So... Shopping had never been fun for me. I was a very petite girl who apparently had gotten the wrong size of hips, resulting in me not ever fitting into the petite sizes nor the 'normal' ones. I don't know which god had been drunk while they made me, but I was annoyed.
Kissy had no issues. She was the same size as the mannequins, so she barely had to try things on before deciding if she wanted to buy something. She had these long killer legs and basically a body everyone would kill to get.
"How about this? I bet it would look so good with your skin tone," she said enthusiastically and held out a nice yellow shirt for me.
"I don't know..." I muttered. I hadn't ever worn flashy stuff before.
The most flashy thing about me was my afro and I only had that because I was too afraid to go into a salon. I had been once and it had been mortifying. They didn't know what to do with my hair. Didn't even know how to comb it. Ever since that occurrence, my mum had been in charge of what happened to my hair. She would twist it, braid it, flatten it or something completely different. But ever since she had died, I had done nothing with it besides putting a bandana over it when I went to sleep and occasionally comb it.
"Hey Kissy?" I started fingering one of the curls, spinning it around my finger.
"Hmm-mmh?" she murmured under her breath, while she looked very seriously at a leather jacket, she'd look amazing in.
"Do you know how to braid hair?"
She tore her eyes off the offending jacket and settled them on me. "Yes. Why?"
"Could you maybe braid my hair when we get home?"
"Of course I can!" she chirped happily. "I braid my own all the time. I used to go to this amazing salon back in New York. I'll take you there when we go. It can't be long now. I think we're going to visit Mitra, one of Tec and Frej's old friends. He has some awesome parties."
I loved Kissy so much. She was everything I had ever wanted in a friend. She didn't even ask why I didn't just go to a salon to get my hair sorted out. She just changed the subject to something else. Maybe she knew it was awkward for me to talk about, or maybe she just wanted to talk about New York. Who knows really? I was just grateful she never made me feel weird.
We continued into another store that would've made me turn on my heel and march right out again back in my previous life. I did not have money for clothes like these. At all. But Kissy had a credit card so we had no worries, she said.
A nice green dress caught my eyes and I gently ran my fingers over the fabric. It was soft and not too flashy.
"Do you want to try it on, miss?" the clerk asked in a flat accent.
"Please," I said with a low voice and followed her to the dressing room.
I hurried to slip it on and removed the curtain so the clerk could help me with sizing. Of course I needed a smaller size, but as soon as I put it on, I knew I was gonna buy it. I actually thought I looked good in it. It extenuated everything that was good about my body.
"Oh Aura, you have to get that!" Kissy squealed.
"I'm gonna," I said and ran my hands over my hips. "It's nice."
"So nice. And look at that back too."
I turned and the back was nice. It was open but then covered with lace so it wasn't fully open. I liked how it was modest but didn't make me look a nun. And the sleeves covered up the scars on my wrists too. It was perfect.
"I'm definitely getting it." I nodded at Kissy and she clapped happily. How this girl didn't get exhausted from being so super bubbly all the time was a mystery to me.
Kissy was right. We went to New York, this time in a private jet sent to Copenhagen by Tec's friend. He apparently had all kinds of resources at his disposal and he was more than happy to lend Tec a bit of them.
"Why don't we get one of these?" Frej asked and slumped down in his seat, taking a sip of his champagne.
"Because Frej, I do not have unlimited funds, believe it or not. Though considering the girls' shopping trip, it seems more are under the impression that I do." Tec sent us a dark look.
Okay, so we had maybe gone a little overboard with the shopping. But in fairness and in my defence, I had no clothes. Tec hadn't let me take any of my own from my flat back home in London. So it was his own fault really.
The flight wasn't too long and we all slept through it. The windows could be completely covered so we wouldn't get burned by the sun. The pilots and stewardesses were all servants so they knew about us and what we were. Especially that we were not to be disturbed.
When we landed it was early evening, but the sun had already gone down enough for us to safely venture around.
Tec had a penthouse apartment in the middle of Manhattan with rooms for all of us. It was beautifully decorated in a modern style. Black leather couches, dark hardwood floors and a stainless steel kitchen. Lamps that resembled contemporary art more than lamps hung from the ceiling, and there was a massive curved TV in the living room. There was even a library in this ridiculous place. One I couldn't wait to explore.
Dawid and I shared a room, one that used to be only his. He had been allowed to decorate it himself too. It was very minimalistic with light grey walls, a few abstract paintings. But the best was the floor to ceiling windows taking up a whole wall. We were on the 43'd floor so looking down made me nauseous in the most thrilling way. There was a bathroom adjoined to the room with a bath in a weird design. It kind of looked like this fruit bowl as it wasn't attached to the wall, but centred in the middle of the room. I was so avoiding that thing.
The shower had one of those rain shower heads attached to the ceiling, so I was in seventh heaven. That was the nicest shower I had ever seen. The bathroom was black tiled and beautifully simple, just like Dawid's room.
"Your room is really cool," I said when both Dawid and I were by the window.
"Do you want me to turn the heating up?" he asked and pointed to the thermostat on the wall.
"No," I laughed and draped my arms around his neck. "'Cool' as in it's a nice room."
"Oh... English is stupid."
I laughed again and nodded as he bent down and kissed me.
"Are you ready for the party tomorrow? We can stay home if you want." Dawid pulled back, his eyes on my mouth.
"No, I wanna go. Frej says the host is very nice."
"He is but... He's a little eccentric. Both he and his wife are. So just... Relax." He grimaced a bit and let go of me, taking out the hearing aids, getting ready for bed.
I followed him and tapped his shoulder, making sure he knew I was talking to him. He turned back towards me while he zipped his jumper down.
"When don't I relax?" I asked and tipped my head to the side.
Dawid chuckled and shook his head. "You're the least relaxed person I know."
"Well, that's not a nice thing to say," I muttered and pouted. I walked over to my bag, pulling out my night clothes and threw them on the bed.
Dawid didn't respond but just threw his shirt on the floor. The sound processor was the next to go, but at least he didn't throw that. He put it on the night stand next to his side of the bed and then slipped his jeans off.
I had in the meantime gotten ready myself and went to the bathroom to brush my hair and my teeth. We didn't have to brush our teeth since tooth decay for us wasn't a thing, but it was a hard habit to break. I couldn't fall asleep without my mouth tasting of mint.
I tied my hair up under the bandanna and jumped into bed with my boyfriend. He curled his arms around me and kissed my cheek.
"You look so cute with that on your head."
I laughed. "It's to keep it from tangling during the night."
"Why didn't you wear it before?"
"Uhm... It's not really that... Sexy."
Dawid arched his brow at me. "I don't care." He shrugged a shoulder.
"Hey, I just wanna look pretty for you."
He smiled very widely then and kissed my forehead. "You look very sexy with it."
I snorted and snuggled closer. With his arms around me, I fell into a very deep sleep.