Chapter 6: Little Shop Of Whores (Development of Side-Plot)

Tawny: The Sacramento Mall, Sacramento: 11:16am: 9 June

"Let's make this quick, Louis." I hissed, "Pick a girl, and let's go back to your house so I can meet your sister's people. They seem more interesting than you."

"They're my people too, and I'm looking for girls that are definitely straight, so that I can win."

We were sitting alone at a table in the food court of the mall, and he was looking around, examining everyone carefully, taking a needlessly long time. Twitty, Beans, and Ren's cousin's friend's brother, Matt, had gone off chasing girls. I was so much better at getting girls, "If you don't hurry up, they'll be back, and then we can't do this."

"Alright. Fine." He squinted toward Abercrombie, and then pointed, "See that girl, right there."

I looked, "Gotta narrow it down."

"That blonde one by the rack to the left of the entrance. She's holding up a blue shirt and looking at it."

She was a pretty good distance away, but I looked at her the best I could. She was attractive, and completely unfamiliar to me. She looked rather preppy, but they were always the most fun, and I shouldn't judge people by their appearances anyway. "Why her?"

"Because I bet that guy is her boyfriend." He squinted and pointed again.

A tall blonde boy that looked almost like Twitty had joined her. He wandered off a few seconds later, out of sight. "Alright. I'll be back, and will bring her over here if possible." I grinned, confidently as I got up, "I'll win."

As I headed for the store, I looked back at Louis. He was watching me intently. The girl remained around the same rack, and was wearing a tight pink t-shirt, and a white skirt with heels. People that wear heels to non-formal events, like shopping, always weirded me out a tad. She wasn't anorexic-skinny, and I liked that. I scanned the store quickly, and found the male that had been with her on the other side with a skinny African-American girl, who looked somewhat friendly.

I walked non-suspiciously to an adjacent rack, and dug in my purse until I had nearly a handful of loose chance. I was brilliant. The girl remained where she was, appearing to be a professional shopper, who thoroughly looked at all items of clothing in a store. I moved to the same rack, and started flipping through the items then I made a few thoughtful noises, and acted like I was looking in my purse. Unnoticed, I continued to watch her. She seemed to finish with this rack, to my benefit, and started to walk toward another one. At that same time, I looked down, and acted as if I was counting the change in my hand.

Perfect. We bumped shoulders, and I dropped all of my change.

"I'm so sorry," I started to apologize immediately, and went after all of the shiny things that were now all over the floor.

"No, that was my fault…I wasn't paying attention." The girl said kindly, and bent down to help me.

"No, really, I wasn't even looking where I was going," I continued, "I randomly had a craving for a smoothie, and decided to count my change as I was walking."

"It's ok." She started reaching for a nearby quarter, and I went for it at the same time. Her fingers brushed the tops of mine before she pulled away and laughed awkwardly.

I smiled to myself, "I think I have enough money for two smoothies, and I could buy you one…if you want."

"I'm here with my friend and boyfriend…" She said, seeming a little disappointed, "But I'm sure I could get away from them for a little while." She added, handing me all of my money that she'd picked up. "Are you from around here?"

"Yeah. I'm here with some friends too, but we kind of all split up."

"I'm not from here. I'm here with my boyfriend's family and I have no idea where anything is."

We were still crouched down on the floor, in a close proximity to one another, "Well…you could come with me and I could show you around."

She looked down, and started playing with the carpet with her fingers, considering what I'd said, "Alright." She said with slight hesitation, "Just let me tell my friends."

"Ok. I'll meet you in the food court, and we can go from there."

When she got up, I attempted to glance up her skirt, but it was a failure. Pity. I wondered what kind of underwear she wore. I walked out as she went toward the boy and other girl. Louis was smiling widely when he saw me coming back alone, but I quickly dispelled his thoughts with a smirk of my own.

"Give me a little time," I told him, "She's coming over here."

"I bet she won't let you kiss her."

"How much would you like to bet? 10 in addition to our big bet?"

"Sure." He said, the anger rising in his voice.

"She's got a boyfriend, you were right. I think it'd be worth 20."

"Fine!" He stood up, "I can't believe you're playing with peoples' feelings like this."

"You're the one that bet with me, so it's your fault I'm doing it."

He glared at me, and said between his teeth, "I'm getting some more nachos."

The girl approached me as he sulked off toward food. All of my chances for winning were based on situations, and I had to get this girl into situations in a short period of time, which meant I needed to improv a little. I could do this.

"That guy you were talking to looked pretty pissed," She said.

I shrugged, "That's my friend Louis, he's always pissed about something. I'm Tawny, by the way."

"I'm Kate."

"Come with," I motioned for her to follow me. I imagined us to be a slightly incongruous combination. There I was, dark red noodle strap shirt, loose-fitting pants with flip flops and extremely dark brown hair up in a messy bun, walking around the mall with this high-fashion blonde girl. "What kind of smoothie do you like?"

"Strawberry-banana."

"Ah." I stepped up to the counter, "A blueberry and a strawberry-banana smoothie, please." Then I looked over my shoulder, "Go grab some straws." I said, nodding in their general direction.

The smoothies were done pretty fast, I paid, and grabbed them both, then quicker than I ever would have moved normally, I walked to Kate, who was still getting straws. My hands were full, so I elbowed her gently in the arm, "Grab some napkins too."

She did so, and then said, "I'll carry mine."

I handed mine to her, quite intentionally, and we went back to the table that Louis had now returned to. Before she sat down, I decided it was a good idea to pinch her side with my free hand. My fingers were still cold from holding the smoothie. She jumped and turned around quickly to find me smiling playfully.

"Your hand was freaking cold." She mumbled and sat down.

I smiled, and sat between her and Louis at the little round table. Then I introduced them, while poking a straw into the smoothie that wasn't mine. You couldn't see through the lids very well, so it could be played off as an honest mistake.

"Whoa…this isn't mine." I said after drinking some.

"You must've handed me the wrong one." Kate said, and pushed mine toward me, laughing at the confusion. She hadn't drank any yet, it was a shame.

"Wanna trade straws or do you mind drinking after me? I don't really like bananas, and I don't want banana particles in my blueberry."

Kate appeared in a moment of thought again, "Do you have any diseases…and would you tell me if you did?"

"No, and yes." I said, and pushed her smoothie toward her.

She hesitated a little, the poor confused girl that she was. I imagine she was trying to figure out whether or not to trust me, whom she had known a whole five or so minutes, "Oh hell, I'm so paranoid that it's stupid." She grumbled, and drank some, "Is there a Tommy Hilfiger store in here somewhere? The place is huge."

"Yeah. It's that way, and up the stairs." I said, and pointed behind me.

"Oooh. Can we go there?"

I nodded. After a few minutes Louis joined in the conversation and all was friendly, but I felt as if I was making no progress. Since the table was quite small, and round, and I was sitting between her and Louis, I figured it would be interesting to see what she would do if someone began touching her leg. Her reaction would certainly determine whether or not I'd be 20 richer when we left the mall today. She didn't seem like the type to freak out and run away. She seemed a great deal confused, shy, and wanting us to like her.

Carefully and slowly, I slipped my right hand under the table, while taking a sip of my smoothie. She and Louis were talking about football for some reason. I placed my hand on her knee to start with, and she paused in mid-sentence, drank some of her smoothie and continued talking to Louis. She either thought it was Louis, didn't mind me doing it, didn't want to scare away her new friends, or was scared of me.

I continued throughout the conversation, throwing in a word or two here, and there, while moving my hand up her leg, and caressing her skin with my fingertips. She was well shaven, and I liked it, so I didn't have much input into the current topic of discussion. Her leg was nicer.

"My…um…" Kate cleared her throat and glanced down for a minute, her cheeks turning slightly red as I progressed beyond the hem of her skirt, which was obscenely short, "My boyfriend…he…ah…played football."

"Louis' older brother played football." I said, looked toward him with a smile.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah."

"I need to go to the bathroom." The flustered girl said quickly, and I pulled my hand away from her.

"It's straight that way," I pointed, "And it's on the right."

"Come with me." She mumbled, looking down, and messing with her nails.

"Ok. Done with your smoothie?" I asked, thinking as fast as possible.

She nodded.

"I'll throw this stuff away, and meet you there in a minute."

"Alright." She started off as I gathered our trash.

"Follow us." I said to Louis, "And get your money ready."

"Into the girl's bathroom?" He said, a little panicked.

"Yes. You've snuck into places before." I said nothing else, and went for the nearest trashcan then hurried to catch up with Kate.

I found her with her arms crossed, looking very concerned, but about what, I couldn't tell. We went into the bathroom, which was miraculously empty; probably because it was a weekday, and she headed for the mirror. I had to plan for Louis so I went and leaned on the counter to her right. When he came in I could get her back to him, and he'd be unseen.

As she messed with her hair, and watched me out of the corner of her eye, I broke the awkward silence, "Can I ask you something personal?"

She hesitated, and looked toward me, "I probably know what it relates to…"

"Yeah…" I lowered my voice as I heard the door open. Louis peeked around the corner, then tiptoed into the stall straight ahead of him.

"Should we…uh…talk about this with…someone in here?" She asked me.

I turned on the faucet in the closest sink, "That should do it." I glanced toward the stall that Louis was in, and saw his head poking over the top. He'd stood on the toilet, and luckily was in the handicap stall, which was right in front of the door, and thus completely not visible in the mirror thanks to the wall. "This boyfriend you have…have you two been together for long?"

"On and off for like four years."

"Oh…" I said, disappointed.

"I'm breaking up with him as soon as we get home." She told me, as if to cheer me up.

"Ah…I guess I should get to the point before that person comes out to wash their hands…" I paused, "Have you ever kissed a girl?"

"No…"

"Have you thought about it?"

She tightened her grip on the edge of the counter with her left hand, and answered, "Yes…"

"Um…" I moved a little closer to her, and she didn't back away, "Was it me?" I asked, while looking at her feet. Her toenails were painted pink.

"No…"

That was shocking, and I hoped the faucet thing had worked because Louis did not need to hear that. I backed away from her, and got to my original spot, "I'm sorry…"

"No…Tawny…I don't have a chance in hell with the girl…"

"Straight?"

She nodded, "And she sorta thinks I hate her…"

Interesting, but sad that I'd probably never see this girl again. She was interesting, "So…"

Kate forced a smile, and put her hand on my cheek, then kissed my softly. It was half-hearted and out of pity, but it was worth 20. After she backed away, I saw Louis glaring, and quickly motioned for him to duck.

"I have to go…I'm sorry…" She said, grabbing her purse, and running out.

I ran after her, and Louis followed. Twitty, Beans, and Matt were passing by, and I looked around in both directions to see which was she went, but I didn't know why. I wasn't supposed to chase after her. It wasn't like I really liked her, and she didn't like me, so all was well. She was already not completely straight, and I hoped Louis didn't hear that. I'd forgotten to turn off the water in the sink.

"What're you doing?" Twitty asked me, looking confused.

I shook my head, "It was just a girl."

"We saw a hot blonde girl come out of the bathroom, right before you." Beans told me.

"That was her."

"Dude…Tawny…" Twitty muttered.

Matt looked at me curiously, "She looked a lot like a girl that my sister knows."