Mute || ✔️

Chapter 10-Christian

Chapter 10- Christian

"Now Tara, remember to stay by one of us okay? And please don't run off. Because you never know -" My brother rambled off as he backed out of our driveway. I rolled my eyes, before glancing at the brunette he was talking to. Then sighed at her wide, terror filled eyes. He was definitely not helping her comfort zone right now.

"Drew," I said as leaned over to buckle her in, stopping him in mid-ramble. "Stop. You're scaring her. She'll probably do what she did at the academy and stay by me."

"She doesn't talk so I just thought we'd go over some safety measures." Drew argued back. I shook my head, "But she doesn't need them! Do you really think I'd let her get hurt?"

Drew said nothing, but I could feel another set of eyes on me. Looking sideways, I met Tara's wide eyes. But they were no longer filled with terror instead I was met with awe. I just smiled and nudged her. She blushed and looked at her feet.

*****

Her grip on my hand was almost an iron clad restraint. I didn't say anything though, because I knew it was just her fear of people taking over. I just moved my arm around her shoulders as I brought her body closer to mine. A person passed by us and Tara ducked her head into my shoulder. My hand came up to squeeze her shoulder.

"Alright. I'm going to give you the morning to find a few things without me. If you need me, I'll be looking in the electronic stores. Meet back here about two?" Drew said, handing me a wad of cash. I nodded and he turned and headed off in the other direction. I looked down at Tara, who stared at the wad of cash. Her eyes held a hint...of guilt? When we were kids, she had always had problems with people (even her parents or my mom) buying her things. But even though I knew where this problem rooted, I wondered how far this problem had ran its course now.

"Come on," I said, trying to break her out of her mind. Then I turned us on our heel and walked away from the entrance of the mall.

"How about this one?" I asked holding up a pale blue shirt. She made a face, shaking her head. I chuckled as I put the shirt back on the rack. Clearly, Tara didn't appreciate my sense of fashion.

"Well, you pick out something you like. Don't look at the price right now. We'll worry about that later." I told her, my hands gesturing around the clothing store. The brunette looked around, before she picked up some kind of flowery looking shirt. Then she set it back down, after looking inside the shirt. She started looking in a pile of the same looking shirts.

Tara, now holding a smaller size of the shirt she had been holding earlier held it up to her body. She gazed down at it for a moment as it rested against her body, then she looked up at me with a question in her eyes. She gestured to the shirt.

I shrugged my shoulders in response, "It looks pretty Training Bra. But the question is, do you like it? Because you remember what my mom always use to say, 'If you don't love it in the store you'll never wear it outside of the store.''"

Tara smiled widely. That had always been my mother's go to phrase whenever she would take us kids school shopping. Nodding her head, the brunette handed me the article of clothing. I chuckled watching her move through the racks. She pulled another shirt off a rack and threw it back at me. This one was pale blue shirt. Then another, a maroon looking tank top. After one more tank top, this one a dark green t-shirt, Tara turned around to look at me.