Clothes

I woke up to a knock on my door.

"Ash it's time for school" My sister shouted, I arose from my bed and walked up to open my door. She was already wearing her work uniform and a full face of makeup. "I really have to go now, I made some toast for you but if you need more there is cereal on the pantry I bought last night" the sound of her phone interpreted her "I really have to go now, have fun at school," she said before running out of the house.

I walked to the kitchen, there were two pieces of toast, orange juice, and ten dollars on the table. I sat down and started waring my breakfast. After that, I showered and changed. I locked the house and took my bike to school.

The school wasn't very far from our house and I didn't want to waste money on a cab so I just used my bike. I saw the large gates of the school, Some students going in, and Nathan with that boy I meet yesterday.

"Ani….Ani….Aray...Aure, Yah that’s what he said" I thought, I looked back from the ground and saw him waving, I look back to me to see if I was mistaken and no one was there. When I looked back he was gone and Nathan. I locked my bike and entered the school.

Our room had only five people, Two girls, and Nathan and Aure, each pair busy with each other. I walked to my seat and played with my phone.

The day went easy, lessons were starting and teachers started giving work. Today the volleyball club had nothing to do so I went home. I sat across my books and laptop, I had just finished all of my homework, I started to clean when I thought of Aure "Who was he?, We have to start lab next week and I haven't even had an actual conversation with him" I thought to myself

After cleaning my room, I decided to search for him on Facebook.

All his accounts were private, so I just decided to search him on Facebook,

After scrolling for a while I found one that was him or more of his family.

After minutes of stalking, I found out that his father ran an oil company, his mother ran a clothing company, his brother was in college but Aures had no information other than being the second son. I gave up trying to find any other information about him. "At least I have some background info”

I decided to sleep after trying to find anything about him.

The following days went easy, I still didn’t have any conversations with him, just casual hi and hellos and when I do want to talk, he has something going on, and Nathan. Nathan, I didn’t get along with him when high school started, I don’t remember how it started but he just never liked me while I was neutral with him, he had some friends but they weren’t always together, but why was Aure different.

Today was a weekend, so I had nothing to do.

“Ash, I’m going to the mall today do you want to go out?”

Maybe I will do something today

“Yah just let me change” I replied

After changing my clothes, I and my sister took a taxi to the mall. We arrived at the front

“Just text me if you go home,”

“Sure” I replied

I walk through the large doors, I planned to buy some clothes since my sister gave me some money last week, I walked through the clothing department but I didn’t like any and it was almost the afternoon so I went to the food court. I walked around trying to find a place to sit but it was full. I felt a tap on my back and turned around, it was Aure

“Aure? What are you doing here?”

“I'm was shopping with my mom, but she had to leave so it's just me and I see you cant find a seat so mind joining me for lunch?" He chirped

"Uh okay," I answered, he led me to his table. He placed his bag on top of the table so no one would take it. We sat across from each other and started to eat

"So what are you doing here?" He asked

"My sister wanted to come and I need new clothes" I answered

He didn't answer and continued eating

"So are you going home after lunch?"

"Not really, no one home, and I wanted to explore the mall for a bit more"

"Where did your mom go?"

"I'm actually not sure, someone called her and she left"

"You don't sound surprised, so this has happened a lot"

"You could say that" He answered and put his spoon down, I didn't notice he had finished eating. I was looking at him, he seemed unhappy but was trying to smile, I figured that it was probably him being uncomfortable because we just meet but there was something else that he was hiding. "You eat slow"

I looked down at my plate and he was right, I hadn't even eaten half of my food but he had finished his food so fast.

"Oh" I chowed down the burger in an instant and drank the coke that came with it

"I take it back" He laughed

After eating our lunch Aure wanted me to shop with him, I found out he had a thing for clothing and fashion. He gave me a lot of suggestions on how to pair certain outfits and even offered to buy me some which I refused but he said it was essential to anyone's closet and bought me some anyway. He picked a lot of clothing with neutral colors "you look good with them" he said. And reminded me that If I had nothing to wear just go with a simple black and white combo or a monochrome.

We got out of the department store with bags full of clothes, Aure also brought himself some but he mostly focused on me.

"Thankyou Aure, "I said as we got out of the mall. the sun was setting making it look even more bright and all the light touched. The city looked like it was covered in golden glitter and Aure stood in front of me, his face was perfectly touched, he looked beautiful.

Beautiful

"Did I really just think that?!" I thought to myself

"Asher are you alright?"

"Oh yes, I’m quite okay, and are you?"

"Oh I’m fine"

"So are you going home now?" I asked

"I'm still waiting and are you waiting?"

"No I go home by myself but I'll wait with you"

We sat on a bench in front of the mall.

"Thank You again, Aure for helping me buy some clothes and picking them"

"Your welcome, it was nice of you to even like my suggestions"

"Yeah I don't really have a fashion sense, I just wear whatever my sister gives me or what fits" I answered and he chuckled. "How do you even know about this stuff?"

"It's really just the internet and that my step-mom is a fashion designer"

"Step-mom?"

There was a silence before he answered, not wanting to answer but he did anyway. "Yup I was here with my step-mom"

"You know it's okay right?"

"What?"

"Having a broken family" I answered, maybe that's what's been bothering him while we were eating. "You're not the only one you know"

"Oh yeah I forgot about that"

I looked at him, a small smile grew on his face. The smile felt genuine and not as he did before. We sat in silence after that and waited for his driver. After waiting for ten more minutes, the driver came, Aure said his goodbyes, and I took a cab home.

"Your late" my sister yelled as I opened the door "and you had fun shopping, what did you even buy?"

"Sorry about that, I was with a friend" I replied "are we even friends" I questioned myself

"How much money did I give you to buy all this?" she took some of the bags from my hands "are you sure this is yours?"

"Yes, these are mine my friend helped me and even paid for half of these"

"Well that friend must be rich," she said

"How so?"

"The ones they paid for are Warnsen, they are an expensive brand"

"I didn't even notice"

"And the ones you paid for are the generic brands from the mall, are you sure you didn't steal all this? And who is this friend anyway?"

"His name is Aurelius Wilson and I don't know why he picked those"

"Repeat that name again!"

"Aurelius Wilson?"

"Your friends with him?!"

"Yeah, is that a problem?"

"No, it’s not, it’s just his stepmother owns this brand" she showed me the tag and it was, back when I was researching about him I saw that his step-mom owned a clothing company named Warnsen Willow.

"How did I even not notice," I said

"He must be really nice to even get you these," she said opening the other bags

"How do you even know him?"

"My friend works there and I applied there before I got turned down. But my question now is, how's he like?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"First of all they are very wealthy, Second his stepmom is very strict said my friend but she can be nice at times and finally no one really knows a lot about him"

"Well he's nice, thoughtful, and as you can see he's very generous, again what do you mean no one knows a lot about him?"

"My friend said that Kyle or Aure wasn't raised by his father, he was raised by his mother outside of San Francisco, but would frequently visit the company in the summer or any holidays and that everything"

"That weird that you know so much about my classmate"

"Wow, he even goes to a public school?"

"Uh yes as I said he’s my classmate"

"He must really nice to be like that"

"Again what do you mean?"

"He's rich so I would assume he goes to Avert or something and not talk to you, lets just say that be careful Ash"

"Why?"

"You know what I mean "

The conversation ended there, "be careful" my sister's words kept covering my thoughts. Aure didn't even seem like a bad person, he seemed to be more awkward, silent and hurt. He had a smile but it seemed fake and it was, I’ve seen people smile like that.

I placed all the clothes in my closet and noticed that Aure forgot one of his. I opened it to find more sweaters and a book, I placed it back and decided to return it on Monday. I changed and laid on my bed.

"Is he really a bad person?" I whispered.

Only the future can show that

I felt the sunshine through my blinds, it was already Sunday morning. I took to the kitchen and my sister was cooking, the kitchen smelled like bacon and fried rice. The local news was on and was covering something about social media.

"Morning Asher"

"Morning Sis"

"Are you going out today?"

"Maybe"

"I have to go to work because someone got sick and I have to cover"

"I thought it was your day off"

"Well sickness doesn't have one, so they have to move it another day"

She finished cooking and took off. I ate some breakfast and showered. Sunday was supposed to be us just watching some tv or a new movie series, but life is unpredictable. I sat down in my bed thinking of what to do when I noticed the bag that Aure forgot, I was tempted to look but I didn’t, he had already paid for my stuff and that’s the most decent thing I could do for him, I checked my phone and Aure messaged me through Facebook.

We could always just exchange on Monday but it was fine since I had nothing to do, I locked the house and biked to school. I at the park arrived minutes later, I sat on a bench. The air was cold, people were walking around and the school was closed. Minutes later Aure arrived but the car was different, a man was talking to him before he headed in my direction.

“Hi” He greeted

“Hi”

“So here’s your bag” he handed the bag to me

“And here’s yours, don’t worry I didn’t look” I exchange his "So you’re gonna go now?”

He was silent for a minute then he spoke "actually I wanted to talk to you about something"

I looked at him but he was looking at the ground.

"Is it Nathan?" I asked

"Yeah" he answered

He sat down at the bench, still not facing me but looking at the school.

"I was wondering why he doesn't like you?" He spoke

I thought of it, I didn't know.

"I don't know actually" I replied after a long pause

"I figured you would say that"

"What are you two anyway?"

"We're friends but I'm not quite sure, I used to live here before my parents separated and I lived with my mother. I was very young when we moved so I didn't really have any memories that are clear in my head, I moved back here because my mother passed and I met him he said that we used to be friends, he showed me some pictures and I do remember him but I'm still not quite sure, And we became closer over summer break, a week before school started and I learned quite a few things about him. Aside from being his former friend, he plays basketball, his family is together, and that he doesn't like you. Again I'm not sure why but if that's what you're asking there's that" he breathed, his eyes were still glued to the school.

"Well, I don't know why, we also used to be friends but stopped in sixth grade for some reason, he doesn't have many friends besides his teammates so I was surprised that he was so close to you." I look over to him to find his brown eyes staring at me, he had a small smile "sorry about you mother, by the way, I felt something similar to"

"Thanks, Asher" a honk from the car interrupted us "I have to go now, see you at school, stay safe, and Thank You"

"See you at school" I replied

After that I biked back to my house, "he doesn't like you?" the words echoed in my head,

"I don't know Aure, I don't know" I whispered