Chapter Four

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“I can’t believe that you don’t even own one pair of jeans…”

He was making fun of her.  Sure, it was only playful teasing, but that didn’t mean it did not make her blush anyway.  So she did not own a pair of jeans?  What was the big deal?  It was a rare occasion that she wore anything more than leggings, leotards and sweaters, so that is what made up most of her wardrobe.  For the few times that she wore something else, she had a few dresses for fancier occasions and maybe a skirt or two.  She’d had the same ones for the better part of five years and they still weren’t worn looking, if that said anything of often she used them. 

“I don’t wear jeans…” Her voice was quiet as her eyes peered just over the curtain which she was standing behind while she changed out of her leotard and leggings and into the pair of jeans that the sales girl helped her pick out.  Sage had to push herself all the way onto the tip of her toes before she could see over it and just as quickly as her eyes had made contact with his, she was hiding again. 

“I barely get out of leotards, much less into anything else…” She sighed softly as she glanced at herself in the mirror.  She slipped her hands in between the hem of the jeans and her body and pulled them outward to reveal the empty space.  Just as quickly as she had stopped talking, she let out a loud sigh before saying, “They're too big.”

“What?!”  The sales girl’s reaction startled Sage enough to make her jump.  Pulling open the curtain slightly, she peered through it at the both them, allowing for only one of her eyes to be seen. 

“Come out here,” Dominic said as she pushed himself into a standing position.  Quickly, Sage pulled the curtain closed again, hiding behind it once more like she was in the safety of a sanctuary.  It took her several moments before she finally did pull the curtain open enough that she could walk through it.  And, she almost did not get past that curtain without having to grab the top of the jeans in order to prevent them from falling.  Dominic wrapped his hand lightly around her elbow and dragged her slowly over to a mirror that was only a few feet from where they were now standing.  Positioning himself behind her, he slipped carefully released her hands from their grip on the denim pants, before slipping the index and middle fingers of both of his hands through two of the belt loops. 

Pulling them outward in the same fashion that she had moments before, his eyes grew a bit wide as he saw the result.  They were too big alright and not simply a little too big, more like there was inches of space in between her flesh and the material of the pants.  That was without any forceful pulling at all.

“Oh my God…” The sales girl was horrified.  She even went so far as to bend down to get a closer look before glancing up at the two of them with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.  “Those pants are already in children’s sizes.  If we go down many more sizes, they aren’t going to be long enough for her…”

It took another forty-five minutes, two drops in jeans sizes and three attempts at sizing tops before the two were finally on their way and Sage still did not know where they were going.  Dominic had managed to thwart any of her attempts to get him to tell her without much trying.  After all, she wasn’t very pushy so if he didn’t tell her, then she really didn’t ask any further.   By the time they got back into his car, she decided to wait it out and find out where they were going once they got there.  Not knowing didn’t help her nerves any, but knowing probably wouldn’t have done much good either.  They certainly didn’t subside after they arrived and Dominic led her towards a rather shoddy looking building.

Really, it was like a scene from a darker version of “Pretty Woman” or something - a girl willingly walking into a dark alleyway alone with a guy that, really, she didn’t know very well.  The people standing in the shadows, against stone walls, were staring at her as she walked – again, the attention proved unwelcomed.  Her instincts told her that this might not end so well, but they also told her to trust Dominic.  He’d been candid and even “protective” of her so far, why would this be any different?  Why would he knowingly bring her into a place that could be dangerous?  Even after only knowing him for two days, Sage didn’t think that he would do something like that yet it still didn’t calm her nervous completely.

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