The Bikini Syndrome | WATTYS2019

» nine: bikini shopping

this chapter is dedicated to @KalianeSimpson
for just being so nice and for being a fan of this story

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Zara showed up at noon with her car keys in one hand and a rope in the other.

"Okay, being the magnanimous person I am, I decided to forgive you for whatever you said earlier this week. But - you owe me. And I decided to cash the favor in now."

"Okay," Holly said wryly. "First, do you even know what magnanimous means? Second, I'm not going shopping with you. I will go with you, but you will not make me buy anything."

Zara snorted. "No, you'll buy something. I'll make sure of it."

"And how are you going to do that?" Holly said, even as she was putting on her shoes.

"I," Zara declared, switching the rope for a credit card, "am going to buy something for you. And being the goody-two-shoes you are, you will be obligated to take it - or pay me back. Either way, I get what I want."

"You're so devilish," Holly said with a roll of her eyes.

"And proud." Zara beamed and practically pushed Holly into the passenger seat. "You can't change your mind now."

"I wouldn't," Holly muttered under her breath. "You'd tie me up."

If her friend could have cackled, perhaps she would've. But instead, she slammed the drivers' door shut and drove to the mall with a self-satisfied smirk.

"So," Zara asked, her eyes not entirely on the road, "you've been MIA lately because of your new job. What is it?"

"Cafe by the Sea."

"Oh, that place! Maybe I should stop by with Kaya and the others, huh?"

"No, no, no," Holly said, out of a kind of defensiveness rather than mortification. She didn't really want to share Oliver with anyone else. It wasn't like he was hers, that wasn't it. But she knew that her friends would never let it up if she introduced him to them. They would continually bother her about him, and tease her about him, because after all, old friends were supposed to tease you about cute boys.

"There's a boy." Zara stated after a moment.

"And what if there is?"

Zara smiled coyly. "Oh, Ho-ho, what have you been hiding?"

She snorted. "Nothing of that, you slut."

Zara took a hand off the wheel and placed it on her chest, looking mock offended. "Me?"

Holly sighed and forcefully placed her friend's hand back on the wheel. "Please, I don't want to die."

"As if. I'm a careful driver."

They made it to the mall (thankfully in one piece and without a traffic ticket) and Zara practically dragged Holly to every possible swimwear store, specifically the ones that had bikinis on prominent display.

Holly wouldn't have admitted - ever - but it was kind of fun. Just a little. For a moment, she could pretend that she was skinny and gorgeous and could wear any of the swimsuits and strut out on the beach like she owned it.

Obviously, when she looked in the mirror, the fantasy was replaced immediately by the 5'5", tannish, red-brown haired girl that looked back at her. She had curves in the all the wrong places, wrinkles or small little bumps that looked like permanent goosebumps.

She almost shattered the mirror in her frustration and anger at herself. But she managed to hold herself in one piece and hand all the bikinis Zara had tossed at her back to the skinny, judgmental sales assistant.

"None of them?" Zara asked, obviously disappointed after they'd walked out of the fifth store that afternoon.

Holly shook her head. "Just admit it, Zara, I don't look good in bikinis."

"No, you look gorgeous in them."

"No, I-"

Before Holly could finish, Zara grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her to the a display window for a small store she'd never heard of before.

Angel Wings, the flashing baby blue sign declared.

"Wha-"

"Shhh," Zara hushed her, voice reverent. "That teal bikini...it would look fantastic on you."

It was a very magnificent bikini - it was a strapless top with a silver hoop for a clasp at the back, and the bottom seemed decent enough, without any unnecessary frills or empty air in spots that should have fabric.

Holly was very surprised to find out that she wanted it.

"We're buying it," Zara said, as if she were reading her mind.

"No, we're not."

"Yes, we are!"

"No, we're not!"

Zara rolled her eyes and walked into the store. "I hold the credit card," she said in a sing-song voice.