Taylor walked into a small florist’s shop near Quincy Market. Looking around the store, he came upon a small bouquet of wildflowers. He smiled to himself. Andrea will love these, he thought. He picked them up and walked to the counter. Handing them to the cashier, he pulled out his wallet.
“Will this be all?” the man asked. Taylor nodded. “Five dollars.” Taylor pulled a five out of his wallet and handed it to the man. “Thanks. Have a nice day.”
“You, too,” Taylor said. He walked out of the store, heading toward the subway.
“You’re kidding me!” Marilla exclaimed. “You and Taylor? It’s just not possible.”
“I know it! It seems a little strange. After that whole incident the other day, I’m really surprised about it myself. But . . . anything’s possible when it comes to romance, ” Andrea said.
“You slapped him in the middle of Hard Rock Café, Andrea! Then you stomped on his foot right before we got in the limo! Then you kicked him in the nuts backstage at Rosie! How do you go from that, to desperately wanting him in only two days?!” Marilla said. “What happened?”
“It’s a long story. A lot of it happened when we got stuck on that elevator together,” Andrea explained. She was grinning like a cat who had just swallowed a canary.
“You slept with him, didn’t you?” Marilla asked. Andrea blushed profusely. “You did! No wonder you two were acting so strange after the whole thing!”
“Well . . . I think I’m falling for him,” Andrea said shyly.
“ ‘Scuse me?!” Marilla exclaimed. “Taylor is definitely not the type you would normally fall for! He’s rude, he’s dirty minded, he has no respect for women whatsoever! I think he’s got you brainwashed!”
“No, I mean it, ‘Rilla. I’m really falling for him,” Andrea said, giving her sister a sincere look. “He’s all I’ve thought about for the past three days.” She plopped down on Marilla’s bed. “So, tell me what happened with Isaac? Are you two officially an item now?”
“Yeah, I guess so. He’s really funny and really sweet. He told me he loved me last night,” Marilla replied. Andrea started clapping excitedly. “I told him that I loved him, too.”
“I’m so proud of you! You finally moved past the whole Bobby incident!” Andrea gave her twin a bear hug. “Are you going to see him tonight?”
“Yeah. He has something special planned, but he won’t tell me what. It’s driving me insane,” Marilla said. “What about you? Will a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed boy be making an appearance here tonight?” Andrea started blushing, shrugging her shoulders.
“I haven’t heard from him today,” Andrea replied. “Of course, someone has been online all morning, talking to her boyfriend.” She gave Marilla a pointed look. Marilla gave her an innocent smile. Marilla then grabbed her purse from the dresser.
“I’m gonna head over to Quincy Market to look at dresses. I want to look special tonight,” Marilla said.
“Want me to come with you?” Andrea asked. Marilla shook her head. “Alright, well, have fun! And make sure you’re careful about what you get! You don’t want to look like a fat blob or anything!” Marilla gave a her a dirty look, then exited the room. Andrea flopped onto her back on the large king size bed, closing her eyes. Visions of Taylor began to fill her head.
Zac shifted from one foot to the other, then yawned. He was bored stiff, and his arms hurt from holding all of Abby’s shopping bags. This has got to be a nightmare. If this is what being someone’s boyfriend is all about, I’m better off without girls, he thought. He was seriously beginning to consider becoming a priest, even if it meant never having sex. This girl was treating him like a slave or something.
They had already been in 10 different stores, and in each one, Abby bought more clothes. Zac almost wished that his mother had said no when he had asked to go hang out with Abby earlier that day. Or maybe, that he’d gotten the measles like his little sisters and little brother. Atleast they were at home, being catered to by his dad. But then again, anything would have been better than standing there with fifty billion bags of women’s clothing, waiting for Abby to try more clothing on. Suddenly Abby came out of the dressing room.
“Okay, I’m done. I think I’m going to get the dress and the scarf to go with it. What do you think?” Abby held up a skimpy pink sun dress and a pink and white striped scarf. Zac just nodded his head, smiling. Abby flounced off toward the cash register to purchase the clothing. What am I, the fashion guru or something? Why does she keep asking me for my opinion? I think she looks great in whatever she wears. Besides, I don’t know anything about clothes or what’s in style anyway. A stylist picks out my clothes, Zac thought. He looked down at his clothes. Anne Marie had picked out what she thought was the “most adorable outfit in the world” for him to wear today. A fuzzy blue sweater with a white button-up shirt underneath it, a pair of khaki slacks, and brown hiking boots. And to top the whole preppie thing off, she had given him a puka shell necklace to wear. He scratched his neck. He may have looked good, but the sweater he was wearing itched like hell. I swear, I think I’m getting hives from this thing, he thought as he scratched harder. Abby came back over to him, handing him her bag.
“Are you finally ready to go back to the hotel, or atleast to the arcade?” Zac asked in frustration.
“Nope. Now it’s time to shop for clothes for you. Not that I don’t like what you have on . . . but you’ve looked better,” Abby said. “Come on. We’re going to head over to Structure.” Zac groaned quietly. Please, God, no more shopping . . .
Isaac frantically scrambled around the small pub where Marilla was to meet him shortly. He wanted everything to be perfect for tonight. It was hard enough to book the whole pub for the night just so he and Marilla could be alone, so everything else had to go off without a hitch, otherwise he’d go completely mad. Juliana Hatfield stepped out of her dressing room.
“Hey, Isaac,” she called to him in her childlike voice. “How much longer until she’s supposed to be here?”
“About 20 minutes,” Isaac replied. “Oh, and thank you so much for doing this for me. It will mean a lot to her.”
“No problem,” Juliana responded. “It’s not like I have anywhere better to be anyway. I’m not flying out to Hawaii for another week. It gives me something to do. Besides, this can be considered to be charity. And I love charity.” Isaac smiled at her. This is most definitely charity. The Make-Marilla-Love-Isaac Charity. I just hope Marilla appreciates this, Isaac thought to himself.
“Do I have to come out?” Zac whined. He stood in the dressing room at Structure. Abby had picked out the most horrible outfit for him. And now she wanted to see it on him. He’d already looked in the mirror at himself, and he knew how awful he looked. But, having all the people in the store, including Abby, see how awful he looked was just not something he wanted.
“Yes, you have to come out. I want to see what you look like!” Abby exclaimed back. Zac sighed loudly. The things I do for love, he thought exasperatedly. He slowly opened the door and stepped out of the dressing room. Abby began to clap excitedly. “I love it!” He looked down the white wife-beater and leather pants he had on and blushed profusely.
“I look like a thug, Abby,” Zac said. “I swore to myself, after Taylor and Isaac both went through their wife-beater phases, that I would never, ever, ever wear a wife-beater. I think they’re tacky. Plus, I have absolutely no muscle in my arms. I look like a fat, old thug.”
“I think you look hot! I really like it!” Abby said, smiling. “Let’s buy it.”
“Let’s not and say we did,” Zac said sarcastically, making a face.
“What? You don’t like it?” Abby asked, beginning to pout.
“No, I don’t like it. Furthermore, I don’t like shopping for clothes. And I certainly don’t like having to carry your bags around for three hours while you buy tons of clothes!” Zac exclaimed, becoming angry. Abby flinched at his voice, her face becoming red. Zac walked back over to the dressing rooms, then turned around. “And for your information, slavery was outlawed in 1865! You can carry your own bags!” He stomped into the dressing room, slamming the door behind him. He changed back into his own clothes, and when he came back out of the dressing room, Abby was gone. He threw his hands up into the air angrily. “Great! She’s gone! Way to go, Zac!” He sat down on the couch where Abby had been sitting and put his head in his hands.
