If I give her a hateful stare it'd be entirely understandable, instead my body reacts on it's own, and my cheeks colour slightly while I try to convey with gestures that we didn't have that kind of relationship. 

Waving both my hands back and forth in grand sweeps, her mouth forms into an 'O' and just when I think I've dealt with the misunderstanding, Zander turns around and looks right at me. "Hmm what do I like?"

The store employee looks between us, confusion written clearly on her face. "Uhh, I just thought the gloss looked good on your...ah girlfriend?" Did she not see how mismatched we look standing next to one another?

"Yeah Cat you look nice."

"Um, thanks." I mumble bitterly, already glancing away to look at some citrus scent.

I have to tell myself to stay calm and not scowl out of irritation; I close my eyes briefly before whirling around, hauling Zander out of the store.

"What did I do? No need to be so aggressive."

Scoffing, I ignore his question; he should know what he did. "Let's go somewhere else," I said acidly. Am I the only one here who takes relationship titles seriously? Or am I just being overly sensitive towards a momentary slip-up? Settling for the latter, I internally chide myself to get over it.

"Like?" Zander asks, breaking into the train of my thoughts.

"Like Animal Kingdom," I grumble out, already spotting the store nearby.

His eyebrows furrow quizzically, "you like stuff animals?"

"Who doesn't? But no, I just need to check something for Celia."

"But they only have stuff animals."

"So? You got your toy, why can't I get mine?"

He considers what I've just said for a moment before nodding, "Fine, but we're going to the sports store after so I can admire the new sneakers that just dropped."

I could facepalm myself this instance. What kind of bizarre argument are two semi-grown people having? This is the outcome of being placed in your twenties, we're adults with an inner child...gone mad.

"Okay, but in between I'm getting some ice cream," I say pointedly, my stomach already protesting with hunger.

"Ice cream? No, when at the mall one gets a burger." He says it with such conviction, that it takes all my might and effort from preventing him to walk off in the direction of the food court.

"Then you get yourself a burger and I'll get an ice cream. I can decide what I want but we're doing this after Animal Kingdom and before the sports store."

Grumbling, he gives me a frown and I almost become scared stiff by his broodiness but relax once he sighs and begins walking towards Animal Kingdom looking like a sad large lug. Was it just me or did I display a bit of boldness I didn't think I possessed any longer? Shaking my head, I run after him and begin ogling the adorable bears on display.

Suddenly startled by the sharp intake of breath next to me, I stare at Zander imploringly. "Is that a pony?"

Glancing back and forth between him and the display case, my eyes land on the purple pony. "Yeah, it's one of those Magical Pony stuff animals."

"No."

"Yes."

"NO!" Zander laments, frightened by the mythical purple beast.

"Why?"

Clasping his hands on my shoulder he shakes my frame lightly as my eyebrows knit together perplexed. "That brings back horrible nightmares."

"From?" I ask cautiously. Maybe he's victimised by a freak accident on a real horse?

"My sister. She had an obsession over them, I spent hours watching different coloured ponies with weird-ass manes and plastered on smiles. And those eyes. Don't even get me started on the eyes. Beady as hell, they're sinister I tell you."

Sighing in disbelief, I take a step back, "Isn't that the fault of the animators?"

"Cat, I don't care whose fault it is. They're scary and that's all that matters."

Observation: Zander Nolan is terrified. No. Petrified by Magical Ponies. 

This is turning out to be one peculiar profile.

"Maybe you should stay out here and I'll go in and be out in five minutes." My suggestion gets tossed aside as he scoffs and walks inside the store packed with kids and parents who wish teddy bears were worth as little as when they were kids.

"Let you go in there alone? What kind of man would I be then?" He mumbles bitterly while glancing around, Zander's somber expression supremely out of place in this place filled with stuff animals.

"Right..." Because being afraid of Magical Ponies is oh so manly. I don't have the guts to voice this out loud because let's face it, that would be rude and a little cruel since I have an endless amount of things that terrify me even if cartoons and cartoon characters aren't one of them. Biting my lip from laughing, I remind myself that if I get on his nerves, I'll have to deal with a wounded ego and that hasn't done any good for me these past few days.

"What are we looking for exactly?"

"A skirt," I state solemnly.

Giving me a blank look, a frown sets on his face, "for a bear?"

"Yeah."

"Bears wear clothes?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I don't know, to make them cuter than they already are?"

"But that's animal cruelty. If I had a choice, I'd walk around without clothes but we're subjected to standards and that's considered primitive. These poor creatures are meant to be free and wild."

"Um, Zander. They're not real bears," I squeak out, not even appalled by his desire to walk around naked.

"But you're lying to the children of the world that these bears dress as we do when they're capable of killing us off. It's not like their self-conscious beings anyway, bears don't know what nudity entails." All right, so his realist view on this matter may be true but he was scaring the kid standing next to us.

Patting his arm, I try steering him away from the kid who looks like he's going to burst into tears; the poor boy's face going back and forth between the bear in his hands and Zander's stern frown.

"Okay, I think you should just go look at the dragons and giraffes in the corner over there," pointing to the farthest corner of the store, I smile placidly in the hopes that he'll behave – at this rate we'd be kicked out.

"Wait, I want to look for skirts with you!"

Sighing, I puff at loose strands of hair near my eyes before sauntering off. "As long as you refrain from ruining the dreams of all the children here."

"Fine." Swerving around to raise a questioning eyebrow at his reluctant reply, I'm dumbfounded by the gleam in his eyes as he begins to assess every article of stuff animal clothing with zeal.

Shaking my head, I return my attention to the little bear outfits set on cute, neon pink clothes hangers and begin scanning the skirts for something Celia might approve of. Our tastes were polar opposites when it came to clothing, whether it be for humans or teddy bears.

I wasn't going to purchase anything even if I was browsing, since my bank account would fall into negative digits if I were to spend more than twenty dollars during a mall visit but it couldn't hurt to look around. After all, we had plenty of time to kill.

Pulling out two different skirts, my eyes dart back and forth as my mind wanders somewhere else – to the last time I bought a skirt. And within seconds, a pang of pain hits my chest like a ton of bricks. Celia would kill me if she knew I was having a relapse of memories forgotten, I wasn't supposed to remember Shawn or the swarm of girls who tore my clothes, pulled my hair...the malevolent gleam in his eyes as he watched on.

 "I approve of the purple one, put the pink away." Confusion filters across my face before I realise Zander's talking about the skirts in my hand.

"Pink is a no?"

"It doesn't suit you Cat, well that shade anyway."

"Um, Zander. These skirts are for a teddy bear, not me."

"Right, sorry. I can't help it. Speaking of which, why don't you get a skirt?"

"Me?" I croak out, a lump forming in my throat. Three years of dark memories unfolding right before me. But I have to remind myself that this isn't Shawn, this isn't the person who walked all over me when I cried myself to sleep; when I longed for parents. When I said goodbye to my grandma and visited her grave. I'm in a present where those vicious demons cease to exist.

"Yes, you." Glancing up into contact lensed eyes, I give him a small smile, my nightmares already travelling to the far corners of my mind. "I don't think so."

"Why not? You'd slay in one."

"They don't carry my size here, unfortunately."

"Touché."

 I wasn't going to tell him I was a self-conscious wreck. I liked wearing clothes that were oversized and didn't catch anyone's attention; people might take a quick glance and frown in distaste but that's exactly what I want. But how am I supposed to explain this to someone who's as popular as a celebrity? Even now, Zander was catching the stares of shoppers, most of them being female of course.

"Then? What do you like?" Startled, I blink a few times, my mouth forming a small gap.

I should be the one asking that, instead he's getting good Matchmaker information out of me! "Sweaters."

"I can do sweaters. What else?"

"Um, anything oversized," I respond mechanically, confusion clearly written all over my face as to why he'd be the one approving anything.

"I can definitely go for oversized."

We're walking into deep waters now, my eyes narrow from that bit of smoothness.

Observation: Zander Nolan is a slippery one.

Narrowing my eyes, I offer him a frown before raising one of the skirts in my hand, "so purple then, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'll just take a photo and send it to Celia."

Raising a hand in a halting gesture, Zander gives me an incredulous look, "Wait, so I spent all this time scanning for clothes that won't be on a little teddy's body?"

Taking my phone out of my bag, I hand him the skirt to free my hands before being struck by an epiphany, "Well we have all the time in the world, remember? So who cares. Oh my god! I just thought of something! Hold up the skirt and pose with it so it's proportioned nicely."

"You want me to do what now?" 

"Just hold it up!" I bark out, grinning when he reluctantly holds the skirt up and aligns it against his body to rest against his waist.

I'm busily snapping away photo after photo before an adorable little girl with ringlets stands next to me, eyeing Zander with doe eyes, "Hey mister, can you model with my dragon too? I want to make sure she has the right shirt."

"Catherine," Zander hissed, his eyes widening as he smiles momentarily at the child, gently taking her dragon and cradling it as if it were his own new born.

"Oh, look how cute. You look adorable with the dragon! Maybe I should send this to your mom, I'm sure she would die for this," I coo viciously.

"I'm the one dying. Can we go home now, please?" Zander wails, glaring down at the dragon before handing it back to its owner who gives her hero a high-five.

Scrolling through my phone gallery, I snicker unabashed, "Do you want a photo? It should honestly be your new profile photo for everything! This is definitely the best you've ever looked."

"Real funny. I know I'm irresistible, even for Catherine Lewis and that's with or without a dragon."

"What?" I stammer. He still has to charm the hell out of his match and that girl is definitely not me! He needs to be irresistible somewhere else to someone else!

"You're the first person to make me feel like some ugly playboy to put it simply, I don't know if it's a humbling experience or an intriguing one."

"When have I ever done that?"

"More like when have you not?"

I believe I've struck the ego where it hurts once more and it might be more damaging than I anticipated. "I'm sorry if I've hurt you then, I'm just not a people person."

"There you go again, claiming not to know people when you treat them exactly as they want to be treated."

"So I'm a pacifist?"

"No Cat, I mean you treat people with caution and say little about yourself. You reveal nothing." He's right and wrong. My caution stems from the researcher in me, as a Matchmaker I have to observe in order to understand. But thinking about it now, he has a point; if you understand people then you know how to treat them. My own mistreatment has taught me a lot in regards to that.

"You shouldn't be so interested in me, there's nothing mysterious about the way I am, you should just stop inquiring so much," I plea, my voice in a low whisper. Biting down on my lip harder, I hope to give a twinge of pain as moral support...like that even makes sense. No. It's a reminder. That this sudden confrontation is happening, my fears of Zander finding out the truth are becoming reality. 

"But I am. And I won't."

"Wha – why?" I finally look right at him, and the amusement in his eyes makes something inside of me fall. I feel like I've already lost the battle when it's only been declared.

"Because there's something about Catherine Lewis that's extraordinarily interesting and I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that kid right behind you is walking this way with purpose and that only purpose would be to ask for your number."

"Huh?" Glancing over my shoulder, I can hear nearing footsteps and they stop inches away from my figure before a finger taps my shoulder. Turning around, my eyes widen at the shining beauty before me. Really, this guy was glowing, with skin so perfectly tan, a group of scientists and dermatologists probably racked their brains trying to create the perfect bronze pigment. But not only is he perfectly tan, he was a pretty boy with lashes that begged to have mascara on them.

I'm still admiring his tan when he begins to speak, "hey I was just wondering – "

"How to get to the food court right? Just take the escalator to your left." An arm gets slung around my shoulders and I glance up at Zander slightly disorientated by the casual touch. I wasn't confused by his actions, because if anything, he was saving my face from having to deal with an awkward situation. What has me confused is his comment about an escalator to the left...there was none.

"Err, there's no – "

Not even letting him finish, Zander swerves around and we begin walking away from the perfectly tanned guy. "See ya later kid!" Waving a hand in the air, he turns to me with humour etched across his face. He's enjoying this.

"Hey!" Comes the bronze beauty's cry.

Peeking over Zander's arm that's still around me, I try giving the poor guy an apologetic look.

"See, I'm not the only one."

"Who's a pretty boy?" I blurt out, questioningly.

Frowning, he scoffs before glaring mildly, "I find that comment offensive but I meant is that I'm not the only one who finds you interesting."

"Oh...Um we better go to the sports store." Please anything but this sudden fascination with me. I feel so out of my element, I wasn't used to someone paying this much attention to me. 

"Hey! Wait!" Glancing around us, people begin pointing at us and it makes me shake with nerves. If Zander's arm weren't around my frame at this very moment, I'd have run into a store's fitting room. Why were they staring? We weren't hollering at anyone.

"Wait! Hold on!"

Halting, we turn around to see the tanned guy from before jogging towards us. Stopping a few feet away, he rests his hands against his knees panting. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he sighs heavily before directing his question to me. "I just wanted to know if you're the girl Shawn's always talking about. Catherine, right?" My smile quickly dissipates, my thoughts colliding into a massive collision.

"Shawn?" Jerking out of Zander's hold my eyes form into saucers.

He knows his name. This cannot be happening.