“Hold them up in front of you.”
Christina did just that.
“I’d go with black,” I said.
Christina grinned. “Thanks, Griff,” she said while her fiancé gave me a dirty look over his shoulder.
“What? You weren’t picking one, so I did.” I patted him on the shoulder. “You’ll thank me later.”
Christina grabbed her phone after hanging the white teddy up. “Since you’re so helpful, Griffin, maybe you can help Madeline decide which one to get too.” She rolled her eyes. “Madeline is being way more difficult than me though.”
“I am not.”
Christina nodded at us through the phone.
“Just turn the camera around, so I can show them,” Madeline said.
The camera flipped to show Madeline against a rack of bras with three different teddies that she had hung up in front for us to see. They were much more revealing than Christina’s pick, and my heart sped up.
“They’re all the same style, but I can’t decide between black, white, or red. Black is classic, white has the whole innocent but not really innocent vibe, and red…well, red is sexy.”
“Hold them up in front of you,” Christina suggested.
“Try them on and send pics,” I blurted out.
Madeline leaned into the camera. “I don’t think so.” She backed up, pulled each teddy off the rack, and held them up in front of her.
Meanwhile, I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.
Me: I need to see pics.
I heard Madeline’s phone beep through Christina’s phone.
“Hold, please,” she said.
Christina turned her camera back around and asked Troy something about Sunday. I wasn’t paying attention because I was waiting for Madeline’s response.
Madeline: So you can jerk off to them later?
Madeline: I don’t think so.
Me: No, so I can tell you what to buy. I can’t tell you what to get when you only hold them up in front of you.
Me: Please.
Madeline: Sorry, dude. If you wanted to see it in person, you shouldn’t have canceled on me.
Me: This isn’t fair.
Madeline: Life’s not fair. But maybe Troy has something sexy he can put on for you.
“I’m done,” Madeline said in the background. “If Griff and Troy don’t have any opinions, I think I’m going to go with white.”
“I’d better go,” Christina said to Troy.
“Not white. Red,” I shouted, but the call was already cut.
I sent Madeline a text, telling her to get red, but she didn’t even open my message.
“Let’s go,” I said to Troy.
Troy’s face lit up. “We’re going to go and get food?”
“No, we’re going to the mall.” I grabbed my keys off the coffee table, where I’d thrown them down when I got there.
“But I’m hungry,” Troy whined.
“You can get something at the food court. We need to go now.”
“I have half a mind to tell you to go by yourself.”
“But then you won’t be able to have Christina try on her little outfit for you.”
He shrugged. “She’ll try it on when she gets home.”
I shook my head sadly. “You’re not even married yet, and you’d rather eat than see your beautiful woman half-naked.”
Troy gritted his teeth. “Fine. We’ll go to the mall. While my dick thanks you, my stomach is really pissed at you.”
“Grab a piece of fruit or something,” I told him. “It’ll tide you over until we get there.”
Twenty-Four
Madeline
“You okay?” Christina asked me as she bumped her hip into mine.
I was going through a drawer of panties, looking for my size. “Yeah. Why?”
“Because you seem kind of bummed.”
“No,” I lied. “Just forgot how exhausting shopping for this stuff is. Men have it so easy. Boxers, briefs, boxer briefs. Women have bikini, high cut, thong, boy cut, full cut, briefs, et cetera. And sexy is nice, but most days, I want something comfortable that’s not going to give me a wedgie at work.”
“I hear ya.”
“Don’t tell April, okay? I don’t want her to think I don’t appreciate my birthday present.”
Christina pretended to zip up her lips.
“Thank you.”
She nodded down at my hands. “I thought you’d decided on the white? Yet you’re still holding all three.”
“I know. But I still need to try them on, and what if I’m in there and I decide I don’t like the white? This way, I’ll already have the other colors.”
“Smart. Maybe I shouldn’t have put mine back.”
“Go get it, and we can go try our stuff on. I’m done with this store anyway. I want to use my other gift card now.”
“Good-bye, lingerie. Hello, books,” she said.
I chuckled. “Exactly. But take your time. It’s going to take me a few minutes to get myself in and out of these things,” I said, holding up the teddies. “And I don’t want to rip anything.”
“Let’s go find someone to get us rooms.”
The dressing rooms were in their own little hall. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, so we had to take what was open. Christina ended up at the front, and I had to take the room in the back corner.
My phone rang. It was Christina.
“I guess we won’t be showing each other how the lingerie looks,” she said with disappointment. “I’m not walking down to your dressing room, half-naked.”
“I understand.” It would have been nice to be right across the hall from each other to limit our exposure. “I don’t want to walk up there either. We’ll have to stick to our own judgments, I guess.”
“Good luck,” she told me.
“Good luck to you too.”
I hit End and picked the white teddy first. I didn’t even need Christina to tell me that it was the wrong choice. I looked washed out, and I was glad I’d decided to try on stuff before I purchased anything.
But I did decide not to waste a good opportunity.
I picked up my phone and turned the camera on. I took zoomed-in pictures of my body. I did my hip with some lace showing. Next, I did a shoulder with a strap. Then, I sent the pictures to Griffin.
Me: Here are the pics you asked for.
I laughed as I hit Send. Sometimes, I thought I was really funny.
I set my cell aside and looked at my other two options. I wasn’t sure how red would look on me, so I opted for the black teddy next.
It occurred to me that maybe I should have brought in more styles in case I didn’t like any of them. I really hadn’t been thinking as ahead as I thought I had.
“Madeline?”
I paused mid-change. I thought I’d heard my name.