BrookLyn's Journey (17 page)

“Let’s clean up and go,” Gabby announced, pulling BrookLyn’s mind back to the room. Then she
grabbed the napkins she was using, balled them up
,
and placed them in her empty cup.

BrookLyn smiled
,
watching
Gabby
act like she was on the basketball court defending the ball for her team. After bobbing and weaving around her imaginary defender, Gabby reared back and tossed the cup into the wastebasket. Then she
hissed as if she were
a roaring crowd
and
rais
ed
her arms in the air. BrookLyn laughed, as did Gabby
,
who then continued cleaning up without the extra imaginary game play.

“All done.”
Gabby sat down
and started
scrolling through her phone
.
“
Go get
ready,
Sweets
.
”

***

After
she
got dressed
, BrookLyn
combed
her
hair in
to
a ponytail
, topping
it off with
the
hat that
Gabby had given her,
hoping
a little flash
would take the focus off
her
cheap jeans.
When BrookLyn came
back in the room Gabby
announced they were going to the mall.

“What for?”

“
We need to get you some new clothes and sneakers.”

“I don’t have any money for that.”
She
n
ever ha
d
money for clothes
,
or anything else that
she ever
wanted.

“I’ve got money and need to grab some stuff for me too. So, I figured we could get you some things.”

Gabby didn’t need any clothes.
BrookLyn had seen that she
had two large closets
full
of clothes.
In fact, the
light
-
colored jeans
,
light blue polo and navy blue jacket
she had on
now seemed to have
a hint of newness to them.

Still, BrookLyn
was excited
. She
never shopped at the mall.
She
was lucky to get hand
-
me
-
downs from
her
sisters
,
or people at church.
Her parents
wouldn’t let
her have a job,
so
she
had no choice but to wear them.
Her
brother and sisters had to buy all of their own clothes
and
they didn’t have that much money left over
to help BrookLyn.
They
had
received partial scholarships and still had to pay some tuition.
They
were all trying to escape and if it meant
she
had to suffer in hand
-
me
-
downs
, so be it.

“I’m ready
!
”
BrookLyn couldn’t hide her
excite
ment. Since she didn’t seem to be able
to hide anything from Gabby
anyway, why try. She did a little happy dance and it made
Gabby
grin.

“Me too
. N
o more hand me downs for you!”
Gabby locked up the house and they were
ready to go.

BrookLyn wondered
how they were going to get to the mall
.

“I have a car
.
It was in the shop.
” Gabby
said
innocently
,
invading
BrookLyn’s
thoughts again.

“Oh, what happened?”

“Nothing. Just regular service.”

She
gave Gabby a playful nudge.
“I didn’t know you could drive.”

“I know. That wasn’t really a secret-secret. So, I guess
it’s
okay that you know that
.
”
She nudged BrookLyn back and they both giggled.

“Ha. Ha. You’re such a funny girl
,
” BrookLyn said as smugly as she could.

She watched
Gabby open
the garage door. There was a sky-blue Honda SUV
in it
,
already running
.

“
Do you start cars with your mind too?”

Gabby jingled her key ring in front of BrookLyn’s face.
“I have a
car starter.”
She chuckled. “I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

***

“Here we are
,
”
Gabby announced.

BrookLyn looked up and they were at the South Park Galleria Mall. She’d never been to the mall before.
She could barely contain her excitement.

“Let’s go get you some clothes
.
”
Gabby
kiss
ed
BrookLyn
on the lips right in front of a lady and her little girl walking to their car.
They must not have
notice
d, or the mother was really open minded,
because they didn’t look
at the girls
in horror.
Gabby
grabbed
BrookLyn’s
hand and walked
her
into the mall.

“We won’t be here that long. We have to meet everybody in about an hour. Can you shop quickly?”

“I’ve never shopped here before
,
but I am sure I can
.”

“I’ll lead. You follow.”

BrookLyn nodded in agreement
, her eyes wide,
looking around at the many stores and clothes.
They
walked into what Gabby said was her favorite store.
BrookLyn must have had a stunned look on her face, because Gabby looked at her and giggled.

BrookLyn
couldn’t believe
she
was in a store full of True Religion jeans. Some of
her
classmates wore them to school
and she’d
always liked them. Once
she
looked at the price tags
,
she
was even more aware that she was out of her element.
She tried not to gasp out loud
.
Being here in the mall was another
dream
that
Gabby made
come true for BrookLyn.

They
walked around for a bit
then
Gabby
grabbed a few pair
s
of jeans, a couple of shirts and one jean jacket
and
toss
ed
them over her folded arms. She
already
had a pile of clothes
,
but continued searching the circular racks
,
pulling clothes off for
BrookLyn
to try on. “I’ll wait out here while you try them on
.
”
She
hand
ed her
some of the clothes.

BrookLyn looked at
the salesgirl who was getting ready to unlock the dressing room.
“Can she come in with me?”

“Well, we’re not supposed to let you do that but sure, go ahead
.
”
The sales girl
wink
ed.
“Ain’t my store
.
”

BrookLyn thanked the girl and held
the door open for Gabby.
Then she planted a big kiss on her cheek after the door was
clos
ed.
She hadn’t told Gabby
her
size before she started piling up the clothes for
her
to try on
, but they all looked right
.
“So, you know my size
,
too?”

“Baby girl, I know all there is to know about you including your favorite color, shoe size and favorite jeans. When are you going to believe me?”

“The problem is
,
I do believe you
,
but I can’t believe
it
.”
They
kissed again
, this time on the lips
.
And then BrookLyn
realized that
she would have
to get undressed in front of Gabby
.
I should have thought about that.
She had been concerned about having Gabby there to tell her what looked good and what didn’t—she had no clue—but she had forgotten this part.

“I’ll turn around
.
”

“I’m sorry
.
”
B
rookLyn was happy that Gabby
had read her mind that time.
At least she
didn’t have to say it.

“Don’t be
.
”
Gabby
turned to
fac
e
the wall.

BrookLyn removed her
jeans to try on
the
new clothes. I
t
was the happiest
she
had ever been in
her
life right at th
at
moment.
She
could feel
her
heart filling up
as she
put on a pair of the jeans that Gabby had pulled off the rack
.
Then she added
the t-shirt and jean jacket
that Gabby had brought into the dressing room.

“You can turn around,”
she
said.

“It’s about time
.
”
Gabby
turned and looked almost as happy for BrookLyn as BrookLyn felt for herself.

“You like?”
BrookLyn
modeled
the outfit
around the small space
,
strutting
in front of
Gabby
in her seated position. She had placed a hat on her head and
BrookLyn thought
the way
Gabby
wore it was sexy.
She
almost lost
her
breath.

“You have no idea just how much I like it
.
”
Gabby
grabbed
BrookLyn around the
waist pulling
her
close. She to
re
the tags off the clothes and said, “You can wear this outfit tonight and the rest we can take home and leave at my house.”

“I need to try them on. Don’t I?”

“Not really. The
y’re
all the same style and cut. You’ll be fine.”

BrookLyn held her breath and glanced at the pile of her old clothes
—h
er old
self
. She plopped down on the
dressing room
bench beside Gabby
as tears
surfaced, trying
to ruin
their
shopping party.
She looked at Gabby
,
as if seeing her for the first time
,
and her
heart was melting from the extreme joy
she
felt.
She stood back up not realizing she was chewing her fingernails
,
until Gabby called her out on it.

Gabby
touched her hand removing it from her mouth. “You
do that a lot. You
okay?”

“I’m good.
I just do that sometimes.
I guess
it
’
s
just
stress. I was wondering
what
my
parents would think
if they knew
I
wasn’t upstairs
in
my
room alone
.
”