Chapter 44
Revisiting Childhood
"I don’t know."
"What?"
"I’m really picky."
"So we have all day."
"I don’t have much money."
"Madison, I’m going to buy it for you."
Madison looked at Nick as they walked hand in hand in the mall. "No."
"Yes."
"No, I don’t want you to."
"Why not?"
"Because I just don’t I can buy my own shit."
"Alright fine."
Madison smiled and said, "Good."
"How about this store?"
"So not in my budget."
Nick rolled his eyes and said, "Well I’m buying then because this is the store we’re going into."
"Nick-,"
Nick put his finger on her lips stopping her from talking. "Stop alright it’s not that big of a deal."
Madison pouted a little then nodded.
"Good," Nick replied as they walked into the store.
"This is odd," Madison said as she scanned the racks of dresses.
"What?"
"Shopping with my boyfriend I’m used to shopping with a guy but not a straight one."
Nick just laughed in response as he started looking at different racks of dresses. "Oh how about this one?" Nick asked as he held up a pink asymmetrical dress for Madison to see.
"Wow that’s beautiful."
"Yeah it would look great on you. So what’s your size?" Nick asked as he put the dress back and waited for Madison to tell him so he could find her size.
"Uh… I’ll look for it," Madison replied as she walked over to where Nick was and practically pushed him out of the way.
"Damn," Nick said as he moved.
"Sorry."
"What you don’t want me to know what your size is?" Nick asked playfully.
"No," Madison replied as she grabbed a dress and headed over to the dressing room.
Nick looked around confused and then headed back to the dressing room. "I want to see when you’re done."
"Alright," Madison replied as she started to put the dress on. After she put it on she looked at herself in the mirror. It was way too tight, and since it wasn’t black or a darker color you could see how tight it was on her. Her stomach stuck out a little when she breathed she always sucked in her stomach so it wasn’t that bad. But she was disgusted.
"You going to show me?"
Madison sighed and walked out of the dressing room.
Nick looked her up and down and said, "Maybe you should it a size bigger."
"Why? This is alright."
"It looks like it’s too tight. I’ll go get you a bigger size. What like an eight or nine?"
"What? Eight or nine? Do I look like that?" Madison asked getting upset.
"Hey, I don’t know anything about this shit I was just guessing," Nick replied defensively.
"Forget this dress I want a dark color."
"But its spring time these colors are better and this looks great on you just need a different size."
"Will you stop it with the size shit? God, just forget it all," Madison replied as she stormed back into the dressing room.
Nick sighed as he looked around and threw his hands up in frustration.
"So you get to pick out any dress you want alright?"
Ten minutes later Madison emerged from the dressing room pouting slightly with the dress draped over her forearm. She looked around the dressing room area and didn’t see Nick. She walked over and put the dress back on the rack and looked around for Nick but still he was nowhere to be found. She sighed as she walked out of the store. She stopped in front of the store and looking both ways for Nick. Finally, she looked down by the food court and she saw him sitting at a table with is head in his hands.
Madison took a deep breath and headed over to where Nick was. When she reached the table he was sitting at he sat down across from him quietly. She sat there for a minute before he moved one of his hands looking at her.
She smiled sheepishly.
"Everything ok now?"
She shrugged.
"That…" Nick pointed down to the store, "that’s why I don’t shop. Thank you for reminding me."
"I’m sorry. I can’t really explain-,"
Nick held his hand up stopping her, "Don’t be let’s just drop it and forget about it because I think if I think about it anymore I may get an even bigger headache."
Madison pressed her lips together forcing herself not to laugh.
"Are you laughing?"
Madison shook her no as she bit her bottom lip.
"It’s not funny."
"Alright."
"I’m serious."
"Ok," Madison replied before she started to laugh.
"Women," Nick sighed as he stood up adjusting his hat a little.
"I’m sorry."
"Yeah whatever let’s go I’m tired of this damn place already. I hate shopping."
Madison walked behind Nick a little trying not to laugh out loud.
"I know you’re laughing."
"So are we going to that amusement park or whatever?" Madison asked grabbing his hand.
"Yeah," Nick replied glancing over at her and smiling as they walked out of the mall.
"Oh man I think I’m going to throw up," Madison said as she rubbed her stomach a little.
"It wasn’t that bad."
Madison shot Nick a dirty look.
"Hey you want a stuffed animal? I can win you won."
"Are you sure you can hit the bell?" Madison asked grinning playfully.
"Watch me baby," Nick replied as he drug her over to the game. He winked at her as he picked up the big hammer and slung it over his should before he slammed it down onto the bottom.
Madison tried her hardest not to laugh when the little marker only made it half way up. "It’s okay Nick you have some better qualities that make up for not being all that strong."
Nick gave Madison a dirty look as he handed the man another dollar to try again.
"Well we might be here awhile," Madison said as she leaned against the post behind her.
"That game was rigged," Nick said as him and Madison walked hand in hand over to another roller coaster.
"Yep that’s it. It’s ok though you should have figured that out fifty dollars ago."
"I can’t believe I spent fifty bucks on that damn game. It was all for you, you know I wanted to win you a stuffed animal."
"That’s it blame it on me."
"Excuse me?" A short red headed girl, no older than 7, asked as she looked up at Nick with wide eyes.
Nick squatted down to her level. "Yeah?"
"Can I have your autograph?"
Nick smiled at her and took the piece of paper and pen out of her hand. He scribbled his name onto the piece of paper and then handed it back to her. "There you go."
The little girl beamed and thanked him as what looked like her older sister came up behind her grabbed onto her hand and walked off.
Nick turned back around smiling and then he looked at Madison who stood there with her arms crossed smiling. "What?"
"Too cute," Was all she said as they walked over to the line for a roller coaster.
"I want to frame these," Madison said in the car on their way back home as she looked at the pictures they had taken in a photo booth.
"No, they suck."
"They are great."
"Whatever."
"You look so adorable in this one. And this is probably the best we look so happy and cute together," Madison replied as she continued to stare at the pictures.
Nick looked over at Madison and couldn’t help but smile at her. He returned his gaze back to the road as he moved his hand and rested it lightly on Madison’s knee. Madison smiled at Nick as she moved her hand on top of his.