It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 4

“Which one looks better?”

I let my head fall back, banging against the wood of the small changing room stall.  Kyla had dragged me in here, informing me that I had to give her “fashion advice” whenever she put something on.  I felt suffocated in this stall—in this store as a whole.  Clothes shopping was not my thing.  But Kyla promised that we’d go to Borders, my favorite store in the world, after so I guess I could deal with this.

I sat up, turning to Kyla.  She stood in front of the finger-print covered mirror hanging from the stall’s wall, holding two practically identical T-shirts out in front of her.  The only difference was the color.  One was blue, and one was pink.  “They’re exactly the same,” I muttered, not understanding Kyla’s thought process.

“No they’re not!” Kyla exclaimed, the shirts flying out in front of her as she threw her hands out in exasperation.  “The color of a shirt means everything to a person’s figure.”

I looked down at the shirt I was wearing—a gray and white striped Tee from JC Penney—contemplating what she said.  I didn’t see how the color of a shirt meant everything to a person’s figure.  Sure, it mattered when it came to your skin tone, but did it really change how you looked figure wise?  I thought that always depended on the shirt as a whole.

“All right, genius,” I said finally, giving up on trying to understand Kyla’s logic.  “You choose which one is better for your figure.”

I let my head fall back on the wall and closed my eyes.  I’d been stuck here for over two hours, watching Kyla try on shirt after shirt with forced patience.  Now all I wanted to do was go to the bookstore.  But, as time ticked on, I began to think that I wouldn’t be able to go at all today.

“I can’t!” Kyla hissed, glaring at my reflection in the mirror.  I stared at myself, noting how worn-out I looked.  Wow.  Clothes shopping really did take its toll.  And I hadn’t even bought anything!  “They both are fine.  I need to know which one is better.”

“The pink one,” I said, randomly choosing one and pointing at it.  I hoped that she would just say okay, pick the shirt I’d chosen, and buy it so that we could leave.

“But . . . .” She bit her lip, hesitantly bringing the blue one out in front of her.

I pulled my cell phone out from my butt pocket and checked the time.  Great.  I had to be home in ten minutes.  It looked like I wasn’t getting a new book today. 

Irritated now, I snapped, “Holy hell, Kyla!  Just buy both!”

“I only have twenty more dollars,” Kyla whined, throwing her hands in the air, almost whacking herself with the shirts.  “I won’t be able to get anything else.”

I stood up, untwisting my shirt and moving my hands to hips.  I regarded her impatiently as I said, “You don’t have time to get anything else.  I have to go, and thanks to you I wasn’t able to get a single book.”

Kyla barely paid any attention to me as she brought the pink shirt in front of her again, a thoughtful look on her face.  “You already have a bunch anyway,” she murmured absently, switching shirts and tilting her head to the side.

“And you already have a bunch of clothes,” I grumbled.  I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and moved toward the stall’s door.  “I’m walking home,” I announced, pulling the stall’s door open and stepping outside.  “You’ll be here all night.”

Kyla mumbled something under her breath.  I paused for a moment, waiting for her to follow, but when realizing she was staying where she was, I pushed away from the door and stormed out of the changing room.  I moved through the racks of clothes, staring at them in disgust.  I truly hated clothes shopping.  It was the worst thing someone could ever make me do.