A Target's Love

19

Elizabeth went through her closet frantically. Her room looked a mess but she didn't care. In fact, she wasn't thinking straight. She couldn't find a thing to wear! The room resembled a dump site: clothes and shoes were strewn about the room in a haphazard manner. If someone entered the room, they would see what appeared to be a huge mound of clothes in the center of the space. It was her bed, of course, but nobody would be able to tell since every inch of it was invisible at the moment.

"Damn it!" Elizabeth swore from the depths of the walk-in closet.

She needed to find something to wear, and fast, but every outfit she picked up and held against her person seemed too dressy, too casual, or too boring. Some outfits were either too colorful or needed accessories she didn't have such as the one she was holding up right now, which needed brown flats and, well, she couldn't find her pair, although it was probably somewhere under the fashion rubble in the room.

She dropped the slacks and top she was holding and pulled a soft, dark burgundy dress off of its hanger. After holding it against herself for a minute, she shook her head in defeat. "Way too dressy," She muttered.

Elizabeth felt like screaming. She didn't know why she was even panicking like this over an outfit. It was just Javier, for Pete's sake. She sighed and glanced around the room. What a mess! How did that happen?

Suddenly, she had a silly idea, and being out of options, she decided to roll with it. She'd close her eyes and pick at random. She got up, walked out of the closet, and approached her bed. This could either go well thanks to a crazy stroke of luck, or she'd call Javier and cancel. A few hours with him wasn't worth this headache. Sitting down amidst the mountains of clothing, she closed her eyes, reached both hands out simultaneously on both sides and grabbed the first two articles of clothing her fingers touched. She opened one eye first, holding the items of clothing up in front of her face. A beige turtleneck sweatshirt and black skinny jeans. Not bad. She knew just how she'd accessorize the look.

Now that her outfit issue was solved, she suddenly realized how late it had gotten. Stumbling over shoes and clothing, she glanced at the digital clock on her night table. 6:45 pm. Fifteen minutes and Javier would show up with that cute, annoyingly cheeky grin of his. She headed off to the bathroom, an amused grin on her face at the thought of his cocky attitude. 

She showered as quickly as she could and then exited the bathroom. As she toweled off, she thought about how things were beginning to change between them. He was still arrogant and overconfident, but to her horror, she was starting to become fond of these qualities. She was well aware of the fact that her cranky attitude when she was around him was her attempt at hiding these disturbing new feelings she didn't want to process.

She was so lost in thought that when the doorbell rang, she froze, and then hurriedly finished getting dressed. She wasn't a fan of make-up, so she just put on a little gloss, pulled on her favorite black sandals, quickly styled her curls up into a low bun, and did a 'fit check in front of the mirror. Not bad, she thought. I hope this is okay for whatever he's got planned.

She grabbed her phone and ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Halfway down, she stuffed the device in her back pocket and halted. Javier stood with Martin Rosheuvel at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her in amusement. They'd clearly been talking about her. She suddenly felt like sixteen again, and looked down, blushing.

"What?" She asked self-consciously.

"Well, well, Beth," Javier grinned slyly, "You were certainly in a rush to see me."

"Shut up. I was not." Elizabeth protested, her cheeks a deep bronze.

"You were sort of rushing, dear." Martin nodded, chuckling at the annoyance and indignation on her face.