Iridescent

Chapter 3 Tan

Prism Joy

present day

I have been trailing behind Marj around the mall for the last 3 hours and I still haven't agreed to anything that she showed me. " Prism. I swear you're just being a hard ass to annoy me." Marj stomped her foot and pouted like a 3 year old, being denied sweets at the candy aisle. "I thought you were doing this for little old me" She started fluttering her eyes at me.

I pushed her away and rolled my eyes. " God. stop that Marj. Nobody looks good doing that.Not even 3 year olds." I laughed at her. I was kind of hoping that she'll tire out after the 10th store, but I forgot who my opponent was, Marj practically lives at the mall. I would sooner die a violent death than the chances of her getting tired of shopping. I was almost tempted to buy a red scarf so just that we can go home already. She of course saw through that charade in an instant, which only strengthened her resolve to find me that one colored item.

"I just haven't found something that appeals to me." I shrugged and started walking ahead, pretending to browse through the racks of clothes. "Besides, I think deciding to wear clothes with color is a pretty big commitment for me right now" I looked over my shoulder at Marj. "I'm not ready to commit just yet."

" Uh..are we still talking about clothes or something else?" Her brows knitted in confusion.

I laughed at her. "Clothes. definitely clothes."

I turned around and moved on to the next rack.

"Thought as much" her voice drifted from behind me.

I heard the distinct ping sound of a message from her phone and Marj mumbled a few choice expletives. "Ugh. I don't want to deal with this right now."

"Is it still the pain in the butt client?" I asked and looked over my shoulder at her as I smoothed over a tan colored blouse.

She was busy tapping away at her phone, her face a beautiful example of a pissed off face. It takes a lot to faze Marj and it was kind of funny to see her loose her marbles over this client. I bit my lips to stop myself from actually laughing. I mean, nobody could be that bad right?

I continued my slow trek through the store, occasionally checking if Marj was still following me. She was.

It was then that I spotted it. A simple pair of ballerina flats. Turquoise ballerina flats. There was nothing else special about them, but the color appealed to me. I slowly walked towards it and slowly picked the pair up. It was made of soft leather and had small eyelets around the edge as its only design. I don't know why, but I actually wanted to own this pair of shoes.

"Oh my god. I have never seen that look on your face before Pri!" Marj had sidled next to me and was staring at my face. " You actually want those shoes!?"

I snapped my head towards her. " What?!"

She gave me a smirk, grabbed the shoes from me and called the attention of the sales assistant. "Can we have this at a size 7 please?" she turned around and pushed me towards the benches to sit.  I watched the blonde sales assistant weave her way back to the storeroom.

"Well, granted that they are pretty plain, this is a pretty big step for you Pri! So proud of you!" I watched Marj look like a giddy school girl. " I kinda wished you'd find a dress, but shoes are fine, even if they're flats.."

I rolled my eyes. " Well, don't whip out your card just yet, let see how it fits. Besides, I go for comfort over style. So these flats will most likely be used than if I get a pair of heels that will die at the back of my closet."

"Don't I know that." she deadpanned.

I grinned sheepishly at her, remembering when she bought me a pair of black pumps for my birthday last year. I know it was an attempt on her part to push me out of my comfort zone. I hid those pair at back of my closet and forgot about them, until a few months back when Marj was once again rummaging through my poor wardrobe and found them still inside the box, unused. She of course threw a fit and I appeased her by wearing them to a bar that night.

" I did wear them..once." I cringed at the memory. " And you do remember what happened right?" I raised my eyebrows at her. I was so uncoordinated wearing heels that I accidentally stepped on a grate which caught the heel, effectively breaking it and causing me to face plant in front of a crowd. Granted it was a drunk crowd. It was still pretty public and I hated being the center of attention. Good or bad. So I decided to stick as close to the ground as possible in terms of footwear. So, the poor pumps had to go.

The sales assistant returned with a shoebox and I slipped off my flats getting ready to try the new ones. As soon as I slipped them on, I smiled and nodded my head at my bestfriend. "Oh yeah, forget soulmates..this is my sole mate." It fits like a glove. or should I say..shoe? huh.

"Oh Pri. You are hopeless." she said dryly.She looked at the sales assistant and flicked her hand. " Ring this up please. thank you."

We stood up and followed the sales assistant to the cashier. "Thanks for the shoes Marj."

"Thank me by actually really wearing it." She winked at me.

"I think I can actually do that with these babies." I replied. "So, no problemo"

We soon had to part ways as she had to do some form of damage control for her headache inducing client. I wished her luck and told her to call me for anything. I mean, she did buy me a lovely pair of shoes. She gave me this look that bothered me a little. It was her calculating and scheming look that I have come so familiar with. It was the look that usually ends up with me being in trouble.  I narrowed my eyes at her in response. She stuck her tongue out at me,winked and jogged off to her car.

I shook my head as I remembered the first time her 'look' landed us into trouble. It all started during 7th grade when Marj got it into her head that the frogs kept in the science laboratory for our biology class should be free and not be led into slaughter. I tried to talk her out of it saying that I don't want to touch the frogs and we don't have anywhere to put them anyway. Not to mention we would would get into a lot of trouble if we got caught. But she had that exact same look that she was wearing now and the next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of the science lab with hundreds, well at least a dozen frogs hopping and croaking about while Marj ran screaming away.

That earned me another trip to the principal's office, along with my parents, you can just imagine the looks we got when they saw what my parents were wearing. Not to mention how red my principal's face got when my parents told him that I shouldn't be punished because I was doing the right thing. Frogs shouldn't be used for dissection they should be out there in ponds waiting to kiss their princesses. Those were my dad's exact words. I wanted to die right there and bring Marjoram with me.

"I swear Marjoram! Whatever you're cooking in that head of yours, it better not land me in trouble!" I called after her.

I headed home clutching my beloved pair of shoes.

a/n: so, comments, suggestions and violent reactions... 😘

Thanks for reading!