Page 5 of Grace of Spades
"What's with Greg?" Andras asks.
"Oh, I had to show him my ID. All I have is a fake." I shrug.
"We will fix that too. When is your birthday?"
"May 9th. Yours?"
"June 5th. We'll have to celebrate yours soon then, huh?" He smiles then frowns as if something just occurred to him. "I should probably call in the big guns. I'm probably not the best person to be shopping for women's clothing." He admits pressing a button on the steering wheel. The car speakers start ringing until a female voice answers.
"What do you want, Andras?" She demands distractedly.
"I have a job for you."
"No." She says firmly.
"Come on, please?" Andras begs.
"No, the last job you had me do was breaking up a bad date. That bitch followed me home!" She cries as I try to hold in a laugh. I like her.
"This one is simple and you'll like it. It involvesshopping." He grins.
"I'm listening." She says cautiously.
"My niece is living with me and needs clothes. We both know that I am not the right person to do that with her." He taunts.
"Well, of course not. Be at the shop in fifteen." She says before hanging up.
"My best friend, Emily." He says with a soft smile. I ship it already.
We park the car and he leads me to a store that is so far from Walmart and Salvation Army it's not even funny. I am so out of place here. I see a couple of women look at me and Andras and start whispering to each other. I hate feeling this uncomfortable and unsure. I raise my chin and walk proudly as I would anywhere else. Own your shit, Grace. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I can practically hear Ray in my ear. "Come on Little Mama, you got this." Usually, it's in a very different situation but it still works.
Andras stops at the makeup counter in front of a tall curvy blonde in a blue bodycon dress and coughs loudly.
"Shut up, Andras. I'll be with you in a minute." She says waving him off not even turning around. He chuckles.
"Grace, this is my best friend Emily." He says anyway. With that, she whirls around and blinds me with a dazzling smile.
"Oh my god, you're real!" She squeals hurrying around the counter and bringing me into a hug. I'm quickly held away from her and surveyed. "So, what are we doing today?" I shrug.
"She needs new everything," Andras says. I glare at him but he ignores me.
"That's okay. Let's leave him and get to know each other. I'll tell you all the embarrassing stories." Emily whispers as she leads me through the store.
Emily is a shopaholic. I indeed have new everything and then some. Who needs five pairs of shoes? Apparently, I do. I also have three jackets because why not? I mean I also have several bras that fitme and aren't trying to kill me with the underwire. So that's a perk. I guess I can live with it.
I'm in a new outfit of black jeans, a loose grey tank, and a sleek leather jacket by the time we leave. I tie up my hair in a tumbling ponytail and call it the Twilight Zone. I look so different. Clothes that actually fit, they're clean and don't have holes. I take a deep breath and make sure the tattoo on the back of my neck is covered by my jacket and store my knives in my combat boots and jacket. I'm going to have to sew in new sheaths to all these pants.
I'm greeted by a beaming Emily and Andras which causes me to step back a bit. What are they so happy about?
"Come on, Grace, I promised food," Andras says leading me to the car. I say goodbye and thank Emily before following. It was really nice of her to do all of this for me.
3
Liam
"Gym later?" I ask through a mouthful of burger.
"Yeah, sounds good." Dylan nods before taking a bite of his. I see Addison making her way over to us and I let out a sigh.
