Passenger Seat

So, Summer had stayed up all night preparing a completely perfected list as to what stores I could shop at, what I could get there and everything I would ever possibly need to know. She woke me up at the crack of dawn, only making me crankier than I already was. I was forcibly taken away from my home in New York City, where I could sleep in if I really wanted too (Which I always do) and now I'm being forced to wake up early? Bullshit.

“Oh shut it Autumn, it's only 8:30.” Again, the crack of dawn. I rolled my eyes and yawned, then slowly stirred the fruit loops in my bowl of milk as I stared down at the rainbow colored rings tiredly.

“Summer, debutantes don't say 'shut it.'” I nearly gagged when my mother told her that. You see, my mother was a debutante, her mother was a debutante and her mothers mother was one as well, the list really just goes on into the age of the dinosaurs. So, of course my mother wanted her darling twins to go through that hell as well. Summer was peachy keen with the whole process, but I told her hell no and stayed in my room during the Satanic ritual of pageant gown shopping. My sister became a debutante, just like my mother had wanted. And I decided to stay the way I was, unladylike and at the time, very plain Jane.

“You better go pick some of my clothes to wear to the mall, I don't want you to wear those clothes you wore yesterday,” Summer told me as she tried to attempt stealing a piece of bacon. I shook my head as our mother slapped my sisters hand, causing her to drop the piece of bacon.

“I don't think I want to wear any of your clothes,” I said, a bit of venom in my voice. She shrugged.

“You can wear some of my clubbing clothes, I'm sure those are slutty enough for you.” I glared at her.

“Oh, so you think I'm slutty do you?” I stood up, and the look on my mothers face was of pure anger.

“No fighting you two! You're two grown ladies, start acting like it.” I smirked, and looked at them both before I started laughing.

“What's so funny Autumn?” My mother asked, and I shrugged.

“Oh, just the fact that you called me a lady.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Yes, a very big problem indeed.”

“And why is that?” I smirked, and began slowly backing away, then threw my hands up, middle fingers in the air.

“Because I'm a most definitely not a fucking lady!” I yelled, and my mother flinched and my sister began to hold back tears. It was as if I was tearing the happy family apart.

“I'll wear your damn clothes, but I'm changing as soon as I buy something from the store.” She nodded, and our maid came in, notifying me that Tallulah was waiting in the foyer. I smiled and ran towards the familiar meeting area.

“Lulah!” I said rather loudly, throwing my arms around my best friend, causing her and her giant black purse to sway a little.
“Hey, someone's awfully chipper this morning.” She said as she moved her black and white sunglasses to the top of her head. She quickly hugged me back, then we quickly released each other to go upstairs to pick out something for me to wear, her black flip flops making a weird noise as she walked up the stair. Considering I was just in my ex-boyfriends boxers and my tank top from the night before, I needed new clothes.

Me and my ex were on and off, so of course I kept a few articles of his clothing. Right now we were in our 'off' stage, and soon enough I was sure we would be in our 'on' stage once again. We went into summers room, and began rifling through the heinous closet full of pink and cream colored clothing, and also a few of her old winning pageant gowns. But, with enough scouring we found a pair of shorts, a woven strapless top, and some shoes that might actually fit me.

After high school, my sister kept her very thin skinny minny frame, where as I became rather voluptuous. I had an hour glass shape, and my sister did not. I tried on the clothes, and my boobs nearly popped out of the top, it was a total overload of cleavage. And the shorts, well they were skin tight. But, I had nothing else to wear according to my sister, so we dealt with it. We also found a pair of Jimmy Choo strappy heels, that had leopard print all over them, along with a matching scarf. We wrapped the scarf around my hang to hang loose, and cover all the major cleavage, and I slipped into the shoes like nothing. I sighed, and ran a brush through my hair before we decided I was okay to leave.

We got in her car, and began talking about her new shirt. It was a red tank top, with white lettering that read “Keep Calm and Party On” With a little crown above it. She was also wearing a black bandeau bra underneath the tank top, and a pair of denim shorts.

“Hey, where did you get that necklace?” I asked, referring to a little dark silver hand that had the sign for love in sign language. She shrugged.

“My boyfriend gave it to me.” I smirked.

“Oh, he did now?” She rolled her eyes, but nodded.

“Yeah, and we're here. Now let me see that list.” I handed her the pink, flower scented piece of paper and let her read over it.

“This is ridiculous.”

“Yes, I am aware.” She sighed, and got out of the car, and I quickly followed. We entered the crowded mall, and decided to start on searching for the Victoria's Secret. It didn't take us long, but what took us longer was trying on bras and underwear, because they had the disposable thongs in the dressing rooms which we kept messing around with, and stuffing in our bags for fun. I was taking off the last bra I had chosen to buy, when I heard Tallulah knocking on the door.

“Try this on!” I groaned.

“I've tried on enough bras and underwear thank you,” I told her. She slung the article of clothing over the dressing room door, and it was a rather sexy piece of lingerie.

“Uh, yeah. Definitely not trying that on.” She groaned.

“Oh, c'mon! It'll be awesome. Remember when we were fifteen coming in here, and saying that maybe one day you'll be able to put some use to this store and their lingerie? Huh? Now's the time, try it on.” I rolled my eyes and took the hanger from her, and took off my clothes once again, then tried on the lingerie then looked in the mirror.

Needless to say, I looked like hot shit. But, I had no use for lingerie. If I got back with my on again off again boyfriend, once I go home and put it on for him, we'd be off again. I sighed, really wanting it.
“What do you think?” She asked, anticipating my answer. I ran my hands over the lace covered bodice, and groaned.

“I love it, I honestly do. But I have no use for it.” I could almost hear the frown on Tallulah's face at that point.

“We can find a purpose for it! What about that boyfriend you were telling me about earlier?” I sighed.

“We're on our off stage right now.” I took it off and changed back into my clothes, and opening the door, shoving all the accepted bra and undies into Tallulah's arms so she could take it to the check out counter.

“And what if you get back on your on stage?”

“By the time I'm home we'll be off again.” She frowned.

“Maybe you should stop dating him then. Relationships like that are no good.” I sighed again, she was completely right.

“I know.” Was all I could tell her as we walked up the the counter. After everything was paid for, I went back into the dressing room and changed into a strapless bra and a thong that I had picked out, so it'd be easier to try on the rest of the clothes I was going to have to buy.

About ten stores and fifty bags later, we decided to take a lunch break. We went to the food court, and I sat down while Tallulah ordered our food. I began to look around, and saw a familiar face with a group of men. But right as I was thinking of who it could be, Tallulah was back with our food.

“Who are you staring at?” She asked, opening up her Panda Express box. I shrugged, and shook my head.

“No one, let's just eat.” I told her, opening up my box of food. Once we were half way through our food, the group of men approached us and Tallulah's face lit up.

“Baby!” She screeched, quickly standing up from her seat and wrapping her arms around the her boyfriend.

“Hey baby,” He chuckled.

“Can we sit with you guys real quick? We're exhausted.” Tallulah quickly agreed to let them sit with us, and they all began to grab chairs and bring them to our table. And I quickly saw the familiar face from earlier. It was Brian.

“Hey Autumn,” I rolled my eyes.
“Hey Brian.” He smiled a crooked smile, which I found to be oddly cute.

“How's the shopping going?” I groaned.

“Can we please not talk about shopping? I'm all shopped out, and we're not even done yet.” He hissed, as if my words stung.

“Really? How many bags do you have at your feet right now? It looks like you're done.” I looked at the bags, and sighed.

“Fifty five exactly.” He grew wide eyed.

“How do you count so fast?” I shook my head.

“I didn't count them, I just looked at them and saw that there was fifty five.” I cocked his head to the side, and Tallulah giggled.

“Autumn is the brains of the family.” Brian nodded, finally understanding. Brian and I talked for a bit, then we heard the other guys mention Tallulah. We looked to see what they were talking about, and Tallulah and John were no where to be found. I groaned.

“Well fuck! Now my shopping partner is gone!” I stabbed my fork in the Styrofoam box that held my food, and Brian grew wide eyed and placed his hand over my fist, relaxing me.

“Calm down, Autumn. I'll help you shop.” I laughed bitterly, and showed him what was left of the list, which was half of a page.

“Holy shit, your sister is high maintenance isn't she?” I nodded, and finished off my drink, before standing up.

“I can shop by myself, I just don't like it. Plus that means I'll have to carry all these bags by myself.” Brian instantly stood up and shook his head, quickly picking up half of the bags.

“You're not finishing this list by yourself, I'll help you. Plus, you need someone else to carry the bags.” I smiled a bit, and picked up the rest of the bags.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it. But, you don't have to do this.” He shrugged.

“I want to though,” I giggled and sighed, throwing away my trash before looking at my list when I heard my phone ringing in my pocket. I quickly looked at the Caller ID, and it was my evil twin sister. No pun intended. Okay, maybe it was a little bit intentional.

“Hello?”

[i[Oh, I forgot to tell you. We're having a cocktail party to celebrate my engagement and the wedding, so you need a cocktail dress.

I groaned, and bit my lip.

“Why didn't you tell me this earlier?” I asked her.

I forgot, okay? Are you almost done?

“No, I'm not almost done. I'm only half way through the damn list.”

Sucks for you, you should have brought more clothes. I rolled my eyes, and hung up on her before she could finish talking.

“We need to make a quick stop.” He nodded, and we headed to Delias, and I bought a tribal printed one shoulder dress with a bit of ruffles, and wore it out of the store. Then we went to American Eagle, and I bought a pair of sandals which I also wore out of the store, then we went to other stores where I bought a pair of silver, black and gray bangles, and a necklace that read 'peace'. I wore the whole outfit through out the mall, and finished shopping.

“So, we finished the whole list. What now?” Brian said, sounding rather tired.

“We have one more store to go to,” I told him, and he struggled not to groan.

“What else do you need that's not on the list?” I laughed.

“A fucking cocktail dress, my sister is throwing a stupid cocktail engagement party/wedding shower.” Brian smirked.

“You didn't know about that?” I shook my head.

“And you did?” I asked as I slipped my new black shiny plugs into my already stretched ears. He simply nodded.

“Yeah, I still haven't found a date.” I grew wide eyed.

“We have to have dates?” He laughed and nodded.

“Fuck, then I'm screwed.” He smirked, and shook his head, then got down on one knee, and took my hand in his.

“Autumn Masters, will you do the honor of being my date to the stupid cocktail engagement party/wedding shower?” I smirked, and pulled him back up from his kneeling position.

“Sure, just don't do that again.” We laughed, and he told me he was going to put all the bags in his car, and decided to leave me to pick out my cocktail dress. I finally picked out the perfect one, and made an appointment to get alterations for it to be fitted perfectly, and left the store. I stood outside the mall, and waited for Brian to show up.

And before I could light up a cigarette, he drove up and honked his horn. I smiled and threw the unlit cigarette to the ground, and got in his car, and drove home. It was weird that Brian was going to be my date, and not my on/off boyfriend. But, I guess Tallulah was right. I needed to move on, even if it was with someone who was in the same band as my best friends boyfriend.