Chapter 21

I wake to the sound of the alarm that I had set for the morning. I wake with a startle. I feel the ropes still around my feet. I take a deep breath and find that it excites me. I try to roll out of bed like I usually do and take a slight tumble out of bed. I come face to face with the cat. "WHAT!" I yell at her. "You just wish you could be involved in all of this!" She turns and walks away. I bend down and untie my feet and wiggle my toes to get some blood back into them. I can't believe that I fell asleep again and even slept like this. I walk in to the bathroom and turn on the water to the shower. I start to take my clothes off. I wait a couple of minutes and quickly pop open the door and jump out. "GOT YA!" I Yell. But there is no one there. I was hoping to catch my gremlin that keeps putting out clothes for me. I go back into the bathroom. Defeated and deflated. I press my ear against the door to see if I hear someone out there. The moment I think I do I am going to spring into action. I wait for a few more minutes and I open the door. I look down at my bed and see nothing. I finally decide that is enough of the games, if I didn't shower and get my face on soon I would be late meeting Shelly at the mall. I don't want her standing there thinking I stood her up. I take extra care to shave the unwanted hair off my body. I finish and turn off the water. I towel off and find my robe. I peek out at my bed. Still the little gremlin didn't put anything out. "Oh sure the day I have no ideas how to dress, you don't help me!" I yell out. I walk into my closet. I select a pair of jeans first off. "Good start." I say out loud. I pick a multi stripped sweater, in tans and brown's. I pull the sweater over my head. I select a pair of brown pantyhose and pull the slowly up my legs one leg at a time as I always do. I pull up the jeans. I look in the closet and find a pair of brown flats. No heels today. I think to myself. I look down and I see some toe cleavage. I give myself a look in the mirror. I pull my hair back in a ponytail. I am starting to think I am too old for a ponytail hairstyle. I slide behind the steering wheel. I pull out of my driveway. I look over at the seat. There is an envelope on the seat. I pull off to the side of the road. "HAVE A GOOD TIME TODAY. DON'T SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY IN ONE PLACE. YOU MAY NEED IT LATER. My heart starts to race. Pete and Amber did stop last night. I think to myself. But why didn't they take me then? My mind starts to race. Maybe they like playing games with me? Maybe they are really checking to see if I enjoy this by just watching me? Maybe I didn't look good enough last night for Pete to want to take me for Amber.

I drive to the mall came up sooner then I expected and I was almost rear ended by a black SUV with smoked windows. I couldn't see the driver, and he made no motion or noises letting me know what I jerk for turning so suddenly. I make it to the food court before Shelly. I go over and get myself a cup of coffee. I take a drink of the coffee and about spit it out. They have Shelly's formula for her coffee. I look around to see if she is moonlighting as a coffee person at the place I got my coffee. I see Shelly come in to the mall through the same door I came in. She has on a maroon shirt that buttons down the back and is a bit short in the mid-drift of her body. She is wearing a pair of blue jean Capri pants. I can see that it took all her power to squeeze her body into this get up. I wondered who buttoned her shirt up. You could see gaps in the shirt and can see her lily white back. Oh lord, don't let her sneeze, I pray. To myself, and think about what she did to a pair of pantyhose the last time she sneezed. She sees me. I motion her over. She comes bouncing over and I see the shoes she has on. They are a pair of sandals that have a strap around the back to keep them on her feet. They have a big bulky sole. "Good morning Kim." She calls out as she walks up so her voice echoes throughout the building. "The stores are not quite opened yet, so I thought we could have some coffee." She goes and buys a cup and joins me. She keeps looking back at the counter. "Something wrong?" I ask her. "Teddy's brother is the runs the hamburger place here, and Teddy brings them produce. I was just worried that maybe Teddy was here today." I look around and see nothing but a pimpled-faced kid that doesn't know the difference between his ass and a hold in the ground. He stands there in his uniform that is two sizes too big for him. Another kid comes from the back room. He looks just as bright and the first one. I laugh. This poor kid tops three hundred and fifty pounds without clothes on. Which is something I NEVER want to see as long as I live. He must have gotten the uniforms of the last fat kid that worked there. They both stand talking to each other. I can see they are looking and Shelly and I. The smaller of the two kids give me a wink. The other boy cannot believe what his partner just did and blushes and rushes into the back room. I start to laugh at him. You can hear the chain gates for some of the stores start to open. I never finish my coffee. Shelly downs the last of hers. "Ready?" I ask her.

We make our way out into the world of fashion. "Shelly? I don't want you to take this personal but I want to help you pick out something special." Shelly smiles. "I would like that Kim, you always have the best clothes." I blush thinking of some of the things I have in my closet. Shelly starts to head towards TWO TO TEN. I stop Shelly. "Come here and sit down Shelly." We go over to the sofas and chairs that they mall provides for husband's whose wives are spending their money. "I know you want to fit into a size six or eight. But..." My mouth goes dry. "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you are not a size six." Shelly looks at me with tears welling up in her eyes. "I know I'm not. I really am a size 12. Just guys don't like women that wear a size 12, and the clothes that they have for size 12's are not always very sexy." "Lets look and see what we can find you can always look classy. Men like classy looking woman, and I know if you look classy you will attract much better men then Teddy." I grab her hand. We walk into the store and the clerk rushes over. "Good morning ladies." She sings out. She takes one look at Shelly. "Oh honey, we can fix this. I promise." Shelly smiles with all the attention she is getting. I walk around looking as Shelly and the clerk are checking out dresses and skirts. The clerk has an arm full of clothes and pushes Shelly into the fitting room. A few minutes later Shelly starts the fashion show. The first dress she has on is a skirt with a sweater and a camisole. The skirt is a longer skirt that stops about three inches above the ankles. It has an autumn leaf patter in brown, gold and rust colored leaves on it. Its topped off with a cream colored camisole and a button down sweater that matches the rust color leaves in the skirt. Shelly comes out looking confused, and then gets a big smile on her face as she sees me give her the thumbs up sign. She nods and says something to the clerk. She disappears and finishes the fashion show. Shelly buys five outfits from all that she tired on. I look at my watch and its lunchtime. We head over to the food court.