Moving Forward

Black Friday

Gabriel's POV

It would be fair to say that Foxy, Erica and Uncle made their point. I was a jackass with a big mouth, braying out of my ass at the drop of a hat. The Fashion Houses, shit, they had been nothing like I expected. The first two had been elegant; the staff was unobtrusive and helpful at the same time. The clothing had been spectacular; the evening dresses looked suitable to be worn on the red carpet by some famous female actors. The last one we went to wasn't as nice or very busy. In fact, the only two customers stormed out soon after we arrived. The layout was more fitting for a Goodwill store and the selections were sub-standard. The staff was rude and let's not talks about the Designer, the sack of shit. Not only did he piss me off, he was excessively touchy. His vocabulary was one that even a sewer would be embarrassed to claim. He had the nerve to tell me that my skinny jeans highlighted my knobby knees and made my ass look like I had stuffed two balloons down the back of my pants. He claimed that my burnt orange polo shirt made my skin look fucking sallow and that my hair was more suited to an old geezer. The strands flanking my face should be gray or pink. His staff was slovenly; I swear most of them didn't shower. I'm not sure he bathed himself, his cologne was so strong you couldn't smell anything else when he was near. I didn't want to turn out to be like that asshole. From now on I was keeping my mouth shut unless my friends asked my opinion, then I would give it in a more acceptable manner. Yeah, I was a new man.

Finally, we were going to the mall and I was hitting the Black Friday sales. I was happy to get a chance to visit a bunch of new stores for a change and choose from different selections at the chain stores. I was curious to see what Boston shops offered that I couldn't find in Charleston. Maybe I would look around in that Land's End shop where Luke bought his vest. Hey, I was allowed to change my mind. I looked that shit up on the fashion sites; I couldn't believe how popular they were. It made me rethink my opinion. I might just get one for Mr. B for Christmas.

We were allowed three hours of shopping on our own, no leaving the mall, allowing us time to look for Christmas presents if we wished. Jess was staying with her mom and Tilly so we didn't have to worry about her getting lost. That was a relief, we would tear this fucking mall apart to find her if we had to. While she may be a pain in the ass sometimes, she was our pain in the ass and we were fucking keeping her. Wait, let me re-phrase that, I thought to myself. While she was Kota's little sister, she was also our little sister by choice. If she got lost, nothing would stop us from finding her. I nodded to myself as I thought it over, that sounded well.

While overly crowded, I made it to all the stores on my list. I was paying for my last purchase when the alarm on my phone went off; telling me it was time to head to the food court and rejoin the others. I was pleased with myself. I found everything on my list and had money to spare. We went to a restaurant called Pauli's for lunch, Sven had reserved a table for us. The food was out of this world, the lobster roll was divine. I was jealous of Luke and Victor. Raschel couldn't eat all of her lobster roll so they shared the rest of it. That wasn't fair to the rest of us. Raven, the dumbass, stared at her empty plate with sad puppy dog eyes. This prompted Jess to give him the rest of her chicken when you would think she would share with one of us instead of a member of the Toma Team. Once we finished eating, we headed to another mall. This time we broke into groups of threes and twos. Jess wanted to go shopping with Raschel, just the two of them. Sven vetoed that idea quick, claiming they were too small for us to see in a crowd. Foxy and Shan took Jess with them, allowing her no time to protest. Luke dragged Uncle and North off in a different direction before I could ask Luke to team up with me. Victor went with his Grandfather and Raschel went with Sven. Everyone teamed up with his or her family except for Jess and me. Jess had shopping partners, whom was I supposed to go with?