“Then how come you go to school?”
“We get bored and we have to stay up on technology although with Patrick that isn’t a big deal.”
“No, I mean how can you be around all those humans?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I miss understood. We can be around humans as long as we have minimal contact.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”
She got off another exit leading to the shopping center. Horns honked all around us. Taxi’s shuffled by, carrying tourists. Their normal lives shrouded in mystery. I realized now how much I didn’t know. How much most people never knew.
Diana pulled in front of a store with a strange Italian name that I couldn’t make out.
Diana unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her purse. I unbuckled my seat belt and got out of the car.
I followed her into the store. Its walls were painted hot pink. A modern white counter was to the right when you walked in. An old timey cash register sat on it. It was also painted hot pink. A friendly looking cashier stood behind it.
I followed Diana to the back of the store. She stood in front of a display of hair clips. They were so beautiful.
“Are those real diamonds?” I asked.
“Yes, and those are sapphires, rubies, and emeralds,” she said pointing out a few others.
I picked up a dragonfly shaped hair clip. It was decorated with emeralds and diamonds.
“It’s so beautiful.” I said to myself stroking the wings.
“I’ll buy it for you,” said Diana looking in the mirror at a butterfly clip. Of course she had heard me. The diamonds in it were pink, yellow, and white. It looked beautiful against her blond hair.
“You don’t need to do that.” I said putting it back on the display. She pulled the butterfly clip from her hair.
“Kylie, you really love it. I can see it in your eyes.” Diana said still holding the butterfly clip. She grabbed the dragonfly clip from where I’d placed it. “Plus this color brings out your eyes and it’s beautiful against your hair.” Diana said.
I just nodded. Not really knowing what I was nodding my agreement to. I tended to space out.
“You know what I’ve convinced myself. I’m buying them both.” She said proudly. I guess when you’ve been saving money since the thirteen hundreds it doesn’t take much to convince you to spend it. Even back in California I didn’t spend much money. I wasn’t raised to act like a Barbie doll. My parents wanted my brothers and me to learn the value of money. So, I was constantly mocked for my less than designer clothes. Although, I did have a few designer names in my closet it wasn’t enough to bring attention to me. I didn’t like attention I like to blend in, I’m a shy person. So basically the thought of spending too much money scared the crap out of me.
Diana sauntered over to the checkout. The cashier rang up the two items. I didn’t get a chance to see the price but I wouldn’t have known what it was anyway, since it would have been in Euros. Diana asked the lady to bag and wrap the clips separately. The cashier did as she was told and handed Diana both bags when she was finished.
Diana then handed me the bag that contained the dragonfly clip. It was in a hot pink bag with the store name on the front. The lady had also boxed both clips in hot pink boxes with white polka dots on it. There was also white tissue paper with hot pink polka dots on it sticking out of the bag.
“Thanks.” I said to the cashier. We left the building and Diana unlocked the Lexus.
“Thank you so much Diana but you really didn’t have to buy this for me.”
“You’re welcome, Kylie. I like buying other people stuff and it’s nice to have someone my own age to shop with.” She said putting her bag in the trunk. I did the same putting my bag on the opposite side to keep them separate.
“But you are like hundreds of years older than me.” I whispered so any passersby wouldn’t hear but Diana would.
“True, but age is just a number. I’m still sixteen. I’m forever and always a teenager. As are Danny and Mason, Jonathon almost got stuck being a teenager. At least he can call himself an adult,” She whispered back.
“That makes sense.” I said walking back to the passenger side and getting in.
She pulled away into heavy traffic. The driving here was worse than in New York City.
Diana pulled in front of Gucci cutting of another woman who honked loudly and I believe said a few profanities in Italian. But I couldn’t be sure. No stores here had proper parking lots. You either parked in front of the store or parked as close as you could get to it.
She unbuckled her seat belt and I did the same. Then she angled herself in her seat so she was looking directly at me.