FIGHTING TO LIVE [H.S]

CHAPTER TEN

song: control by halsey

VICTORIA'S POV:

Louis and I have been at this for at least two hours.

The dozens upon dozens of bins of clothes turned out to be even more intimidating when you were practically knee-deep in them, desperate to find a pair of jeans that actually fit you.

I wasn't expecting to receive any help digging through the clothes from Louis but he surprisingly joined my side and silently began to pull various things out.

"What about these?" He questions holding up a simple pair of black skinny jeans.

Taking them from his hands, I inspect the tag and hold the pants up to my waist double checking the size.

"Seems like they'd work for me." I nod enthusiastically. "I really cannot wait to finally get into clean clothes."

Louis hums in agreement as I turn back to the bins and continue to shift through them. We stay doing this for another hour. Every so often Louis will find some article he thinks resembles something I'd fit and pull it out for me to try. Truth be told, I have absolutely no idea why he's helping me or even being nice to me at all when technically I'm supposed to be some kind of prisoner, but I'm not about to ask him why.

We dig through the bins for about an hour until Louis redirects me to the shoes and even shows me the aisles where I can pick out undergarments and socks.

"This is insane." I mutter to myself as I begin to walk down the aisle stocked with rows of bras. I hadn't seen this many new items of clothing in years and since the outbreak started I had really owned a grand total of three bras since everything was scarce.

After some deliberation, I picked out a simple pack of black thongs, a couple neutral colored bras, and different styles of socks meant for both sneakers and boots. I then spent some time selecting a pair of basic black combat boots and opting to keep the grey sneakers that I was still wearing instead of choosing a new pair. While they may have been dirty and the soles worn down to nothing so they were no longer that comfortable, I wasn't about to give up one of the only possessions I had with me.

Once I had picked out everything I needed, Louis gestured me towards the front of the store and instructed me to place everything up on the counter in front of a bored looking woman who I assumed was some kind of cashier in this makeshift "store". I did so and expected Louis to present some kind of money or card to pay for all this but we both just stood there staring awkwardly at the girl.

"Soooooooo," She started to say, eyes flitting between the two of us. "How will you be paying today?"

My eyes darted between her and Louis standing next to me, my heart starting to race.

Did Louis really expect me to pay for all of this? I was literally kidnapped and being held captive by the crazed lunatic upstairs. How on earth was I supposed to have a couple hundred lying around in my pockets to cover all of this?

"Don't look at me." Louis starts to say coolly. "I'm not the one who will be wearing these bras."

I was beginning to panic.

"Oh um. Oh shoot. I-I thought," I stammered out. "I-I don't have any money so just forget about it, my bad." I quickly rush out as I reach to grab the items of clothing on the counter so I could put them back where I found them. "Look I'm-I'm so sorry I didn't know-"

All of a sudden Louis starts to snicker beside me. Glancing back at him, the stupidest smile I've ever seen starts to spread across his face. I can tell by the heat on my face that I've been blushing from embarrassment but something tells me that it's soon going to be out of anger.