Audrey Hepburn's Pearls: Part I

Chapter 37.1: 1995, Ruiz

Chapter 37.1: 1995, Ruiz

 

Bouncing along, I was staring at Miss Cha Cha's black curls swaying back and forth as she walked in perfect rhythm to the song playing in the mall, every step in time. I had noticed this was a habit of her's, and it was funny to see her change her pacing every time we passed a different store with blaring music. We were nearing the food court, and for quite some time now she had been swaying to Pachelbel's Canon in D. There was just some kind of grace about her movements. I almost wanted her to start dancing with an invisible partner. 

Instead, she turned to me and smiled, waiting for me to catch up. I hurried along. 

"You want to go in here?" she asked, pointing to Victoria's Secret. 

Immediately a blush rushed to my face. "Um," I said quietly, looking at the ground.

"Its okay. I go in there all the time. They know me." She was smiling assuringly at me, but I still didn't know. "Forty percent off sale on select items," she continued, reading the sign outside, "pretty good deal."

"Okay," I said shyly. She kept smiling at me in an encouraging way. With her familiar grace, she extended her hand as if to welcome me in so I went first. 

I hadn't quite realized how crowded the store was until I was over the threshold. There were women everywhere, talking, laughing, looking every place. My blush burned into my ears when I noticed some of them looking at me. On habit, I smoothed the front of my mustard yellow skirt nervously and acted like I was looking at a display. But everywhere I happened to land my eyes there were bras and panties and my blush spread to my neck.

I had the strong feeling that I wasn't supposed to be in here. What was I doing here? My heart was pounding too fast.

I jumped as Miss Cha Cha's hand landed on my shoulder and steered me to the left. Thank god for that.

"I think you'd be an A-cup," she said casually, "thing is, most of these bras come in B-cup and then they go up. There's this one I know that's very good. I used to wear it a lot before I got my B-cuppies. This one bra boosts your cup size. Makes you look like you've got something and then you can build upon it with these lovely inserts that they make. They're foam, but honey they look real. You'll see. You know, we use all these weird things in drag to make us look like we have something, but when you want to do it right you get these foam inserts."

"O-okay," I nodded, staring at her while she flipped bras this way and that on the sales table which was prominently at the front of the store. A woman bumped into me in her pursuit of sales and I gasped under my breath, huddling closer to Miss Cha Cha like she was a beacon. The woman regarded me neutrally, then looked back at the table. I kept feeling like I was somehow going to get "caught" and get dragged out of here. My heart pounded in my chest harder at this thought, the blood rushing in my ears. 

"I wish I could remember that bra's name. All of the bras have their own silly names. It ridiculous. Why can't they be called what they do?" Miss Cha Cha was saying. She seemed to be talking a lot, a lot more than usual. 

After a couple more minutes of talking to me and flipping practically all of the bras on the table over, it was obvious she couldn't find the type of bra she was looking for. My vision was awash in bright colors and lace piled on top of each other. My nervousness was swirling inside me like a beast trying to get out and I was rooted to my spot. She hadn't asked me to help, and she kept peering at me with that same encouraging expression. She seemed to recognize how nervous I was, and she wasn't saying anything about it. I felt relief that she knew, but that didn't calm me at all.