Independent Woman

Victor, Silas & A Few Family Ties

 Sang's POV

My closet was practically empty. Two bras, ill-fitting after the, ahem, development, I'd gone through over the summer, needed to be replaced and I only owned a few shirts that didn't have poorly repaired rips and ill-cleaned stains from several summers ago when I still inherited pieces from Marie.

I needed new clothes but abhorred shopping for them. It was money that I didn't want to part with and a process I didn't want to go through. I think one pair of jeans looks like any other pair of jeans, or perhaps I've just never found the right pair of jeans.

I grabbed my bag off of a hook in my room, tossing it over my shoulder and letting it hit me on the hip as it swung back to center. I'd go shopping today, grab underwear, new shirts, and maybe a new pair of shoes for the year, and I'd go home. Registration was tomorrow and then I'd start back Tuesday.

Responsibility #3: Know your schedule. Don't get caught just because you prioritized the wrong thing.

My father had drilled that into me before he left. Sitting me down at the kitchen table and signing over the house and truck to me, telling me how, because he prioritized my mother's illness, he had almost ruined his new relationship.

Not that I was into adultery. My father could rot in hell for what he put our family through but he was right about this. If I didn't know what was most important to me, I'd loose track of it and fall into the trap of the mundane. Putting laundry over groceries or schoolwork over personal safety was dangerous. I wouldn't make the same mistake that my bastard father did.

I let Lulu and Sarah back in, who both quickly claimed their own pieces of furniture, shedding all the way, while I grabbed a set of keys, slipped on an older pair of running shoes, and forced myself out the door.

It was muggy out. So humid, I could almost feel the hair on my head start to frizz as I took just steps out the front door. There was a group clustered outside of Kota's house. Four tall figures, standing together as one stood in front of them and gestured wildly with his hands, his hair seemed multicolored from what I could see and, whatever it was he was talking about, he was doing it with plenty of energy.

I fell into the seat of the truck and started it up, noticing the few moments it spent in limbo before finally turning over to start. I'd had that problem before, and if it kept up, I'd have to shell out even more cash to get it fixed. This car was not something I could live without.

But, it worked, and I pulled out of the driveway and turned down the street, giving the group only a passing glance as I drove by.

It wasn't a long drive to the mall. Usually, I would shop second hand and online to get better deals but I needed a bra fitting and I was unwilling to compromise when it came to the integrity of my essentials.

For a Thursday, it wasn't busy, and it only took me a moment to find a nice parking space and rush into the nice air conditioned indoors of the shopping center. My footsteps were still a bit wobbly from the fall I had taken the other day, but it no longer ached when I rolled it, and according to Sean, that was an improvement (not that he said it in so many words, instead, suggesting that we celebrate this healed injury together).

Finding Victoria's Secret quickly, I cobbled together my courage and found a saleswoman, blushing uncharacteristically as I asked for a fitting. There was just something about asking a stranger to examine the size of your chest that made me color. "Come on, sugar, you'll be fixed up in no time." The blonde woman told me as she ushered me into a fitting room.

It was an awkward twenty minutes as she measured me once, went out to grab bras (most of which were black this time), measured me again, came back with a veritable rainbow of demi bras, measured me a final time, and finally told me to pick my favorites and to meet her by the register. During this awkward encounter, I learned her name was Anne and that she thought my skin was beautiful and that she had two kids whose names had not been mentioned.