Sophitz: A Week to Find Love

Chapter 15

Sophie's P.O.V. 

"So... Where do we go first?" Fitz asked. I looked around the store, but I was just as lost as he was. I never really shopped, just... Well, I just chose random pieces of clothing and hoped they matched. And I rarely had to do that either since Marella - and Linh recently - were always bringing me lots of clothes to try on. Almost like a fashion runway, except I was nowhere near as graceful as those models. 

"If I'm being honest, I have no idea," I told him. Fitz grinned. 

"Me neither. Biana shops for everyone in the family," he explained. He paused for a moment. "Well, online. She's never been outside the mountains before - it's probably why she got arrested." 

"You guys live in the mountains?" I asked. The mountains were visible by every person in town and you could see the huge mansion someone had built into it, but I didn't know that Fitz and Biana lived there. I mean, that meant they were practically royalty! I couldn't be with royalty - in fact, I couldn't even compete with other royalty Fitz was probably going to marry. 

"Yeah, we live in the mountains..." Fitz said, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry I didn't mention that it's just... Well, if I mention it, people start treating me differently. Like I'm some big deal - which I'm really not." 

Everyone always seemed like they wanted to be known - they wanted to be famous and treated like royalty. And then Fitz... He was royalty, yet he didn't want to be known by that. He just wanted to be like everyone else. It all made me really like him even more, but even if he didn't want to be treated like royalty, I couldn't just ignore the fact that he was! I wasn't good enough to be with royalty. I was just meant to be with someone average, you know? Someone as average as me. 

"Sophie?" I blinked and snapped myself out of my thoughts which always seemed to consume me when I was around Fitz. 

"Sorry, let's just get this over with," I suggested. I started walking through the aisle and grabbed a huge red sweatshirt with a random word scribbled in the front and then arbitrarily picked some gray shorts. Then I moved on to the "sporty outfit", grabbing black leggings and a yellow sleeveless shirt with a white word I couldn't make out on the front and one of those knot thingies I never knew how to tie. But I really didn't care, I was just choosing without thinking at this point. Then came the harder part: the fancy outfit. I stopped momentarily to look at my options. As much as I hated it, I knew that a dress would probably ensure the most fancy-ness or whatever they called it. There were so many colors to choose from, but apparently, my subconsciousness wanted the off-the-shoulder teal dress that was reached the floor - guaranteeing I would eventually trip over them. But at least it meant I could get away with wearing my regular, sensible gray shoes for all three outfits. 

"Okay, I'm done," I announced, placing my pile of clothes into the shopping cart. 

"Wow," Fitz remarked. "That was the fastest I've ever seen a person shop." I blushed and motioned for him to go next. He was just as efficient as I was, picking 2 shirts, 2 pants, and a suit with a blue tie. 

"You're not so bad yourself,"  I told him with a smile. Fitz smiled back, making my face heat up, and then we made our way to the checkout counter. 

"Thank you for shopping with us," the lady said, handing us two bags full of clothes. We bolted out of the clothing store then took a seat on the bench in the middle of the crowded mall. 

"What's next?" I asked Fitz. He took out the piece of paper from his pocket. 

"Do you by any chance have a pen?" he asked hesitantly. I took out my pen from my jacket and handed it to him. 

"Oh, um... Well, I just always carry a pen with me," I said nervously, wondering if it was weird that I did. It was a habit I picked up from when I first opened my clinic - if I always had a pen with me, everything went much faster. 

"Wow, that's a really great habit," Fitz told me. "I'll have to try it out sometime, I always feel like I need a pen but I never have one." I chuckled nervously as he crossed off three items on our scavenger hunt list. 

"The rest of the items we need are two types of candy, aprons, popcorn, climbing shoes, matching somethings (You can decide!), a feather, a marble, one dozen eggs, a magenta crayon, and a piece of paper signed by two strangers." 

"Gosh, that list became increasingly... weird," I noted. Fitz nodded his agreement. 

"I have no idea where Biana comes up with this kind of stuff," he told me. 

"Well," I said. "We should probably get going if we want to win." 

"Okay then," he replied, standing up. "How about we go for the climbing shoes next? There's a shoe store right there." He pointed towards a large store where I could see the hundreds of pairs of shoes inside through the glass walls. 

"Huh," I said, "was that Biana and Tam?" Fitz squinted his eyes at the store's opening where, sure enough, Biana and Tam were currently entering. Not to mention they were holding hands. 

I grinned. Linh would totally love to see this, I thought, then took a picture. Fitz, meanwhile, looked extremely confused. 

"Why are they holding hands? That wasn't part of the game, was it?" he asked. I shook my head. 

"Nope, it definitely wasn't," I informed him. 

"So... They did it on purpose?" he asked me. I nodded. 

"It seems so," I responded. Fitz smiled and held out his hand. 

"Perhaps we should try the same?" he asked softly. I blushed furiously and had to bite my lip to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I definitely wasn't. I slipped my hand into his and held it tightly. It had been so long since I'd felt so happy and safe. 

"That sounds wonderful," I told him with a smile, as we each took one bag with our free hand and went off to search for our next item.