Chapter 54- Arizona

Not really sure where to take a 13-year-old to shop, when she needed, everything, we ended up at Walmart. And of course, the cart I had grabbed, was a fucked up one. This always happens even when I make sure it's not. Letting out a sigh I followed Callie and Sofia, Sofia was clearly nervous, we had gone into the area where the toothpaste and deodorant was. "pick out a tooth brush" Callie said as she too was looking at them.

"I have a toothbrush" Sofia said her voice was soft

"not the cheap one Aria gave you, pick out a better one" Callie says as she reaches for a powered one. "and what about toothpaste, do you like what we use or do you want something else"

"what you guys use is fine" Sofia said as she reached for a pack of toothbrushes, I can't help but shake my head, seeing she had grabbed the Walmart brand, I reached for the same in a name brand. Once Sofia put hers in the cart I quickly swapped them out. "alright deodorant" Callie says. Stopping farther down the aisle "do you have any scent you like?"

"no" Sofia shook her head

"well grab a few and see what you like" I reached for one, opening the cap and smelling it, I couldn't help the smile on my face, it was the scent Callie used. "I've never used that before" Sofia says shyly. Callie turns and looks at me, and I shrug, and a question hits me "Sofia, have you had your period yet?"

"yes" Sofia says "that I know all about, I just" she stops "they taught us about that in school, but this"

"smell this one" I hand her the item I had in my hand, she takes it and smells it "it smells like Callie" I laugh

"that's the one I use" Callie says shaking her head "do you like it?"

"sure" Sofia shrugs

"if you decide you don't like it, we can come back for something different, don't be shy honey, we want what's best for you" Callie says kneeling down so she's eye level with Sofia. Pretty sure I just fell more in love with her at that moment, she would make such an amazing mom. As we move down the aisle we come to the tampons and pads. Callie stops "what have you used?" she asks Sofia again shrugs, I see Callie shake her head and reach for a pack of Kotex, that's the kind she used, along with a giant box of tampons. "have you used tampons?" Callie asks. Sofia shook her head, Callie smiles "maybe when you're older" she tosses the items into the cart and we move on. Sofia eventually got more comfortable, picking out the scent of body spray she liked. It wasn't until we got to the clothes section, she became shy again. Picking out the cheapest items she could find. I was looking around, although I wore men's clothes, I didn't see anything that I thought Sofia would like "all these clothes suck" I shake my head. "maybe we should go to kohls"

"what do you think?" Callie asks looking at Sofia, who had ahold of a shirt with the little mermaid on it.

"Zo is right, these do suck, I'm 13 not 3" she sighs putting the shirt back on the rack, as we were walking out of the section, I saw Sofia eye something out of the men's section. "hey I want to check something out" I say and turn the cart towards where I thought Sofia was looking. "Cal, look at this sweatshirt" I say holding up the first one I saw. It wasn't anything too fancy, but it looked warm. I look at Sofia and I could see in her eyes that it was what she was eyeing. "they have all different colors" I say looking at the size "this one should fit you" I say holding it up to Sofia. Callie reached for one in red "I like it" she smiles checking to see the size and digging until she found her size. "do you want it?" I ask Sofia, she nods, shyly, and I toss it in the cart. Callie tosses in two, one in red and one in blue. "the blue is for you"

"we can match" Sofia says "like a family"

"isn't that what we are?" I ask confused

"after the wedding, yes" Sofia laughs and we make our way to the check out. I let out a sigh, when there was only 2 open, I hated using self-checkout, so we waited in line. After an agonizing 45 minutes later we are climbing into my SUV. "still wanna check out Kohls?" I ask, starting the vehicle.

"yes, all we got for her was underwear, bras and socks"

"and a sweatshirt" Sofia chimes in "I can't wait for us to wear them" shaking my head I put the vehicle in gear and drive off, kohls wasn't far away, and I was hoping to find a new pair of jeans, and a couple shirts. The parking lot wasn't very busy, and I find a spot close to the front, which was a good thing as the sky was getting dark, threatening rain. I look up at the sky, the weather had been warm lately, and it had me a little worried. Shaking it off, I feel Callie take my hand and we follow Sofia into the store, almost running into her as she stopped "what's up?" Callie asks looking at her.

"I" Sofia says looking around "I've never been in a store like this before" she lowers her voice "I don't know where to go" Callie smiles, releasing my hand she takes Sofia's and leads her to the section where she had thought Sofia would find clothes. After looking for about a half hour Sofia looks at me "Zo, these clothes are all too kiddy for me"

"I was wondering" I say looking around "you want to try the women's section?"

"I don't know" she shrugs.

"they have a young adult section" Callie says as she starts walking away from us, leaning down I say "we better follow her, she loves shopping and we might lose her" I wasn't joking either, on our way back from up north we stopped at the mall of America, and we lost Callie and Lucia for what felt like the whole day. "how about this?" Callie asks holding up a shirt she thought Sofia would like. Sofia looks at me, making a face, I had to bite my lip to not laugh. "well I don't know then" Callie huffs as she puts the shirt back on the rack. Sofia looks around, then at me again, she shrugs "I'm sorry I don't see anything" she says more for Callie's benefit then mine. I look at her, and finally take note of what she was wearing. Jeans and a t-shirt, just like me, I look around, finding the Levi's section, and walk over to it, picking up a pair of jeans, and looking around I find a shirt. "how about this?" I turn, and watch as Sofia's eyes light up "yes" she says and reaches for the items.

"jeans and t-shirts, really" Callie scoffs, I shrug and turn back towards the rack. "pick out a few and go try them on, to make sure they fit"

"ok" Sofia says and goes about picking a couple pairs of jeans, then she goes to the shirts, finding what she likes, she turns toward us "where do I try these on?"

"you see that lady right there?" Callie says pointing towards the fitting rooms

"yeah"

"go tell her you want to try them on" she says

"ok" Sofia says, with her arms full she makes her way to the fitting rooms. The lady smiled and took her inside.

"how did you" Callie asks shaking her head

"how did I know?" I ask, she nods "I just took a look at what she was wearing, I should have done it sooner, we could have saved a lot of money at Walmart" I laugh.

"I don't know if I like this" Callie says "I was hoping she'd be into the girly outfits"

"I'm sorry baby" I kiss her cheek, Sofia appears "how do I look" her smile is infectious.

"amazing" I smile "but wait" I say and head to a rack pulling off a purple plaid button shirt "try this over it" I hand it to her, and she puts it on, and turns around to look at herself.

"well" Callie says.

"the jeans are perfect" she turns and looks at us "I love it" I can't help but smile. "there's nothing wrong with dressing how your comfortable" I say to Callie, lowering my voice

"I know" she sighs "I was just hoping"

"give her time, maybe once she's comfortable with us, she'll change"

"hope so" she sighs, reaching out I pull her into me "I love you"

"love you too" she says in a grumpy voice, I laugh and kiss her. "come on, I need some new clothes too" I say reaching for her hand and pulling her towards the men's section, once Sofia was out.