It's now been a week since Lottie last hung out with Luther. They exchanged a few dry texts, though she can't help but feel like he's just being ridiculous. She hadn't even done anything.
She thought about texting Luther and seeing if he wanted to go out with her and van to the mall but decided against it. Ever since Van's new boyfriend popped up, they've had less time to hang out, and today was one of the rare days they could without the creep being there.
He swears he's happy, though, so she doesn't really pay much mind to it. After all, their relationship wasn't really any of her business. Van had wanted to go to the mall in the town over for whatever reason so they had to take the bus, and it took one guy that kept hacking on spit behind lottie for her to swear off public transportation.
They got off at their stop and made their way into the huge mall. Lottie suggested starting at the food court so that she could get a snack before they began the dangerious task that is shopping for clothes.
Van looked around awkwardly and rubbed his neck, avoiding eye contact,"I dunno lottie, i'm not exactly hungry. You can go but I should start getting some clothes, mine just keep getting looser." he chuckled.
She shrugged, it was true that his clothes were getting baggy. She gave him a hug and jokingly told him that she could basically see the shirt that once fit well slipping off his shoulders and that he should probably try on smaller sizes. He looked at her with the blankest stare before stalking off towards the many shops.
She then turned and bussied herself with buying a large shake and a corn dog with some nachos. She finished her food with ease and began sipping the shake as she walked deeper into the mall, looking for nothing in specific. She caught a glimpse of van in a generic clothing shop. He had a deep red shirt on and it made him look fuller.
"Mmmm, not that one,"Lottie said as they made eye contact in the mirror when she went up to him,"It makes you look a little fat." She swears she was just trying to help, but he just clenched his jaw.
"Thanks, that's SO fuckin' helpful." He went into the changing room, yanked it off, and changed back into his clothes before plopping everything he had grabbed into the put-back bin the shop offered
She raised her hands in a surrendering manner,"Don't be so sensitive, I wasn't even being mean."
He just looked at her. She looked back. They blinked.
"Whatever, let's go check out the Spencer's by that one book place you like." He shoved his hands into his pants pockets.
She skipped excitedly as they were finally doing something she'd enjoy. She walked in the spencer's with van, groaning about it all being "plain and depressing".
"If you're just going to whine and complain the whole time, why are you even here?" he asked, fed up with her shit.
She looked at him, hurt, "That's not fair, I took the time to call off of work the other day just so we could hang out today. It's not my fault everything you wanna do is boring." she huffed, crossing her arms.
"Oh, so now we're guilt tripping each other?" He asked heatedly.
"You know, lottie, recently you've been acting a helluva lot like mom." He seethed, grabbing her by the upper arm and whispering quietly,"Go home. You narcissistic brat."
She sputtered before getting an angered look on her face and storming off after yanking her arm away.
She's nothing like her mother, she thought.
Absolutely nothing,
She does care about others, it's really not her fault that she just didn't want to look for clothes.
The amount of anger she felt at her brother dissipated as she stopped in the middle of the lobby, is- is that luther?? With a....cardboard cutout of Daniel Radcliff???
She went to go up to him but stopped as she saw a blonde older gentleman go up to him.
Huh? Maybe he’s helping a friend. She could almost swoon at the idea of him being such a sweetheart.
She had almost forgotten about the cutout. Almost.
She slowly made her way over, putting an overly sweet smile on. She practiced in her head what she’d say, so she didn’t ask about the ghosting of each other situation. Because that’s almost definitely what was happening.
“Hey guys!” She exclaimed, causing the two men to jump slightly. She smiled wider. Really, it was more teeth than anything.
She peered at Luther,”Who’s this? I’d love to be introduced.” She fluttered her eyelashes.
Luther looked genuinely embarrassed, “Oh. well we’re in the middle of moving these cutouts to advertise for the new addition of the Harry Potter books to the shop.”
She nodded,”Is this what you’ve been so preocupied with?” Well, there goes that plan, she thought.
He looked shocked, looking at his friend, he appologised and set the cardboard down before leading lottie away from the friend.They made it a good 60 or so long strides away before he turned and looked at her.
“You can’t just do that.” He stated.
“Do what?’
“Act like you own my time.” He crossed his arms and looked down at her with a scowl,” especially when you didn’t even text me to see if I was busy or wanted to hang out. I am still just a person, with a job, and other friends than you.” he pinched the bridge of his nose.
She narrowed her eyes,”I did, I asked what you were up to like yesterday.” she ALSO crossed her arms, getting defensive.
“No lottie, you didn’t,” He said, a little nicer than he had started the conversation,”You asked me if I was doing anything like four days ago.” He pulled out his phone and shoved it under her nose.
“Oh..”
“Yeah. Oh” he said, pocketing his phone,”Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go help my friend.”
She sighed and turned as he walked away,”Wait, please, I'm sorry. I’m just really stressed and new to this whole thing we’ve got going on.” She bit her lip as he stopped waking
“You are... really confusing sometimes.”He kept his back to her,”I can't tell if you’re into me or if you hate me.”
He went back to moving the cutouts and hadn't spaired her a glancce as he felt her eyes on him. Eventually, Lottie left and made her way back home, though she couldn't shake the feeling that she had forgotten something.
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Thoughts? Feelings?
I kinda can't tell if I hate Lottie or if I'm using qualitys from people I don't like in her and therefore don't like her either 🤔
Who was right? Van or Lottie?
Let me know what you think 🫶🏽
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Romance⚠️WARNING⚠️ This story contains mentions of abuse, mental health issues, and strong language ⚠️WARNING⚠️ Okay, so maybe climbing the aisle at Walmart wasn't the brightest idea, but when it lands you in the lap of a very handsome lad, falling and sc...
