dance in the sun 〖 the outsiders 〗

the shopping date

The party was tomorrow so today Cherry and I were having an us day. We were going to go shopping for our halloween costumes and probably a few other things. My dad left his card with Sherry so we had a pretty good bit of money to spend. He never told her a limit and we love to shop so it was going to be lots of fun.

We started with breakfast, I woke up early enough to make a good meal consisting of waffles, fried eggs (her favorite), and lots of bacon. Bacon was our favorite and my parents get us tons of it before they leave for any extended period of time. She was so excited when she got up, the smell, she said, was pungent even from her room upstairs. Very random conversations came up as we enjoyed the food, like about how it is for Sherry to work for dad full time instead of going to college.

"I like it but he's always sayin' 'You're gonna run this one day if you keep learning like you are' and I don't really wanna do that. I just didn't wanna go to college for this year."

"Still thinkin' about goin' to Florida or Texas or somethin'," I asked, taking the last few bites of my breakfast after.

"I don't know. It'll be hard to leave you."

I chuckled because if it were me who had the chance, I'd go as far away as possible. I love Sherri but this place is too small for me. "You shouldn't let me stop you."

"If I leave, Lena, I ain't gonna come back. I know that. I'll visit, of course, but I've had enough of this little city. I want to be here for you, though, mom and dad don't support you like I do." She finished up her bacon and put her plate in the sink. She was right, she was the one who kept me sane here. My parents loved me but they didn't accept me as I was, they wanted me to be like Sherri and I never would. I wish she didn't feel like it should hold her back but a selfish part of me is glad.

"You're such a good sister," I say with a smile.

She chuckled, "I wasn't always so I gotta be extra good for you now." The sound of the sink filled the silence now as she rinsed her plate and mine after I handed it to her. I decided to go and get ready with her not too far behind. I usually shower at night so all I had to do was throw on some jeans and I settled on a dark green shirt, throwing my hair up into a ponytail and putting on some lipgloss. I didn't wanna do much but if we're going shopping I'd like to look a little nice because I knew Sherri would.

Then there she was, dressed in a pretty white and blue dress with her hair nice and curly. She also didn't wear makeup but threw on her signature red lipstick. I was so excited! It's been so long since we've been shopping and there's these shopping centers all over Tulsa that have cute halloween decorations as well as costumes. Since we're both dressing as devils, our theme is obviously red. Our parents would have a fit but it's a good thing they aren't around.

Our first stop was a party supplies store. We got a good bit of decorations. I loved how even though it was my friends, Cherry was still excited to help decorate and be a part of it, but when it was her party I was excited too. We just love decorating and helping out. The first thing in our little basket was a little red door curtain for as soon as they walk in and then a lot of these little red balloons with black confetti inside of them. I had a strong feeling that at least a few would be popping so that would be fun.

Strolling down the aisles, we saw these red light bulbs and I wasn't thinking about it but it was definitely something I wanted. The whole living and dining room could have a red tint! We, of course, had to get lots of plastic cups, plates, silverware, and a couple little platters for snacks.

We'd gotten a few things but I felt like we needed a little more so I opted for more balloons and the last decoration was little streamers to hang off the ceiling.