“Oh, stop complaining. We’re almost done. Besides, you like shopping.”
“I literally never said that.”
Neil met Allison’s stare head on. For some reason, Allison decided that today would be a good day to go shopping, even though they went last week. Allison’s excuse was that she needed to pick up some clothes she ordered, but that her car was in the shop for the rest of the day and there was no way in hell she was going to ask Andrew for a ride. When Neil pointed out that she could have asked Matt drive her, or even had Nicky take the Maserati since he liked shopping better anyway, Allison had conveniently elected not to hear him.
Now they were standing in between two clothes racks while Allison flicked through the various clothes. Sometimes she’d pick out a shirt for her or size one up against Neil, but mostly she dismissed the various clothes and moved on. Occasionally, she would send Neil away to the dressing room with an outfit thrown into his arms that she would judge and critique mercilessly until she found something that looked “perfect” on Neil.
Neil didn’t necessarily mind shopping with Allison, and he enjoyed spending time with her. The girls’ last year at Palmetto was coming to a close so Neil was trying to spend as much time with them as possible. Renee was already preparing for two years overseas with the Peace Corps, Dan already had a job coaching for a college team lined up in New York, and Allison was getting calls from professional teams every other day now. Sure, there was always holidays to spend together, but the Foxes were all starting to go their separate ways in life and the thought planted a seed of anxiety in Neil’s chest.
But they’d been at the mall for three hours now and Allison just kept dragging him from store to store. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the stares. Neil didn’t care about his scars, if anything it was something that set him apart from his father, but that didn’t mean he liked people gawking at him wherever he went.
Neil reached up with one hand and lightly traced the lines of scarring left over from Lola’s knife on his cheek. The damage had been extensive and now it would leave it’s mark forever. Something curdled in Neil’s gut. When Allison caught him with his hand hovering over her his face, she pursed her lips in thought.
“One more store,” she decided. “I just want to grab something and then we can go back to the dorms. I promise.”
Neil nodded, not entirely convinced that they were really only going to one store. But Allison took him by the hand and pulled him through the throngs of people milling around them. It was more crowded today than it was last week. No matter where Neil stepped, there always seemed to be at least one person elbowing their way in his space.
“Why are there so many people?” Neil asked, scanning the stream of shoppers going in the opposite direction. He and Allison both attracted more than a few glances. They made an interesting pair, Neil supposed. A beautiful girl made for the runway tugging along a scarred boy in clothes that could have been found in the nearest thrift shop. (They were.)
“Sales,” Allison replied simply. Neil frowned. He didn’t understand how spending money on more things because they were discounted was any cheaper than not spending any money at all.
Even so, Neil was looking forward to wearing the nice navy-blue shirt and black jeans Allison had picked out for him. He knew Andrew would take a liking to them, and the thought sent a thrill through his body.
In no time, Allison led Neil to a small shop in the corner of the mall. When they walked inside, the sharp smell assaulted Neil’s senses, making him wrinkle his nose and stifle a sneeze. The shelves were lined with various boxes and small packages that Allison gave a cursory glance over.
When she found what she was looking for, Allison dropped Neil’s hand and picked through the items hanging on the stands. She picked out a couple and handed them over for Neil to hold. Then she went back to the shelf and grabbed a couple more.
Neil squinted at the printing on the package. “Face masks?” he asked, peering at the picture of the woman with a white sheet sticking to her face. Various fruit and other ingredients floated around her head, depending on the face mask.
“Yup,” Allison said. “Cucumber or pomegranate?”
“Pomegranate.” Neil caught the pink package Allison chucked at him. So far, she’d picked out honey and pomegranate sheet masks, and, making Neil balk, a charcoal peel-off mask. “Does the peel-off mask peel off your skin?”
Allison sighed. “Oh, Neil, you sweet innocent child, Neil.”
Neil wanted to remind her that nothing about him was innocent, but Allison would have none of that. He gave the charcoal mask one last uncertain glance, and shuffled it to the bottom of the pile.
Allison picked out several more masks before she paid and left with Neil and the face masks in tow. When they were back at the dorm, Allison corralled Neil in the girls’ room where Matt and Dan were sprawled across the couch watching something on Netflix. Allison dropped the rest of her bags by the door and moved Matt’s feet to sit cross-legged on the couch. When she motioned for Neil to follow suit, he perched on the arm of the couch beside her.
“Did you get more masks?” Dan asked, sitting up and reaching for the bag in Allison’s hands. Matt shifted so his head was in Dan’s lap and his legs were tossed over Allison’s.
Allison nodded and doled out the masks, putting aside the extras. When she handed one to Neil, Neil blinked at her in confusion.
“You really thought you could get out of this, Josten? Tough luck.” Allison clicked her nails and tapped the face masks in an obvious order.
Neil stared dubiously but when Allison said nothing more, he turned to Matt for help. Matt shrugged, already tearing into one of the honey sheet-masks. “It’s just skin-care,” he said nonchalantly.
Neil looked down at the pomegranate mask in his hands, at a loss on what to do. He watched Allison as she wiped her makeup away and expertly lined the mask up to her face. Neil tore into the package and slipped the mask out.
He expected it to be sticky, but when he rubbed his fingers together, it was slimy and the juice absorbed into his skin. Neil unfolded the mask and placed it on his face, smoothing it over his scars. Allison and Matt made it look so much easier than it really was. At one point, the juice got in his eye and Neil had to stop himself from rubbing at it.
When Neil didn’t have to fear the mask slipping right off his face, he turned back to the others who, except for Dan, were already done. Matt laughed at the expression on Neil’s face.
“Neil, what’s wrong?” Matt asked, grinning.
“It’s cold,” Neil said, wrinkling his nose. When he talked, he expected the mask to slip right off, but it surprisingly stayed in place. “And slimy.”
Matt laughed again, and Allison and Dan smiled good-naturedly.
“Babe, can you help me?” Dan handed Matt the peel-off mask and Neil watched with morbid fascination as Matt spread the black paste over Dan’s face.
“How long do I have to keep this thing on?” Neil asked, tearing his eyes away from Dan and Matt.
“Fifteen minutes,” Allison replied.
When the time was up, Neil peeled the mask of his face. It felt so weird his lips flicked up in a smile. It was even colder when he took the mask off, but when he started to rub the excess juice into his face with his hands, the warmth felt amazing. He closed his eyes, enjoying the way his fingers massaged into his skin.
“I take it he likes it.”
Neil opened his eyes to see Dan smiling at him. He offered her a tiny smile in return and gave Allison the used face mask when she collected them to throw away. To Neil’s relief, the face mask didn’t look as painful as he thought when Dan peeled it off. He didn’t think he’d like to try one anytime soon, though.
He stayed for the next couple episodes of the show Matt and Dan were watching before he and Allison arrived. Neil had no idea what was going on, but the show wasn’t bad. It might have been something Andrew liked, actually.
When Allison sent him back to his dorm with a couple more face masks and a warning to not use them all at once, Andrew was already waiting for him to get back.
“How was sparring with Renee?” Neil asked.
“How was your date?” Andrew retorted. Neil settled next to him and Andrew offered him a cigarette but Neil declined. Andrew shrugged and put the carton away without lighting one for himself.
“Not a date,” Neil said. “But I did find something I liked, I think.”
Andrew tilted his head in Neil’s direction, a sign that he was listening.
Neil dug the packages out of his pocket and handed them over. Andrew glanced down and quirked an eyebrow. “Face masks?”
“You should try it,” Neil said, only half-joking.
Andrew gave him a bland stare. “You want me to put this on my face.”
“Yeah, that is what you’re supposed to do with a face mask, theoretically.” Neil rolled his eyes. “It makes your skin soft.”
Andrew hummed, unconvinced. Then, slowly, he placed a hand on one of Neil’s cheeks and ran a finger down his face. Neil sat still, not wanting to make Andrew stop. But Andrew did stop, and sighed wearily. When he ripped open one of the packages Neil grinned brightly.
“You’re the worst,” Andrew said without any heat.
“Sure am,” Neil quipped and helped adjust the face mask.
Andrew glared behind the white sheet, making Neil laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Half in appreciation and half in apology, Neil fetched Andrew’s book from the kitchen table and handed it over.
“Keep that on for fifteen minutes,” Neil said on his way back to the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.
Neil grabbed two bowls and loaded them both up with the stew Kevin made before he went to Wymack’s. He warmed it up in the microwave for a couple minutes, and then took out the steaming bowls and placed them on the counter. He pulled two glasses from the pantry and filled one up with orange juice and one with chocolate milk. He balanced the glasses and the bowls in his arms and brought it out to the living room.
He placed the bowls and glasses on the tables and glanced at Andrew. He read for a couple more minutes, probably finishing the chapter because he couldn’t stand leaving off in the middle, before he dog-eared the page and flicked a look at Neil.
“Good?” he said in a dull monotone.
“Good enough,” Neil said, and Andrew peeled the face mask off.
“Now what?” Andrew raised his eyebrows again. “Do I wipe this off or wait for it to dry?”
“Yes or no?” Neil asked instead.
Andrew considered him with a thoughtful frown before nodding once. Neil raised his hands to Andrew’s face, waited to see if his yes turned into a no and gently began to massage the excess juice into Andrew’s face when it didn’t.
Andrew didn’t say anything, didn’t even react at first. But after a couple seconds his eyes closed and he leaned into Neil’s touch. Neil’s triumphant smile faded into something softer, something warmer.
They stayed like that for several minutes, with Andrew’s face cupped in Neil’s hands. Even when all the juice was gone, Neil drawing small circles in Andrew’s cheeks, then moved to his temples. Neil didn’t miss the faint dusting of pink across Andrew’s ears but decided not to mention it.
Only when Neil’s stomach growled did they part, but only far enough to sit pressed side-by-side on the couch. They tucked into their stew, and if Andrew hooked his foot around Neil’s ankle and tapped his fingers appreciatively on Neil’s thigh, well, that was nobody’s business but their own.
“She made him repeat every promise she’s ever dragged out of him: don’t look back, don’t slow down, and don’t trust anyone. Be anyone but himself, and never be anyone for two long. By the time Neil understood she was saying goodbye, it was too late.”
My boy’s birthday is coming!!! Have an art! Andrew is sitting. That’s why he is so short haha
(You can pry Neil in a crop top from my cold, dead hands)
