Trusting Tradition

Chapter 3

Ellie’s POV

    Let’s just say that my parents weren’t too thrilled that I had not only broken my arm, but allowed a stranger to take me to the hospital alone. Looking back on it, I guess that wasn’t exactly the smartest decision. C.J could have been a bad guy and taken advantage of my trust, but he was really kind and I now have a super duper big crush on him. At least I didn’t tell them that he was an Alpha, they would have thrown an even bigger conniption. I know that they are just worried about me and my safety, but I never felt anything other than safe with C.J. I think that they were also in shock due to the fact that I left the house perfectly fine if not a little stressed, and then came home with a clunky lilac cast on my arm. I have never broken a bone before despite how fragile I am, and that’s because my family practically wraps me in bubble wrap in order to keep me safe and protected. 
    It’s been about a week since I broke my arm and met C.J, and we have been texting nonstop. He works a lot but I also have college to keep me busy and it just works out that we are free to talk around the same time. I have learned so much about him, and he just knows how to make me laugh and smile. I hope that I make him as happy as he makes me, and right now I’m super happy. Yesterday C.J asked if I was free to hang out today, and wanted to know if I liked shopping. I have never responded to a text so fast. I told him that I was indeed free, and that I adored shopping. I just love looking cute, and who doesn’t need a million different outfits that make them look as cute as can be. He said that he would pick me up at 11:00, and it is currently 12:15. 
    I have no clue what to wear… I want to wear a super cute outfit, but I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard. I already did my makeup because I was trying to procrastinate picking out my outfit, but now I have to face the music. I decided to wear a navy blue summer dress that stopped a little lower than my mid-thigh. It had short sleeves and the smallest white polka dots all over. I slipped on some strappy sandals that worked well with the color of my dress. My hair is about chest length right now so I just decided to lightly curl it to make it wavy rather than actually curly. I put in some dangly fake diamond earrings because let’s face it I’m broke. I think that this outfit looks super good, I hope that C.J likes it as much as I do. 
    The next thing I knew, C.J sent me a text saying that he was here and right as I was about to respond I heard the doorbell ring. Needless to say the blood drained from my face, and I panicked when I heard the door open and a voice that sounded a lot like my dad’s talking to C.J. I quickly ran down the stairs and saw that C.J had been invited into the house and was being interviewed by my dad. He didn’t look as if he minded and my dad laughed at something he said before patting him on the back. 
    “Hi C.J, sorry I didn’t come down earlier” He turned to look at me, and all of a sudden I felt like the shyest person in the world. 
    He gave me a big smile before saying, “No worries I just got here, and plus your dad was just telling me all about some idiot that broke his son’s arm. Man what a loser that guy must be.” 
    I giggled and just shook my head before introducing him to my dad, “Dad, this is C.J, the guy who broke my arm”. 
    “Thanks for ratting me out Ellie” C.J gave me a teasing scowl.
    “So it was you who broke my son’s arm, well at least you know that you’re an idiot” My dad laughed in good nature not really holding any true resentment. 
    “Yup I still feel horrible about it, but I’m hoping to make it up to him today” C.J would never stop apologizing no matter how many times I told him that I’ve forgiven him.
    My dad just nodded, “Well don’t let me stop you. Take good care of my son and have fun Ellie”.
    Now I know next to nothing about cars, but I knew what the BMW logo looked like, and that they were expensive. C.J’s car looked very expensive. He opened the door for me, but I was a little scared that I would somehow damage the seat. Soon we took off, the sound of music being drowned out by excited voices ready to share the plights of our weeks. 

C.J’s POV

    I am a nervous wreck. I had finally managed to ask Ellie to hang out with me on Saturday, which is today, but I have no clue how to act normal around him. Talking to him has been like a dream, my jaw hurts from smiling so much. He is so adorable, and I just want to pick him up and cuddle him to death. I’m a complete mess, so I called Wilbur to ask him advice on how to date, or court a potential mate but he said that his mate had been the one to pursue him. Luckily he transferred me over to his mate Cassidy, who was a female Alpha, but unluckily she just laughed at me and told me to grow a pair. I in turn yelled a few choice words at her before hanging up. 
    I decided to wear some jeans, and a nicer button up shirt. I wonder what Ellie is going to wear. He has the most adorable sense of style. Sometimes he would text me to ask what outfit he should wear that day, and everything looked absolutely gorgeous on him. 
    After messing with my hair a bit I decided it was time to head over to pick Ellie up. Upon my arrival I had a brief conversation with his dad who seemed like a nice guy before we left. He was wearing this cute little blue dress that contrasted his pale skin nicely. His dirty blonde hair looked just as cute and framed his slight face perfectly. I still can’t believe just how tiny he is especially compared to me. It really is funny that the one potential mate I have found is about a third of the size of me. I actually kind of love that he is so much smaller than me, it makes the Alpha side of me feel strong and like I am very capable of protecting my omega. Ellie’s not my omega, but hopefully one day he might be. If I don’t scare him away. I wanted to tell him how good he looked when I first saw him, but I thought it might be awkward in front of his dad. When I did mention it to him in the car I was rewarded by his glowy blush that made my insides melt. 
    I took him to one of the “fancier” malls that my father’s brand was in some of the stores along with having its own store. I hadn’t brought up the fact that I technically own Delaney along with my parents, and I’m super curious about how the little omega feels about it. I know that he loves fashion and clothes, but I also know that he’s not super caught up in having everything designer. At Ellie’s age my mother would throw a fit if anything that wasn’t designer touched her skin. She still prefers designer clothes, but would wear other brands on occasion. I know that people find it hard to sympathise with her, but it’s just how she was raised. If she wasn’t the best, and didn’t look the best her family would shun her. It’s sad, but she knows her own worth now and that me and my father will love her when she’s dressed up just as much as we love her when she first wakes up. And trust me she is not a pretty sleeper. 
    When we parked the car, and made it into the mall Ellie looked excited yet a little disappointed as well, “ What’s wrong Ellie? Do you not like any of the stores here?”
He shook his head quickly,” No it’s not that I don’t like the brands here, it’s just that I’m a college student without a job C.J. I don’t have nearly enough money to even buy a sock here”.
    I should have known that he would expect to pay for it, “Don’t worry Ellie, I will buy you anything you want”.
He just looked at me in disbelief and shook his head once again, “C.J as nice as that sounds, I can’t just let you spend this much money on me. Maybe if you offered to pay for my pretzel, but not stuff that costs this much!” 
“Well I could buy you all the clothes you want and a pretzel as well” I tried to joke, but he wasn’t having it. 
“I’m serious C.J. I really don’t want you to spend money like this on me. We have barely met and you’re ready to throw money at me. If I didn’t know that your intentions are only good I might have been offended. I appreciate it, but…” He tried to scold me but he just ended up looking even more adorable. The logical side of my brain knew that he was making a good point, but the Alpha part of me is arrogant and feels that he must provide for his Omega. Ellie might not be our Omega, but my Alpha doesn’t see it that way. 
“ Ellie, I know that you are super kind and selfless. I truly never meant to offend you, and I hope that you aren’t angry at me when I say that I will ignore your pleas. I get that it’s a lot of money, but I want to spoil you to your heart’s content. I will buy you anything you even touch and I don’t want to hear any complaints about money. It’s my money, and I want to spend it on you not because I pity you or feel bad, but because an omega as precious as you deserves to be spoiled and pampered”. I could tell that he still wanted to argue with me, but he saw that I would not back down and his lips set into a pout. 
“Fine, but just so you know I love shopping and I hope that you can back up your words or else I promise that your wallet will be dead after today” Wow, angry Ellie is super sassy, and fuck me if I don’t find that as one of the hottest things. 
“Trust me Ellie, I’m sure that my wallet can handle it. Pick whatever you like” I acted cocky, but the look on his face was making me a little worried. 
We went into a few stores and Ellie bought a shirt and a few skirts, and shorts. He looked beautiful in everything that he chose, and he made it a point to show me each outfit he tried on to see whether I liked them or not. He had such a nice body, but I was surprised by how insecure he seemed in some outfits. I noticed he was especially shy about certain tops that showed a bit of cleavage, it was like he thought that I didn’t like that he had them. I’ll admit that I was a little surprised at first because it’s not something you see on the typical male, but it didn’t deter me at all. If I’m being completely honest I thought that they were hot, and made him look sexy and mature. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t care whether or not he had boobs, but I didn’t want to say something and then have him start to focus on it. Also I don’t want him to know that I was staring at his boobs. 
I noticed that he had a hard time finding pants that fit him length wise. He had a much easier time with shorts and skirts, but sometimes since he was so thin they didn’t fit him very well. He also seemed to go for crop tops or shorter shirts since his torso was also smaller than average. We bought quite a lot already, but I made sure to save Delaney for last. As we walked in and the workers noticed who I was their eyes widened, and I quickly put my finger to my lips so that they wouldn’t spill the beans. They nodded. Ellie was looking around, picking up an item of clothing every so often for him to try on. I hope that he likes our clothes, and maybe if things work out I can even have my dad design him a line just for him. When he went to the dressing room I sat on one of the couches and waited for his little fashion show.  He ended up getting this form hugging halter style dress that went a little above his knees. He got a few other things, and I made him get a purse and a pair of shoes. He picked a blush pink handbag, and a pair of matching heels. 
Things went smoothly until we checked out and one of the workers blew it, “ Please Mr. Delaney we can’t make you pay for these. It would be wrong”
I wanted to slap her. She had one job, instead I thanked her as she packed up our items while Ellie looked deep in thought. I knew that he connected the dots when he gave me a hard stare as we exited the store. 
“What the hell C.J. You’re a Delaney. You know all about fashion and you just let me drag you around and make a fool out of myself. No wonder you’re so rich. What if I hated your line?” He looked a little embarrassed and sheepish. 
“Well if you didn’t like it, I would just tell you to lie to my dad. Also you are absolutely gorgeous and know a lot about fashion. If it wasn’t drilled into my brain by my parents, I would be totally clueless. You actually know a lot about fashion, and you could totally model” I didn’t lie. If he was taller, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was already recruited to model.
“You just know exactly what to say don’t you?” The blush returned to his cheeks and I was pleased that he wasn’t upset at me for not telling him.
“All this shopping is making me hungry, how about we grab a bite to eat?” He agreed and we started walking back to the car and we figured out where to eat on the way.