Numbers that follows

chapter 4

After a while we filled a basket bottom full of jeans Arrah thought I would like. We then made our way to the fitting rooms to try on the clothes.

“Just try something on and open the door and if you like it we will put it back in the basket, if it doesn't fit or you don’t like it we will put it on this rack.” Arrah explained.

“Okay.” I nodded

I went into the small room and began to change my pants. I took off the ones I was wearing. Looking at the ones I was wearing they looked horrible. We only got new ones when they were either too ripped or too small. I have had this pair of sweats for almost 2 years. And wore them every day. They definitely looked like it.

I came out with the first pair on and they were actually really comfortable. They were a lot tighter than my sweats but other than that they were nice.

“Do you like those?” Arrah asked.

“Yeah, they feel nice.” I stated.

“You also look nice in them.” Arrah complimented

We spent the next few minutes deciding between 30 pairs of jeans. We decided on about 10 of them and put the others back. We then moved onto shirts and she grabbed blouses, t-shirts and tank tops for me to try. She decided on getting me the same t-shirt in every color they had. We picked out like 12 blouses that looked nice, as well as 15 different collared shirts and tank tops.

We then crossed the store. And then she started looking at different packages of underwear.

“Any style you like?” Arrah looked at me with a package in each hand.

“There are multiple styles” I asked unsure of how to answer.

“Doesn't matter, we can just get a bunch of different ones for you” She turned to face the wall again.

She started tossing different colors and styles into the cart. They all had different things on then as well. Boyshorts, hipsters, bikinis, and thongs. I had no idea what they all ment. Once she seemed fine with her choices she then led me to another part of the store.

“Okay, I need to measure 2 more things on you. Hold your arms like this” she said, holding her arms out to the side.

I did as she said and she measured what she needed and then started handing me bras off the shelf each one a little different then the last. Once deciding on which ones were comfortable to wear we headed for the counter and on the way she grabbed some socks as we passed.

“Did you find everything you needed?” The lady in front of us asked.

“I believe we did,” Arrah replied.

The lady began checking all the tags and such then putting them in bags. Arrah’s grabbed a flat brick with lights out of her bag and a few moments later Vincent walked into the store, He came over and helped grab all the bags we had accumulated.

“Alright, the total today is 1,134.23” she said with a smile

Arrah handed her the card Armin gave her and the lady swiped it on the computer. She then handed back the card to Arrah. Taking it from her Arrah smiled and she led me back to the door.

“Next stop shoes.” Arrah told vincent.

We drove further down the road to another door. This time Vincent Followed us in. This store had rows going across it with different shoes. We walked to the far side.

“What color do you like for tennis shoes?” Arrah motions to the rack.

“I don’t know.” I replied “how about black?”

Black was the only color shoe we ever got so that made the most sense to me. Plus the black never really got super dirty. You couldn't tell when I got blood on my shoes because red did not stain black.

“Try these,” she said, handing me a pair of shoes. “You look the same size as me so we can start there.”

I took the shoes from her and they did in fact fit. Not wanting to take forever I decided on them. Then she took me to another part of the store and picked up multiple different looking shoes. One had a skinny heel and was all strappy looking. Another had two straps and a flat foam bottom. As well as some others.

She went to the counter and the man pushed a bunch of buttons on the pad. Once he was finished he bagged all the shoes in giant bags.

“456 even today,” the guy told Arrah.

“Here you go,” she replied, giving the man the card.

He did the same motion as the lady at the previous store and swiped the card on the screen. Once finished he gave the card back. Vincent grabbed the bags and headed back to the car. Both me and Arrah followed. We sat in the car and Arrah pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket.

“So it looks like all we have left is dresses and toiletries.” Arrah turned to Vincent “whichever is closer.”

It took a couple minutes for us to get there. One thing for sure I decided that I didn’t like shopping at all. Fortunately it sounded as if there were only two stops left which was a relief. I mean it wasn’t that hard to do. I followed around Arrah and she picked the clothes as well as handled the rest.

“Alright, come on.” Arrah said, getting out of her car.

I followed her into the next building. Just like the previous stops it had racks and rows to choose from. Arrah walked around grabbing whatever she wanted. I followed her as she threw multiple different items in the cart and when it seemed she was done she led me back to the fitting rooms to try on the assortment of choices.

I got in the room and the first one, had a black top and a white bottom with sunflowers all over. The top had straps that crossed in the back. It was a tight top, while the bottom was flowing. I walked out of the room to show Arrah.

“It looks really good on you but,” Arrah said, trying not to laugh, “You don’t wear pants with it.”

“Oh,” I said looking down, “What do I wear with it?”

“Nothing, that's the point of a dress, it's long enough to cover everything you need.” She Explains.

I walked back into the room. I took off my pants and looked in the mirror. It did look better without them on. I tried on the next one. This one was a similar style but the back laced up and tied. The straps didn’t cross in the back though like the other one. I couldn’t tie it on my own so I popped my head out.

“I can’t get this one closed, I can't reach. Would you help?” I asked Arrah.

“Sure,” she replied, hopping up.

She came into the room and closed the door. She motioned for me to turn around and she pulled my hair back and I could hear a small gasp. I turned to face her but she turned me back around.

“Your back, It’s covered in scars. I mean my dad said that, but I didn’t think he meant this bad.” She said tracing my scars.

“It’s fine they fully heal and disappear after a couple months or so.” I tried to reassure her.

“That would mean this is from the last couple months?” She questions.

“I guess,” I replied.

She finished up tightening and tied the lace.

“I really like this one too.” Arrah expressed. “Let me undo it and you can try the others on, And I will get out and let you.”

After she left the room I tried on several more dresses. We ended up getting a bunch, we had a total of like 20. Which I thought was way too many. We went back to the car. We drove to the final stop. This was a separate building and a larger area for cars to pull into. We parked close to the doors and got out.

“Bright side is you won’t have to try any more clothes on.” Arrah jokes, while getting out of the car. “We need to get you a toothbrush and toothpaste, hair brush and accessories, some simple make up, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, your hair is a little curly so maybe curl care. As well as anything else we see that you would need on a daily basis.”

“Okay,” I nodded my head and followed her inside.

It was a larger store than the other ones. It had tall shelves in rows, on which was stacked food and other things. We made a left and came across another set of similar rows but had bottles and other foreign items stacked amongst the shelves. The first thing Arrah put in the basket was 2 matching bottles that seemed to go together. Then she put like 3 different looking things into the cart, the only thing about those that matched was the word curl written in some way on the bottle. Making our way to the next row. There was hair stuff down both sides.

Arrah stopped and looked at some boxes and decided on 2 of them. She then grabbed a brush as well as a ton of other things to go in my hair. Hair decorations and tools as Arrah said. This row wasn't bad, the next one was weird. As Arrah would grab stuff off the shelf she would put it to my face trying to match my skin tone. After she was finished doing that she put like 30 more things from the row in the cart.

Grabbing the last few Items on our way to the front we stood in a line. Once reaching our turn Arrah started putting some Items on a black table and it started moving. It took the items to the man standing at the end. Who beeped them as he put them in bags? When we finished just like the other places she handed the man her card and we took the Items to the car.

“Home!” Arrah told Vincant, “We have everything we need.”

Just like that we were off. Back to the house. Just in time the sky was turning to night.