Old Friends and New Territores

Part 3

It had been three weeks since Y/n told Matthew about her home life. While he was supportive at the time, Y/n had feared that he would eventually get tired of the drama. But to her surprise, their friendship had only gotten stronger. He would often ask her how everything was going and if she was ok. If he saw a new bruise he would ask if she wanted to talk about it or if he could help somehow. He had even asked if she wanted him to ask his mom for help. She had told him no, that she didn't want to get any other adults involved. Part of Y/n was worried that people would look down on her mother or that her and Benny would be taken away and separated. When she shared her fears with him, he had promised everything would stay between them.

Matthew had become the brightest part of her day. If she had a bad evening, the thought of seeing Matthew in the morning kept her positive and pushed away the depression and fear. She looked forward to every moment they got to spend together. He was truly her best friend, but to her, he was much more. Y/n had, had crushes before, but they were always from a far. It was different with Matthew. She spent so much time with him and he already knew so much about her. The problem was that he had never given her any indication that he liked her more than a friend. She often wondered if it was because she dressed like a boy in loose baggy clothing. Maybe it was time to reevaluate her wardrobe and see what happened.

Which is why, when Matthew told her he had to go to the orthodontist after school, Y/n talked her mom into getting her a couple new items of clothing. Maybe she could find something a little more form fitting, but not too girly. She would never be into frills and pink, but it wouldn't hurt to actually have some feminine articles of clothing. Maybe then he would notice her and see her as a girl and not just his friend.

When they walked into the department store, Y/n's mom headed straight for the boy's section, while Y/n lingered near the teen girl's section at the front of the store. When her mom realized she wasn't following, she gave Y/n an annoyed face and said, "Come on we don't have all day."

"I know, I was just thinking that maybe we could look over here," she said, indicating to the girl's section.

Her mom turned and looked at her with confusion and asked, "You do realize those are the girl's clothes, right?"

Looking nervously between the clothing section and her mother, Y/n nodded her head and answered her with a question, "Umm... yeah?"

Then an idea visibly went off in her mother's head and she pinned Y/n with a knowing smile.

"Is this little shopping trip because of your new friend down the road?" her mother asked teasingly.

Blushing, Y/n rolled her eyes, and walked into the clothing section as she whined, "Nooo. He is just my friend. Gross."

Her mother, just quietly chuckled and asked, "So what kinds of things are you looking for? I'm guessing nothing too girly, right?"

"Right," Y/n said looking through the different racks, "Maybe some t-shirts that don't hang off of me. A pair of girls pants and maybe some shorts."

"That sounds do-able. How about this?" her mom asked, holding up a baby doll t-shirt that said Nirvana on its front.

"Yes! I love it! This is cool," she said holding up a cute black and white checkered short sleeve button up.

"What about this?" Benny asked, smiling while holding up a pink shirt with a unicorn on the front.

"Ewww, gag. No way BenBen. Put that back," Y/n said, scrunching her face up in disgust.

By time they made their way out of the dressing room, she had picked out six tops, two pairs of pants, two shorts, and even a denim skirt.

On the drive home, Y/n sat up front with her mother, while Benny was in the back seat with headphones and his iPad. Her mom had been pretty quiet since they had left the mall. Y/n could sense her mother wanted to talk to her about something by the way she kept giving her sideway glances and looking back to make sure Benny was preoccupied. She just hoped it wasn't going to be the sex talk because she was good. She was taught all the important basics in school last year.