Chapter 2 (Part 2) It was a ten minute ride to the Greenwood Plaza Mall. It was a good-sized mall, with many of the usual big retail outlets, and lots of smaller specialty boutiques.
Regan and Star were checking out the stores that carried mostly teen and young womens’ fashions. They tried on lots of different clothes. Skirts, dresses, leggings, tank tops, blouses, sweaters.
Some of the skirts and dresses were quite short and revealing. Regan was excited trying them on. It had been a while since she had had an opportunity to go shopping with someone other than her mother and her little sister. Her mother sure wouldn’t be letting her try on some of this stuff!
Regan blushed while modeling one dress in particular, a little pink mini-dress. It was very short, and very form-fitting, accentuating all her curves.
“Oh girl!” Star exclaimed. “You kill that dress!”
“I’ve never worn anything this short,” Regan said. “My God, if I bend over, I’m sure people will see my underwear!”
“Those are the best ones,” Star laughed. “Boys love that!”
“I’m sure they do,” Regan smirked. “But there’s no use of me even thinking about buying this. My mother would flip!”
“It’s a shame,” Star commented. “You have an awesome body, Regan. That dress really shows it off. You wear that to a party, I guarantee you’d have boys eating out of your hand by the time the night was over.”
“I probably would, but really, right now I’m not too concerned with meeting boys.”
“No?” Star asked. “Why the hell not?”
“I had sort of a boyfriend in the last town I lived in. I really liked him, and he liked me. Then we had to move, and well, it was pretty tough having to leave him. I’d rather not have to go through that again for awhile.”
“Yeah, I can understand that, I guess,” Star said. “But, you know, even if you’re not interested in dating, it’s still fun to just tease them.”
Regan let out a gasp. “Star! You are so bad!” she laughed.
“Hey, bad girls have more fun!”
They decided to take a break and go to the food court for a snack and something to drink. As they were walking along, they suddenly heard a voice behind them.
“Star? Is that you?”
Both girls turned to see a tall good-looking man approaching them. He looked to be in his mid 30s, about the same age as Marco. He had curly blond hair and looked very fit and muscular.
“Hey Dylan!” Star smiled.
Once again, like when she first met Marco, Regan felt rather awkward, as she watched Star wrap her arms around the man’s neck and stand on her tiptoes to plant a kiss directly on his lips. He kissed her back, and Regan saw him lift her right off her feet, pressing her body right against his.
The kiss lasted a little longer than just a peck on the cheek. It was, in Regan’s opinion, kind of a long drawn-out lover’s kiss.
Finally, the man released Star and she stepped back from him.
“Wow, I haven’t seen you in a while,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”
“Yeah, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” Star said.
“Well maybe I’ll see you again tonight,” the man continued. “It’s kind of funny. Marco just phoned me this morning and asked if I’d like to come over and play some poker. And now here I run into you in the mall.”
Star bit her lower lip. “Yeah, that is funny. So you’re coming to play poker?”
“Yeah! It’ll be fun, I haven’t seen Marco in a bit.”
“Cool! Well, I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Okay then! Oh hey, sorry. Who’s your, uh, friend here?” Dylan asked.
“This is Regan. Regan, this is Dylan,” Star introduced them.
“Nice to meet you Regan,” the blonde man. “But I gotta get going!”
As he walked away, Regan turned to Star, with an incredulous look on her face.
“So what the hell was that?”
Star giggled. “Oh, Dylan? That’s a friend of Marco’s.”
Star knew why Regan was giving her such a look. It probably had to do with the rather long kiss they had shared.
“I haven’t seen him in a long time,” Star said, defensively. “We’re just close, is all. He’s known me for a long time. He’s kinda like an uncle to me.”
That seemed to make sense to Regan. Still, she had that awkward, funny feeling like after she saw Star hug Marco. It just seemed a little too inappropriate for her.
The girls carried on to the food court. After they’d had a snack and a soft drink, they decided to try out a few more clothing stores.
Just off the food court was a place called
MissBehave. It was a rather popular store, with clothes catering mostly to the pre-teen and young teen demographic. The girls wandered in and began looking around.
That was when Regan spotted it!
A dark gray, pleated denim skirt with a little fringed hem and a matching denim belt. Regan immediately fell in love with it.
“Ohhhh, this skirt is sick!” Regan gushed, taking it off the rack. “I like it!”
“Hey, I like that one too,” Star said. She held it up against Regan’s legs. “Go try it on and let’s see what it looks like on you.”
Regan came out of the change room a few minutes later, wearing the skirt and did a little twirl for Star.
“That is sweet!” Star smiled. “Regan, that skirt is you !”
“I know,” Regan giggled, “but it’s like that dress. It’s so short!”
The skirt came down to barely her mid-thigh. Regan tugged on the hem a little with both hands, as though she was trying to make the skirt longer. Regan also ran her hands across her butt, feeling how the skirt hugged her back there. Seeing so much of her legs exposed, it made her feel very self-conscious.
“Short is good!” Star chided her. “Guys wanna see short skirts. You have nice legs, Regan. It’s a shame to hide them all the time.”
“You really think I have nice legs?” Regan asked, blushing.
“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” Star said. “I’m not a fake. I don’t lie to people.”
Regan went back to the change room and was back out soon in her shorts again. She took the skirt back to the rack.
“Well, I just looked at the price tag and I won’t be buying that skirt today, no matter how much I like it.”
“How much was it?” Star asked.
“Ummm, eighty bucks! I only have forty.”
“Whoaaa, that is a little pricey,” Star agreed. “But hey, it’d be worth it! It’s a fucking nice skirt!”
“My mom would never let me wear it anyways,” Regan frowned.
“Yeah, about that….we gotta get your mom to lighten up a bit,” Star said.
“Good luck on that.”
After looking at some more clothes, the girls moved over to the cosmetics section. They looked at some different lip glosses and eye shadows, and mascaras, and had fun trying out various perfumes.
“You don’t wear a lot of make-up, do you?” Star commented.
“No, not really,” Regan said. “Mom said I’m too young for make-up. She lets me wear perfume, that’s all.”
“You’re a pretty girl, Regan, but make-up would make you more than just pretty. You’d be a knock-out, I can just tell.”
“I guess.”
“I started wearing make-up when I was twelve. It’s no big deal,” Star shrugged.
“When you were twelve?” Regan said, with amazement. “Your mom let you?”
Star shrugged. “Meh, my mom let me do a lot of things. It was just her make-up anyways, it wasn’t like I had my own. I’d just try on her lipstick and some eyeshadow, put some blush on my cheeks, fun stuff like that. She said it was cute.”
“You know, I haven’t even met your mom yet. Just Marco,” Regan observed.
“You’ll get to meet her eventually,” Star said. “But she works a lot of weird hours, running a restaurant, so she’s not home much during the day.”
Eventually, Regan settled on buying a nice pair of black leggings that were on half-price for twenty-five bucks.
Star also bought a pair of leggings. Regan observed that they fit much tighter on her body than the ones Regan had purchased. They hugged Star’s butt like a second layer of skin.
Star turned around and admired her behind in a full-length mirror at the store.
“Oh yeah…..damn these look good,” she smiled. “Look at that ass!”
Regan giggled. “You’re terrible, Star!”
“No, I’m hot!” she smirked.
The two girls went to the check-out and paid for their things. They were just exiting the store, when Regan looked at her phone.
“We’d better get heading back, Star. I have to be home soon.”
“Yeah, I know,” Star said. “It’s getting late and Marco’s gonna be looking for me too.”
“I really have to go to the washroom, though,” said Regan.
“Tell you what, you go to the washroom, and I will meet you at the mall entrance where we came in, okay?”
“Sounds good, Star. See you in a few,” Regan said, as she hurried off towards the washrooms by the food court.
Regan did her business, then headed towards the mall entrance. She frowned when she got there, as she didn’t see Star waiting for her. Regan’s eyes scanned around the area, seeing if she could spot her friend.
Then she saw her coming down the mall, almost at a run.
“What’s up, Star? Where were you?”
“Never mind. Let’s just go,” Star snapped, giving a quick glance over her shoulder. She grabbed the other girl’s arm and tugged her along with her.
The two of them hurried out of the mall, and Star pulled Regan around behind a concrete retaining wall by the parking lot.
“Star, what the hell’s going on?” Regan asked, puzzled.
Star reached into her plastic shopping bag that held her pair of leggings. But she didn’t pull out a pair of leggings. Instead she had a skirt in her hand…..the one Regan had tried on earlier!
“Star! What the……?? Did-did you steal that?” Regan gasped, her mouth falling open.
“Shhhhh!” Star put her finger up to Regan’s lips. “Don’t yell it out so everyone hears you! But yes…..I did kinda steal it…. for you!”
“For me?!” Regan gave her another incredulous look. “Star….what the….fuck?” Regan didn’t talk that way all that often and she kind of surprised herself, hearing the word come out of her mouth.
“You looked so good in it, Regan, and I felt bad that it was so much money and you couldn’t buy it. You deserve to have some really nice clothes…..so I went back and got it for you.”
“I wanted it, yes! I didn’t want you to steal it!”
“Oh, pooh,” Star scoffed. “Those big stores, they know they’re gonna get ripped off. It’s just a write-off for them anyway.”
“What would have happened if you got caught?” Regan asked.
Star shrugged and gave Regan a little wink. “Wouldn’t be the first time. I can put on the charm pretty good, got those security guards wrapped around my little finger.”
“It’s still dangerous!” Regan said with a serious glare. “If you had been caught, we’d both be in big trouble!”
“Oh, nothing would’ve happened to you,” Star said. “I’d have taken the blame. But you know, rather than standing here all pissed off, maybe you should say thank you?”
Regan was quiet for a moment, admiring the skirt. She certainly did like it, even if it was acquired illegally.
“Thank you…..Star. I do like the skirt……but remember what I told you? I can’t take the damn thing home! My mom will see it, and she’ll want to see a receipt.”
“Tell you what, okay? You keep the skirt at my place, whenever you want to wear it, come over and get it. You can just tell your mom you’re borrowing it from me.”
“I can’t let my mom see me wearing it either.”
“Well, then, you just wear it when you’re not around her.”
Regan shook her head. She tried to suppress a smile, but it was hard.
“Star Diaz, you just have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
Star smiled back. “You got it!”
Star put the skirt back in her bag and hand in hand, the two friends made their way to the bus stop. After getting off at the stop just down the street from Regan’s house, they said their good-byes.
“It was a really fun day, Star,” Regan said. “Even considering…the skirt incident,” her eyes glancing down towards Star’s shopping bag.
“It was, and thank you for coming,” Star replied, giving Regan a little hug. “But once you get to wear that skirt, you’re gonna thank me even more.”
The girls laughed as they parted their ways.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Star came walking up the driveway to her home. She noticed right away, several other vehicles parked there. As soon as she entered the house, she heard the sound of several loud, boisterous male voices downstairs.
It was Marco and his friends, she knew. Getting together for one of their occasional poker games.
Star went upstairs to her bedroom and dropped off her shopping bag. Then she went down to the family room in the basement where the men were playing poker.
Marco’s face lit up as he saw her.
“Hey, my sweetie! You’re home!”
Star right away saw that Dylan was also there, just like he’d told her he would be. There was also three other men, all around Marco’s age. Star recognized them as his friends Diego, Lucas, and Nate.
“Hey Star!” Diego said. “Ain’t seen you in a while. Lookin’ good, girlie! You growin’ up too much!”
“This is Star?” Lucas joked. “Can’t be! Last time I saw her, she was just a little thing.”
“Yeah, she’s growing up all right,” Marco said.
"And looking pretty fine too," Nate added, his eyes roving across the fifteen year-old's body. "Love that skirt!" His eyes lingered on Star's white denim skirt.
Marco stood up from his chair and motioned to Star to follow him. He took her into the next room.
“You go upstairs and get showered and get all nice, okay? Dylan’s got you for the night.”
Star’s face lit up. “Dylan?!”
Marco let out a little chuckle. “Yes, Dylan! I know, he’s one of your favorites. He told me he’d ran into you at the mall.”
“So, you got other girls coming over too?” she asked.
“Yes, I do, not gonna make you do all four of these guys yourself. They’ll be here later, so you go get showered now so you’re ready when they get here.”
“Okay, Marco.”
Marco wrapped his big arms around Star, giving her a hug, and dipping his mouth down towards hers. Star’s tongue darted out, pushing between his lips. They embraced in a long, passionate kiss.
“So, how was Regan doing today?” he said, as they ended the kiss.
“She was doing good. We had a fun time at the mall,” Star replied.
“Right on,” Marco smiled. “I want you to bring her by again soon. I wanna see that little cutie.”
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll see her again.”