Chapter 10

Sophia let out an emphatic sigh when Estelle squealed with glee at the candy store. She watched helplessly as her shopping partner pranced, skipped and bounced simultaneously into the large entrance, quickly lost in the labyrinth of overstuffed bins. Her watch, which she couldn't help but check frequently, informed her that she had checked it less than five minutes ago. With a stern resolve, Sophia walked into the candy store to catch up with Estelle.

"Oooh! Have you tried those ones? They're hella tangy!" Estelle exclaimed as if she didn't even realize that Sophia had just barely caught up with her. She pointed to a barrel of powdery, gummi pen caps attached to real pens.

"No, I can't say that I have. Is that something that Amelia would be interested into?" Sophia's voice was condescending, but Estelle seemed to take no notice of it.

"Maybe. It's hard to tell with that girl; her tastebuds are always changing so fast. Well, I'm going to get me some anyway. Maybe we can share?"

"No thanks."

"Alright, suit yourself."

Estelle disappeared with her bag of candy and met Sophia, who was already waiting at the door. She just smiled politely at her impatient girlfriend and merged back into the mall crowd with her. They walked in silence for a bit, each putting an awful lot of effort into checking out the stores that they passed by so as to not pay attention to each other. Every once in awhile their gazes would cross paths, and they would look away uncomfortably.

"Hey, let's get something to eat at the corndog place. We can watch the girls bounce up and down while they make lemonade," Estelle invited.

"I already ate before I came over. Let's just find a present and get out of here."

Estelle looked hurt, but quickly covered up her expression with that of pleasant surprise when she saw her favorite goth store across the way. "Well, I KNOW Amelia would like something from there. C'mon!"

As much as Sophia was inclined to complain, she had to silently agree that Estelle was right. So she reluctantly let her mall buddy grab her arm and drag her over to the store. Of course, just as quickly as they entered, Estelle once again disappeared. This time, however, the store was not bright like the candy store, so Sophia would have a much more difficult time finding her. The loud, thumping music and abundance of black lights didn't help to improve her disorientation, either.

Amidst the sea of black apparel and items promoting creative uses for leather, Sophia came across a pair of black and lavender lacy panties that she instantly fell in love with. They were refined without being boring, yet playful without being immature.

Just then Estelle reappeared. She was holding a CD. She immediately noticed what was in Sophia's hand and tried to turn it into a topic of conversation.

"Hey, that's pretty cool. Is that for you?"

Sophia looked at her guiltily, knowing that she was hypocritical for giving Estelle attitude for not staying on the task of looking for Amelia's present. "No. I don't need it."

Sophia put the panties back on the rack, only to have Estelle pick them up again. "They'd look cute on you. You're getting them. My treat."

Estelle grinned at her shopping buddy, who in turn was now turning red with embarrassment and guilt.

"Thanks," was all that Sophia could think to say.

Trevor hesitated before knocking on the door to Sophia's place. He really wasn't looking forward to seeing her, but he wasn't going to neglect giving her belongings back to her. Regardless of how he felt, it was simply proper break-up etiquette. He heard footsteps coming towards him, and silently resolved to stay calm, no matter what words may be said. To his surprise, Raquel, Sophia's roommate answered the door.

"Oh, hi Trevor! Come on in," Raquel was delighted to see him. She always was.

Trevor just smiled and said "I'd love to but I'm late for work. I just needed to stop by and give Sophia this," he said politely, holding up a bag full of various items that she had left over his house.

"Oh well, Sophia's not here right now. Here, let me take that. I think she went to the mall with one of her new friends." Trevor gave a sour look at hearing this, but Raquel didn't quite pick up on it. "SO hey, would you like to come back later tonight? We could have dinner together."

Trevor gave a puzzled look at this suggestion because surely Raquel would know how much it would hurt him to see Sophia unnecessarily.

"Raquel... you do know that we broke up, don't you?

Raquel looked stunned. She appeared to be searching for the right words while taking in this surprising news at the same time. She looked down that the bag and realized why he was giving it to her.

"Why? What happened?" She finally managed to ask.

Trevor sighed heavily. He hadn't really let himself deal with it yet, and he certainly didn't want to moments before going into work. Raquel seemed deeply affected by his inability to say anything and set the bag down, then gave him a hug. As much as he wanted to indulge in the sympathy, he had to remain distant in order to keep his emotions from spilling over. Raquel noticed this and let go awkwardly.

"I don't understand," she began, "you've been together for three years. You guys never argued or fought. You were the perfect couple."

"Yeah well, maybe we were too perfect. Maybe we only looked that way cos there was nothing really there. I dunno. I'll talk to you later about it, ok? Right now I have to go."

He politely kissed her on the cheek while she gently grabbed his arm. She tried to look into his eyes in order to get him to talk more, but he avoided meeting her gaze. He smiled mechanically and turned away, quickly walking back to his car.

"You know, you forget how good these things are," Estelle pondered as she took a bite out of her corndog. Sophia, who was drinking a cup of lemonade, nodded her head in agreement. After she finished the bite, she Estelle continued, "and did you see the size of the tits on that chick? Damn! Too bad she wasn't making the lemonade though."

Sophia couldn't help but smile at this remark. She still felt uncomfortable with Estelle, but for a different reason now. However, she had forced herself to give her lunch buddy some eye contact. It was obvious that Estelle was trying hard to be friends, and Sophia wanted to work through her feelings and return the effort.

"Look, I'm sorry I've been a bitch today," Sophia managed to say. With those words out in the open, however, she found it even more difficult to look Estelle in the eye.

"It's alright. I'm not oblivious to your attitude; I'm just ignoring it. I get it, you like Amelia. But that doesn't mean that we can't get along. You have to understand where we're coming from." The prospect of learning what they thought of her caused Sophia to look up at Estelle. "We don't have to be competition. Amelia wants us both." Estelle looked into Sophia's eyes and said "I want you both. I want this to work."

"Wow... I don't really know what to say," Sophia responded with awe. She really hadn't considered the possibility of not seeing Estelle as a threat. She needed some time to fully digest what had been said to her.

"Well, you could say 'I'm all for that cos you've got the hottest body in the whole mall and I've been thinking of nothing else but raping you the first chance I get'. Or 'Thank you', whatever works."

Sophia laughed and smiled at Estelle as she felt the weight of dread and guilt leave her body. When Estelle reached across the table with her napkin to wipe Sophia's cheek, she gladly held her face out.

Neither of them were looking at anyone else around them. Neither of the girls saw a blonde girl across the food court staring at them. Even if they had, they most likely would have not caught the smile that crept across her face as she observed how they interacted. By the time they had finished with their meals, she had walked out of sight.

The blonde girl walked with a spring in her step to the nearest area that was quiet, then pulled out her cell phone.

"Hello?" answered Amelia from the other end.

"Hey. It's Kaylin. Hey listen... what's up with you and Estelle?" Kaylin's voice feigned concern.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you guys break up or something?"

"What? No, what would give you that idea?"

"Well I saw her and Sophia running around together in the mall."

"Yeah, I told them to go together. Why would that bother me?" Amelia sounded annoyed, but Kaylin kept her voice steady with concern.

"It doesn't bother you that they're all over each other?"

"Oh please! Sophia and Estelle? Those two won't stick without their glue, moi."

"Uh, Amelia... they were attached at the lips."

Amelia tried not to sound hurt, but her hesitance gave her away. "Well... thanks."

"Sure. And hey..."

"What?"

"If you need to talk..."

"I know, thanks. Later."

Amelia put the phone away and held her head down for a moment, trying not to let the ugly feelings inside her boil to the surface. After all, what did she expect to happen? They had already done quite a bit more than kiss together. She realized that it was the 'together' part that bothered her. She was the one who initiated all the encounters; she wasn't supposed to be excluded from them.