The children swarmed David, jumping all over him, grasping at whatever limb was available, climbing his back, taking him over "Ahhh! I'm being swarmed. Tactical warfare, huh? Sneak attack. Smart move. You'll never overpower me, though!" David wrestled around with the kids as Eden sat next to me, taking David's seat. She smiled at me and said "Good morning, little lady. How yah feeling?"
"I'm pretty good, thank you. How are you?" "Another beautiful day, living, so I'm doing great."
She glanced down at the map and laughed lightly "Told you about the S class zone test, huh? He wouldn't shut up about it last night. He's very excited about you."
I nervously laughed and kinda just looked down at my lap.
A moment passed before Eden put a reassuring hand on my shoulder "Hey. If you don't want to, it's okay. Really. He's persistent, but if you tell him you really don't want to, he'll let it go. He believes in you, so he won't give up right away, but if you really don't want to, he'll understand. We all will. It's okay. We'll still be your friends, honey."
Friends? Wow. I hadn't really thought about that. We've been hanging out, and stuff, but I didn't know they considered me a friend. I looked over at David, he was still wrestling down on the ground with his children, they were giving him a run for his money, but he wouldn't admit it. Being around these two filled me with a sense of ease, and stability. I know it's only been a literal day, but for some reason, I feel like whatever choice I make, it'll all be okay.
I took a moment and searched inside myself. What do I wanna do? I'm obviously capable, just look at what I've done. But there's still that doubt eating away at me. Damn it.
I took a deep breath and sighed, before just saying the first feeling I could grasp on to in my heart "I'll do it! I'll try out." I caught myself by suprise. I just knew I was gonna say no.
Through the laughter of children I could hear David say "Really? Hey, no biting, punk! That's amazing! Ahhh, that's my knee! Hey, I only count five. Where's big dawg?" That last part was directed towards Eden.
She responded saying "Oh he's with his favorite baby sitter, Lilith." David laughed and said "Little guy's first crush. Isn't it cute? Hey, get your finger out of there!" Eden stood up and laughed, heading towards the door "Come on, Carly. Let's hang out for awhile."
"Wait what? No, you can't leave me with these monsters, they'll tear me to pieces!"
"You'll be fine, sweety. Later gator, I love you." I stood up and followed behind her, taking one last look at David and said "Good luck. See you later." "Wait. No! No! Noooooo!"
Eden and I made our way outside and as I followed her I asked "So where are we headed?" "I'm glad you asked. We're gonna go get you some clothes. I noticed you didn't come with much, so I figured you'd enjoy a little shopping." "You guys have clothes just.... There? That's not hard to come by?"
"Eh. Yes and no. We've got a cheat code by the name of David, maybe you've met him. He makes the usually impossible, much more possible. Fabrics and whatnot, sewing machines, presses, you name it, he'll get his hands on it. He'll get his hands on whatever you need, honestly. That's why Ricket city is such a popular place. We're a huge settlement that's always expanding, and we've got so many amenities. Don't tell anyone I told you, but he's working on getting TV signals soon."
"Really!?" I said a bit excitedly, drawing attention to us both "Ssshhh. Yes, he is. But he hasn't told too many people, cause he doesn't wanna get their hopes up, and possibly let them down."
I looked around for a moment and took in all the smiling faces, air filled with chatter and laughter. The people here are truly happy. The weight on David's shoulder to maintain that must be incredible. "He's a great guy." I said to Eden as we walked together
"Yeah. He really is. Couldn't of picked a better baby daddy." We both laughed and kept walking, passing idle chatter back and forth till we reached our destination "Here we are, lady. Let's head on.
There was a sign on the front of the building that said "Sew what?" Clever. I like it. When we walked in, I looked around and the store was filled with clothes of all kinds. Casual wear, dress attire, longue wear, you name it.
We were greeted by an older woman who looked like she was in her 60's. She was short, probably around 5'3, skin like milk, with grey and white hair, eyes closed as she smiled to us saying "Well if it isn't my favorite person. And you've brought a friend. Welcome, darlings." Her voice was raspy, but not in a bad way. I kinda liked it.
"Hello, Mrs Jones. This is Carly. She's new here, and I'm looking to spoil her. She's had a rough trip, so she deserves it." My face was red as an apple, listening to her talk about me like that.
It reminded me of the first time Rico took me shopping. I insisted he didn't, he insisted he did, and dragged me out. Once we got to the store he let me buy to my heart's content. His heart's, actually, cause I told him I was done maybe half an hour into the trip, but he just scoffed and starting picking stuff out for me. He had one hell of an eye for fashion, too, so he took his time getting it all right.
Mrs Jones walked over to me and circled me, looking me up and down, even taking out a tape measure, getting my measurements
"Hmm. Well endowed, aren't we? I used to have a figure much like yours in my younger years. The boys, they'd go wild, dumber than a sock full of rocks, let me tell you. Oh how I wouldn't mind to go back to those days. Not for the figure, I'd just enjoy not having constant back pain, and being able to remember more than three things at a time."
She stared off into space for a moment then snapped back. "What were we talking about, again? Oh yes, let's get you right, darling. Follow me." I glanced over at Eden with a doubtful look in my eyes. She gave me a reassuring wink, and a smile as we followed behind her.
She took us to the back where she had a dressing room "Alright, I'm gonna bring some clothes in your size. I'll bring a variety, don't worry. Oh, do you need any panties? Bras?"
"Oh! Yes ma'am. I'm in desperate need, actually." "Don't worry, I'll be right back." There was a big mirror in the back, so I took a moment to look at myself. I was definitely in need of some new clothes. On my journey I managed to keep most clothes intact, but I often had to just make do. This honestly feels really nice. Mrs Jones came back with a rack of clothes, and began pulling some out, handing them to me.
"Skirts, long and short, plaid, checkered, or plain. Pants, relaxed, skinny, bell bottoms, you name it. Graphic tees, plain, turtle necks, sweaters, whatever you like. You go try on all you want. Take your time."
I can't lie, it was a bit overwhelming. I had a stack of clothes piled so high I couldn't even see in front of me. I managed to make my way in the dressing, though.
Eden called out from the other side "Come on out when you're ready, I'd love to see you all dressed up." I sorted through the clothes and picked an outfit. A black and white checkered skirt, with a long sleeve black shirt, with scrunchie sleeves at the end. I remember I had an outfit like this, that Rico used to love.
"What size shoes do you wear, sweety?" Mrs Jones asked
"Oh, Uhm, I wear a size nine" I was twirling around looking at myself in the dressing room when Mrs Jones came back
"Try these on, you look like you could use some shoes too." I went outside and Eden whistled at me "Looking good, girl."
My face was bright red, and I couldn't even look at her. I noticed the shoes, though and my attention was quickly brought to them. Combat boots, and tennis shoes.
"They're amazing! I love them." "Good. Those two are the only ones in your size at the moment, but I'll have some more in a week or two, don't you worry."
The combat boots she gave me were all black, and the tennis shoes were black and white vans, hi tops. Nice simple shoes, that go great with almost anything.
I was standing outside looking in the mirror while I wore some form fitting all black jeans, with a black shirt that said "worst nightmare" in white, on it. We were so busy back there that we hadn't even noticed someone else walked in.
"Mrs Jones? You here? Are you in the back? I got another hole in my underwear." The voice called out. They made their way to the back, in pursuit of Mrs Jones, and found the three of us. Turns out it was Toro. He was holding underwear in his hands and said "Mrs Jones? I brought my under.... Wear... Holy fuck. You look amazing." Midway through his sentence he took notice of me in my new clothes and looked like a deer in headlights
"Pick your jaw up before you trip over it." Eden called out to him
"huh? Oh. Oh! Yeah! Hey, hey guys. Uhm. I just was uh, you know."
He looked down at the underwear in his hands and put them behind his back. Mrs Jones spoke up and said "I'll take those from you, Toro." He quickly handed them off and she said "maybe wash them first, next time."
"Oh, I'm sorry." He nervously laughed and scratched his head. She walked off to the front, leaving the three of us behind.
Before it could get awkward Eden asked "Wanna help us carry Carly's clothes back to her place? We could use a hand, if you're willing."
With no hesitation Toro responded "Yeah! I'd uh, I'd love to. You know, help."
"Well alright, lover boy. Let's go." We all picked up what we could and headed to the front, where Mrs Jones was nice enough to fold the clothes and bag them up for me.
Once done there we made our way back to my place, exchanging idle chatter to fill the time. Once there we headed inside, dumping the bags on my couch, and taking a seat wherever available.
"You've got a lot of new stuff. You're gonna be putting it all away for awhile, at least an hour. Want some help?" Toro asked
"Oh no, it's okay. Really. I've got it. You've already helped so much, I don't wanna ask for too much." I responded, genuinely just not wanting to ask for too much
"What? Nonsense, I insist." with a warm smile on his face
In that moment Eden interjected and said "You know what? I just remembered that David should actually be having a meeting soon, Toro. We should actually be getting to that." She stood up and winked at me before heading to the door
"A meeting? I don't remember anything about that. What's it about?" He asked, looking off, a confused look on his face
"Come find out. Let's go. We'll see you soon, Carly. Take care." Eden headed out and Toro followed behind, looking at me and giving me a shy smile, before heading out.