retail therapy

CHAPTER ONE

There was a desperate smell in the air today. It had been following me around all morning, stepping on my heels as I tried to navigate through out my daily routine. I needed retail. I needed to spend.
As much as I wanted to avoid the mall, a place where you painfully had to look at thirteen year olds wearing flower crowns and skater shoes while they pranced around with their pre-teen Justin Bieber look-alike boyfriends, I knew I had to go. I could practically feel the cheaply made high waisted shorts reaching out towards me.
"Mom, I'm going to the mall for a little bit, I'll be back before dinner, okay?" I told my mother as I reached to put on my flip flops, hoping she wouldn't question me.
"Why? What do you need?" My mom inquired as she emerged from the kitchen. So much for that.
"I just wanted to see what stuff they have for back to school, you know," August had just merely begun, so it was a good enough excuse.
Mom gazed at me for a moment and decided to give up. "I'll see you soon, then. Be careful,"
I waved goodbye and made my way to my car, an old Honda my parents had generously offered to give me once I had gotten my license. I was nervous about the day I would actually have to get my own car and pay for it myself, pretty much anything that required responsibility without my parents assistance was pretty fucking nerve wracking.
I started the 25 minute trek to the nearest mall, weaving in and out through side streets, careful to avoid the highway, my greatest nemesis.
Finally, I reached the gigantic building that held so many stylish and simply horrid items in one place. I decided to park on the outer skirts of the lot, it was a perfectly clear day out and I didn't mind the walk.
I scurried through the parking lot, successfully reaching the mall entrance without a hitch. I entered the shopping enter, greeted by a whish of beautifully cold air, a nice change from the outdoors.
As soon as I entered, I realized despite having the intense craving to shop, I had no idea what I wanted or even what store to start at. Did I even really need anything yet? School was at least four weeks away, and I imagined that most stores hadn't even stocked up on sweaters yet. I was already lost.
I decided to just walk forward and hope to come across something that would catch my eye. The first thing to catch my eye was a teenage girl, most likely in her upperclassmen middle school years, wearing a shirt far too tight and far too see-through, stroking the arm of an eternally bored boyfriend who couldn't even muster to look into her darkly lined smokey eyes. I tried to hold back my wince and kept moving.
I walked for a few minutes, my confidence in this impulse decision steadily fading, when suddenly I saw a store I hadn't noticed before. 
It was small and the sign above it looked fairly new, I figured it was put in during the early summer months when I was busy vacationing or sitting by a pool. "Francine's" the sign read in earth tone shades and a normal computer font. I made my way towards it and noticed there were many girls my age inside, oogling at clothes and other little trinkets.
I entered the store and noticed a whole table dedicated to jewlry, another for decorations, another for quirky books you would find in Newbury Comics, and the perimeter of the store lined with clothes and jeans that didn't look half bad. 
I rifled through the clothes and found things I would wear myself, but nothing was feeding the hunger I had felt all day. I looked at the tables of things and genuinely liked what I saw, but still no satisfaction.
"Need any help?" A smooth voice asked from behind me. I turned around and practically feel my eyes bulge out of their sockets. Someone direct me to the nearest cash register. 
The guy looked to be my age or a couple years older, his shaggy and wavy black hair somehow perfectly messy. His bright hazel eyes burning through my green ones, and his angular nose practically begging for me to give it a quick and affectionate peck right on the center.
I searched his shirt for a nametag, but all I found was that it was a light blue with a pattern of white koalas. Interesting choice. 
"I think I'm okay, actually, I was just looking around," I told him. I usually said that to ward off any obnoxious store workers, but I really wanted him to stay, but how could I lie to such an innocent face?
"Okay, well let me know," He smiled sweetly and looked down at the floor quickly, then back at me. We stared at each other for a few moments, then he slightly nodded and turned away.
I was about to turn back to the earrings I was looking at when I realized this was a good chance. I watched him as he walzted away, trying to see if he had what I was looking for.
The booty.
And indeed he did.
I couldn't help but hold back a smile as I turned back to the earrings, which were cute silver crescent moons with stars attached. I decided that these would fulfill whatever emptiness I was feeling for the moment. I just had to buy out the damn store.
I clutched the earrings as I picked up some adorably sweet car freshners that had inspirational quotes with cute owls, a pair of jeans I'll probably wear twice then never again because the wash was so bizarre, and decided that I needed assistance on one more thing.
I scanned the room, which was filled with girls, hoping to find the one shaggy haired head that didn't belong to a lesbian.
I saw the koalas and made a bullet line towards him. "Hey," I saw coolly, and he smiled warmly.
"Hey, what's up?" He asked and put his hands in his back pockets. I wanted to do that aswell.
"Do you think you could help me figure out the size of this shirt, I noticed there wasn't a fitting room," I actually had no idea what shirt I was talking about or if there even was a fitting room, but it was all worth the shot.
His smile got even wider and more adorable, and he nodded in agreement. "Sure, I'll help you out, show the way." 
I decided to find the shirt with the prettiest color and bullshit the entire thing, because I wasn't going to let the hazel eyes slip away with just a random earring purchase.
I saw a magenta sleeve sticking out in between some black and launched my entire campaign towards it. I slung the jeans on the shoulder and balanced the earring and car freshners in between my fingers and pulled out the shirt from its hanger. 
It was the ugliest piece of fabric I had ever seen. Not even the happy magenta shade could save this mess. Was it even a shirt?
Either way, it was too late. I held it up towards him and smiled, trying to look confident that this was what I wanted.
"Well, I think it's upside down to start out with, because the bottom can be tied," he giggled, took the hanger from me and fixed it himself. He put it the correct way, but it was still pretty ugly. The shirt was basically see through the had openings and buttons in all the wrong places, it looked like it was made to look you look 10 pounds bigger. 
"Well, do you think it could fit?" I noticed there weren't any other copies in the store, I wondered if the shirt was a mistake shipment or people really were blind in style.
He looked at the shirt then looked at my torso, I could tell he was careful to avoid my chest. 
"I think it would give a lot of the imagination away, you know?" He said carefully.
"Yeah, maybe," I said as I looked down at my own torso, pretending that this was a serious issue. When I looked up, I saw him staring directly at my boobs. At least he tried.
When he caught me catching him, his eyes flew up to the ceiling, the walls, the floor, anything but me. His cheeks turned a bright red and I just wanted to kiss him right there. 
"You're probably right, I wouldn't want to give too much away," I replied, trying my best to make it seductive, even though there wasn't really anything seductive about it, I was just answering to what he said. When he looked back at me, I tried to give him the eyes and I licked my lips.
I have never hit on a boy, and when I did it was pretty much me giggling and letting them talk. I was basically going off of my what I did in my imagination. Was I imagining this?
He nodded and smirked slightly. "You should let what you have be a surprise," he practically whispered. He looked at the shirt again and took a step closer. "I'd want you for my birthday,"
I almost threw up right then and there. I was definitely imagining this. Wherever I was in real life right now needed to get me to snap out of it. 
I couldn't respond, but I think we both knew the shirt was crap at this point. He raised an eyebrow at me and I started to put the shirt back, biting his lip as he did so, maintaining eye contact. His reached by me and put the shirt back on the rack, his arm grazing over my chest ever so slightly. He looked at the rest of the things I had and readjusted himself from leaning over to put the shirt away, and he ended up being inches away from me. He was only a few inches taller but I felt like he could destroy me within seconds.
"Can I check you out?" He asked, taking the jeans off my shoulders, grazing my boobs again, then gently taking the earrings and car freshners out of my hand, this fingers tickling my palm and intertwining themselves with mine, then he turned away to walk to the register.
My jaw had dropped on its own, but I had no idea when. I started following him towards the register. 
He rung up everything and it ended up being 35 dollars. It was a pretty awesome deal, but I would pay a ridiculous amount more to take the employee. 
"Do you want the reciept in the bag?" He asked, and before I could reply he held up a different piece of paper. "Or my number?"
I choked my own saliva, making a weird coughing noise, then covering it by coughing into my elbow a couple more times, but I knew I had just embarrassed myself for the second time.
When I was done with my fake coughing spat, I smiled and nodded. "I'll take both,"
He smiled and put both papers in the bag and gave it to me. "Have a great day," he said.
I took the bag from him, using both hands so I practically held his hand in mine. I let my fingers linger on his for a second or two while I thanked him and I made my way out.
Before I was completely out the door I looked back and saw him staring, but not at just me. He was looking for the booty. And by the miniscule smile on his face, he knew I got one.