• • •

"Maddie, have you seen my work badge?"

I shut my MacBook and shake my head as my brother walks out of his room in a suit, getting ready to leave for his work trip to New York.

"Rear-view mirror in your car." I remind him, praying he didn't see my laptop screen.

"Yes. Thank you." He kisses my head and walks towards the front door. "I should be back no later than three days. When is your flight?"

"The morning you get back."

He looked at me for a second before smiling. "My baby sister is going to her second olympics."

He walked over and gave me a large squeeze, making me groan.

"Just in case I'm not back in time, good luck. I know you and Nick will place first." He mumbled in my ear while I hugged him back.

"Thank you. Now go before you are late for your trip." I lightly push him off of me and pat the top of his head.

"Damn, okay. Maybe I won't miss you the entire week you'll be gone." He scoffed playfully, and I roll my eyes.

"I love you too."

"Kidding. I love you. Text me if you need anything."

I give him a thumbs up and he opens the door, flashing a smile my way. "Drive safe!" I yell as he shuts the door behind him.

I let out a sigh of relief and open my laptop back up, the screen showing me a list of watches from Apple. Brandon would not leave me alone about what he wanted for his birthday that was coming up in a couple weeks, and it came to the point where I had no choice but to get him one.

He would "accidentally" send me a link to a watch, or "accidentally" leave his tab open after borrowing my laptop.

I grab my phone and scroll to the contact name 'Riley' and she answers after two rings. "What's shakin' bacon?"

"Please, stop answering the phone like that." I begged jokingly.

"Nah, I'm good. What's up?" I hear her shuffling around on the other end.

"Are you home?" I ask her, sliding off of the stool and walking to my room, balancing the computer on my free hand.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm going to the mall to get Brandon's birthday gift if you want to come with me."

"I'm on my way down." She hangs up before I could say something else.

I shut my laptop and set it on my bed before sliding my mirror closet door open, grabbing the first decent outfit I could put together. It ended up being light denim high-waisted mom jeans and a black Bon Jovi sweater.

I grab my wallet, phone, and Cherokee keys before waiting in the living room for Riley. I swing the front door open after I hear a faint knock and I come face to face with my gorgeous friend.

"Ready to go broke?" She asks with a grin, holding her hand up.

"You know it." I smack her palm, high-fiving her.

• • •

"What are you getting him?" Riley asks, walking beside me through the not-so-busy mall.

"He's been talking about how he wants an Apple Watch." We enter the Apple store and I give them my name.

"What a nice sister." She pats my head. Damn her for being taller than me.

The process of buying the damn watch took thirty minutes, but I eventually got it.

"What store are we going to next?" I ask her, checking the time on my own watch.

She gasps, looking at the store we stopped next to. "Bath and Body works is having a sale today! We have to go in."

"You can go in there." I tell her, skeptical about going in the store I have a bad habit of spending my money at.

She pouts and gets on her knees, starting to beg. She catches the attention of some bystanders and my eyes widen. "Riley, get up." I say, forcing a smile at the people walking past and staring.

She shook her head. "Not until you go with me to Bath and Body Works."

"Fine!" I exclaimed. "Now stand up."

She jumps up excitedly and drags me to the bank account drainer of a body shop.

As soon as we walk in I'm hit with different scents of flowers and sweetness. I hated it. The only time I buy anything from here is squally during the fall, because I love the scents they put out.

Fall is and always will be my favorite season. September to December has all the holidays and cold weather. What's not to like about it?

It wasn't very hard to stop myself from buying much, since I wasn't a fan of sweet smells.

I watch as Riley grabs a bag from a store clerk and starts smelling different sprays.

She sighs in pleasure from smelling one she had in her hand and she hands me the bottle. "You have to smell it."

"As much as I want everything here, I think I already do have everything here sitting in my room at home." I say, putting the bottle down.

She grabs it again and waves it in front of my face. "You know you want it." She teased.

I stare at the bottle in awe before frowning and snatching it from her. "Give it to me."

"Now that that's out of the way, I'm not going back in there until October." I grumbled, putting my receipt back in the bag.

"Sorry, babe." She smiled apologetically. "Now, what are we eating?"

I look around the options the food court had because I had to agree that I was also hungry. It was around twelve-thirty and I hadn't had breakfast today.

"Panda sounds really good right now." I say, looking at the Chinese food as we walked past it.

"I'm gonna get subway. Meet me at a table in the back by the window." She tells me. I nod and we separate.

I always felt self-conscious about getting the children's plate but I stopped caring because 1) I never finish the adult plate, and 2) it comes with a chocolate chip cookie.

I walk all the way to the back after paying and getting iced tea from the drink machine, spotting Riley's curly brown hair sitting in a booth against the window.

I sit across from her and set my bag of food down, taking the foam box out. I hand her a fortune cookie and keep one for myself.

"There were two really cute guys behind me in line and now they are sitting in the booth behind you." She says giddily.

"Aren't you, I don't know, dating one of my close friends?" I asked, trying to remind her that I set her up with my friend.

"That doesn't mean I can't look from afar." She says as I get up and turn my head slightly to see, but she pulls me back down and glares at me. "Don't make it obvious, dumb ass. What if they see us?"

"We say hi."

"I admire your confidence, but that would be embarrassing." She unwraps her sub and began digging in hungrily.

I open my box and stare at the steaming spring rolls and chow mein. We sit in silence as we eat, but I just kept thinking about how I'm going to regret eating this later. Eating their food always gives me a stomach ache, but it will be worse today since it's the first thing I'm putting into my body.

When we finish our food I hand her a piece of gum and take one myself. We throw our garbage away and open the two fortune cookies.

"You shall soon meet the one who brings joy to you." I read the fortune aloud. I snort at how stupid it sounds. "Bullshit."

"Your love life will soon be happy and harmonious." Riley reads hers. "I would hope so."

I keep my fortune as a way to remind me I will be alone forever, because everyone needs that, right?

Riley puts hers into her purse and we leave the food court. "You choose where we go this time." She said.

"Macy's?" I suggested.

"Sure. Let's go." We walk away from the map and in the direction of the department story that is Macy's.

I heard Riley gasp beside me and she ran towards a rack with dresses on sale. "We need to find dresses for your birthday party!" She grabs a tight red dress off the rack and puts it against my body.

"My birthday was a month ago, Riley."

"But you were in Italy. We were supposed to have a party for you when you got back but then you and Nick went to Montreal." She pouted.

"I know, I'm sorry." I frowned. "After the olympics, I promise I will have more time and then we can plan a party. Okay?" I reassured her, and that made her happy.

"Yay!" Riley smiles in satisfaction and continues to look at the dresses. We both start searching the racks when I heard my name being called.

I look around a few times to find the person the voice belonged to. That's when I spot my friend, Louis, sprinting towards us from the men's section.

"Hey, Lou!" I greeted. He held his arms open and pulled me into his embrace. His strong cologne caused me to cough when he pulled back and kissed Riley on the cheek.

"Hey, ladies. Funny running into you here." He smiled brightly, throwing his right arm over Riley's shoulder.

I take notice that he wasn't accompanied by anyone else. "Are you here alone?" I asked.

"No, I'm here with my friend that just moved back here from England." He briefly explained.

"He's lived here before?" Riley asked him.

"A few years ago, yeah. Sad I missed him though since I moved here after he went back home." He shrugged. "But he's moving into our building with his best mate."

"Oh yeah, you told me about that." I remembered back to our conversation last week.

"Yup. So anyways, I told him I had a couple friends I wanted him to meet and that is where you ladies come in." He pointed at the both of us. "We are going ice skating tonight."

"I'm in." Riley agreed with happiness, but I just stood there with my hands behind my back.

"Nick and I have training tonight so I'm gonna have to pass on that. Sorry." I smiled apologetically, making him pout.

"Ugh. You train at Central Toronto's Skating Club, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do they have open skate to the public?" He asked hopefully.

"No, it's for training and hockey purposes only, so you would need a member's pass. But there's a rink up the road for the public. Just go there and I can meet you when I'm done?" I tell him, and the hope returned to his face.

"Yes! That's perfect." He grinned, looking down at his phone when it went off. "I have to go but I'll see you guys tonight!"

• • •

"Maddie, help me!" Riley shouts in frustration from her closet. I sit down on her bed and hear a snap. Something pokes my back so I reach under myself and pull the foreign object out. It was broken hanger.

"It's just ice skating, Riley. Wear something that's warm and comfortable." I tell her, messing around with the hanger and hissing when the edge that broke slid against my finger.

"I need to look good for Louis." She groans and tosses an article of clothes behind her, which ends up landing on my face. I remove it and set it next to me before getting up and walking up to Riley who was digging through her closet.

"Louis has seen you in a cow onesie. Trust me, he won't mind you wearing the outfit you have on now." I pointed out, gesturing to her jeans and sweater.

She stands up and huffs. "You're right."

"Of course I am. Now I have to go get ready for training. I'll see you later." I say as she pulled me into her arms.

"Bye. Text me when you finish so I know if you're coming." She tells me as she retracts.

"Will do."

• • •