Who Is Lucas Ryker O'Riley?

27. CRISS-CROSS LACES

On our way to the shoe department, we came across the hosiery area.

Mom, in her haste to move on to our next destination, ran into me, right into my backside, when I stopped to look.

"Why did you sto-" Then she realized what I was looking at. "Oh."

"Mom? What do you think, should I get a pair of these," I asked, holding up a package of black hose.

"Or these?" I held up another package. I didn't know what either of these were specifically, other than hose and it was something females wore. I didn't know what black lace garter hose were, nor sheer silk thigh highs, the two packages I currently held up.

She hesitated. From the look on her face, I'm pretty sure she wasn't prepared for this request.

I only knew that hose, or pantyhose, as the sign over the display called them, were something girls wore when they dressed up and wanted to look nice and I genuinely wanted to know if she thought I needed a pair to go with the dresses.

Mom checked her watch, then looked in the direction of the shoe department.

"We're kind of in a hurry. We've already spent more time than I wanted, trying on clothes. It's time for us to get going. I've still got to pick up some items for a desert I'm making to take to the barbecue and we haven't even got you any shoes yet."

I dropped my gaze, put the packages back, and turned away from the display.

"Okay. Maybe next time," I told the packages of hose on the display, before slowly walking away.

When we made it to the shoe department, Mom informed me that we didn't have time to try on everything in there. We just needed to get me a couple pairs I could wear daily.

Mom then quickly found one of the shoe department's unused foot measuring instruments and checked my shoe size in women's dimensions.

I was previously a size seven in men's shoes, but found my foot to be almost a nine in womens.

Armed with this information, mom quickly picked out a pair of sporty trainers. They were similar to the shoes I normally wore except the feminine design and colors were not something someone like my brother would ever dare wear, or even I, prior to all this.

While I was trying them on Mom picked out a pair of sandals with a quarter-inch heel that, for some reason had three feet of leather laces hanging off of them.

I walked a few steps in the trainers to see how they fit and when I turned back towards mom, something caught my eye.

It was an interesting pair of high heeled boots. They were black leather, ankle cut and stylishly tough, yet unapologetically feminine boots accented with little silver buckles and a sparkly silver zipper up the back. The heels on them had to be at least three inches with a one inch platform base.

I was tempted to ask if I could try them on, but I didn't. Despite everything else we bought today, I was too embarrassed to admit I wanted those boots. I know that sounds crazy but that was how I felt.

Maybe I'll work my way up to them next time, I reassured myself.

Once I had taken the trainers off, mom handed me the sandals to try on and explained the laces were supposed to criss cross around my legs up my calves.

She helped me lace them up and I walked a few feet. When I returned, mom asked me how they felt and if I liked them.

I didn't admit to liking them I just told her they were comfortable and fit fine. She then asked me if I wanted to just keep them on and wear them home.

"Sure, I guess."

Mom put my old shoes in the box and as we headed to pay, I realized that girl's shoes seemed to fit my feet so much better than my old boy shoes.

What I didn't realize till later was that mom also slipped in a dressy pair of black suede heels.

As we headed to the car, I marveled at the overall efficiency of our shopping trip considering how much we accomplished in just over two hours of some very serious shopping.

The most important thing I took away from today's shopping adventure, was how Mom was there for me and helped me through something that would have been too unsettling for just about any teenage boy. I couldn't thank Mom enough for being there to help me through this.