Rose Red

Joyful

On the way to the mall it's mostly music playing quietly in the background and auggie taking the long way so I can see all the houses we need to come back to during the night time.

When we arrive at the mall, I wait for auggie to grab my hand before we're walking all the way to the shoe store. Although it was more like I dragged him.

"Baby?"

"Yes ma'am?"

I smile with wide eyes before pointing to shiny black boot heels. "You think I'll be able to walk in the snow in these?" He shakes his head and I quickly ask why not.

He takes a step closer before whispering. "The heel is too skinny. You'll slip and fall." I shake my head before finding my size and handing it to him. I also grab white platform, some brown boots, baby blue heels, and black pumps before walking him to check out.

It's almost insane the way I should not have come here first. Oh well.

With a couple bags in hand I reach out for his hand before pulling him to the next store.

"Oo bear. We gotta stop at the boba place on the way out." He nods before continuing to look at the hoodie racks.

I watch him pull three hoodies out, all of them different shades of black before shaking my head. But then he does something that surprises me. August R. Evans pulls out a baby blue hoodie and adds it to the stack.

He looks back at me and my dropped jaw with a look of mock shock. "Oh my goodness." He smiles at me before we move on to the pants section.

Many pairs of joggers, sweat shorts, graphic t-shirts, and one single pair of pants later we're finally on to the next store.

"Woah. Can I help you?" My head snaps back as I see Auggie being blocked by a worker. Or who I'm assuming is a worker. She has a name tag but I can go get one of those.

I cock my head as I realize that she had to pass me to get to him. And then I realize that she did pass me. I looked right at her. Auggie makes eye contact with me and I begin to sign but I'm caught off guard as she speaks again.

"Or maybe you could help me." And then I start. You want some help? He gives me a slight nod and I quickly pick up a random item from the rack next to me. "Hey honey, what do you think of this?"

He sidesteps the lady and comes up to me before pulling me into his body and leaning down to whisper. "That girl is scary looking." A strange sound slips passed my lips as I try not to laugh while glancing at the girl. She is indeed scary looking.

In a way that says I can fight and I will if you even look at me wrong. So I quickly look away.

I grab his hand and pull him to the ladies section so I can find some more comfy pants and maybe some more things to sleep in. But as I'm searching in their jama section I feel a tap on my shoulder and quickly look back.

When I turn to him I see that he's holding up a scooby doo set and I perk up and vigorously nod before handing him a Calvin Klein set. His brows raise as he examines it. "This will look sexy on you."

And due to the way he leaned down and whispered it to me my cheeks are now enflamed. I pick up a black body suit much the like the one I already have but not quite the same. Thanks to Auggie I am now fully aware of that fact.

In the next store I grab an electric blue bodysuit, some dark grey sweats and a black crop top.

"I'm ready for boba now Augs." He nods before we're locking hands again and he's leading me upstairs and to the left.

"Which one did you want?" He looks over the menu for a couple seconds before telling me that he's okay and my brows furrow. "You don't want? Or shall I pick one?" He holds up two fingers and I nod.

I tell the small child that I want taro milk tea with extra boba before also asking for a tiger milk tea for auggie.

I grab both the drinks since he insisted on holding the majority of the bags and has no arm space left. Although he tried to grab his drink from me. I didn't let him.

"Oo wait!" His brows raise and shock shows on his face as I pull him in the opposite direction of the door. We could've left but I saw the black platform uggs I've been wanting. I quickly grab those and some socks before going to check out and then walking him back to the doors.

"Baby." I look over at him while taking a sip of my drink before humming. He lets out a small chuckle before saying, "I asked if we had shrimp at home." Oh.

"Um. I'm not sure." He nods before pulling up directions to the nearest store since we drove about an hour away to get to get to the outlets. I'm not sure why he wants to go out here since it'll have to be frozen.

"Are you sure you wanna go now? You don't wanna wait until we get back on our side of town?" He stops his hands on his phone in mid air before closing maps.

The whole way to the store closest to our house is filled with laughing and questions and me softly humming to the even softer radio. Although I was doing most of the questions it didn't matter.

"When we get home I want to watch a Christmas movie."

He softly says okay while pulling into the kr*ger parking lot. But my hand on his stops him from removing his seatbelt.

"Auggie do you wanna have baked rigatoni and garlic bread tonight?" His brows furrow. "Um. Sure baby. Is that what you want?" I nod my head with a soft smile.

"Wait- were you planning on cooking tonight? If you were then we don't have to get any of the rigatoni stuff. We can just get what you were gonna make-"

He cuts off my rambling with a finger to my lips. "Baby. I wasn't planning on cooking. I wanted to know about shrimp so I could have some in the mornings." I nod my head and let out a breath.

I dont know what I would do if I accidentally changed up his dinner plans. "Are you sure you weren't planning on cooking tonight? I don't wanna step on your toes." He smiles before shaking his head. "No I was not planning on cooking tonight my love."

I smile while taking my hand away from his seatbelt so that we can both get out.

I watch as the snow still on the ground begins to slowly destroy the suede on my boots. Or it would if Auggie hadn't sprayed them down with some kind of spray. I was upset about it at first cause the day he did it he sprayed shoes I wanted to wear right then and if you have to let them sit for a few hours. But now I am very thankful.

As we walk along picking up everything we need I feel my phone start to vibrate in my hoodie. I really don't want to talk on the phone but it isn't going to stop.

When I pull it out and see that it's Mr. Green my heart starts to beat in my chest. Did I miss something? Did Auggie miss an appointment? Was I suppose to check in and I didn't? Why is he calling me?

Auggie must have felt my distress because he squeezes me hand tighter before bringing it up and kissing the back. "You'll be fine." He didn't actually say that but that's exactly what the kiss on my hand portrayed. So I take a deep breath and answer.

"Hello Mr. Green." I can practically hear his smile on the other side as he greets me back. I sigh a little as he sounds happy to hear from me. At least I'm not in trouble.

"I was just calling to tell you about the Christmas party happening for the residents. I know you remember but I was just making sure you knew that you were still invited to this one." I smile as I think back to the happy faces of my residents as they opened gifts.

"Yes, even if I have to drag him, Auggie and I will be there." He lets out a joyful "Wonderful!" before telling me that he will email the details to me later. We say our goodbyes before hanging up the phone.

For a little while there I didn't know if I would be allowed because even though I still technically work there, I kind of don't.