Sound Waves

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After lunch, I went to my last class of the day, art, and then walked off campus. There were still classes going on, but I had a shorter schedule. I needed to get a car, but my dad always said it's easier to move with just one, since it is just the two of us. It would be nice to be able to go places on my own though, I got my license last year.

I walked down the street, and towards the beach front, but before I got to the beach, a car pulled up right in front of me. It was a powder blue VW bug, and looked to be made around '67. The front window rolled down and I saw the driver, it was Lilah. Of course Lilah would have a car like that, it suited her. "Get in, we're going shopping." This girl was persistent, I could say that. I thought about saying no, but she really wouldn't give up. Besides, after what happened today, I deserved to go shopping, it sounded like fun. I went around the front of the car and opened the door, getting into the passenger seat. Lilah took off as soon as the door had closed, and before I got a chance to put my seatbelt on.

We were in a mall about an hour or so north of Luna Beach, it wasn't a huge mall, but it was bigger than anything back in town. Lilah had me trying on dress after dress, and skirt after skirt. "Can't we look at shorts or something please? I don't really wear this stuff." I know I sounded whiny, but I really don't wear skirts, I think I owned like two, and they were both pink.

"No," Lilah said this forcefully, her southern accent only intensifying the word. Obviously she was a force to be reckoned with, "Dani, I will buy you a skirt today if its the last thing I do." I had just put on a denim skirt that was way too short for my liking, it didn't fit right either, but Lilah insisted on seeing it on me. I unlocked the stall and stepped out, to see Lilah looking at a pretty floral dress with braided straps. She turned around when she heard me, scowling down at the skirt.

"It just doesn't look right, I will find something though!" Lilah's scowl disappeared and a determined look took its place. I went back into the dressing room to change back into my striped shorts, and slipped on my converse.

Lilah and I got back in the car, after stopping to get her a strawberry smoothie in the food court, and I got a mint chocolate chip milkshake. We were listening to Lana Del Rey's Diet Mountain Dew, one of my favorite songs. Lilah said we had to go to a little boutique she had heard about, but never been to, I was really just obliging to make her happy. I took out my phone and sent a quick text to my dad-

I'm shopping with Lilah, will be home late, don't wait up.

I got a reply a few minutes later, as we were turning onto a busy road called El Burro.

Alright have fun sweetie, don't be home too late -Dad

My dad had to have a phone for his job, and he was actually quite good with electronics, and was an avid texter, probably more than me. Lilah pulled her blue bug in front of a little boutique called El Sol, I'm guessing to go along with the Spanish theme.

We got out of the car and walked into the store, a wave of pleasant smelling incense hitting us instantly. I looked around, on the walls were old posters, and painted paper lanterns hung from the ceiling. I walked to the back of the store and saw the clerk, a middle aged woman with auburn hair pinned back with chopsticks, a curl hanging loose on one side of her face. She looked at me and smiled, a genuine smile, the kind that crinkles around your eyes. She had green eyes, that were looking at me through black cat-eye glasses. "Hello, welcome to my store." She said this so smoothly, and welcoming, unlike some shop owners who sounded robotic because they said the same line all day. This woman was warm, and kind, not robotic at all. I smiled back.

"You have great clothes in here!" Lilah sounded excited, I turned around to see her examining a flowy lilac shirt. That was when I noticed the actual clothes in the store, they were very pretty, I might actually find something I liked in here.