There wasn’t much to do growing up in rural Texas. So, when the first mall opened in the city over, it quickly became the crew’s favorite activity.

Matt and Steph were the older ones in the group, so they tried to take the responsible role. Although Steph was significantly better at that than Matt was.

Jade was the quiet one, or at least the quieter one. I think I fell right in with her. We didn’t talk much, but I could always catch her looking at me. I thought she hated me, but it was quite the opposite.

Lily was friends with everyone in school, but she gravitated more towards us. She always had a new boyfriend to carry her stuff for her. And when that boyfriend didn’t drive us around as well, I did.

Steph feared learning how to drive and Matt was on his 2nd year of attempting to take his license. My dad showed me the ropes since I was younger, so when I turned 16 I had a pretty good grasp of what to do. Not that there’s much use for that here in the city. And nowadays it’s just me and Lily, anyway. I guess I’m the one who has to carry her stuff now.

Since Lily and I entered the shopping center, she has entered 8 stores, and left with bags from each one of them. It was impressive seeing her process for shopping. The way she walks through the store venturing through the nooks and crannies, making small talk with the staff, and picking apart mannequins. What’s more impressive is the way she navigates through the shops. Moving along through a maze of stores like she knows it from the back of her hand. Going from one shop to the other through interconnected alleys and entrances.

We ended up in a 5 stories building with an elevator that was barely standing. Inside, there was an old man sitting on a chair. He pressed the button to where Lily told him to, the fourth floor. The thing shook around like a locomotive, getting stuck in the trajectory. The man cursed and used a cane to open the ceiling and tug on the cables, which promptly made the elevator work again. We took the stairs on the way down.

On the fourth floor of this building, there were a couple of tiny niche stores. Some only sold lingeries, others had men’s underwear, one only had makeup. It became so specific that I saw one selling only a variety of lipsticks.

It was an adventure, and a workout, going to all these unknown places with Lily. Even if I’ve been living in the city for 2 years, there were still unusual places I could visit. That was refreshing to learn.

Amidst it all, Lily caught some outfits that she said it would be perfect for me. I only bought a blazer and some shirts for the winter. 

 Finally, we entered the mall and sat at the food court to rest. Lily set her mountain of bags on a seat, while I put my two bags beside me. After catching my breath, we asked for some hamburgers for lunch.

“Did you call?” Lily asked, while cutting the hamburger.

“Yeah. He said we should see each other. Tomorrow actually.”

“What?! You have a date?” She shouted, forking a piece of the burger.

“It’s not a date date. We’re just gonna see each other. He said that we should learn pottery.”

Cris and I spent the week texting each other, although I was the one carrying the conversation. He takes a long time to answer and spends too much time typing. When he answered, it was so formal that I felt like I was reading a business e-mail. But re-reading my messages, I might have been too aggressive on the questions, I tend to do that. But in the end he said he didn’t want to go to a restaurant. I said, “maybe we could watch a movie?”, but we couldn’t agree on what movie to watch so we ended up agreeing on ‘Doing something we’ve never done before.’ A pottery class.

“Pottery?” Lily asked with her mouth full.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, it’s going to be like that scene in Ghost.”

“Never watched that movie.” I said, feeling my face flush.

“But you know the scene.” Everyone knows the scene. “You’ll be trying to make a vase while he comes behind you and guides your hand, so romantic.”

“Nope.”

“Wait!” she shouted out of nowhere, as if seeing a ghost herself."Do you know what outfit you’re wearing for the date?"

“I haven’t really thought about it.“

“Holy shit Bibi! The outfit you wear on a first date is super important!”

“Is it?”

“Absolutely. We need to get you something right now!” she said, leaving the burger half eaten on the plate.

“Are you not fini-“ she pulled me by the arm and dragged me around the mall.

We entered a big clothing store. Lily’s eyes sparkled as she looked through the aisles and aisles of clothes. This time she didn’t have my limited closet to work from. She could go all out.

She would pick some outfit and hover them in my direction while looking with one eye. Then shake her head and tried again. I decided it’d be best to leave her to it.

‘The clothes you wear for the first date are super important...’ Her words echoed through my head as I looked at some clothes myself. I remember Cris asking me what style I liked. I don’t know what that meant, but I answered, “I like cute stuff, I guess.”

After I gave her some time, Lily took me to the dressing room with a pile of clothes on her hand.

“They’re all in order, so try them out.” She handed me the pile, pushing me into the booth.

‘I ended up become her dress up doll again.’ I thought, putting on a neon blue skinny leggings, a black shirt and a white vest. Lily looked at me for a second, furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head.

I went back in to come out again. This time with high waist jeans and a simple white shirt. Lily’s response was, “Nah, you look like a single mom in that.”, and she sent me back again.

The next set was a wide leg capris with a high waist and a crop top. My belly was showing. I tried to put the capris higher, but it only made my stomach droop above it. I put the blazer I chose on top of it all, but it didn’t feel right on me. So I moved on to the next set.

The last one I tried, and was willing to try, was an off-white shirt with flared sleeves, black mini shorts, and knee-high boots. Lily also put a pink headband on me. I thought I looked like Blair with it, but Lily insisted on it.

“That looks amazing.” She said, messing with my hair in front of the mirror. My eyes focused on the boots hugging my skin, creating a muffin top.

“Are you sure?” I slid my hand where the shorts were meeting my butt, trying to make it go lower.

“You look great, Bibi! Do you want me to go to fix you up tomorrow?”

“You don’t need to.”

“Okay...” She gave me the beseeching eyes again. But I managed to avoid them.

We were on our way out when I bumped into a lady. “I’m so sorry.” We both said synchronously. She was taller than me, with a shiny red head and round glasses. I had my hand on her midriff, which was exposed because of her crop top that said ‘rope bunny’. I pulled out as soon as I noticed apologizing again.

“It’s okay, deary.” Her voice was smooth, and she pinched my cheeks, which only made them warmer. “I should’ve paid more attention to where I was going.”

We left, as I tried to brush that away, but when I looked at Lily, she had a stupid smug on her face, so I asked, “What?”

“Right for the gusto, huh?” She laughed. “I assumed you were out of your girl phase after Jade.”

“Girl phase? what does that mean?” I said, feeling my face warm up again.

“And a redhead, too. I better protect myself.” She kept that going throughout our bus ride home.