Gifted Connections 3

I knew they wouldn’t leave us alone without an answer, and there was no way we were going to tell them.

I turned around and looked at them with narrowed eyes. Go home, take a shower, shave, cut your hair, forget you ever saw us, I commanded them.

They all looked at each other with confusion before turning to leave the store.

“What did you tell them?” Rachel giggled.

“They needed to shower, shave, cut their hair, and forget about us,” I said nonchalantly with a shrug. “And we need to get out of these clothes.”

Everyone laughed at me but agreed.

The next store we hit up was a clothing store. I immediately picked out a pair of distressed jeans with tears in it, a white spaghetti strap tank top, a maroon, white, and olive colored fitted flannel, and finally, a drab olive-green vest that I left open. I changed into them in the dressing room and ripped off the tags. I didn’t want to be cornered once again. We didn’t blend in that well, and people were looking at us. We didn’t need any extra attention than what we were already getting.

I exited the dressing room, with my other clothing, and went up to the middle of the store, where the registers were located, and gave the girl working the register, the tags.

She smiled at me. “Did you want a bag to put your clothing in a bag?” she asked nodding towards my bags.

I smiled back. “Thanks, I really didn’t want to continue wearing those,” I feebly explained as I saw the other girls heading towards me with the same idea.

We decided to split up at that point, too. Troy, Jace, Remy, Terrance, and Marcel were heading to a sporting goods store attached to the mall. They were going to finish getting the rest of our stuff for the week ahead. I knew they were also getting us warmer clothing to layer with. The weather was a lot cooler in the mountains than what we were used to.

We allowed Patrick and Micah to go to the comic book store after we gave them Rachel’s cell phone. Jace handed them each some money and told them to get what they wanted. They were ecstatic to go explore. I expected we would eventually have to drag them out when the time came for lunch.

Jaxson, Alex, and Noah were tasked to get clothing for all the guys and boys. I had already provided them a list of sizes for Micah, Alex, and Patrick. When Patrick first came to the Karn’s, he had been on the chubbier side, but he had hit a growth spurt since and was more active, so he had lost a lot of his baby fat.

Drake and Sam were headed over to an electronic store with Ella and Nadia to get some TVs, blu-rays, and Blu-ray players for the apartments and dorm rooms. Drake told them they could get a game system. We didn’t find it necessary for them to have individual game systems now, so they would have to share and take turns.

Jemmy, Dawn, Rachel, and I were getting clothing for all the girls including Sierra. Jemmy was in her element once again as she picked out clothing. She wasn’t just picking out clothing for herself, she was quick to hand things off to us as well. I was happy to see that this excursion seemed to be helping her get her mind off her whole situation with Gavin and Sierra. She hadn’t talked much about them since we got in the vehicle and she had ignored them all since breakfast.

I didn’t know if she was just in denial about the whole situation or if she was just going to let things play out. She didn’t normally sit back and wait for anything, so I was slightly concerned about her behavior. I think Gavin needed the space, but at the same time, if she continued acting like she was impartial, it might give Gavin the wrong idea.

I was never a big shopper. I had spent so many years looking at the price tag that I still couldn’t find joy in it. What I lacked in enthusiasm, Jemmy made up for it. She continually handed me stuff, and I would try them on.

I had to admit; hanging out with the girls outside of school or the facility was fun. I was constantly laughing at their antics. I might not like shopping, but at least I had good company while I was doing it.

“I think you need something like this,” Rachel said suggestively as she handed me a lacy little lingerie set. It was black and sexy with little black garter straps.

I blushed. “Living with all the guys have kind of put a damper on my bedroom life,” I muttered.

Rachel gaped at me. “Are you kidding me? Don’t you know? Where there’s a will there’s a way! It hasn’t stopped me.”

I gawked at her. “Who have you been hooking up with?”

She was so flirtatious, and I know she often flirted with guys just to make them uncomfortable. She just turned seventeen, and I knew for a fact none of our guys were hooking up with her, not that I knew of. Marcel and Terrance were far too old for her, but Sam was twenty. He was almost painfully shy, so it would shock me if it was him.

“Sam,” Dawn said nonchalantly as she came out of the dressing room looking like a femme fatale. She had a black mini skirt on, knee-high boots, a white crop top, and a black half jacket. She was gorgeous, with her long legs and muscular body. I wanted to hate her when I first met her because she had been a casual hook up of Remy’s before he met me, but after I got to know her, it was hard not to like her.

“Why am I just finding out about this? Sam?!” I exclaimed with a mixture of outrage and laughter.

There was an age gap between me and my guys, but they were my connections. I guess it was little hypocritical of me, but I couldn’t help feeling that way. Sam was twenty. Granted, Rachel was mature for her age, but still.

“We thought it was obvious,” Jemmy stated as she came out of the dressing room with a black bra, a sheer white top, black skinny jeans, and ankle boots. “It’s been going on for a couple of weeks now.”

“Umm, no,” I shook my head. “Not to me. How did I miss that?”

“Well, Sam’s a little on the shy side, and when dinner is over, you have the kids to take care of. You barely hang out with us at night.” Dawn said matter-of-factly.

“The guys have a system,” Jemmy stated. “They put socks on the door if the room is occupied,” she explained.