"Oh my gosh! This is such a cute little town!" Nydia says as she looks out the window. "Look, there's a boutique! And a flower shop !"
"Yeah, it is cute." I say, but I'm more looking at her than at the town. It's pretty standard Missouri town, kinda run-down, with a charming little dilapidated mainstreet, at least three churches, and a population of no more than 1,000 people.
"Can we go into the boutique? Please?" Nydia turns to me, and then Sam.
Sam looks at me. "It's your call. We can take a break, look around a little bit, and then find a hotel and go to the forest in the morning, or we can go to the forest right now."
"I vote for taking a break!" Aatami says.
"Me too." I smile as Sam parks the car in the lot across from the boutique. We cross the street and a bell tinkles as we open the door to Sassy N Classy Boutique.
"Well, hi there!" A middle-aged lady with blonde hair and a tan waves at us from behind the counter. "Have a look around, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!"
"Ooh, I have an idea!" Aatami says. "We should all pick out gifts for each other!"
"Yeah, that sounds fun." I respond.
"Let's do it!" Nydia says. "We have fifteen minutes. Everybody meet back up at the Impala when you're done. One, two, three… go!"
We all sprint off to separate corners of the store. I end up in the jewelry section, and find some really cute leather bracelets I think Aatami will like.
I spend a lot of time looking for something for Nydia, but I can't find anything that fits her cozy-clean aesthetic. Then I remember that there's a flower shop right next door, so I leave the store and head in there.
"Hi there! What are you looking for today?" The lady behind the desk asks me.
"Um… I'm not really sure. Me and my friends are all trying to find gifts for each other at the boutique next door, but I couldn't find anything there for one of my friends, so I'm trying to see if there's anything here I could give her."
"Oh, I have the perfect thing!" She says. She bustles around the shop until she finds what she's looking for. It's a wreath made out of sticks, with yellow honeysuckles adorning the top. In the middle of the wreath is a picture frame.
"Oh, she'll love it! Thank you!" I quickly pay for it and head back to the Impala. It's only been ten minutes, but Nydia and Aatami are already there.
Aatami tsks when I get to him. "You broke the rules. You went into a different shop. I'm sorry to tell you that you have been disqualified. Me and Nydia will just keep the stuff we got for you for ourselves."
I roll my eyes. "No one ever said we couldn't go into a different shop. I want my stuff."
"Fine." Aatami concedes grumpily.
"I'll go first." Nydia says. "Aatami, I got you this... bath bomb!" She gives him a cylindrical container that says Simple Man on it. "It's got baobab oil and epsom salt in it."
Aatami grins. "I like it. Thanks."
Nydia beams and turns to me. She pulls a loose white tank top that says River Life out of her bag and hands it to me.
"Awesome." I say. "This is totally my style."
"My turn!" Aatami says. "So, I kind of went with a theme. I got you both tie-dye things." He gives Nydia a really cute yellow and grey short-sleeved hoodie. That was probably the only thing in the whole store that she would've worn, and I'm surprised I didn't see it. That makes her sound bratty and picky, but reality there just wasn't much in the store that was her style.
He then turns to me and gives me a dark blue and peach maxi dress that I would probably never wear until he demonstrates how you can tie it up to become a shorter dress or even a shirt.
"Nicee. Thanks, Aatami." I put my dress and shirt in my bag and then pull their gifts out. "Okay, so I was able to find Aatami's at Sassy N Classy, but I had to go to The East Prairie Flower Shop to find Nydia's."
"Awesome." Aatami says when I give him his bracelets. He immediately slides them on. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." I say, and then give Nydia her present.
"Wow. This is really pretty." She says, and then her eyes widen. "Oh, I didn't even notice it was a picture frame! That's awesome! When we get back, I'll have to find a picture of all three of us to put in there! Thank you, Delilah."
I beam with pride. "You're welcome."
I jump when Sam honks the horn. "I have a surprise for you guys, get in."
We get in the car, curious. Sam drives for a few minutes before parking in front of a…
"Prairie Queen?" Aatami burst out laughing.
"This is awesome." I grin. I jump out of the car and race inside. It's decorated like an old timey diner, and two waitresses are leaning on the counter, talking.
They look up when we come in, and one of them, a pretty girl around my age, smiles at us and says with a thick country accent, "Welcome to Prairie Queen! I'll get y'all some menus, and you just tell me when you're ready to order."
We sit at the barstools in front of the counter and she slides menus in front of us.
When we're ready to order, she comes back and says, "So, what'll it be for the pretty lady and her friends?" I don't answer for a second, because I'm shocked by the pretty lady comment. Was she talking about me? She might've been. I mean, she was looking right at me when she said it.
When I'm finally able to stutter out some words, I say, "Uh- um, can I have a Butterfinger concrete please?" The waitress looks delighted at the blush covering my face, and she nods and scribbles it down.
"I'm Lauren, by the way." She says with a wink at me before she goes to make everybody's ice cream.
"Did you see that?!" Aatami whispers to me. "She was flirting with you!"
"You think so?" I ask.
"Uh, yeah! She winked at you! She-" He cuts off and sits up when Lauren comes back in with our ice cream.
"So," She says, leaning against the bar, "are y'all from around here?"
"Um, not really. We live in Sioux Falls." I answer.
"South Dakota? Why'd you drive all the way down here, then?"
"Well, we just had to try the world-famous Prairie Queen ice cream."
She laughs. "Does it live up to the hype?"
"It sure does." I laugh too. "We're on vacation."
"And you came down to bodunk East Prairie?"
"Yeah. We're gonna go to Big Oak Tree State Park in the morning."
"Oh, my mom's a park ranger there! It's a beautiful place. You'll like it."
"Yeah, I think we will."
I enjoy my ice cream in silence for a few minutes, and then something wet falls on my cheek. I turn to see Aatami with his spoon still aimed at me.
"You little shit!" I squeal, and dig out a chunk of ice cream to throw back at him. Soon, Nydia joins in, and all three of us are having a full-out ice cream war.
I stop short when I hear the click of a phone taking a picture. I look up to see Lauren looking at me sheepishly.
"He asked me to." She says, pointing at Aatami. I turn towards him just in time to get a giant glob of strawberry ice cream smack in the face.
"What?" He says in response to my glare. "It was a good distraction."
Lauren laughs. "I'll get y'all some towels."
"Hey, Lauren." I call. She's on her way to the back, holding our empty ice cream containers. Everybody else is in the car already, but I hung back a little bit.
"Yeah?"
"Um, could you send that picture to me?"
She smiles a bit. "That's a clever way to get my number."
My cheeks burn. Nonetheless, we exchange numbers and she sends me the picture.
"Call me if you need a guide around Big Oak." She says with a wink as I walk out.
A/N: Whew. That might be the longest chapter I've ever written. I am very surprised to say that I am in love with Lauren. Them going to Prairie Queen was such a last minute decision on my part, but I'm really glad I made it. I am seriously considering making Delauren happen instead of Delydia. I just love their relationship right now. She will for sure be in the next chapter at least. Okay, I also want to say that every store that they go to in this chapter is completely real, as is Big Oak Tree State Park and the biggest burr oak in the state. The gifts Nydia, Delilah, and Aatami got each other are all real products of the boutique and the flower shop in East Prairie, with the exception of the leather bracelets Delilah got Aatami. Oh, I almost forgot, thank you to GuestGuest and BloodForInk for your reviews! GuestGuest, I really appreciate everything that you said, and BloodForInk, (great name by the way) I'm glad that you like the premise of the story!