Chapter 1: Shopping for a Mate

*Jo's POV*

"Please stop, Aaron," I said as he came up behind me while I was finishing my makeup in the bathroom. He started pulling me towards him.

"Oh, come on Jo, don't be a prude," he replied, reaching unsuccessfully to grab me again.

I looked into the smiling face that I had once found so attractive and couldn't help but turn away. When Aaron, the most attractive boy at our high school, had asked me out on a date after graduation, I didn't hesitate to say yes. He had been my crush all through high school and I thought dating him would be magical, but really, I was just happy that the summer was coming to an end, and I would have an excuse to leave and never talk to him.

At first, the relationship had been pleasant, and I loved going on dates with him. He had kissed me after our second date at the movies and I was elated. The kissing was great…at least at first. However, over the last month, I had started to feel different. Not just about Aaron, but about everything else as well. In some ways, it made me feel guilty.

I constantly seemed to be on edge, and every time Aaron tried to touch me it just made it worse. I would get a shiver down my back and my skin would crawl. I tried to distance myself from him; since we weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend, I couldn't break up with him, but me pulling away seemed to only push him closer to me. He told me he liked a challenge…and I wondered if this was just an odd phase that would pass soon. I didn't want to regret stopping our dates.

"The girls will be here any minute," I said as I stepped past him out of the bathroom and walked downstairs. I knew he would follow. "You should probably just get going."

"Don't you want me to come with you guys to the mall?"

No.

"It's just a girl thing, sorry."

I grabbed my purse off the wall hook and threw it over my shoulder.

Going shopping at the mall with some of the girl friends from school wasn't my idea of a fun day, but it was definitely better than being with touchy Aaron all day. Plus, the girls had refused to take 'no' for an answer. They told me it would be a tragedy if I didn't buy something nice and new to wear for my large 18th birthday party coming up this weekend.

"Well, we could kill some time until they get here," Aaron smiled again and wrapped his hands around my waist as I repressed a shudder. As if on cue, I heard a honk from the driveway and sighed.

"Sorry, I have to go." I led him to the door and locked it behind me as I followed him outside. I turned around to go to the car and was greeted by Aaron's cold arms and cold lips as he said a quick goodbye. Then, I did a quick speed walk to the car before he could get any more ideas.

I greeted the girls through the open window as I got to the car and opened the back door to slide in the back seat with Taylor. I sighed as I shut the door behind me.

"What was that about, Jo?" Taylor asked, her eyes following Aaron's retreating convertible. I looked up and saw Emily and Chloe watching his car leave as well.

"Trouble in paradise?" Emily asked from the driver's seat.

How was I supposed to tell these girls that I was not at all interested in the most desirable guy…? They would think I was crazy, and maybe I was. I could tell them part of the truth, I guess.

"Kind of," I started. "I don't know how I feel about him and with the summer ending I don't really want to get too attached. We will all be doing our own thing in a couple of weeks."

"How do you not know how you feel about him?" Chloe asked as Emily backed out of the driveway and turned towards the mall. "He is so dreamy, and his family has so much money. What's not to love?"

"Plus, didn't you guys get accepted into the same college?" Taylor asked. "If it's something you want, it shouldn't be hard to maintain."

"Yeah, maybe it's just how much time we are spending together." There was no point arguing with these ladies that were just as enamored with Aaron as I used to be. "I think we just need to spend a little time apart."

"I could never spend too much time with that boy." Chloe winked and the other two girls laughed and thankfully changed the subject to plans for college.

I listened to them with a smile on my face, but didn't have much to input. With everything that had been going on lately, I was debating whether I even wanted to go to college anymore. Not only would it mean I would be close to Aaron, but it just didn't feel right. It was like something in my mind and body was whispering at me not to go. However, that wasn't really a topic I would talk about with these girls, since our friendship was more superficial—especially since graduating.

Before I knew it, Emily was parking and we all got out and walked into the mall. The two-story building was packed with people, which was surprising to me for a Monday, but most of the people were younger and were probably on summer break just like her and the girls. As per usual, we decided to start on the bottom floor and then work our way up. The first stop was one of my favorite clothing stores.

"You have to get something nicer than that," Emily said as I examined a cute red babydoll top. "It's your eighteenth birthday party, you need to go big!"

"Not to mention that it's basically an end of summer party too, so everyone is coming," Chloe chimed in.

With that, I did get a little nervous. "You might be right…maybe a nice summer dress would be better?"

All three girls agreed, so I put back the top and looked around the rest of the store. There weren't really any summer dresses in this store since it was mostly shirts and jeans, so I went to where the others were checking out their stuff. I noticed that Emily was currently checking out and watched as the red top I had picked out went into her bag.

"It's not worth the fight," the voice inside my head said, and I turned around to wait for them outside the store. As I walked out, I was hit with a sense of unease and goosebumps covered my arms. It almost felt as if someone was watching me. I looked around and saw nothing. The girls walked out of the store and we continued down the line talking about some of the boys they hoped to see at my party, but I couldn't shake the feeling and kept looking around me. Then I looked up.

My eyes were instantly drawn to the man walking almost directly above us on the top floor. Even from this side profile, I could tell he was attractive. He was tall, with long curly brown hair that hung slightly over the tight shirt that covered his chest. If I had to guess, I would say he looked only slightly older than me. He turned his head and seemed to be talking to someone on the other side of him, but I could only see him since he was standing next to the glass railing. Before I could react, he snapped his head and locked eyes with me.

As soon as his eyes met mine, I stopped walking. My stomach was suddenly turning over and the goosebumps on my arms spread up my spine. He was still far enough away that I couldn't clearly see his eyes or what color they were, but oh, how I wanted to find out. As if reading my mind, I watched his hand grip the rail and gave a small gasp as he flung himself over. He landed easily and gracefully just a few feet in front of me, followed by another graceful jumper that must be his friend he was talking to. I was curious about his friend, but couldn't take my eyes off of him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the girls noticed and stopped as well.

He took a couple of slow steps and I saw that his eyes were a gorgeous green. Then he opened his mouth slightly and whispered: "Mate."