Unleash The Island

Chapter 18

After EJ's shift at the bookstore, Leo stood up from the chair outside with the keys in his hand. They decided on going grocery shopping to grab some food that EJ liked for her stay. Before they could, Leo heard his name being shouted.

"Leo!" Gavin shouted from across the road. "Let's all go do something!"

"Like what?" Leo said looking at the time. "It's the afternoon."

Imani perched up. "There's a boulevard you two should see."

They decided to go and they took separate cars. It was a shopping boulevard. There were a bunch of small shops, boutiques, and tourist stores. They all met at the end of it and Imani pointed at one of them. It was a beachy type of boutique. They all walked in, the guys in the back. Imani scurried around, looking at everything in sight, while EJ strolled through. Leo watched her as she stopped in front of a rack of bathing suits. Her fingers gripped onto a coral bathing suit, but let go of her grasp on it.

He walked over towards her and said, "If you like it, I'll get it for you."

EJ shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Leo did not listen. He grabbed the hanger and held onto it. EJ's face was pink and Leo thought it was adorable. "Let me know if you see anything else you like." She started to be more careful. Her eyes would stare at things, but she wouldn't reach out to look at them up close. Leo noticed quite quickly. "EJ, let me use my privilege to make you happy."

Her eyes trained on him with her arms crossed. "Things attached to money don't make me happy."

He kept his grasp onto the hanger. "Then what does?"

"Experiences, my friends, memories." She undid her arms and sighed. "Money wasn't a problem for my family, but it's not like we spent it on things we didn't need." She jabbed a finger at his sternum as she said, "I value time. That's what I'm trying to say."

Leo admired her. He was truly not worthy of her, but he wanted to be. He gave her a small nod and a matching smile. He held out the bathing suit and said, "Well, this bathing suit is a great choice. I like the color and how it matches your eyes. Plus, I bet you'll look really good in it."

EJ let out a small laugh and said, with her hands up, "Alright. You can get me this and this only."

"Money can't buy me love." He sang that phrase in a song-tune voice. He whirled the bathing suit around, dancing with it like it was a person. In his genius fashion, Leo faced EJ and asked, "Is there a changing room in here?"

EJ let out a laugh as she grabbed his wrist, dragging him towards the back of the store. There was not a line stopping them, so EJ led the way into one on the far right. With a tug on the curtain, there was a wooden room with a long mirror attached to the wall. Leo held out the bathing suit for her to take, but tugged into the room. EJ released his wrist and forced the curtain back into its spot, then latched the rope to the hook.

Leo's face felt hot as he stood by her. Even her presence this close made his heart move at all different paces. His eyes watched as she started to pull on her T-shirt, lifting it up. It started to feel wrong, because she did not tell him to look, so Leo turned around and faced the wall. He heard her place stuff on the bench by the mirror and tug her shoes off. There were two taps, meaning the shoes were somewhere probably by the other stuff.

"Leo?" EJ whispered.

"Yeah." He kept his eyes on the floor and watched her feet approach his.

"I'm going to try on the bathing suit," she said as she extended a hand by his right arm.

"Yeah...yeah," he said, flustered.

He held out the hanger and she watched her hand snatch the bathing suit. His mind danced around as he listened. The suit was climbing up her legs. Slapping sounds meaning parts were being put in place. Leo kept his eyes forwards while his fingers wagged around and tapped his knuckles.