He shrugs his shoulders. Okay, that was weird. I did think that Zayn might have been confiding in Rya before me. Is there something he told her that he’s worried she’ll tell me?
I get up from the couch. “I’m going to go get ready.”
We’re browsing around in Zara, the last store I hope we go in because I’m exhausted. When Rya said she needed a shopping therapy trip, I didn’t think she meant going to every single store in the mall. I glance over at her as she struggles to carry all her bags hanging on her arms and tries to look through the racks in the store. Her shopping addiction is getting worse. I don’t even want to know how bad her online shopping is. By the looks of today, I’m sure it’s pretty bad. How is Ezra going to react to all this?
She hangs a few clothes on her arms, still looking through the racks.
“Rya.”
She looks over at me with a wide smile, as if she’s a kid in a candy store. “What?”
“Don’t you think you shopped enough today?” I ask.
I’ve only bought a couple of things today, and I’m even exhausted following her around the mall. I didn’t want to spend that much, and I have the discipline not to.
She glances between me and my small shopping bags hanging from my arm. “Don’t you think you didn’t shop enough?” She giggles sarcastically and rolls her eyes.
Ignoring her comment, I go off somewhere else to browse around. I know she hates being told to not spend so much and with the sarcastic giggle and eye roll, I know I hit a soft spot.
Rya comes out hauling another big bag from Zara. I watch as she struggles yet again, carrying all her bags on her arms.
“You ready?” she asks, standing in front of me.
“Yup,” I say, and we both walk side by side out of the mall.
After browsing for a little while, I waited for her to finish out in the mall hallway, where there are benches. I sat and waited with all the other men waiting for their partners to be done shopping. I felt like Rya’s husband. While I sat there, I regretted not bringing my car. But Rya insisted she pick me up. Maybe this is why, so she could trap me into staying all day with her.
“Do you want to go get drinks?” Rya asks. “And some appetizers?”
“Yeah. I’m starving.” One of our favorite things to do is try a bunch of appetizers at a restaurant. We’ve been doing it since we were old enough to drive.
Once we get to Rya’s car, I wait for her in the passenger seat as she shoves the remaining bags in the back seat because the trunk didn’t fit them all.
She slides in and sighs as she starts her car. “Oh, my God. I’m tired. Today was a workout.” She chuckles.
I shake my head. “We were there all day. What got you in the shopping mood?”
She shrugs her shoulders as she turns out onto the street. “Just felt like spending some money.”
I shake my head again because I have a feeling Ez isn’t going to like this. Does he even know we went shopping? She might have told him something different.
“So how are you and Zayn?” Rya asks.
“We’re better now,” I say, remembering the last time we talked about us was when I spent an entire weekend over at her house. I haven’t told her anything else because of the way Zayn was so uncomfortable talking to me about his work stuff. I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to spread it around.
She turns into our favorite restaurant called The Modern Kitchen. As we step into the dimly lit restaurant, low chatter and clinking glasses fill the air.
“You two looked very lovey-dovey that day we had brunch,” she says as we follow the hostess to our table. We get seated at a high table near the bar. A big, open window sits behind us. Since this restaurant is at the top part of the city, we get a great view of the valley below.
“We talked, and he apologized,” I say, opening up the menu, and looking over the appetizers.
“That’s good. Did he ever say what was bothering him?”
I glance up at her, wondering why all these questions. She’s really not one to get involved a lot. Not because she doesn’t care, but because she keeps people’s business out of her own since she likes the attention on herself more. Or so I thought. Until now. “He’s had a lot going on at work.”
After we settle on appetizers, our drinks arrive, and I take a sip of my French 75 cocktail. The bubbles tingle my mouth as the drink glides down my throat.
“This view is so pretty,” I say, glancing out at the valley below. Cars and lights shimmer as the sun sets in the distance, making the lights glow more through the dimmed day.
