A Newfound Home - Adopted by Josh Dun

Five

V I C T Ø R I A
We went into Hollister and I started looking at jeans.

He disappeared somewhere in the store and I found some skinny jeans that were a size smaller than the ones I had.

The orphanage only provided clothing once a year and Mrs. Payne tended to get sizes wrong. She got close enough with mine last fall, but everything was still a size too big for me.

Shoes were never provided, so I've had the same pairs since 7th grade.

I eventually found more jeans and started browsing the men's hoodies since the girl ones looked like trash.

Josh returned and had some shirts and jeans.

"I found jeans." He smiled and handed me the shirts.

"These jeans are for me. You're not the only one getting new clothes, Tori." Oh.

He disappeared and I wandered around until I ran into a guy by mistake.

"Sorry," I mumbled out and glanced up at him.

He was staring me up and down.

"How're you doing, hot stuff?" I rolled my eyes and shot him a smile.

"If you're wanting a girl to bang, maybe check Tinder, pig." I shoved past him and reunited with Josh.

He paid for our items and we left the store, heading straight for another.

We ended up walking by Victoria's Secret and before Josh could get in a word, I shook my head.

"I'm not going in there. I'll find stuff somewhere else." He gave me a thumbs up and we continued.

We eventually found our way to Hot Topic and I practically ran inside.

When I was in a foster home a few years ago, the family lived just a few blocks away, so their teens and I would bike over and I'd spend my entire allowance just in Hot Topic.

Typical, I know.

The girl at the register welcomed me and told me about their sale on jewelry and anime stuff, but those weren't on my mind.

Band merch.

I browsed the shirts and pulled out the ones I wanted.

Bring Me The Horizon, Paramore, Falling In Reverse, All Time Low, and I found a couple of good ones in the clearance.

Josh finally joined me inside and grabbed a blink-182 shirt, handing it to me.

"Why?" I lifted it up and took a look at it.

"You don't find stuff like that anymore. Grab it while you can." I smiled softly and we finished our shopping.

I felt like we had enough, but Josh said we had one more stop to go.

We walked into Journey's and he faced me.

"Go crazy, kid. Pick what you want." I hesitated, glancing down at my shoes.

He gently nudged me towards the shoes and I looked around, trying on different pairs and figuring out my size.

I tried to decide between Doc Martens, converse, and a pair of red vans.

I picked out the converse and handed them to Josh to pay for them.

He shot me an odd look and grabbed my hand, going back to the vans.

"I said go crazy. You can pick out whatever pairs you want. One isn't enough, trust me." He grabbed the box of vans I liked and the docs.

I ended up with four pairs of converse, three pairs of vans, the docs, and a pair of Nike sneakers.

We left the mall, heading home with way too many bags in my opinion.

"Thanks," I finally spoke after several minutes of silence. "I really appreciate you doing this." Josh beamed and looked at me.

"I know you needed these things. We'll make sure to get you some school supplies and a phone before too long."

I wasn't going to disagree with him.

I knew I was going to need a phone at some point, especially with school coming up.

We enjoyed the rest of the car ride and we brought in everything, dumping it on the living room floor.

He took his items and helped me carry the rest of them up to my room and I spent the rest of the day putting them away.