"Oh, come on. This is not going to be as bad as you're making it out to be." Christina batted her eyelashes at her best friend, throwing in a pout for good measure, but Tris only huffed and looked up at the large warehouse.
"Fine," she said, giving in. "But you owe me. Let's just not be in there forever." Christina smiled and took Tris's hand, leading her through the door.

The first thing Tris noticed was the anti-theft security system; she tugged on Christina's hand and pointed to it. "Is that really necessary?"
"Oh, you know. Boys and their porn!" She laughed and pulled Tris through the beaded curtain.

She couldn't believe there needed to be a building this large to house pornography, of all things. There were a few guys wandering about alone, two couples, and a small crowd of giggling women she could hear in the back. She didn't know why, but she blushed immediately.

"Come on. We have to walk through the movies to get to the party favors." Tris made a face and reluctantly moved her feet.

Row upon row of video boxes featuring naked girls, a lot of them in compromising positions, stared back at her. She tried to look away, but it was as if she was mesmerized by each flash of bare flesh.

"Oh my God! How does that even fit?" She yanked on Christina, pointing to a box with a rather well-endowed man boasting a smug, seductive smile. "And why would you even try?"
Christina laughed. "Come on, my little naive girl."

Tris shot her friend a look. It wasn't like she was some prudish virgin who had never been with or seen a naked man before. She just never found much pleasure in watching videos of other people being intimate in uncomfortable ways; she preferred the real thing, in the flesh. She often thought it might be more appealing if these types of movies seemed more realistic, instead of an absurd display of who could put what where, and in the most ridiculous or painful ways possible.

Christina pulled her up to a wall full of toys: plastic or latex, manual or motorized, all in various shapes and sizes. "I thought we could pick out the most hilarious-looking one and use it as a centerpiece. It'll make Shauna laugh her ass off." Shauna was the first one of them to get married, and hers was the first bachelorette party they were throwing. She looked at Christina out of the side of her eye and let her hand go.

She browsed: pink, blue, white, black, rhinestones, beads, glass? Tris's mouth fell open as she gingerly picked up the largest… thing she had ever seen.
"Rambone?" she said louder than she meant to, raising her eyebrows at Christina. "Why?"
"To make you question it, my dear. Also, I do believe you have found the winner. Congrats!" Tris awkwardly smiled as Christina took it from her.

They made their way past displays of swings, boxes advertising lifelike representations of female anatomy, and a wall of various lubricants until they found what they came for.

"Penis-shaped ice cube trays and straws, definitely," Christina said, pulling various items off the shelves and handing them to Tris, Rambone precariously balanced underneath it all. "Ooh! Pin the Willy on the Man! Yes!" Tris felt herself turn red as Christina nonchalantly grabbed anything that looked remotely like a dick.

"Chris, I don't know how much I can hold. I think I saw some baskets in the front…" She turned to gesture with her body, and spun right into someone, the items scattering all over.
"Shit!" A deep voice called out. "I am so sorry."

Tris was frozen in place as a tall man stood right in front of her. She could feel the heat radiating off of her neck and face and she refused to look up, stuck staring straight ahead at an exquisitely sculpted chest in a tight black t-shirt. Her mouth was opening and closing, but nothing would come out.

"Thanks a lot!" Christina growled, managing to pull Tris's attention towards her; she was staring up at the man Tris had collided with, her eyebrows furrowed. "The least you could do is help pick it up, Gigantor." Tris looked around nervously, noticing the stares from the people closest to them. She wanted to shrivel up and die knowing that all this attention was on them. Tris finally looked up and saw that the man was just as flustered as she was, his hands held behind his back, unmoving.

"Yeah. Yeah you're right. Sorry," he mumbled, staring at Tris. Christina huffed and walked away, leaving the two of them standing there in an awkward dance of who was going to move first.

Tris averted her eyes and knelt down, trying to gather everything close to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man's arm quickly place something on the closest shelf just before he joined her. She had to stifle a laugh at how ridiculously awkward this whole trip was turning out to be.

"Is this for you?" he asked, holding up the enormous toy with two fingers.
"Yes. Totally for me," she deadpanned, even though she could feel the heat radiating from her neck and her ears. "Couldn't possibly be for a bachelorette party." This time she did laugh as his eyes flicked between the various items, the toy still pinched between his fingers, dangling in front of her.

"It doesn't have cooties," she said, snatching it from him and shoving it next to the pile.
"I know," he said indignantly.

She had no idea where Christina had gone off to, but as she pulled a packet of penis-shaped lollipops towards her, she realized there was nothing left to gather.

"Well, thank you," she said, standing up. Her eyes caught the out of place DVD; it was sitting in front of a blow-up sheep named Lady Ba-Ba. She shook her head as he tried to block her line of sight.

"So what brings you here?" she asked, a smirk on her face. She felt like it was only fair at this point to put the attention on him.
"Bachelor party," he blurted out. The tips of his ears flushed pink.
"Right," she said, her eyes darting to the shelf.

She looked around for Christina who was nowhere in sight. "You're taller than me. Do you see my friend?"
He gave the shop a quick pass. "No. Do you want me to help you carry this stuff up to the checkout? I mean, it is the least I could do." He looked everywhere but at her, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. She hated to admit it, but it was kind of cute how embarrassed he was.
She let out a loud sigh. "Sure."

He gathered more than she did, thanks to his long arms, but she shot him a look when he left Rambone for her. "What? It makes a man feel…inadequate."
"Oh, please," she shot back. "Trust me when I say that you're more than fine. Nobody wants…this." She stopped walking for a second when she realized what came out of her mouth; she wasn't sure who was redder, her or him. She rushed past him, eager to pay and get the hell out.

The counter was almost nonexistent; it didn't make sense to her until she realized that most people were only going to be bringing up one or two things or something small, like a movie. Her eyes wandered over to the man standing next to her, hands full of her items.

"Uhh, here," she said, setting down what she could to try and take the items from him. "I know you have your own purchases to make." She ducked her head, smiling when he flushed.
"I…I'm good," he mumbled.

She took one last look around the store, still not finding Christina anywhere. She sighed and forked over her debit card, paying an absurd amount of money for a bunch of plastic genitalia; Christina was really going to owe her now. She took bag after small bag, thanking the heavens that they were an opaque black color. The woman behind the counter smiled at her as she handed her Rambone.

"Sorry, don't have a big enough bag." Tris pursed her lips as she reached out, surprised to see a large hand intercept it before she could. She looked over at the man who was now holding the large toy, housed in its even larger plastic case, trying to act like this was an everyday occurrence.

"It's the least I could do, since your friend ditched you and all." He glanced at the cashier, then back at her. "I'm Tobias, by the way."
"Tris," she said, giving him a slight nod before turning away from him.

She was aware of his every movement as they walked towards Christina's car; he was much larger than she was, and it wasn't a stretch to think he could overpower her in an instant. She glanced behind her and knew deep down that he wouldn't do that― he seemed to be more embarrassed than she was. For the second time, she thought about how cute it was.

"This is me," she said, resting a hip against the trunk of Christina's car.
"And your friend?" She thought he sounded concerned.
"No idea." She deposited the bags on top of the trunk and walked to the passenger door when a flash of movement caught her eye: Christina was staring up at her, crouched in the back seat, an apologetic look on her face. Tris shot her a look that made her recoil.

"Tobi―"
"So this is―" They both paused, laughing that they cut each other off, trying to be the first one to speak.
"You go ahead," Tris said.
"I…" He looked around, rubbing the back of his neck again; she blushed for him. The fact that she made him nervous was attractive to her. He wasn't a bad-looking guy: tall, muscular, full lips. She blushed harder when she realized he was staring at her as she checked him out. "I know this is weird, considering where we are, but would you like to maybe get a drink sometime? With me," he added as an afterthought.

Tris felt herself smile. She couldn't remember the last time a guy tried to pick her up, not that she had time to stop and even talk to anyone on a normal day. Between teaching and grading papers and lesson planning, her social life was fairly nonexistent.

"It's been a while since I've done this," he said, filling the silence when she didn't respond right away. "Obviously." She let out a soft chuckle when he glanced back at the adult store.
"I don't need an explanation," she said, holding up her hands and giggling. "But, is this really where you want to ask me out? I mean, what will we tell our grandchildren when they ask how we met?"

His face broke into a wide grin. "Is Saturday okay?"
"I haven't even said yes." She felt herself get hot. His smile was infectious and their mild flirtation was making her curious; she knew it was going to be hard to resist his charm.
"True, but if you're planning our hypothetical grandchildren already, I must have at least half a chance."

She gave him a small smile, partly because he was right, and partly because she did feel like taking a chance on something.

"Okay. Saturday." The window rolled down slightly, a pen and an old receipt making its way out. Tris rolled her eyes and took them from Christina. Tobias raised his eyebrows.

"You'll have to excuse that," she said, nudging her head towards the backseat. "Meddler," she added under her breath; she heard a snicker from the backseat. She moved to the back of the car, and scribbled her name and number down before handing him the piece of paper. She watched as he tucked it carefully in his wallet.

"You can come out now," he said, a grin on his face.
The door opened behind Tris, and Christina popped out, grinning. "Goodnight," Christina said in a sing-song voice. "We'll see you soon." Tris rolled her eyes and gave him an apologetic look. He tipped his head towards the both of them and walked away.

"You're lucky he's nice. And cute," Tris said, turning to smack Christina on the arm.
"Ow! And hey, that's what friends are for! I saw you two making googly eyes at each other and let nature take its course. You love me, admit it."
Tris looked toward Tobias, who flashed her one last smile before getting in his car. "Yeah, okay. I love you," she said, picking up Rambone and chucking it at her best friend.

A/N:

My computer history was very questionable after writing this lol.

So, this is the last one I have written, for now. I don't plan on ever closing this story out, just adding to it as ideas come in. Right now though I'm very focused on the new story I'm writing. If you're interested in anything else I may write, you can follow me as an Author to receive an update when I post. I don't have an expected time frame, but I'm guessing in a month or so, give or take a few. I may even take a break to add to this one, so you never know!

Thank you for all the kind reviews, you guys are awesome. See you soon!