16
Sophie
For the last few days, a good night of sleep seemed pretty elusive for me. At least last night I had a good reason to have trouble falling asleep. I was so excited by what had taken place between Travis and me that I couldn’t think of anything else. The previous day had gone about as well as it could, right down to Travis walking me home. The only thing that would have made it better is if he had bent down to kiss me goodnight, but I guess that was too much to ask when we hadn’t seen each other for fourteen years.
By seven AM I was wide awake and trying to plan out my day. I had just under eleven hours before he would be here again, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for our date. I checked around the house, cleaning up what little I had to put away. Since it was just me at home, there wasn’t much of a mess at all to worry about. I threw some laundry on, put a few things away, and ran the vacuum over the floor just to make things a bit better.
As I stood looking around and admiring the clean house, I realized I didn’t have anything to cook for dinner that night. Most nights I ate pretty lightly, and a quick look at my fridge let me know that unless Travis wanted yogurt and lemonade for dinner, I was going to need to go to the store.
I started to panic even more when I realized I had nothing nice to wear that night either. I had worn my best dress last night, and after rifling through my dresser drawers and closet, I fell back on the bed feeling panicked about what to wear. I needed to call in reinforcements for help.
I decided to send Mary a text message, a simple “I need your help!” to get her attention. I was going to call her, but I figured she probably was feeling a bit hungover from last night and maybe a ringing phone would not put her in the best of moods to start her day. I was more than surprised when she answered me right away, saying she would be here as fast as she could. Since it was only eight in the morning, she must have been feeling a lot better.
I was still wearing my pink t-shirt and pajama shorts about forty-five minutes later when I heard a car pulling up out in front of my house. I looked out the front window and saw a pickup truck there coming to a stop. I looked a little closer and could see the words “Seaver Contracting” on the side of the truck. Mary got out of the passenger side, wearing a blue t-shirt, denim shorts, and dark sunglasses, and closed the door to the truck. I saw Danny pull away as Mary made her way up the walk to my front door.
I opened the front door before she had a chance to knock and greeted her with a smile. She pulled open the screen door and brushed past me.
“Do you have coffee made?” she asked as she made her way into the kitchen.
“You know where the pot is,” I told her as I followed her in and sat down at my kitchen table.
Mary poured herself a cup of coffee and slumped into the chair across from me, still wearing her sunglasses.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her, trying not to laugh.
“Oh, just peachy,” she said to me snidely. “This is all your fault, you know.” She took a big sip of coffee and placed the mug down on the table.
“How is this my fault?” I replied, wondering what I had done.
“If we didn’t have to spend all night at the restaurant waiting on Mr. Wonderful, I wouldn’t have drunk so much and…”
“And just what is it that you did, Mary?” I said, waiting smugly for a reply. “Or should I say who?”
Mary looked up at took her sunglasses off, revealing the dark circles under her eyes. I tried to stifle a laugh.
“If you had driven me home, Danny would never have been there,” she said, trying to defend herself.
“I didn’t make him stay with you; that was all on you,” I retorted.
“It’s fine,” Mary answered, taking another sip of coffee. “After I threw up on him we had a great time.”
Mary went on to explain to me that as he was helping her out of his truck last night, she threw up all over his jacket, shirt, and shoes. She apologized profusely to him, threw up again on the bushes in front of her house, and then he helped her inside. She offered to wash his clothes for him, he said no, and he helped her get upstairs. She woke up early in the morning and found him sleeping on the couch, and one thing led to another after that.
“Mary! You didn’t!” I said, shocked that she would do that.
“Oh, stop Sophie,” she said to me. “We had dated a few times awhile back and had fun, I just didn’t want a serious boyfriend, so I stopped seeing him. He’s very nice, has muscles in all the right places, and knows how to use them,” she said with a grin.
“How did things go with you and Prince Charming?” she asked as she had more coffee.
I went into all the details of our walk home, and how I asked him over for dinner tonight.
“So all you did was walk home?” she said, astounded. “No deep talk, no kiss goodnight, no taking you on the kitchen table?”
I blushed at the thought. “No none of that. But Travis is coming over tonight, and I have nothing to make for dinner, and I have nothing to wear that looks nice. I really need your help, Mary, please.”
Mary let out a deep sigh, took a sip of coffee, and then put her mug down.
“Fine,” she said to me. “Go take a shower and get ready. By the time you are done, Simmons should be open. We’ll see what we can find for you.”
I went over to the other side of the table and hugged her and kissed her on top of the head. She placed her hand quickly on top of her head.
“Easy,” she said to me, wincing a bit. “My hair hurts.”
I laughed and raced upstairs to shower quickly. I went through my routine as fast as I could, put on my basics with a simple t-shirt and jean shorts, and came back downstairs without wasting time. Mary was on the couch, her left arm draped over her eyes, trying to protect them from the sunlight coming through the front window.
“You ready?” I said to her, having trouble standing in one place.
Mary peered over her arm and looked at me, and then slowly came to a sitting position. She slowly got to her feet.
“I guess so,” she told me. “Let’s go.”
We walked out of the house, and both realized neither one of us had a car to drive. Mary’s car was back at the Homestead and mine was still at the school. They were both about the same distance from my house, so we decided to walk over to the school and get my car since Mary didn’t feel up to driving. She barely felt up to walking too and moved the entire way slowly to school. More than once I had to wait for her to catch up to me, and the school is only a few blocks away.
We finally got to the school and my car, the only one in the parking lot on a Saturday in the summer. I unlocked the doors with my remote and Mary climbed in the passenger side. I hopped in behind the wheel and slammed the door shut, causing Mary to flinch and give me a dirty look.
I drove over to Simmons Department Store, the only store of its kind in Canon and the one that pretty much everyone shopped at when they needed something that wasn’t food. When we got there, it was a little after ten, and they were open for business. The parking lot, which was the largest in town, was already was about half full. There were lots of parents milling around, getting items for their kids at the back-to-school sales they were running.
Simmons was not only the only department store in town, but it was the tallest building outside of the town hall. It had three floors to comb through, making it the only place in town with an escalator. Mary and I walked in, and the bright lights of the store made her put her sunglasses back on right away. We walked over to the escalator to go up to the third floor where the women’s department was.
A few other women were moving around the area where the dresses were, but other than that the area was pretty empty. Mary and I started looking through the racks of dresses to find something appropriate for the night. I was browsing through items, but I really had no idea what to look for or what would be best to get.
Mary held up a couple of dresses to me that seemed either obscenely short or too gaudy in style. She immediately rejected the few I offered up as being too conservative or prudish, even if I thought they looked pretty enough. We seemed to be at a stalemate when one of the salesgirls on the floor came over to us. She looked to be in her twenties, wearing a white blouse with maroon slacks, and a nametag that read “Penny.” Penny was a tall brunette who seemed even taller with the heels she was wearing, making me feel a bit intimidated by her presence.
“Can I help you ladies with something?” she inquired, sounding professional and perhaps just a bit condescending. Mary took notice and stepped right up to her.
“Hi, Penny,” Mary said, glancing over at her nametag and then looking up to her. “My friend Sophie here has a big date tonight and is looking for a dress. She needs something pretty, fun, and flirty, but not slutty. What have you got for her?”
I suddenly felt even smaller than before in front of Penny. I could feel her eyes looking me up and down as she walked a small circle around me.
“Size 6?” she said to me, sounding more like she was telling me than asking me.
“Yes,” I replied shakily, feeling a bit violated that she could be so accurate just with a look.
“I think I have a few things that might be right for you,” Penny said with a smile. “Why don’t you head over to the dressing room and I’ll bring you some things to try on?”
I just nodded blindly and grabbed Mary’s hand and dragged her with me to the dressing rooms. There was a row of rooms, with no one in any of them, so Mary opened up the door to the first one. It was much larger than I had imagined it would be, with a pedestal in the center of the room surrounded by three mirrors.
“Up on the pedestal, Princess,” Mary said to me with a grin.
“Very funny,” I said to her. I paced around the room a bit, trying to get over my anxiety when Penny walked in holding three dresses.
“Let’s start with these,” she said, hanging them on a rolling rack just inside the door to the room. I could see that one was white, one was red, and one was purple, but beyond that, I couldn’t make out the details. Mary walked over to the dresses and looked at them. She held the purple one up, and I immediately shook my head no. She placed it back on the rack, leaving the red and the white. The red looked cute, a skater dress that was sleeveless with a high neckline and a small cutout on the back near the waistline. The skirt part of the dress had a cute flare to it. I decided I would give that one a try.
Mary then held up the white dress. The white dress was also a skater style knit dress with a flared skirt, but this one had princess seams. The neckline was a small V to show some cleavage, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that one. I liked the white, but I didn’t want to seem too forward since it was our first date in fourteen years. Mary was nodding insistently, so I knew I had to try it on.
Mary brought the white one over to me and handed it to me. I kicked my sneakers off and then took a look at Penny. She was standing just inside the dressing room door looking at us. I think she got the hint from our stares that I would be comfortable undressing if she left.
“I’ll be right outside if you need help,” she said to as she turned and walked out, shutting the door behind her.
“She’s charming,” Mary said to me with a sneer.
“She’s just doing her job,” I said to her as I unzipped my shorts and stepped out of them. I then took off my t-shirt and held my hand out for Mary to hand me the dress. She just stared at me standing there.
“What?” I said to her, holding my hand out for the dress.
“Sophie, please, I am begging you, don’t wear those tonight.”
“Wear what?”
“That bra and those panties look like something my mother wore ten years ago,” she said with disdain.
I looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t see anything wrong.
“They’re comfortable,” I said in my defense.
“Of course they’re comfortable,” Mary said. “you’ve been wearing them for so long they would have to be at this point. You want something pretty tonight. Something that will make you feel confident, feminine and girly. Something you wouldn’t be embarrassed about Travis seeing.”
I blushed lightly. “I don’t know that anyone is seeing my underwear tonight,” I said defensively.
“Soph, you love this guy, you’ve waited fourteen years for him to come back, and to put it bluntly, you’re a virgin that hasn’t had a date in a long time. Your body is crying out to be seen by someone besides you.” Mary stood there holding the white dress, waiting for me to say okay.
“Fine,” I gave in. “I could use a new bra I guess.”
“Great,” she said to me. “Oh, Penny,” Mary shouted. Penny came in before I could even cover up.
“Yes?” Penny asked.
Mary walked over to Penny and put her arm around her.
“Penny, my friend here needs a new bra and panty set. Something pretty, functional and just a hint of sexy.”
Penny walked over to me again and was staring at my chest. I was growing uncomfortable again when she said, “34B. I’ll get you some choices to go with the white and the red.”
I watched Penny walk out of the dressing room.
“That’s amazing,” I said to Mary as I stood there.
“The girl has some talent, I must admit,” Mary said with a laugh.
Moments later, Penny knocked on the dressing room door and came in with some bra choices with matching panties. I looked at a few of the bras, and none of them seemed right to me until I hit upon the white demi bra with some lace on the edge of the cups. It looked pretty and looked like it might give me the bit of “boost” I wanted without being too revealing. I decided to try that one on and turned away from Mary and Penny as I took my bra off and put this one on. Once I got the straps in place, I turned to Mary and Penny. Penny came right up to me and made some adjustments on the straps and the cups, taking my breasts in her hands to adjust things properly. I was stunned, but when she was done, I had to admit the bra looked better.
“Yes!” Mary shouted. “Nicely done, Penny. That’s the bra you need, Sophie.”
I felt prettier and sexier than I had in a long time and pulled the white dress on over my head. I did up the zipper on the back and turned around, giving the ladies a look. They both smiled at what they saw, and then Mary gave Penny a high-five. I looked in the mirror and fell in love with what I saw.
“This is the one,” I said lightly as I turned, watching the skirt flounce lightly.
I decided to take the dress, the bra, and the matching panties, and Mary and Penny talked me into getting the red dress too, so I had more than one to wear for now. I ended up getting matching undergarments for that as well, along with a pair of red heels to match the red dress and some white flats for the white dress. My credit card wasn’t going to know what hit it, but since I never splurged on myself for anything, this felt right.
Penny rang everything up and had loosened up a bit by the time we were leaving, asking me to come back and let her know how everything had worked out on the date. Mary and I left with my purchases in tow, and I had a smile on my face, feeling a bit better since I knew I had something nice to wear.
We were then off to Gallagher’s Market two blocks over to figure out what to get for dinner. I was confident in my cooking, but I also wanted to make sure everything went well, and Travis enjoyed the meal. I knew years ago he was a steak guy, so I figured that was the safest bet and went over to the meat counter. Jim Gallagher, one of the four sons of Colin Gallagher, the owner, was behind the meat counter when we arrived.
“Hello, Sophie… Mary,” he said to us, those his eyes brightened a bit more when he saw Mary.
Mary smiled back at him as I glanced over at her.
“Jimmy,” I said to him. “ I need two ribeye steaks, please.”
“Ribeyes?” Jim sounded surprised. “What’s the occasion, Sophie? Usually, it’s just chicken for you.”
“Hot date tonight,” Mary said to him, as she leaned forward on the counter to get closer to Jim.
“Really? With who?” Jimmy said to her, speaking to her instead of me.
“Travis Stone, Maggie’s son,” Mary said, running her index finger on Jim’s left arm. Jim looked like he was in a trance.
“I don’t think I know him,” Jim said, staring into Mary’s eyes.
“Well he’s been out of town for a long time, but he and Sophie used to have a thing,” she whispered to him. “Do you think you could set her up with something really good Jim, for me?” Mary was batting her eyelashes at him as she talked to him.
“Sure thing,” he said as he stepped back. “I’ll cut you two good ones, Sophie. I’ll be back in a minute.” Jim stepped into the back room to get my steaks while Mary looked over at me.
“You’re shameless,” I said to her.
“Oh come on, Sophie,” Mary chided. “A little flirting is fun. Try it with Travis tonight, you’ll see. He’ll love it.”
Jim came back out and handed me two steaks, nicely wrapped in brown butcher’s paper.
“Anything else ladies,” Jim said proudly, staring at Mary.
“I think that’s it Jimmy, thank you,” I said to him as I started to walk away.
“Thanks, Jimmy,” Mary said as she blew him a kiss and moved with me. As we walked, Mary whispered to me, “Is he staring at me?” I took a quick glance back and saw Jimmy’s eyes following her down the aisle.
“You bet he is,” I answered.
“Good,” Mary said with a wicked grin, wiggling her hips a bit more as we walked.
We picked up some potatoes and spinach, and I got the makings of a salad as well. I didn’t think I would have time to make anything for dessert, but they had some great-looking pies at the bakery counter, so I picked up a blueberry pie for dessert. Mary had wandered over and chosen a six-pack of beer for me to have on hand in case Travis wanted something.
I paid for my purchases, and we hauled the bags out to the car. All in all, it was an expensive day so far, and we had spent several hours doing the shopping. The day that started at nine had already run to one in the afternoon. I only had five hours before the date.
I drove over to the Homestead parking lot so Mary could pick up her car. We pulled in next to where her car was parked.
“Thanks for your help today Mary,” I said to her. “I really needed it.”
“No problem Sophie,” she said, sounding sincere. She then turned to face me and gave me a big sister-type look.
“Now what?” I said to her, trying to figure out what I may have forgotten.
“Sophie,” she said in a serious tone, “I’m not saying anything is going to happen or should happen tonight, but if it does… do you know what to, you know, do?”
“Mary, I do not want to have this conversation,” I said to her, turning my head forward. “My mother gave me “the talk” when I was thirteen. I think I remember it.”
“Well your mother may have told you the basics about how babies are made, but there’s more to it than one thing goes in the other,” she said bluntly.
“Mary, I’m 32. I’ve read lots of books, seen movies and, believe it or not, have done some things myself. Just because I’m a virgin doesn’t mean I don’t know anything.” I was feeling a little put out.
“I’m sorry Sophie,” she said sincerely. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I just want your first time… if it is your first time… to be a good experience. For a lot of people, it isn’t, and you’re a good person. You deserve it to be.”
“Awww, thanks, Mary,” I said as we hugged. “I appreciate the thought, but I’m not counting on anything like that happening tonight. It’s the first time we’re together in a long time. We have a lot to talk about I think before anything like that might happen.”
“Fair enough,” she said to me as she got out of the car and closed the door. Mary leaned her head in the open window. “Have a good time tonight. I want all the details tomorrow,” she said pointing a finger at me.
“Okay,” I said with a smile.
Mary got in her car as I backed out of the parking spot and began the short ride home to my house. I had a lot of preparing to do before Travis showed up.