Chapter 19

The stop by the house was brief; she was in no shape for it to be longer, so the shower was just a shower, and not an excuse for more playful behaviour. Afterward, she slipped into a red miniskirt and a halter-top that left her arms, shoulders, and much of her back deliciously bare, again neglecting to put on any underwear.

He raised an eyebrow. "No underwear?"

She shook her head. "I've never been allowed to wear them. Underwear makes lines under your clothes."

Gabriel blinked. "You have got to be kidding me."

Her tone grew wistful. "And there are such pretty things, too, all lacy and soft ... I always figured I'd get to wear them when I was old enough to do lingerie shoots. Classy ones, of course."

Gabriel smiled. "We'll make a trip to Victoria's Secret, then."

She smiled at him. "It's okay. I know guys like it when girls don't wear them. I just always thought ... well, the sets that come with bras and things can be so pretty, you know? And sometimes it's more, um, tempting I guess, to hide just a little bit than it is to show everything."

Gabriel nodded. "It's ... exciting to know you aren't wearing them, and convenient, but..." He shivered. "The thought of you in some of that stuff ... we're definitely stopping at Victoria's Secret."

She giggled, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. "You're so sweet! Let's go."

He grinned, kissing her back. "Okay. The mall first, I think."

She shook her head. "Not the mall here, anyway. That's where Tina and her friends hang out. Grapevine Mills isn't really safe, either. One of the smaller malls a bit away would be okay, though, maybe Lewisville, or Plano, or Irving."

Gabriel nodded. "Okay. Vista Ridge?"

"That'd be fine. She thinks Lewisville is booooooring."

They headed for the small, upper-middle-class suburb and its older, not-as-popular mall. It was still fairly crowded, though, given that it was a summer weekend. Pandora seemed a bit surprised at the sheer number of lounging teenagers around, and a bit put off as well. As they approached the door, she stepped a little bit away from him, an unhappy frown on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's crowded. Some of her friends might be here, and might recognize me," she said. "So ... I guess we have to be careful. More careful than we were at the truck place, definitely."

Gabriel sighed. "Yeah. You're right. I think ... I should probably give you cash and let you buy it yourself." He smiled. "On the other hand, that lets you surprise me."

She looked at him and shook her head, smiling. "Honey, I have money. I get a ridiculous allowance. I can buy pretty much anything I want ... I just can't get caught wearing it."

Gabriel shook his head. "I hadn't realized, but it fits. Still ... if you pay for it, it's not a gift."

"Sure it is ... the 'gift' part is your appreciation of it. You're giving me someone to, um, wear it for." She looked down, blushing. "That's the really good part."

"Oh. Well, okay, then."

She started to reach for him, then stopped and stepped back again, biting her lip. "Damn ... this is going to be hard."

"Yeah." He nodded. "We could go somewhere else if you wanted."

"It'd all be the same, wouldn't it? I mean ... it'd still be public. We'd still have to be careful," she said.

He sighed. "Yeah. So ... we just do our best. How do you want to do it? Do you want me to wait back at the truck, or what?"

"No!" She sounded nearly panicked. "No. We can shop together ... friends shop together, right? Please don't leave me alone..."

"I won't. I just wasn't sure what you wanted," he said.

"I want you with me." She took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "I'll be good, I won't give anything away. Just don't make me go in there alone."

"I won't. Whatever you need, love." He started to reach for her hand, and pulled back. "Damn."

Her lower lip trembled, and she looked around quickly. Spotting a large van parked nearby, she darted between it and the neighboring car and then reached for him.

Gabriel pulled her close. "Love you."

Pandora wrapped her arms around him tightly. "It's so hard not to touch you. It's weird ... I should still be shy about it, because it's so new, but it's not like that at all. It's like when I'm not touching you, part of me is cut off, aching."

He nodded. "Yeah. It's so ... natural, already."

She rubbed her cheek against his chest. "More than natural. Necessary."

"Yeah." He squeezed her close. "C'mon. Let's get this over with and go where we don't have to pretend."

She sighed but nodded and stepped away enough to follow him into the mall.

Once inside, she looked around curiously, eyes a bit wide.

"Coooool ... look at all the stuff!" she said.

Gabriel looked puzzled. "You've never been to a mall before?"

Embarrassed, she shook her head. "I've never had time for social things, and I'm not allowed to pick out my own clothes, or wear things 'off the rack' anyway, so there wasn't any reason for me to. If I wanted to shop, Mom would fly us to New York."

He shook his head. "God. Your mother is fucked up."

A huge crowd of laughing teenagers strolled past and she took an involuntary step towards him. "Well ... I didn't really want to go, anyway. There're so many people," she said nervously. "Too many guys."

"There's that." He smiled. "It's right up ahead."

Still looking around with a mixture of childlike wonder and nervous fear, she followed him to the store, where her eyes got even wider and she gave a girlish squeal of delight. "Oooh! Oh neat!"

He grinned. "Go wild."

She giggled and then bounced happily into the store, diving with glee into the racks and stacks and piles of silky, frilly, lacy delights.

It was 45 minutes before she finished selecting and trying on lingerie, and when she checked out, it filled two large bags nearly to overflowing. Her cheeks were flushed and she wore a happy, excited smile.

"Got what you want?" he asked.

She nodded happily. "Lots! That was fun ... way better than shopping at Saks."

Gabriel chuckled. "Most girls would love to shop at Saks."

Her nose wrinkled in distaste. "Not with my mother, they wouldn't."

"Well ... okay, point." He smiled. "Ready to go shop some more?"

"Okay. Where do we go for ... um ... black stuff and boots and things?"

"I know a store. Lissa loved it." He smiled, staring off slightly. "And I'm really looking forward to seeing you in some of that stuff..."

She smiled up at him. "Whatever you want. I have no idea what to get, anyway."

He smiled. "Let's go, then."

She left the mall with mingled disappointment and relief. Relief to be out of the crowds and out of view, disappointment because she kept seeing places that looked so interesting. So inviting to explore.

The storefront was small, nestled between a vintage clothing store and a leather-goods shop that had Pandora's eyes reaching anime-like proportions, but once inside it was revealed to be deeper than it appeared. The clothing on the walls and racks was, of course, predominantly black, but here and there a deep jewel tone lent a little color. Gauze, lace, velvet, satin, and leather were all in frequent supply, and some of the items would not have looked out of place in their kinky neighboring store. A display of body-jewelry ... both pierced and non ... took up a lot of the counter space, and along one wall was a selection of fangs and claws and even a few boxes of zero-prescription theatrical contacts. Along the back of the store were ranked the shelves of boots and shoes, ranging from blocky, combat-boot styles to dainty black stiletto heels with little locks on them.

There were two salesclerks, both male. One had violet-streaked white-blond hair and a line of rings along one eyebrow, as well as several tattoos on his bare arms. The other was a slender, rather pretty boy with long, straight black hair and no visible piercings save one ruby stud in his left ear. The blond's eyes lit up when they walked in, and he hopped over the counter to smile brightly.

"Well hi there!" he said to Pandora. "Can I help you find something?" The other boy merely gave her a bored look and a perfunctory smile before his eyes were caught by Gabriel and he did a double-take, then blushed brightly and bent busily over the register.

She looked around nervously and gave the boy a weak smile. "I'm not sure yet what we're after, thanks. My ... friend knows better than me. He's going to help me pick things out. Um ... I have a, ah, party to go to. My sister ... and it's at a goth club, so we need the right things."

His smile grew warmer. "Well ... I've gotta say, you would look so good all gothed out. So if there's anything I can help you with, you just yell, okay? Name's Brian."

His aura had brightened considerably, and was reaching tentative tentacles out to brush against her.

She smiled warmly at him. "That's really sweet of you to say that! Thank you, I'll let you know."

The boy watched her turn away, a slight frown flickering across his face as Gabriel reached out with his aura, blocking his touch on Pandora's, and he reached up to rub his forehead. His aura kept trying to find a way around Gabriel's block, but seemed unable to extend far enough to manage it. He moved around, closer to her.

"Why don't we look at the skirts first?" Gabriel asked.

She looked up at him with a nervous smile. "Okay. You're the expert."

Pandora held up a leather miniskirt, designed to look like a school-girl's uniform skirt, and blinked. "Whoa. Kinky."

Gabriel grinned. "Like it?"

She blushed. "I ... have no idea. It's kind of ... do you think it'd look good on me?"

He just grinned.

The blonde strolled up, smiling. "You wanna try that on?"

"I ... don't know. Maybe in a bit, when I find something to go with it," she said hesitantly.

"Well, we've got this see-through black shirt with a little satin tie that usually goes with it ... comes with little red suspenders, even. It's seriously hot," he assured her earnestly.

Pandora blushed bright red. "Um. I need something I can wear out in public."

"Why don't you wear one of the things you picked up in the mall?" Gabriel asked. "Red or black would work well..."

She turned to stare at him, wide-eyed. "But, that's not ... those are ... I didn't buy any shirts!"

Gabriel grinned. "Trust me? As long as your nipples are covered, you'll be okay."

She was bright red. "You can't be serious!" she said, just as the clerk looked at him and asked, "Is she for real?"

He chuckled. "She's never been to a goth club before." He looked thoughtful. "Hey, you have any pictures back there from any of the events?"

The blonde shook his head, but surprisingly his associate spoke up. Shyly, he offered, "I have some from a concert a couple months ago. It was pretty wild. I could get them from my car, if you want?" His eyes darted up to meet Gabriel's, then quickly lowered again as he blushed. "It wouldn't be any trouble."

Gabriel grinned. "That'd be great."

The boy smiled delightedly and hurried out of the store. His friend watched him go with a rather surprised look on his face, then turned his attention back to Pandora. "Seriously, girls like to show off in the clubs. You can wear anything you want."

"I don't know that I'd want to ... to be that extreme," she murmured, looking at the floor.

"Aw come on ... have a little fun. You don't look like you get to have that much," he said coaxingly. "You'd look really good in anything you wanted to wear."

Pandora glanced up at him, surprised. "How'd you know ... I do, too, have fun. Just not ... very, um, that kind of fun."

"Yeah ... library kind of fun, I bet. Studying. Staying home with your little sister and playing Scrabble? C'mon ... live a little. You're only young once." Greatly daring, he reached out and patted her shoulder, his aura taking the opportunity to coil gleefully around her.

Gabriel reflexively pushed the blond's aura away from Pandora, causing the man to look vaguely uncomfortable and step back. "Dude, if you'd done that to Lissa, she'd have kicked your ass."

"Huh? Lis? She always came in with her husband," the boy said, rubbing his head and wincing. "Um, excuse me, I think I'm getting a migraine." He turned and walked towards the counter, looking confused.

Gabriel looked puzzled. "Do I look that different?" he asked, looking down at Pandora.

She answered quietly, "Honey ... if you came in with her, I doubt that guy would have been looking at you. You would have registered as 'husband' and maybe 'tall, dark hair' and that's it." She started to reach for his hand, then drew back, frustrated. "It's okay," she said, even more quietly, "he's a nice guy, but I'm not interested. I'm yours. You don't have to hurt him."

He winced. "Sorry. It's just ... it's like watching him put his arms around you. I tried to be gentle..."

She had to clench her hands into fists, nails biting into her skin, to keep from reaching out to him. "He just touched my shoulder ... he didn't mean any harm. It wasn't like he was grabbing at me or anything like some guys have."

"Maybe not physically," he says, "but his aura was all over you. Wrapped around you."

She bit her lip. "Oh. I wish I could see that sort of thing, so I could tell when it was happening. Um ... I don't know what to say. Can you maybe just, I don't know ... wrap yours around me, then? Like a blanket?"

He grins. "Sure. If you want to end up having sex right here..."

She giggled. "Well ... that's if I let it do that. Remember? I don't have to ... though it did kinda sneak up on me in the truck," she added with a blush. "But if I'm prepared for it, I can handle it. So go ahead, if it'll make you feel better. Wrap me up nice and tight, so there's not room for anyone else."

Gabriel hesitated for a moment, and then wrapped his aura around her. "Is that okay?"

She tensed for a moment, and shivered, then relaxed, closing her eyes for a moment. "Mmm ... that's nice, actually. Almost like you were really holding me."

"I am. Just not with my arms," he said.

She gave him a sweet, serene smile. "Then don't stop. It helps me, too."

Gabriel relaxed slightly. "Not too ... stimulating?"

"No, not after the first couple of seconds. It could be, if I wanted it to, but it doesn't have to be. It's just ... comforting," she said.