•Nia's POV
After the long drive to the mall we stopped at the food court for a late lunch. Emma had changed out of her dress into some blue skinny jeans, a white crop top that had a rolling stones symbol on it, and some white and black checkered vans. We found a table and I set my jacket down on the back of a chair and after grabbing her phone and wallet she set her purse on her chair. We each went our separate ways and returned with our own food from different restaurants. Emma had gone to the Sandwich place and gotten a turkey and Swiss with a bag of lays potato chips. Then she stopped at a smoothie place for a strawberry, mango, and banana smoothie with whipped cream.
I however went in a different direction with my meal. A less healthy alternative. I had gotten a large, cheesey slice of Pepperoni Pizza, a small container of pretzel bites and cheese from Auntie Annie's, bacon and cheddar tots with sour cream, Dr. Pepper, and a side of garlic parmesan seasoned fries that I knew Emma and I would split because they were her favorite.
I always did have a self control problem when it came to food courts. If I could have all my favorite foods in one meal I definitely would even if it meant looking like a tub of lard in public and not being able to finish all my food in one sitting. Besides I never saw leftovers as a bad thing.
We ate and as expected shared light conversation and season French fries. After Emma ate her sandwich, her chips and more than half the fries, I had eaten most of my pizza, all of the pretzels, about a third of the fries and a couple of the tots. We packed up our leftovers, gathered our belongings, and threw out our trash before heading into the shopping areas. Emma liked to look at all the small kiosks around the bustling halls while I looked around the open faced shops until something caught my attention.
The first store I went into was called 'Eves'. They were a discount shop that sold women's clothing and accessories. After looking around for about 10 minutes Emma came and found me. I had picked out a few pairs of underwear, a couple bras, and a cheap pack of stockings. The stockings came in three colors, black, white, and beige. After I paid, I waited for Emma who had found a set of bracelets she wanted.
After Emma put on her new bracelets and tosses out the wrappings she tucked the receipt in her bag and we continued to browse, not a long walk before we reached my favorite grunge store, you know the one, the Hot spot for all the nerdy, emo, and fanatic Topics.
After a thirty minute or so browse I headed to check out with an armful of goodies that I couldn't be more excited about, meanwhile Emma tried on sunglasses at the kiosk outside the store where she had purchased a few enamel pins and a glow in the dark blue nail polish. As I approached her with my bags she placed the red sunglasses she was wearing back on the rack and turned to me.
"Well it took you long enough, we still have so many stores to check out, you can't spend all your money in one shop" she teased and poked at my side "What'd ya get?"
I told her what I had gotten on our way to the next shop. I got a Harry Potter enamel pin set, a black and red corset style dress with lace and ribbons, a yellow beauty and the beast themed two piece swimming suit, multiple of the special nail polishes in the skull shaped bottles you can only get there, as well as several nerd hair accessories and some more pins.
As she led me into a Forever 22 I was very uncomfortable. Most of the clothes in the store were for size 0's and 1's and even if they did have a size 12 anything it was definitely not my style, but since she waited for me, it was my turn to wait for her. Emma eagerly rushed around the store wanting to admire every item there, only grabbing a select few things. While she ran around in bliss I browsed through the clearance section. That's where I always found the hidden gems. Once again I spotted the Diamond in the sea of gravel.
It was a a simple jewelry set, a necklace with a gold chain and a white rose pendant with a stem and thorns, the earrings were the same as the pendant white roses that would hang off the ear by the stem. and a gold bracelet with several white roses on it, however the roses on the bracelet were more open than the ones on the necklace or earrings and they also had no stems. I grabbed the jewelry set and continued to browse the mark downs. I also found a discounted pack of makeup wipes and a cheap pair of soft socks. Feeling satisfied with my finds I headed to the register to be subtly ridiculed by the cashier.
"Oh wow how nice" the teenage girl ringing me up flashed a fake smile "You found some great bargains" I gave her a fake smile back. I knew what she meant to say was, 'Wow somebody is cheap and only buys from clearance because her younger friend is shopping here'.
I paid for my items and left the store, knowing perfectly well Emma would be in there a while since she had headed to the dressing room. I traversed across the treacherous hallway to the clothing store across the way and sent Emma a text letting her know where I'd be. After looking around at some shoes in the front of the store I got a thumbs up emoji back from Emma. 'This store must be going out of business' I thought to myself as I looked at all the sale prices.
I wandered around finding several things that I wanted before Emma found me with the several bags she'd collected and a smile on her face. I was glad that she was enjoying herself, I was having fun too. Emma looked around the store and locked her eyes on something that made her gasp. I followed her gaze and knew what she was thinking. She thought so much like Sky sometimes it was uncanny. She dashed towards the shelf and snatched away her treasure and skipped over to the register happily with her new thigh high boots in hand. I admired her boldness boots like that didn't suit someone like me. However the heels right beside where she'd got the boots were perfect. A white pair of thick heels with a thin ankle strap and a gold button on the side and at an unbelievable 75% off. I was sold, but as I made my way over I noticed a younger woman in a white dress also approaching them. She had grabbed them off the shelf moments before i was within reach. Emma who had just purchased her boots noticed my disappointment and after consoling me went back up to the young man at the cash register. Assuming she was flirting I glanced back at the shelf in disappointment before I began to browse the clothes racks. I was surprised to find something equally as beautiful as the shoes I'd lost. I found a green off the shoulder dress with princess style sleeves that stopped at below the elbow. The waist of the dress, as well as the trim at the bottom and top edges had white lace. Looking at the tag I immediately grinned and snatched the dress from the 90% off rack and hugged it. It was my size, I was bursting with glee. I rushed to the register to pay and the cashier returned from the back store room with Emma and a black box. He returned to the register and took the hanger and the sensor pin off my dress and then scanned it expecting that to be the end of the transaction I pulled out my card. To my surprise he scanned the black box he had been holding and placed it in my bag as well. Then before I could complain he touched the screen a few times and the price of the black box and the dress was cut in half. My eyes widened in shock and Emma laughed.
"Nia this is my friend Markus, he gave us his employee discount and even went to the back to find something for you, the new price being around the same as the dress alone would have cost I didn't complain. I only smiled and said "Nice to meet you" and then paid. Once we exited the store we found a bench and I opened the box. "Emma.... Thank you so much They're beautiful" I nearly cried as I looked at the white heels with gold buttons that sat in the box.
After another ten or so shops we headed to the bathrooms to get changed. I slipped into.my new green dress with white trim, my new white and gold jewelry set, and my new white heels then stuffed my old outfit into an empty bag. I stepped out and admired my beautiful outfit in the mirror. Emma smiled "Wow, you look spectacular" she changed back into her red and silver outfit and had added a red rose hair pin to her braid as well as a new silver phone case with a red rose on it. After a few moments of awe I gathered my bags. "Oh!" I just remembered something I'd bought I reached into one of my bags and pulled out a white lace head band. I set my bags back down and Emma watched me take my hair down and re-style it with my new hair accessory. Checking myself in the mirror one more time I was satisfied with my choice. I gathered my belongings, we loaded up the car and then Emma drove us to our next destination for the night.