Whispers Journey

Another Year Older, Almost

August came in the blink of an eye or more the flutter of heavy leaden never fully rested lids. On Monday, Wed and Thursday Whisper worked at TTs Lodge up at 4, out the door by 5 home again by 10:30 and usually in bed til at least 2 sometimes 3. Every other day of the week she slept til 7 and was downstairs by 8. Her brown roots were showing so she tried to remind herself to get hair dye that day but on any given day just remembering to eat was a chore. She had indeed graduated to the cash register and the customers liked her, she was happy and friendly and it was genuine. She'd made Big Sky her home for almost 4 months now and knew her way around in the day but still stayed tucked away safe at night. She never heard anything more about the Johnson girl from MN though she had looked at some old newspapers at the library that had blurbs here or there about it. All in all everyday she was feeling more like Whisper and less like Heather but mind over matter could only do so much. She was still biologically 12 and growing. She started nothing her tops getting tighter and realized she was going to need a bra, she'd never had one before and had no clue what size to get. She went the the mall and the woman at Debbie's Dress Palace measured her and told her the size she'd need. She often got comments about how mature she was as people did the math in there head and eyes and still saw a little girl where a woman pretended to be. She'd quickly tell them that she was 16 going on 17 and was just from a small family. In fact her mother and grandmother had been quite large as well as her fathers sisters so she knew genetics would catch up to her eventually. She hadn't finished out the 7th grade and was feeling its affects lately. Dan and Eric and both made mention of how much more money she could make if she had a high school diploma. She thought maybe that was a fight for another day. Today she'd forgotten it was Whispers birthday so when she walked into Ds for the day she was greeted with party horns and a paper hat. She smiled and thanked Christy and Danielle her best friends at work and was even happier when Dan said she could have the day off. "You work too hard kid, go have fun your only young once." Her friends also had the day off and even though they were in there 20s they had no issue hanging out with a now 17 year old kid. They took her to the salon to get a proper hair cut and dye job then to the mall to find a new outfit that showed off her rapidly budding figure. "How do you stay so skinny girl! Your all tits and ass! Hahaha" They were always laughing at there own jokes, Whisper was younger but she knew she was much smarter then these two would ever be. They went to the movies and drank soda through twizzlers and licked butter off there fingers from greasy popcorn. It was a great day and Whisper was glad for it. The surprises weren't over yet though. When she got home  there was a large box sitting outside her door with a huge bow and curled ribbon. She tried to lift it but couldn't then a voice came from the shadows on the other side of her door scaring her into a muffled scream. Eric laughed and stepped forward. "Hey its only me, I wanted to get you a birthday gift." "You remembered my birthday?" "Yea your a hard worker I like that, and your cute to boot" this was the first time she'd seen him blush, his golden brown eyes looked into hers and she broke the gaze first now blushing herself. "So you got me a bolder for my birthday  how sweet" " Not quite I think you'll like this more." She opened the door and he lifted the box effortlessly. He looked around the sparse living room and set the box down in the middle of the room. "Ummmm so do you have like a table or stand or anything?" "No, do I need one?" She walked to the box and untied the bow then ripped off the paper to reviel a 30 inch brand new T.V. "Oh my God!!!! Are you for real right now?" "I thought you might like it, I noticed how you come to work early to watch in the lounge and Fay said she didn't think you had one. Guess she was right." A thought suddenly occurred to her "I was gone all morning, how long were you waiting for me?" "Oh not long really, just like an hour." He smiled again and she went flush. "So should we plug her in see if she works. They pushed the unit up to the wall and plunged it in then pressed a button on the front and heard a satisfactory zap and the sound of a grocery store jingle as the picture faded in. She didn't think she could ever be any happier then she was right then. " They sat cross legged on the floor like a couple of kids for the better part of an hour flipping channels as Whisper excidley identified characters from her favorite shows. "You need a T.V. stand!" The statement started Whisper who was in a bliss coma. "Lets go to Paulsens Furniture and get you one. And maybe a chair or two." "You don't have to do that Eric this was already so much and..." he put his fingers to her lips to hush her "I want to, your a good woman and you deserve nice things" "woman?" She thought to herself, "if he only knew then he wouldn't like me so much." She didn't verbalized this thought just smiled and followed him out the door. He led her to a shiney Dodge pick-up truck. She'd never seen anything look so new she'd of sworn he'd just bought it that day if not for the small amount of mud around the tires. He opened her door and helped her hop up inside. At the furniture store they picked out a nice T.V. stand and a pair of living room chairs. "You know "said the sales clerk " you could have this whole living room set for just $600 and I'll throw the lamps in free. The set consisted of a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, two end tables and two table lamps. It was a faded yellow with grey pinstripes and all the tables were real wood no cheap partical board. Whisper just looked away, she wanted it but wouldn't dare ask. "Sold!" Eric handed the man a shiny plastic credit card and they loaded up the moving truck then followed us to my apartment. They even hauled away my old couch at no extra charge. I sat on the new fabric of the chairs and directed Eric where to put the end tables and where to plug in the lamps. In no time we had the T.V. set back up and settled in watching Unsolved Mysteries. "How do you not crave pizza everyday?" He was obviously smelling the kitchen below p. "I work there 4 days a week, I could live the rest of my life never eating pizza again!" He smiled and said we then Chinese it is. He picked up the useless phone and looked at me. "Ok I guess we're going out" She took a minute in the bathroom to freshen up. As she came out he was leaning against the door frame. He looked in her eyes and said "your beautiful Whisper " she didn't drop her eyes this time, she steadied herself on her feet and he kissed her cheek. She smiled and let out her breath. "I'd never rush you, I hope you like me too." "I do Eric, I really do. And not cause you bought me all this nice stuff either. I liked you from the first time I saw you." "I know" This time it was her who stepped forward and found his lips with hers, she'd never kissed a boy only seen it on T.V. so she just pressed lightly and stayed for a few seconds then pulled away. He smiled and backed up so she could leave the bathroom.