She pulled away, looking a little disheveled.
“I really should get going.”
It sounded like she didn’t want to leave, but I also needed to get ready for tonight, so I nodded. Chloe gave me a quick peck before heading back to her car. We waved to one another before driving off.
Chapter Nine - Sean
Now that I was going with Chloe, I was unbelievably excited about the reunion. I had initially thought it would be barely tolerable, but with how things were going, it might actually be fun. Because of the change in circumstance, I felt the need to have a great outfit. I brought something already, but it was just one of my semi-casual suits. I wanted to go all out, and I also kind of wanted to impress Chloe.
There were two clothing stores in town. I headed to Teale’s Boutique because it seemed to be the one that matched up with the vibe I wanted to go for. It had retro and secondhand fashion, and I felt like I’d be able to find something unique there.
I got to the store and walked it. At the chime of the little bell, a voice called out from the back.
“Hey! I’m a little busy but feel free to look around and call out if you need any help!”
“Okay, thanks!”
I started walking around the shop. There were quite a few options. I walked over to the slightly more formal section and started going through the rack. It didn’t take me long to find a pair of trousers and a color-blocked jacket that looked like something I would have loved to wear in high school if I had been cool enough to try. I went to the changing room and tried them on. It looked even better than I expected.
I loved it. And I was really excited to show Chloe my new outfit. I put my clothes back on and went to check out. At the checkout, I recognized the owner.
“Ruby?”
She looked up and smiled. “Sean! Is that you?”
“Yeah, I should have realized this was your place. Teale’s Boutique, super obvious.” Ruby laughed.
“It’s no big deal! How have you been?”
I gave Ruby a quick rundown of what I had been doing. It was nice talking to Ruby. She was always nice to me, even though we weren’t good friends. She was a year behind me, but we were in choir and chess club together, so we’d hang out from time to time.
“What about you?”
“I’ve been running this boutique for the past few years. I thought I was destined to leave Sewanee but coming back was actually perfect. I love it here. There’s still a lot of the petty small-town stuff, but I don’t find it as grating. And it’s kind of interesting knowing almost everyone in town and also getting to hear all the gossip. Did you know Tyler’s come back?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I ran into him.”
“He’s working at the diner. He could have made it big if it wasn’t for that temper. He landed himself in prison for almost a year after attacking his ex-girlfriend. Basically, killed all of his chances. He’s been trying to relive his glory days, and it’s kind of sad. He’s even trying to date Chloe again, but she wants nothing to do with him. He was so cruel to her after her father’s death.”
“Really?”
Chloe hadn’t really talked too much about their breakup, but I could tell she was done with him. I didn’t want to pry, but I had to admit I was curious.
“Yeah. Everything in her life was kind of falling apart, and she was forced to move back, though I think she’s adjusted pretty well. But when all of it was happening, Tyler broke up with her. Like she was nothing to him. It was unfortunate, but she’s doing well. She never needed him anyway.” I wondered why Ruby was talking about Chloe so much.
“That does sound pretty shitty.”
Looked like I didn’t really have to worry about Tyler when it came to Chloe. I wasn’t really after seeing them talk, but hearing everything that happened between the two of them – it looked like they were done forever.
“Do you still have a crush on Chloe?” I almost had to laugh.
Ruby always preferred getting straight to the point. It was one of the things I liked about her, even if it caught me off-guard multiple times.
But even with Ruby’s directness, I didn’t want to get too into it. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I had had a plan, but the past twenty-four hours had been really confusing. At that point, I was just winging it.
So, I shrugged and gave Ruby a half-truth. “A lot has changed in ten years, ya know?”
She looked at me like I had just told the biggest lie. “Okay, Sean. Okay.”