Chapter 7: Shopping with Alice
"Alice, please. My feet hurt." I whined slumping behind her. I'm finding it hard to keep up with her pace; she'd been prancing around ever since we left the apartment complex. And that was five and a half hours ago.
FIVE.
And her energy hasn't wavered in the slightest; she's like the energizer bunny that had one too many Red Bulls. It's becoming a bit annoying and I swear, if she wasn't so talented in the shopping department I would have hailed a cab, hours ago, and left her happy butt at Bloomingdales.
"My feet hurt," Alice mimics in a high country accent.
"Alice." I say, stopping and crossing my arms. I'm really tempted to just drop down on the floor of this shop – or boutique as Alice calls it – and protest. All this market hopping is giving me whiplash and between the register and the dressing room, I'm fairly sure Alice has seen my Scooby Doo undies.
"Sorry," she says, sounding a bit more sincere. "Want to stop and get something to eat?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. I need me some energy. How do you manage to stay so . . ."
"Peppy?" She fills in with a grin. I was going to say something along the lines of "hyper" and "cracked out" but I guess that'd do.
"Sure. . . "
"Red Bull is my best friend." She gushes. "Well, that and anything else that gives me a buzz." We walked over to the cashier who rings up our stuff quickly. I swipe my credit card and punch in my pin like it's nothing. And fortunately, it is nothing. With Alice around I am making good use of my funds. I was originally going to use some of the money for a dark room for my photography and I probably will, but for the moment my funds are spent on clothes and anything else Alice can get her jumpy little hands on.
"That explains the height," I snicker, patting her head. She ducks away from my hand and sticks out her tongue before grabbing the bags and waltzing toward the door with her nose in the air. We have about nine bags each and Alice is practically carrying her own weight, but it doesn't seem to slow her any. I'm guessing this is normal for her.
"What do you want to eat?" she asks.
"Mm, how about some Mexican food?"
"OOH! There's a Dos Caminos on West Broadway, how about that?"
"I've never been, but okay." I agree, struggling with my bags. You'd think they'd have weights in them the way I was holding them.
"Fucking yes. I want some of their enchiladas so frikin' bad right now." She moans, bouncing on the tip of her toes as she hails a cab. I can't help but laugh at the sight of her; she's gesticulating all over the place like one of those wacky inflatable tube things. When we finally get one, she clears her throat, straightens her clothes and turns her nose back in the air. This only makes me laugh harder.
"Well do you want to eat or not?" Alice scoffs, holding the door open for me. I giggle and nod before sliding in.
"And where do I have the pleasure of taking you two beautiful young ladies?" the cabbie asks as Alice slides in. He has long blonde straggly hair and is pretty decent looking except for the goatee.
"Dos Caminos on West Broadway." Alice sneers.
"Ah, so you're into Mexican food, eh? I'm three fourths Mexican!" he comments with a sly grin, sitting up in his seat to look at us in the rear view mirror. This makes me giggle, which I try to cover up with the back of my hand because one, it's such an odd thing to say and two, he has blonde hair and blue eyes so he's probably lying through his teeth. It is be possible to be three fourth Mexican and have such traits but I've never seen such a thing. That's because he's one fourth lying, Bella snickers in my head. Alice doesn't respond, she just props her elbow on the door and sits her head on her fist, properly ignoring him.
"Maybe I could take you out some time and –"
"No, thanks." Alice cuts him off.
"Aww, don't be like that. I'm just trying to be a gentleman –"
"I said, no thanks." She repeats in a much firmer voice. SNAAAP, Bella cackles in my head. I'd really have to get rid of her, either that or come up with a nickname because she obviously can't have mine.
"Well, what about your friend? I'm sure she wouldn't mind being wined and dined by harmless old James, now would you sugar?" he grins, his eyes flicking to mine in the mirror.
"Oh, uhm –"
"Homie hopping now, James?" Alice asks with a smirk.
"What?" I ask, laughing. Alice ignores my sniggering and continues to glare at James.
"Of course not! I'm a sharing man." James says with a creepy smile, his voice full of insinuation that I'm trying to ignore.
"I have mace," Alice declares suddenly, reaching for her bag. She makes a show of sifting through it and the look on James face is, how do you say? Priceless.
"Backing off." James grumbles, his eyes returning back to the road. I busy myself with looking through my bags and hiding my giggles but it's extremely hard. Alice smacks my shoulder a few times. When we arrive at our destination, James turns around and puts his arm around the headrest, tapping his fingers as he waits for his pay. Alice beats me to paying him, pulling money out of her purse and throwing it at his face. I doubt it was the right amount, but I don't blame her. Harassment is cheap.
As soon as we get out of the cab I burst out into giggles, clutching my stomach. Alice laughs too, but tugs me by the hand and pulls me inside and the change of scenery quiets me down. A little. It's a nice place, Mexican themed art pieces and wild colors all over but it fits perfectly though.
We shuffle a little awkwardly to a booth by the window and sit our bags down beside us. A tall pretty waitress comes to us almost immediately, smiling at us brightly.
"Hi! My name is Heidi and I'll be your waitress today. Can I start you off with drinks until you figure out what to order?" Heidi asks, handing us our menus. She seems overly enthusiastic but nice none the less.
"I'll have a raspberry iced tea, please."
"Hm, when does happy hour start?" Alice asks, flipping through the menu.
"Uh, not until eight." Heidi replies with an easy smile.
"Right," Alice mutters. "I'll have a sprite."
"Okay! I'll be back in a short moment!"
"Do you know what you're going to order?" I flip through the menu, trying to make sense of what everything is, as most of its in Spanish. Thank god for pictures.
"Enchilada de Camerones. What about you?"
"Uhh, these fish tacos look absolutely mouthwatering. . . I'll get that." This makes Alice giggle for some reason unbeknownst to me and she clears her throat afterward.
"What?"
"Oh nothing," she sings with a mischievous grin. I'm about to push her more but Heidi arrives in that exact moment with our drinks. She takes our orders with a grin and asks us if we need anything else.
"I'm excited," Alice says as Heidi walks off. "I haven't had good Mexican food in a while."
"Me neither. Back in Virginia, the closest thing we had to quality Mexican food was Del Taco.
"Oh, eww." Alice wrinkles up her nose. She obviously doesn't favor fast food chains. "Other than the occasional dining at The Lodge, my mom cooked all our meals. I pity you."
"I said we had Del Taco, not that I ate it." I giggle, taking a sip of my tea.
"Mmhm, whatever you say, Bella." I roll my eyes, but smile. I had ate there once, and only once because my mom forbid it, saying that it wasn't good for me and that I was going to end up in an early grave. It was a verbal lashing of sorts that only lasted for a moment, but I never ate there again.
"Was your mom a good cook?" I ask her. Alice's features go soft for a minute and you can tell she's reminiscing of some home cooked meal.
"She's the best," Alice replies thoughtfully, fiddling with her straw.
"Miss her?"
"Oh yeah," Alice says with a drawn out sigh. "Life has kept me busy, work too, for that matter."
"Yeah? What do you do anyhow?" the way Alice's features lightens up brings a smile to my face, her enthusiasm is tangible. As she goes on to explain that she'd been in Paris for the last year and a half, interning for some fashion designer I laugh.
"What?" Alice asks. Our food has arrived by now and Alice is diving right into it, talking with food in her mouth. It's a really gross habit that she has but it's sort of amusing at the same time. Alice is really classy on the exterior, but when you dig a little deeper you find that she's the complete opposite; she burps, curses like a sailor and has horrible table manners. I think I love her for it though.
"Nothing, it just explains so much." I giggle, taking a bite of my taco.
"Yeah, well Ms. K-mart, you gotta admit, I picked out some pretty awesome stuff for you." She smiles and waggles her eyebrows at me. I take a bite out of my taco, refusing to boost her ego in any way. "I'll take your silence as a confirmation."
"Take it as a nothing," I mumble, covering my mouth as I speak, hoping she'll catch on to my table etiquette.
"Maybe," she says, smirking through another mouthful. "We can go to Victoria's Secret next. Pick you out some underwear without cartoon characters on it. Maybe some sexy panties?" she suggest rather loudly.
I practically choke on my food.
"I knew it!" I shout, the table next to us glancing our way. "I knew it." I say again in a quieter voice.
"Knew what?" Alice snickers, taking a sip of her drink.
"Keep your eyes off my knickers." I warn, pointing a nacho at her. "I mean it."
"Please? You need new undies, Bella. Don't be so – "
"I'll have you know me and my undergarments are doing just fine, thank you." I reply haughtily, my nose in the air.
"Scooby's face is fading away." She points out, laughing. "But okay, if you want raggedy drawers that's on you. Good look getting laid."
"I wouldn't have to worry about that," I murmur, blushing. Alice smiles softly at me.
"Still got your V-card, I take it." I nod. "That's good. You hold onto that—nonrefundable ticket." Alice says gently, and lack of a better adjective, a bit bitterly. Her eyes fall down to her platter, her mouth turning downwards as that look from last night resurfaces as she tugs on her jacket sleeve. She looks like one of those sad angels you see in paintings, the ones that make you want to cry. I rack through my head for a change of subject, to lift the tension in the air. When in doubt when it comes to Alice, go with fashion.
"We'll do undies some other time. But for now, let's just focus on the exterior 'kay?" I suggest, giving her a small smile. Somewhere in that sentence I realize that I'm giving into her but I figure it's worth it if it makes her happy. What's the worst that could happen anyway?
"Okay." She sighs, halfheartedly. She sits up a bit straighter and her eyes rise hesitantly to mine, her eyes still big but not as vulnerable as before. I stick my tongue out at her and thankfully she smiles, the tension going away.
"I think I know what look you're going for Bella." Alice says.
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" I ask taking a sip of my soda.
"Comfortable."
"Ah Alice, spot on, spot on." I say with a fake British accent.
"I always am, dahling." Alice replies with a smirk. Her eyes briefly go unfocused for a while, a susceptible bleak expression coming across her face as if she's remembering something. "Sometimes, at least." She adds.
Later, when we're finished with our food and Heidi comes back, I insist on paying the bill. Heidi stands idly by, a hopeful smile on her face and when I give her a gracious tip, in which she smiles even brighter.
"Have a great day!" she exclaims as we walk away.
