About Time - a summer novel

TWO

The next day  was spent with a trip with one of my sisters and my mom to the city nearby to get the last things that were still needed or had to be restocked for the big vacation. It wasn't like you couldn't go shopping there, yet in our hometown this matter was a lot cheaper. 

I had already packed almost everything in my favorite lightblue suitcase and i was lucky enough everything fit in there, but mom wanted to get a few more summer clothes for my younger sister and herself. As my hand ran through the different soft and flowy fabrics of dresses, the store music started playing a very summer fitting song that a hadn't heard in a while, yet I started humming along to the melody of 'Surfing USA' and my thoughts drifted off to the place I'd be back at in just about two days. 

Actually, when I thought about it, surfing would be great to do again. Or maybe a boat trip again with my friends Lee and Fen. Lee's dad had had a boat last summer so why not use that one again? Sailing out to the sea on a hot summer morning and just being on the boat for the whole day, having a picnic and going swimming, tanning on deck and reading and chatting while listening to the summer vacation playlist us three girls had made sounded like a great idea to me. I texted in the groupchat, waiting for a response from my two friends while strolling through the store. It had second hand clothes, beautiful and old and in my head therefore something special and unique.

 My hands ran through the fabrics- some  warm and soft, others colder and smoother and the clothing varied from silk over cotton to satin or linen. 

"You found somethin?" mom appeared on my left, a bunch of clothes hanging over her arm "Nah, not yet.. can i go look for some things to try on though ?" "Sure honey, Lizzy and i will try on some stuff too" she respondet, showing me a blush pink dress for my little sister who, right now, was standing in front of the clothing racks with colorful t-shirts for younger children- such as her- a few meters away. "Cute" i exclaimed "i'll go look around some more, i'm sure i'll find something". As my mom grabbed Lizzy's hand and turned around to walk away to the dressing rooms with her, something caught my eye.

Although at first inconspicuous looking, the steel blue dress hanging inbetween the others instantly had me falling in love with it just from getting a short glance of it so far. The material felt neither particularly cold nor warm under my touch as I pulled it out inbetween the other clothes- soft yet definitely more durable than the other dresses hanging around and to my surprise it felt heavier than expected, but still light enough for it to be a comfortable summer dress. 

I couldn't think of the name for the material but I was already as sure as i could be about it being my new favorite dress to wear. It was about knee lenght with a V-cut in the front, a deep cut back and thin spagetti straps. I took the dress and hanger from the rack to try it on. My hands wandered through the other clothes, picking out a long and through the holes in the pattern airy, cream colored crochet dress and some big boy pants and two little vintage looking shirts. I made my way to the dressing rooms, already hearing mom and Lizy chattering. On the way there i stopped at the headwear section, picking out a blue cap made out of jeans material with the words 'Saint-Pierre' embroidered and a cowboy hat- just for the fun of trying both of them on. 

In the cabin i started with putting on the pants and shirts. I took the clothes I was wearing today off, looking at myself in the mirrors reflection. No tanlines yet, neither marks and leftovers of sunburns. Just my birthmarks and the sun-shaped stick and poke tattoo on my chest my friends and i got last year. 

On a warm evening we had hidden in Fen's room and Lee had brought ink and needles to fulfill this back then at our age still illegal procedure. I remember we'd drank some stronger alcohol from my parents liquor collection, turned on the TV and put on a old 90s movie to cover up all noise made by us giggling and sqeaking in the small amounts of pain we got from the little pokes caused from the needle sinking in our skins again and again. In the dim light, I had been the fist to get tattooed. Laying down on the carpet, bare chested and a bit dizzy when Lee started giving me the tattoo, kissing my stomach to symbolically ease the pain as she was done. 

She was right after me, and finally it had been Fen's turn. Would they still have theirs when i see them ? I'm probably going to find out when we go swimming next time or something like that. 

Reveling in memories I changed my top again and decided to go for both the blue and orange shirts to keep. Next up was the crochet dress and although its crocheted pattern felt a bit strange on my skin at first I spun in it like a ballerina in front of the cabins mirror, deciding on keeping it and wearing it as a statement piece at the beach as soon as possible.

And then there was the other dress. It seemed to shine a bit as i put it on, my back turned to the mirror. And when I finally turned around I couldn't stop smiling.

It looked beatiful on me-  and i would go as for as saying i looked gorgeous. It looked good on my body, accentuating my waist  with its more narrow cut in that place and softly falling over my hips down to the middle of my thighs. 

Again I spun in front of the mirror, enchanted by it's look and the one it gave me. Stepping outside of the cabin to show my mom, Lizzy noticed me first, running over to me and telling me that I looked like an 'amazing-mermaid-fairy-princess'. I laughed at her words, picked her up and hugged her. "Oh dear, you look amazing !" I heard my mother exclaim when she came around the corner. "We'll get that one for sure- have you found anythin' else though?" "Some pants, hats nd shirts, yea. And I absolutely love the dress too." I told her, still smiling.

 I wandered through the stored for a bit longer, picking out another pair of pants, some sunglasses and a skirt to try on before changing back in my actual clothes again, my mom paying for the clothes and taking us to get some ice cream. I got even more excited for the trip- and of course for my girls.