Between Us

Chapter 9

We went in and out of Sephora and M·A·C. He used the test foundation colours to see which matched my skin and got one of the makeup staff to do a basic look on me.

"How's this?" she asked, glancing back at Caden. She was doing my makeup at the end of the foundation aisle, with me on the stool facing him.

"Bolder," he responded.

Since I didn't have a mirror, I didn't know what was going on. She dipped some brushes into blacks, purple and other colours, got me to close my eyes and rubbed the powder on my eyelids. After what seemed like hours, she stepped back, admiring her work before turning to Caden.

With a fleeting smug grin on his face, he said, "Yeah, looks real good."

But as we walked out, people were either blatantly staring or snickering. One girl rolled her bottom lip in and glanced up at her boyfriend to see if he was doing the same. Real good, my butt. I got out my phone and clicked on the camera and nearly screamed right there in the middle of the mall.

I looked like an actress from the 1950s! My hooded eyes were lined with thick liner and deep purple eyeshadow, my foundation a brown with yellow undertone so deep it was orange, and my lips were a dark violet.

It may have looked good on those who knew how to rock bolder looks, but I made this look tacky. Seeing Caden glance at me over his shoulder with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes before turning away, I knew he'd done it deliberately.

All my voice box could find the words to say were, "You're evil." And as if wanting to confirm those words, at that exact moment, I caught sight of Jordan heading down the stairs from the floor above us with a girl.

I gasped so dramatically, that Caden shot me a look. "Do you see who that is?" I pointed. He trailed my line of sight and then shrugged. "Why are you acting like it's no big deal?! If Jordan sees me like this, I can forget about everything!"

He tipped his head back, looking at me through his lashes. "So it is about him."

I sputtered. Whoops. That wasn't supposed to come out. "No—well, kind of. Look, I don't want him to see me looking like a wannabe punk-emo girl."

"Then go hide."

Instead of running away myself, I grabbed his hand and pulled him along with me as I headed into the nearby store. He yanked his hand back, frustration lingering on his features. "Sorry," I mumbled, but I was too focused on watching Jordan talk and laugh with the girl. "Who's that?"

"His girlfriend."

"What?!" I spun on Caden who was busy scanning the jewellery resting on the display cases in disinterest.

"I'm kidding," he deadpanned. "Do I like I spend my time stalking people like you?"

I ignored the insult. "Aren't you two friends?"

"He's my friend's brother." So he knew Paris but didn't really know Jordan. Great. His eyes flitted behind my head. "But why don't you ask him yourself?"

My eyes widened. No, no, no. I slowly swivelled my head around and cursed at my bad luck. Jordan had stopped walking and furrowed his eyebrows, looking in our direction. As if he wasn't exactly sure he recognised me. As soon I turned around, his brows flattened, his mouth in an 'o'.

I waved at the girl and at him as I made my way over. I didn't turn around to see if Caden was with me. Jordan's gaze travelled across my face, and I knew he didn't know what to make of my new look. The girl wrinkled her nose in obvious distaste but kept quiet out of politeness.

"You look...interesting," he finally said with a short chuckle. I would recognise that laugh anywhere. I did that when I was nervous.

"Thanks, um, I'm just testing different looks out."

"Any luck?"

"Clearly not." Oh my god, I was having a conversation with Jordan! I reached out my hand to the girl. "It's nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah. You too." Then awkward silence hung over us, again. I tried to think of something witty to say, but nothing would come out.

Jordan cleared his throat. "So, uh, did you come here yourself? It sounded like you were yelling at someone. I swear I thought it was Caden."

"Caden?!" I repeated it a little too loudly for my taste. He flinched. Tone it down, a voice told me. "No, no. I don't—no. All by myself. It was just this annoying guy that was...annoying me in the store."

He blinked. "Right. Well, we should go." As they hurriedly left, the girl occasionally looked back at me. I could tell she was probably making fun of me. I mean, who wouldn't? I headed back to Caden who was now in full view, yawning as he went through his phone.

"Wasn't that a success?" he said with feigned excitement. "Should have taken a video."

"You heard?"

"With that voice of yours, I'm sure the whole mall heard."

Well, crud.

***

"Where are we going now?" I asked after we'd gone into a drugstore to get some makeup wipes. I had come out, feeling much more naked and a lot more like myself when it was all gone. I went through what felt like ten of them to get it all off.

Caden stopped and looked down at me. "You asked me this question two minutes ago."

"And you didn't answer."

"To look for heels," he said through gritted teeth.

Ooh, now I was annoying him. Good. After the embarrassment he made me go through, this was the least of what I could do. I studied the side of his face as we walked.

"How do you know so much about clothes?" The question just came out of my mouth, unfiltered.

"I just do."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Do you have an off-button?"

I squinted at him, trying not to whack him with the bags I was carrying. Breathe, Shyla, I thought. In and out. He was helping me. Besides, maybe I'd gone too far. The silence, however, as we went up an escalator made me want to jump over the edge of it.

"So...does that mean you don't?"

The look was one of intense condescension, so sharp, that my cheeks blazed and the lighthearted mood from before dissipated. "I'm not interested in a relationship," he said slowly.

So he was unavailable.

I shifted on my feet, saying, "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry." When he didn't say anything as we got off, I continued, "I understand what you mean, though. Being single is a lot of fun. There're fewer things to worry about."

Caden didn't say a word after that. Maybe shutting up was the best option unless I wanted to rile him up more. I definitely didn't want to do that.