Adopted

Chapter 11

"When we get home, we'll set you up with some apps I think you'll like. Spotify, for one. That's for music, and the family sharing plan we use so that you can access Apple Music and some other apps we use around the house. You're going to love them. And we'll download some mind-numbing apps so you can have some fun, too," Sarah smiled.

We walked through the mall and looked in a few stores. The first store she took me into was Hot Topic. Kids at school had talked about it before, so I had an idea of what it was.

"I love this store. There's a lot of pop culture stuff in here. I don't know what you're into, but I'm sure we can find you some fun shirts and stuff here."

I looked around at the t-shirts on the wall. There were a lot of bands and ones with cats and a lot of LGBTQ+ stuff as well. There were displays for The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was a Disney movie I actually liked. I wandered around the aisles and displays looking around. On the back wall, I was looking at the band shirts and saw a familiar face on one.

"Hey," I said to Sarah. "That's da-Brendon."

"Yep. There is a lot of Panic! shirts here. They're really quite popular, you know. I'm sure he'll play everything ever released for you if you ask," she smirked. "Do you want any of them? I'm pretty sure he's got some tour ones kicking around somewhere if you'd like."

"I actually kind of like that purple one, though," I said.

"Alright. Let's get it then. You're pretty small. I think a small should fit you. What do you think?"

"Yeah. Probably," I agreed.

We picked a few other shirts as well, and I got a couple of Nightmare Before Christmas things as well.

From there we went to the Gap, where she bought me some jeans.

"Do you need shoes?" she asked, looking at my tattered Converse.

"I don't think so. I have a few more pairs."

"I take it you like Converse?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. They're pretty much all I wear."

"You're not a girly girl, are you?" she smiled at me.

"Uh, no. Is that okay?"

"Of course! Don't worry about it. But why don't we get you a couple of new pairs? A girl can never have too many shoes and a person can never have too many Converse."

I smiled.

We went into a Foot Locker and looked at the wall of shoes. They had a bunch of different colors, though the only ones I had were a pair of white low cuts and a pair of black hightops and a pair of black low cuts.

"So," Sarah said. "What colors do you like?"

"Well, blue's my favorite color," I said. "But I don't really need new shoes."

"I know. I know. I guess I kind of feel like spoiling you today," she smiled and put her arm around my shoulder.

"Let's get you a pair of high and low blue ones, huh? And a new pair of black and white, because those look like they're almost ready to fall off your feet," she laughed.

An employee came over and she told him what we were looking for, and got one of those foot-measuring things to check my size. He then went and got the shoes in my size - a three - and I tried them on. They all fit fine. Sarah said I should wear whichever ones I wanted home, and we could toss my ratty ones. The soles were actually coming off, so I didn't argue. But I chose to go with the black and white ones since that's what I was wearing anyway.

The employee rang up my shoes, and we took all our bags and headed towards Target.

Sarah grabbed a cart and even though she said we weren't going to get that much stuff, it would be better than carrying all our bags through the store, too. So we put all our stuff into the cart and walked around the bedding area.

"If you see anything you want for your room or your bathroom, let me know. Seriously. We want you to make your room your space."

"It's really a great room as it is," I said.

"Sure, but it needs some of your personality in it," she smiled.

We wandered the aisles looking at the bedding. I found flannel sheets in a soft blue that I really liked, and pillowcases with deers and snowflakes on them. And a few with a plaid design. Sheets too.

"You like flannel?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. It's soft. And warm."

"Well, not much call for warm in California," she laughed.

"I get cold pretty easy sometimes," I said.

"Oh, right. I guess so. Do you want a new comforter? The one on the bed is pretty new, but we can get you one that's more... you."

"I actually like the one that's on the bed. It's comfortable and warm," I smiled.

"Alright, then," Sarah smiled at me.

From the bedding department, Sarah took me into where the towels and bath stuff was. She said she wanted me to pick the things in my bathroom to make it mine. Things like soap dishes or dispensers, toothbrush holders, that sort of thing. She also said that I should have some bath towels as well, even though there were already some.

"I mean, our towels are fine, but I'd love to get you a bathrobe or something like that. Much better than just a towel."

"I've always used just a towel," I said.

"I bet. But a bathrobe, you could sort of, I don't know, lounge around in. You could also use it to sit by the pool. Or rather, after swimming in the pool. Or, you know. Whatever."

I shrugged.

We found a bathrobe that Sarah liked, and I liked it too. It was comfortable, and it was blue. So, all good.

We went into the grocery section and picked up some vegetables and salads, some pasta because Sarah said she'd make a pasta salad, some baking potatoes, and a few other things.

We paid for everything, loaded up the car, and stopped at a butcher on the way where Sarah bought some steaks and hamburgers.

I helped bring in all the groceries and my bags. Sarah turned to look at me.

"You okay, hon?"

"Yeah. Just tired," I said.

"Why don't you take your stuff upstairs and have a bit of a nap before everyone comes over?" she said.

"Don't you want help with dinner?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. Go ahead," she smiled.