admired myself, not used to the guy staring back at me, for a few more seconds. After a bit, I eyed Lexi. "So, the washrooms, huh? Did you find a guy to go there with?"
"I wish," she grumbled.
"Morgan thought you were trying to find a cute sales associate to seduce," I added.
"It would be cool if the world worked like that," she replied dryly. "I'm alone, Quinn. Always will be."
"You won't be alone, Lexi, come here," I coaxed her, bringing her in for a side hug as I continued checking myself out. "We're eighteen, we've got so much time it's crazy. What if you find the love of your life in college? All the waiting will have been worth it."
Lexi hugged me back, sliding her arm up my back, letting me know with her hand that she appreciated it. "Can I say something, like, maybe weird?"
"When do you not?" I joked.
"I'm just saying... if you weren't dating Morgan, I totally would... y'know, accept it if you asked me out."
I couldn't help but chuckle, and let her go from the side-hug. I saw it coming a mile away. Lexi would date a gym bag if she could, and plus, out of the three girls in the group I connected with (I was still working on Crystal), Lexi was the only one where any theme of sexuality and romance didn't come up out of nowhere. She and I were close, there was no doubt, and she was boy-crazy. She was bad at hiding her feelings.
"You're bad at hiding it," I replied.
"You're not mad at me?" she asked incredulously.
Lexi may have been easy, but there were worse things to be. It felt nice, and almost confidence-boosting, knowing three of the girls in the group had some kind of drawing to me. All the more reason to dress less like a nerd. I was leaving that life behind. "Well, it's not like anything is going to happen," I told her. "You wouldn't want to hurt your friend and I'm with her. And truth be told, you're pretty cool, Lexi. If I wasn't dating Morgan... who knows?"
A silence passed between us. I dryly giggled and added, "But if you try to break us up, it's off."
Lexi giggled back, just as dryly. "Well yeah, duh," she replied. "You're a cool boy, Quinn. I'm glad I got to, you know, know you better."
"If it's the looks that are doing it, I do have a twin," I joked again.
"Eww, fuck no. Not Kevin," she insisted.
"What's wrong with the guy? He's charismatic, he's got connections, he's-"
"Slimy, that's what he is," Lexi added.
"Hey, honestly, be careful. He's my brother," I said with a more serious tone.
"He just comes across as more, like, desperate. Fake. Like he'll do anything for the time of day, I dunno. It feels like he's there just to get what he wants from people and leave."
"He has his... own version of empathy," I replied thoughtfully. "Not unlike Taylor, actually, now that I think about it. Hell, she's more of the 'I just want something' type, not to gossip."
"Real talk, I totally thought you were..." Lexi trailed off, looking around to see if Morgan was on her way back. "I totally thought you were dating Taylor or at least fucking her before you started dating Morgan."
I was taken aback, hopefully not for the reason she thought. "M-me? Dating Taylor?"
"I know, it's crazy, but there was something about your energy together... like, for the longest time, I thought there was something there."
Wow. Look at Lexi. She had more going than I gave her credit for.
"Of course, it was, like, super obvious after that you were just helping her to get closer to Morgan," she continued.
I turned to her and grinned. "Is that what you think happened?" I challenged her.
She grinned back. "And that confirms it," she told me. "It can be our secret if you want. I just can't believe it fucking worked. You. With her. She, like, doesn't date anybody, Quinn."
If I knew one thing about Lexi, it was that if she believed in something volatile, even the truth, it could spell trouble. If she believed in something harmless, well... there were worse things than to just...
I nodded. "Our secret," I repeated, letting a pause pass. "But yeah, I'm the luckiest guy in the world."
It was only after the conversation finished and Morgan rejoined us that the gravity of what Lexi said truly hit me. Did she have a crush on me, or did she just make this offer to every guy that got close enough with her? Did I cause this by calling her cute...? Was I making a mistake?
***
"Calling my friend 'cute' isn't cheating on me," Morgan laughed as we laid out her purchases in her room. "You're so paranoid."
"I have my reasons to be," I defended myself as I looked over the sunglasses I bought. They matched hers. I wasn't about to tell her that Lexi gave me the "If you weren't with her" speech, but I could tell her everything else.
