Culinaria L'amore

Culinaria L'amore Chapter Ten

I laughed at his comment as he opened up the shotgun door for me. Then he closed the door and opened up his side, sliding in easily. "Sorry 'bout the chew toys and the dog smell. Goldie is very spoiled."

"It's fine." I muttered, just happy with not having to drive a fancy Audi.

"Now tell me Kirsten, where are we off too. And why do you need to go shopping?"

I twisted my purity ring around my finger nervously as I stared at the trees passing at a high speed, even though we were still on the long driveway. "Um well you see - slow down Toben you'll hit the trash can!-, Garrett did a very kind favor for me the other day and I have to repay him and he suggested my debt be paid by him taking me out to dinner." Toben's eyebrows raised and for a second he looked really angry so I quickly added, "it's weird though cause I don't consider it as a debt payment."

Toben seemed more distracted than before and I could just see his brain thinking hard as he replied, "I'm sure it's nothing, Kirsten. Now which color would look better on you? Purple or red? Guess we'll have to try on both."

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"Kirsten, look at this one? Wouldn't it match your eyes? Or this one. No no too Christmassy." Was the first few words Toben muttered as we entered Macy.

"Hey, hey, calm down Toben. We have an hour. Chill. No need to run around grabbing all the dresses..... never mind then."

I sighed as Toben came back with ten dresses of all kinds under a minute. "Um, wouldn't you like to know what shoes I have before you take everything off the racks? Because I'm pretty sure blue shoes wouldn't match with a green dress. Am I right?"

Toben's eyes went wide. "Blue shoes? Why didn't you say so. Oh my god this won't work, this defint-"

"Toben, Toben, I never said they were blue. They're actually gold, strappy ones. Three inches and they crisscross at the toes."

The relief was so evident on his face -and comical- that I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well in that case," Toben muttered, "Have fun trying all of these on."

Fifty minutes later, after zipping up countless dresses, dome rather skanky and some too formal for my tastes, Toben was getting frantic and overly distressed. "We still haven't found the bombshell one yet! What are we going to do? All of these don't match with your complextion and eye color."

Then, as I wearily looked around the numerous racks, I spotted it. Hanging from a clearance rack, the purple dress easily caught my eye. The front of the dress criss-crossed in gold and purple over onto my back, which was nicely covered. The material was loosly hanging down, tied by a gold band under the breast area, and had gold beading on the bottom hem which glittered in the light. The dress seemed to stop at the knees which was just perfect, not slutty in the least bit.

"Toben, what about this one?" I asked, holding it up for him to inspect. He stopped his rant just enough to stare at the dress before going silent.

After a few seconds he muttered, "maybe you didn't need me to come with you. It's stunning. The gold brings out the purple and your heels and also helps the gold flecks in your green eyes stand out. The purple matches with your tan complexion and will look amazing with your straight black hair. Speaking of your hair..."

Suddenly, I found myself agreeing to him doing my hair tomorrow, like some abused Barbie forced to have a toddler's sticky hands mess with her hair.

As we sat in the car driving back to the mansion, me exhausted from arguing to pay for my own outfit and losing, Toben suddenly blurted out, "Did Garrett tell you why he wanted to take you out for dinner? I mean, you're hot for a girl, Kirsten, but isn't it weird that he's been such a jerk and all of a sudden want to take you out?"