Chapter 16: Victoria's Secret

I almost fell asleep on the rest of the car ride, but right before I was about to, Brenda called Mason complaining about how he doesn't love her because he didn't call her today yet.

It's literally eight in the morning here.

I saw Odeletta roll her eyes as the sound of Brenda squealing at Mason.

His phone wasn't even on speaker and the entire car could hear her.

We went to her Aunt Rosalie's old house to find somebody else living in it, so they drove to Odeletta's old house, which they still own because it's paid off.

When we pull into the driveway, a beautiful blonde women sits on the porch in cutoff denim shorts and a plain white t-shirt.

The moment the car is stopped, Odeletta is running across the yard to the woman, who stands up in time to catch her for a hug. When they pull apart, Odeletta is crying and so is the woman.

"You guys can get out." Her Dad, Josh, says.

We all get out and stay back, watching the tear-filled reunion.

It's lovely to see all of them together and it makes me want to go home to Ohio even more than before.

I can't wait until May.

_____

So they all went in the house and we went with them.

It's run down, clearly abandoned. There's a thick layer of dust over everything, but they're talking still, looking around for things they want to keep.

"Let's not take anything." Josh decides. "A fresh start, you know?"

"Sure." Adelaide smiles as Rosalie nods in agreement.

"Do you want anything from your room?" Rosalie asks Odeletta.

"I'm scared to go in there." She admits.

"So take Nathan with you." Adelaide smiles at me. Odeletta just looks at me.

"Will you?" She asks. I nod, following her to a shut bedroom door.

I open it for her.

Everything is covered in dust, but I can see the pink walls, the purple bedspread on her unmade bed.

There's little dolls in a basket on the floor, her dresser drawers are left open, her closet shut. There's a soft purple curtain over the window, and things of perfume and lotion on her dresser.

On her desk, there's a Ariel lamp, a notebook, a school textbook, and a backpack.

She stands outside the door, and everyone in the living room is watching.

"Are you going in?" I ask her softly.

She looks conflicted, so I gently move in the bedroom and hold my hand out to her.

She looks down at it, and then carefully takes it. I tug her into the bedroom.

She steps in carefully, looking around.

Her eyes roam the contents of the room, and she immediately walks over to her bed. She pulls the comforter back, coughing when a puff of dust comes up she picks up a small blanket

It's a white knitted blanket with purple around the edges. She clutches it to her chest, tears in her eyes.

I don't ask her about it, I let her reminisce, she opens her closet and gets a box off the shelf in there, opening it. I peer over her shoulder. Her jewelry box.

She grabs random articles of clothing, random things from her bed, from under her bed, from her closet. She sets them on the floor and walks out of the bedroom.

A moment later she comes back with a suitcase. She puts all of the things in there, putting the crochet blanket on the top.

_____

When we got back to Colorado, I couldn't wait to get home and see my Mom, but I was sad when I realized I wouldn't see Odeletta every day.

I really like Harper. She's funny and her and Odeletta get along really well. I suppose I would consider her a friend.

So we get to the apartment after leaving the airport.

When we walk in the door, Mom is making dinner.

She turns around when she hears the front door shut.

I walk straight into the kitchen.

"You guys are home!" She smiles.

I pull her into a hug.

She lets out a noise of surprise before hugging me back.

"Nate, sweetie, what's wrong?" She asks.

After nearly a minute, I pull away.

"I'm sorry, Mommy." I say, expecting to hear Mason, who is now standing in the kitchen, to laugh at me for calling her Mommy, but he doesn't. "I cried for over an hour in a bathroom in a restaurant my second night there because the people to be executed were Odeletta's parents, and back when she was here I told her she probably never talks to her Mom. That's why she slapped me those few weeks ago, and I realized how horrid I've been. So I'm going to try, okay? I want to be the person that you raised me to be."

"Okay." She says gently. "I'm proud of you, Nathan."

I smile.

_____

"Ask her!" Harper hisses, shoving me towards the door to the café exit. Today is our third day back at class and me, Mason, Harper, Odeletta and kind of Brenda have formed this best friend group and it's great. It's really fun. We have so much fun here. We got out of our classes and after this we're going to the mall. Brenda is here, watching as I cringe at the exit to the café. Odeletta went outside to call her Mom back. She seems so much happier. She's still sassy, but I never realized how hilarious she was. Her humor reminds me of her Dad, but her looks remind me of her Mom.

Her parents are great people, very funny, and her Aunt Rosalie is really sweet and gentle. She gets on great with her Mom. She's given us the privilege of calling her Odette since Odeletta is a mouthful

I mean, come on oh-dee-le-tah is a lot to say.

Odette is much easier.

Everyone at the table knows I have a thing for her, and next Wednesday is Valentine's Day, and all three of them are trying to convince me to go out there and ask her on a date, but I can't.

"Pussy!" Harper says, putting her hands around her mouth. Brenda looks at her.

"That's rude." She says. She looks at me. "It's okay, Natalie." She smiles a sickly sweet smile at me. "I'm sure Odeletta will say yes."

"Don't call me Natalie." I say.

Brenda is the only one that Odette never told her to call her Odette.

"Hurry, before she comes inside!" Harper says after shooting an annoyed glance at Brenda. I fight a laugh. Her and Odette are practically best friends already and nobody likes Brenda. She's annoying.

I nod and start to get up, but the door to the café opens and Odette walks in. They all groan and I sit back down, cringing.

"You coward!" Harper hisses.

Odette sits down in her seat, sipping her drink loudly.

"Who was on the phone?" Mason asks.

"My mother." She says.

"What did she want?" Harper asks.

"She's trying to convince me to sell my motorcycle and buy a car."

"You can't." I blurt. She looks at me with a humorous look on her face.

"Why not?"

"Because you're motorcycle girl!" I exclaim. "And you can't be that without the bike!"

"I know, but she thinks I am going to get killed. I told her I have been riding them since I was eighteen, but she does not care. So...I politely told her no, and then she started getting mad and yelling at me in French, and then my Dad started yelling at her in French for treating me like a twelve year old, and then Aunt Rosalie started trying to Calm everyone down..." she rubs her temples. "Ils sont putain ennuyeu." She grumbles. We all stare at her, confused. She looks at our confused faces and then laughs. "Have you guys learned anything from French class?" She asks.

"I learned how to stop an execution." Mason pipes up.

"I learned how to scream at people in English and frighten them." Harper laughs.

"I'm not in French class." Brenda grumbles.

"I learned how to kiss." I say.

She just looks at me and laughs, sipping her drink.

"So everyone learned from me." She says. "Ils sont putain ennuyeu means they are fucking annoying." She smiles.

"Putain is fuck?" I ask.

"Putain is fucking." She corrects. "Merde is fuck."

"Are we going to go to the mall?" Brenda snaps, causing everyone to look at her. She looks annoyed that she isn't included in French.

"Sure." Odette trails off, looking annoyed.

I've taken to picking up Odette for class, and for work when I can, but today I picked up Harper too and I drove Mason and Brenda so my car is full.

"Do you miss your Mom?" Harper asks when we all head towards my car.

"She hasn't left yet." I frown, looking at her.

"Well is she going to?" Mason blurts. "I'm sorry, I know why she's here, and I love your Mom like my own, but..." he trails off. "I'm sorry, never mind."

"She will leave eventually." I say."She's been here a month already. I'm sure she misses me Dad."

"Do you miss your Dad?" Odette wonders.

"Yeah. I miss him. I miss my sister lot, and my brother."

She nods, frowning.

"I know the feeling." She says.

We all pile into my car, Mason getting the front seat, and head to the mall.

The moment we get in, Brenda clings to her Gucci purse for dear life, marching off, leading the way.

She's so inconsiderate. She didn't even ask where anybody else wanted to go.

She dragged us through Bath and Body Works, Hollister, Papaya, Wet Seal, and me and Mason just kind of followed aimlessly. Harper and Odette stayed together and Brenda kept Mason with her in stores, so I just trailed awkwardly with Odette and Harper.

On the bright side, I'm not third wheeling.

We've gone to so many stores, and the only reason I find myself going into some of them is because of Odette.

She hasn't asked me to come in or stay with her.

When we reach Victoria's Secret, I stop outside.

Everyone looks at me expectantly. Brenda and Mason smile knowingly.

"Are you going to come in?" Odette frowns.

"Uh..." I start rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. "No...." I trail off.

"Please?" She begs. "Come in. Please? It's not that bad. Please? Will you come in?"

I feel myself caving. I glance up at the logo, cringing.

"If you insist." I grumble.

"'I'm not going to go with you while your bubbly Barbie girlfriend picks out hot pink thongs. I'll never go into Victoria's Secret, even if I got a wife and she wanted to go in. I'll sit there and play temple run.'" Brenda says in a manly voice.

Mason begins making whipping sounds with his mouth. Odette is still standing there with Harper

"Shut the fuck up." I snap at Mason. I punch him in the shoulder as hard as I can. He stops, wincing. "Ass." I mutter, and I look at Odeletta expectantly.

"You don't have to go in..." she trails.

"I'll just go in." I mumble.

She smiles.

"Okay, come on." She leads the way this time.

I take a deep breath, forcing myself into the pink nightmare.

All over, there's photos of women in black and white in their underwear or their bras. The floor is black and sparkly. The walls match. The and the PINK section of the store has pink walls and the floor is white and sparkly.

Odette, Harper, and Brenda run straight for the underwear, and I look anywhere but at them.

But everywhere I look, there's a fucking bra, or some sort of panty, or some lacy strappy thing.

There's so many teenagers in here that are Julian's age, but female. There's women my Mom's age in here. I glance down at Odette. She's crouched in front of drawers, and I immediately notice her black lacy thong peeking out of her jeans.

Fuck, that's attractive.

Mason elbows my arm. I snap my eyes from Odeletta's ass and his face.

"You're staring." He mutters.

I decide to just stare at the floor, but I notice some guy staring at Odeletta's ass, and I feel myself getting angry.

Why the fuck is he staring at her ass? That's my ass!

I clench my jaw, watching him look at her like a piece of meat, and she's so gorgeous, her and Brenda discussing underwear and laughing and he's just fucking standing there staring.

Mason notices too, and I feel him looking at me.

I reach down and grab Odette's hand, tugging her to her feet.

She looks at me and starts to move back to the underwear and her conversation, distracted, but I tug at her. She looks at me.

"What is wrong?" She asks.

Her lips look so full and soft and that guy is looking at her and then at me as if I'm her brother, and the more I think about the way he looks at her, the angrier I get.

I mean, who the fuck does he think he is, looking at my girl like she's a piece of chocolate on Valentine's Day or something. Anger burns in my stomach.

"Nate." She says. "What's wrong?"

I lean down, pressing my lips to hers. It takes a moment for her to respond, but she does, kissing me back slowly, softly, our eyes closed, her body melted into mine.

After almost a minute of our tongues mixing, I pull away.

Her eyes study mine for a second, I release my new found grip on her face.

"You can go back down there now." I say.

She bites her bottom lip and moves back down to the floor where Brenda and Harper are watching us. She glances back up at me one more time, and then I look at the guy who was watching her.

Her thong is peeking out, but now he knows that's my thong. I smile triumphantly at him and make a shooing motion with my hand.

He looks at Odeletta for another moment and then his shoulders slump and he walks out of the store.

Mason sniggers.

"Shut up." I say to him, but I'm smirking.

The girls keep digging through drawers, and after they've finished with this section, they move deeper into the store, covering the whole PINK side and moving onto the Victoria's Secret side.

Brenda starts asking Mason's opinion and I realize why all the guys come into this store. It's nice to see what Odette picks out, and it's even nicer to picture her wearing it.

"Pink or black?" Odette asks Harper, showing her the underwear.

"I don't know." Harper says honestly. "The pink one would look good with your skin tone, but so would the black, and they're both really cute."

Odette sighs quickly, looking at the thong on her hand.

The black one is much hotter.

"Get the black one." I say. They both glance at me and Harper smirks. Odette hesitates, looking back at the two panties. She shoves the pink one back in his place and adds the black one to her pile.

It's seven for twenty eight fifty, so she's getting fourteen pairs.

Fourteen pairs of panties.

I keep following them around the store with Mason, watching when she gets stuck on what to pick. I just keep my hands in my pockets and watch as she chooses between styles and colors.

"Why don't they get the bras?" I whisper to Mason.

"Oh my god, the bras are so expensive!" Brenda answers me instead of Mason.

"Yeah, I mean, they are like forty dollars at the cheapest." Odette says. "It is so stupid."

They check the clothing after they all have their mounds of panties in their hands, and then they get in the long line, talking about the lotions and about clothes.

I stand at the counter with Odette while the lady rings up her underwear, taking down her hone number and her email, and watch on the credit card machine as the price racks up to $137.49.

My eyes turn to saucers, my jaw opens halfway, and I gape at the screen.

Who the fuck would pay that much for fourteen pairs of underwear! I can go to walmart and get twenty pairs for fifteen dollars!

After a moment, the price goes down slowly, lowering to $60.99.

I press my lips together as Odeletta swipes her debit card, punching in her code.

She already has so many bags with her from everywhere she's gone, and I can't help but watch as she takes her receipt and her bag and lugs them out of the store, following Harper and Brenda.

All three girls have a lot of stuff, and I feel bad.

"Do you want me to carry some of those?" I ask Odette, gesturing to her bags.

"Sure."

She hands me half of them, keeping three and handing me four.

I keep all of them in my my hand and I walk next to Mason, who has some of Brenda's bags and some of Harper's.

I watch as the girls lead us to Starbucks.

Usually I've ben so annoyed by this, but no I find it interesting.

"Bored?" Mason asks while the girls order their drinks.

"No." I say. "It's interesting to see how the female population works."

Mason snickers.

The girls stand back to wait for drinks, and I notice the guy from Victoria's Secret standing nearby. I mean, we're standing with the girls now, but I still don't want him looking at Odette.

The moment he starts walking over here, Mason nudges me.

"I see him." I hiss through clenched teeth.

I don't want to fight him, but I will it he touches her.

The moment he walks up, he taps her shoulder. She whips him around.

He's not ugly, but he's not the most good looking either.

He's big, probably six feet or so, about two inches shorter than me, and wide. He has blonde floppy hair and blue eyes and he's slightly chubby. He just has a big build all together, but Odette is way too good for him.

"You are mighty beautiful." He smiles, and his teeth are yellow. "Do you want to go out sometime.

Odeletta looks confused.

Like really, really confused.

And then she says something in French.

His face turns to confusion.

"English?" He asks. "English-o?" He asks. "Eng-leech?"

She says something in French, looking at me with a panicked expression on her face.

She shuffles closer to me like she's frightened and I have to literally bite down on my tongue with my molars to keep myself from laughing until I pee. I put my arm around her, rubbing her arm. She turns to face me fully, putting her head on my chest, shaking, and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry." The guy looks fucking mortified.

"Odette." The barista says.

The second the guy is gone, she pulls away from me and picks her drink up off the counter.

"I should be an actress." She says, sipping her drink. All of us start laughing loudly, her included.

They girls prance off again, and Mason is still wiping his tears from his laughter, and I follow the girls with Mason next to me.

"God, you two are so perfect for each other. I had no fucking idea she was faking."

"Are you serious?" I laugh.

"I'm serious."

We enter Forever 21 and everything is just white. I sigh. I hate this store.

But still, I follow Odette and the girls around with Mason, watching as they flip through racks.

I see a black leather jacket with spikes on the shoulders. I see Odette look at it, and then she leaves it be.

It's probably fake leather.

I watch the girls load their hands with items, and after a half hour of collecting things, they head to the dressing room.

"Ten items at a time ladies." The dressing room attendant says.

Harper only has nine, but Brenda and Odette have over ten, so they immediately turn to me and Mason, Odette handing me her leftovers and then walking into the dressing room, Brenda doing the same.

The second they're gone, I look at Mason.

"I love shopping with them."

"Why do you think I do it all the time?" He asks. "It's so fun to see how the female mind works."

After almost twenty minutes, Brenda and Odette come out and take their last minute items.

"Can you get this for me in the next cup size up?" Odette asks, handing me a bra.

"Uh..."