Saturday rolled around quicker than Penelope could imagine. It was surprising to her, because for the rest of the week, she had hardly seen any of Derek. To say she was looking forward to going out with him would be an understatement. So when she came downstairs clad in a pair of leggings and a tee, her hair brushed nicely, her face fell when she saw Derek wearing one of his business suits.
"Good morning, Little Mouse." He greeted, sipping on a cup of coffee.
"Good morning. You look like you're dressed for work. Did you forget?"
Derek slapped his palm to his face. "Oh, no. I'm sorry, Pennie. I didn't forget, but I do have to go into the office today. This contract that we are trying to win. The CEO of the company that we are working with is being fairly demanding with what she wants. We were working late last night, and it looks like we are in for another long day today. If you want, assistant, Tristan, can take you shopping."
"Oh. Well, its okay. I know that your work is important to you." Penelope tried not to sound disappointed. She felt like the shopping trip would be like a date. Although she hadn't met his assistant, Derek had spent a lot of time on the phone with him when he was at home. "I hope that you can get your work done, though." She said, forcing a smile. She grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and went outside to the patio. She pulled out her phone and opened up a reading app. Although she preferred to read hardcover books, it was nice to be able to find whatever she wanted, when she wanted and have it in the palm of her hand. She now had about a dozen of these random reading apps on it, and they were full of all kinds of stories.
Warewolves, bad boy romance, revenge stories, steamy romance... Every time Penelope got into one, she saw an ad for another that drew her in. She must have started at least half a dozen books at that point. She just couldn't help herself!
As Penelope took a bite of her apple and delved into her current read, she heard the glass door open and shut. Derek approached her and extended his hand out to her. "This is my card. You can buy whatever you want with it today. No limits. Just go out and have fun, okay?"
Penelope looked at it. It was black and had the Filmore company name on it. "That's so sweet of you. Thank you! I don't want to take advantage, though."
"You're not taking advantage. You have my permission. Being in our home means that we take care of you. Besides. You couldn't put a dent in it if you tried."
"Thank you." Penelope hesitantly took the card. "I'll take good care of it." She promised. "Have a wonderful day at work. Try not to exhaust yourself, okay?"
Derek leaned in and kissed Penelope's forehead. "Never." He turned and walked back into the house, leaving Penelope to her book.
It was quiet outside, minus a light breeze that was blowing through. Flowers from Lilly's garden were gently swaying. There were a few bees flying through them, grabbing pollen to take back to the hive to make honey with. Penelope didn't mind the bees.
A notification popped up on her screen. It was Jezz.
J: Hey girl!
P: Hi Jezz. How are you?
J: I'm good! How about you?"
P: Good. What are you up to today?"
J: Not much. I had an all day appointment today that cancelled on me.
P: Nice! Derek was supposed to go shopping with me, but he had to work. So I'm reading a book.
J: That's a bummer! I love to shop! Wanna go with me instead?
P: I'd love that!
J: Okies! Send me your address. I'll come pick you up in about an hour.
P: Okies!
Penelope sent Jezz her address and went back to her book. She smiled. She was going to go shopping with a friend. She couldn't believe it! When Jezz came, Lilly brought her out to the patio to greet Penelope.
"Hey, girl!" Jezz greeted, giving Penelope a huge hug as she stood up to greet her.
"So I hear you girls are going to go do some shopping?" She inquired.
Penelope grinned. "Yes! Is that still okay?"
"Of course! You two have fun! Oh, and when you get back, your dad brought a bag of clothes for you. Dan and I weren't sure if you would want them, but they'll be in your room when you get home."
"Ok. Thank you, Lilly!"
"Bye, Mom!" Jezz led Penelope out to her car, which unsurprisingly, was a luxurious looking dark pink. "How could I not have guessed?" Penelope giggled.
The interior was a mix of light pink and white. The headrests in the seats had shiny little golden crowns embroidered into them. Jezz's dash had a large, fancy looking display screen on it that currently had a map that had brought Jezz to the house up. Jezz closed out of it and turned on the stereo at a low volume as they began to converse.
"You have such a nice car!" Penelope exclaimed.
"Thank you! I love it. So tell me, where do you want to go first?"
"I don't know. I was thinking maybe the mall? I just want to get a few outfits. Something better than just a few leggings and tshirts, ya know? I got a few things when I got released from the hospital, but it was just enough to get me by."
"The mall? For clothes?" Jezz pondered. "Nah. I think I got a better place in mind."
"Okay!" Penelope agreed. As Jezz started off, they conversed about random things while they enjoyed the music. After some time, they ended up somewhere downtown. Penelope looked around, noticing that there were more luxury cars parked on the side of the road than she had ever seen before. She had never been to this part of town before. "Where are we?"
"This is the upper class side of town. Its where they keep all the good stores." Jezz grinned.
Penelope looked around. There were stores everywhere with lavish looking entrances. Some had people dressed up in high-class looking outfits, opening doors for people as they went inside. Prada, Versache, Louis Vuitton, Hermes… Most of the others, Penelope couldn't even pronounce. Let alone had she ever heard of them.
The first place that Jezz took her into was Versache. "This is my favorite store. They have lots of pink!' she explained. When they were let in, Penelope's eyes went wide.
There was indeed a lot of pink, just as there was a lot of things that weren't pink. Her eyes were immediately drawn to where they had a display of jeans. She spotted a pair that was embellished with little flecks of gold sparkles. She looked at the tags for her size and immediately noticed the price. "Oh my God. $1750 for a pair of jeans!" she gasped.
"Well, yeah. But they're cute though, right? Try them on!"
"You couldn't put a dent in it if you tried." Derek had told her. Still, Penelope hesitated to pull a pair her size off of the rack. Noticing her hesitation, Jezz grabbed a couple of different sizes, and shoved them into Penelope's arms.
"There ya go!" She grinned. "What else do you see that you like?"
Penelope browsed the stores. She found a silky outfit that she thought would be nice to sit by the pool in. It had a beachy pattern on it, and felt so heavenly! When she once again hesitated to pull them off the rack, Jezz did the job for her. She kept reassuring her that it was fine, but was it? Should she spend Derek's money like this? She just didn't know if she could do it.
A couple pairs of shorts and a swimsuit later, Penelope was in the dressing room, trying things on. The clerk seemed nervous to allow her to try anything, but when Jezz had her flash her card, she backed off, telling her to try on anything and everything that she wanted. The first thing she tried on were the embellished jeans, along with a light purple top that draped across her shoulder and sported little white flowers. Truth be told, she LOVED the outfit. The pants had fit her perfectly, and the shirt looked so adorable on her.
When she stepped out of the dressing room, Jezz squealed with delight. "Oh my god, Pennie! That outfit is fire! I love it!" She exclaimed.
Next, Penelope came out with a white tank, a pink cardigan, and a pair of low-cut pink shorts to match. Everything that she tried on looked stunning on her, but Penelope couldn't stop thinking about the cost. In the end, she put the majority of the items she had picked out back, minus the silky shorts, the purple top, and the pants. Maybe she could wear all of this on a special occasion?
Satisfied with the time they had spent in the store, Jezz took Penelope to the next store, which happened to be Prada. As soon as they walked in, Penelope wanted to walk back out. "Oh my gosh. This is like a store for my grandma. Seriously, who wears this stuff?" Penelope said in a low voice, so as not to offend any nearby store associates.
Jezz laughed, but pulled her deep into the store anyways. After a couple of minutes, she pulled a cute white denim coverall dress off of one of the racks. "What about this one? Its cute!"
Penelope looked at the price tag. "Yeah, but not $2000, cute. Jezz, this is all really nice, but can we just go to a mall. Please?"
"Alrighty, you got it." Jezz giggled, leading Penelope out of the store and back to the car.