The Deal With The Bad Boy

Chapter Four

Running blindly, I stumbled into the toilets, crashing through one of the cubicle doors, locking it behind me before I sat down on the toilet seat lid and cried my eyes out.

A few minutes later I heard the stall door next to me open softly, someone locking the door behind them quietly.  Hiccoughing to myself I reached for some toilet paper to blow my nose, as my hand searched under the dispenser fruitlessly I cursed in a low voice to myself.

Suddenly a nudging next to my ankle drew my attention, looking down I gulped as I noticed a roll of toilet paper was being held under the divide.  Taking it from them, I muttered ‘thanks’ as I wiped the tears from my face and blew my nose.

‘You OK?’ came a soft voice beside me, it had a slight roughness to it but held concern.

Gulping, I stammered out, ‘this is the ladies toilet, you shouldn't be in here!’

The voice chuckled, it’s tone low and soothing, ‘sorry angel, you need to get with the times, this mall has unisex toilets’ he replied, ‘now tell me, are you alright? Do you need help?’

Trying to hold back my sobs I managed to squeak back, ‘yeah, I'm fine thanks.’

‘Tell me what happened’ the voice said softly, obviously not buying my claims to being OK.

Hesitating for a moment, I suddenly found myself spilling my guts to the stranger, the having no money, my best friend wanting to treat me like a charity case, being dragged to a snooty boutique with a store clerk who looked down at me, like I wasn’t supposed to be in her store, like I wasn’t good enough to serve.

‘What was the name of the store?’ the voice said, an edge of anger to the voice.

‘Uhh, Boutique Le Rouge I think it was?’ I stuttered slightly, my brow furrowed as I tried to remember,

‘I know it’ the voice replied, releasing a sigh, the voice continued, ‘look, let your friend buy you a dress, it’s not charity, he just wants you to be happy’ he reasoned, ‘get him to take you to Clara’s dress store, you might feel more comfortable there and I guarantee that the sales staff will be more than happy to help you find something to wear.’

‘Umm, OK’ I agreed, I had no idea why I was taking this bodiless voice’s advice, but his tone made me feel like I could trust him.  Standing up, I opened the lid and dropped the used tissue into the bowl before flushing, pulling back the lock, I hesitated for a split second, ‘thank you’ I mumbled.

‘Anytime Angel’ came the reply.

Stumbling out of the cubicle, I washed my hands and made my way out of the toilets, walking straight into Jay who looked frazzled as he sprinted, unseeing, in to me.

‘Oh my God, I'm so . . ‘ he started before his eyes focused on my face, ‘Cass! What the frozen yogurt, girl? I have been going crazy, I couldn’t find you anywhere, I was thinking someone kidnapped you’ he ranted as I held up a hand to quiet him.

‘Jay, I'm sorry for running off, it’s just that sales clerk made me really uncomfortable, she was looking at me as if I was some sort of gold digger’ I muttered, tears pricking at my eyes again.

‘WHAT?!’ Jay roared, turning as if to storm back to the boutique, grabbing his arm I quickly stopped him, ‘let it go Jay, it says more about her than me’ I reasoned, ‘on the bright side, I've decided not to fight you on buying me a dress’ I added as Jay swung back to me a shocked look on his face that soon became a huge grin.

‘Really??’ he squealed like a teenage fan girl.

‘Really, and someone gave me a tip to try Clare’s dress shop, they thought it might be more my style’ I added, my mind going back to the gentle voice in the bathroom.

‘Oh it is so on girlfriend!’ Jay yelled excitedly, linking his arm in mine and dragging me through the mall.  Within minutes we were stood in front of a small dress shop, the first thing I noticed was that the clothes in the window had actual prices on display, and they were much more reasonable than that snooty boutique, this was sooooo my type of shop!

Entering, we were immediately greeted by a young girl in her twenties, she hastily put away the phone she had been looking at and walk toward us beaming in welcome.

Flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder, she smoothed down the simple summer dress and held out her hand to me, ‘heyyyy’ she sang happily, ‘my name is Trisha, can I help y’all with anything today?’

Jay gave me a gentle shove forward as I self consciously took the sales girl’s outstretched hand.

‘She needs a killer dress Trisha, I mean we are talking, turn those boys heads, pull her out of the shadows, O.M.G who is that foxy kitten, killerrrrr!’ Jay replied excitedly.

Eyeing me shrewdly, Trisha flashed another excited smile and squealed back, ‘project! We are going to make you look amaze balls girl!’ as she dragged me by the hand to the racks, flicking through the selection and handing me clothes until I couldn’t see over the top of the pile.

‘I didn’t even tell you my size’ I wheezed from behind the clothes.

‘Girlll I can tell you are a petite just by looking at you, look at that gorgeous figure you are rocking! We are going to show off those curves and make all the boys drool’ Trisha replied excitedly as she led me to the changing rooms.

‘No boys allowed’ she added to Jay who begrudgingly took a seat just outside the cubicle.

‘I expect a fashion show’ he yelled after me.

‘Sorry about that, my best friend, he’s a bit over the top’ I murmured as Trisha showed me into a changing room.

‘Aww no sweat girl, it’s nice to have a friend like that, he obviously cares for you’ Trisha replied smiling.  ‘OK go put on the first dress and show me, we’ll go through them all, pick our favourites and then get the cutie outside to give some input’ she said enthusiastically.

After what felt like hours, Trisha and I had whittled the massive pile down to four dresses, putting the first on, I walked out and stood in front of Jay who immediately put his phone away, giving me his undivided attention.

‘About time girl! I've been sat here like a wet lettuce for half my life’ he moaned dramatically.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a twirl, showing off the pale lemon strapless dress.

Placing his fingers to his chin, Jay scrutinised me for a moment, ‘seven out of ten’ he declared finally.

‘Huh?’ I asked confused.

Rolling his eyes at me he replied, ‘I shall score the dresses out of ten, the one with the highest score will be the one we buy’ he explained like he was talking to a toddler.

‘Well what’s wrong with this one?’ I demanded, looking down at it.

‘To light for your skin tone and it does nothing for your butt’ Jay replied shrugging.

I stared over at Trisha who started to laugh as she shrugged, ‘he has a point’ she conceded.

Turning on my heel, I stomped back into the changing room and put on the black velvet dress that I had liked.

Walking back out I did another twirl as Jay furrowed his brow, ‘umm are we going to a funeral?’ he asked bluntly, ‘hard pass, next.’

‘You are not even going to score it?’ I demanded.

‘Baby girl, if I scored that funeral attire I would have to go into negative figures! Next!’ Jay demanded, shooing me with his hands.

Struggling not to flip him the finger, I made my way back into the changing room, reappearing minutes later in a floaty light blue dress that clung to my body, reaching just below my knee, a soft ruching to the front that accentuated my breasts.

Sitting forward Jay beamed, ‘now we are talking! Total nine out of ten’ he said giving me a thumbs up.

‘What was the point drop for?’ I muttered, though I couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.

‘Little bit long baby girl, lets see some of those incredible legs you keep hiding away’ Jay replied with a playful smirk.

‘Perv’ I replied loftily, but went back in to change.

‘This is the last one’ I said nervously, stepping out from behind the curtain and fidgeting with my fingers as I waited for Jay’s opinion.  After a few moments silence, I raised my gaze to see Jay staring at me dumbfounded.

‘What? Is it bad?’ I asked looking down, worriedly.

‘We are having that one’ Jay blurted out suddenly, standing up to grab me and twirl me around as I laughed.

‘So this gets a ten?’ I asked as Jay pulled me into a tight hug

‘Baby girl, this gets an eleven, it’s like it was made for you’ Jay gushed happily.

Brushing my hands down the deep red velvet fabric, I felt a small smile play at my lips at his words.  I had to admit that I loved this dress, it felt like it had been moulded to my body, the fabric clung to my curves, the small slit that graced the left side, showed just enough leg without making me feel exposed.  The plunging back showed off my tanned skin and the neckline kept things interesting but still left a lot to the imagination.

‘I really like this one’ I admitted blushing.

‘Take it off her quick Trisha, before she talks herself out of it!’ Jay shouted, pushing me toward the sales girl who giggled and led me back to the changing rooms.

Taking the dress off, I held it to my body for a second before placing it back on the hanger and passing it through to Trisha whilst I got dressed again.

Stepping out into the shop, I saw Jay already at the till, his father’s credit card swiping the machine hurriedly as if he was scared I'd rush out and stop him.

Walking over, I took the bag shyly from Trisha who grinned down at me.

‘Enjoy your night out girl’ she beamed.

‘Thank you Trisha, and thank you for being so nice’ I said back shyly.

Waving her hand, dismissing my words, Trisha gave me a wink, ‘hey, us girls got to stick together right?’ she asked as I nodded with a laugh.

Waving goodbye, we left the shop and made our way back to the car.

Slipping inside, I gave Jay a quick hug, ‘thank you Jay, I really appreciate it’ I said humbly.

Jay grinned, ‘I'm just so happy you finally let me buy you a gift’ he replied as he gunned the engine and took me home.