The Bad Boy Calls Me Kitten

Chapter Ten

Anyone watch the FOX show Bones? 

100 shopping bags, 5 trips to the bathroom, and 4 hours later, we finally took a seat in the food court. Marie plopped her numerous bags onto the floor while I plopped myself down into one of the seats. I took a deep breath. I had imagined shopping with Marie in quite a different array of scenarios, but never did I think it would be like this.

My step-mother was completely, totally, and utterly insane.

Not only did she have an uncontrollable need to buy everything she saw, but I happened to find out she never stopped walking. Or talking. Or buying. Or squealing over little bird baths. I had to remind her an innumerable amount of times that we didn't even have a backyard. Just some dead trees and a patch of thorns from also dead roses.

She had brought at least 50 sets of dishes. And for some reason, a pack of Mandarin oranges. And I'm not talking about the fruit you eat. They were plastic oranges, for goodness sake. I mean, no one in their right freaking mind would put a bunch of plastic oranges on a coffee table. I feared to know what Marie planned on doing with them.

I also learned that she had an uncontrollable need to buy me things as well. Seriously, I had no desire to buy a cheese grater (I'll buy it from the store, thank you very much) or glittery pink heels (I'm not a stripper) or a bra with Spongebob's face in it (I may be a nerd but I liked to wear adult lingerie). In the end, I was the one who had to drag her away from buying me a whole set of bedsheets with Adam Levine's face on it.

"Ooh that was so much fun!" Marie exclaimed, sitting down across the table from me. I stared in disbelief at her. Dragging me around the entire mall while she fangirled over Adam Levine was fun? For goodness sake. I finally realized that the phrase "you never really know someone" had some truth behind it. Who knew that busy Marie had a fetish for Spongebob bras?

"Sure." I replied, still a little numb from all the walking. 

"Are you hungry? Let's get something to eat." she offered. It shocked me that her credit card wasn't overridden by now. She jumped up even before I could say anything and started walking to the food counter. I shook my head and looked around.

People, mostly teenagers, were walking around the numerous little stores on either side of the big, circular stairway that led to the first floor. There was a big, overly decorated Santa near the water fountain. Advertisements for shoes and God knows what else screamed from the colored walls. I took a deep breath. The faint smell of pizza from a nearby stand lingered in the air. All the shopping had given me a pounding headache. 

Marie returned with her arms full of food. She set down a burger and french fries in front of me, and a salad for herself. She went away again and returned with a couple bottles of soft drinks and water. I thanked her and took a bite, wincing as the salty taste of onions filled my mouth. 

Marie was saying something about going somewhere to buy something at sometime. Okay, so I wasn't really listening to her. My eye was on a bunch of girls who were taking selfies with Santa Claus.

I peered closer, trying to appear as if I was listening to Marie. She was still going off about buying matching spoons for the kitchen. My stomach did a funny twist when I realized that it was actually who I thought it was.

Let me introduce you to the Barbies.

There was one girl in the middle, laughing as she snapped picture after picture on her Iphone. The other girls, 4 of them in total, were surrounded around her. Two of them were identical twins with brown hair and brown eyes. The other one had flaming red curls and the last one had colored blue hair.