47Chapter 18 Just the Girls
That weekend, Cadence and Shawna took a road trip to go to one of their favorite malls. Not only would they be shopping for new wardrobes, but Cadence would also be looking for her wedding dress and a dress for Shawna to wear as her maid of honor. It would be the perfect day for the two, spending time doing two of their favorite activities…shopping and girl talk.
Cadence was happy to be able to take some time to spend with Shawna. She felt like their lives had been so busy lately, that even though they lived in the same house, they rarely got to talk anymore. Cadence still hadn't heard all the details from Shawna's trip to Aruba, and they needed to talk about some wedding plans too.
The whole drive there, a little over an hour long, the girls talked about Aruba. Shawna had a blast there, and it seemed that her time alone with Jonah had added a great deal to their relationship. They got to know eachother on so many other levels by spending time with just the two of them, as they laughed and had fun doing island activities everyday.
In one sense, Cadence was a little jealous because she felt like she needed something like that with Kristian. She wanted to go somewhere with him, alone, to relax and have fun. She wanted to spend time with him, talking about nothing and everything at the same time. But, lately, it seemed like they worked more than they connected. On another level though, Cadence knew that she would have her time with Kristian. They were going to take a two week honeymoon after the wedding, but Cadence had no idea where they were going. Kristian had picked the place and wanted to surprise her with it at the airport. Cadence had also known Kristian a lot longer than Shawna and Jonah had known eachother, and there wasn't much that they didn't know about one another, their discovery period was long gone.
When the girls got to the mall, a sparkle shone in their eyes. The allure of rack upon rack of merchandise was calling to them, teasing them, beckoning them to come inside. Cadence was the first to give into temptation, and explored her first love freely…shoes. After buying three new pairs, Cadence was warmed up and ready to get down to some serious shopping.
The girls had talked about what kind of dresses they wanted for the wedding. Since it was going to be a rather small and informal affair, Cadence didn't want her wedding dress to be too fancy, but she definitely wanted something white. When it came to what Shawna would wear, Cadence was pretty open-minded, but preferred something very simple. She didn't want Shawna's dress to be more formal than hers.
The girls floated from store to store, adding to the bags in their hands each time. To see their variety of purchases, a stranger would laugh. From business suits, to hot clubwear, to sexy lingerie, there was a broad spectrum of apparel.
When the girls couldn't carry anymore, they brought their bags out to Cadence's Rodeo, freeing up their hands for more shopping. It wasn't often that they got to a good mall like this one, so they tended to stock up on stuff. The mall in their town was a sorry excuse for shopping, and they never bought their clothes there. Besides, after just having splurged on everyone else for Christmas, they figured they deserved to treat themselves to some nice stuff.
When they returned to the mall after the baggage dump, Cadence and Shawna went into a dress shop. Most of the specified 'wedding dresses' were much too formal for the type of wedding that Cadence was having. She decided to look through the rack of 'prom dresses' and 'special event' dresses. Most of them were in bright reds, purples, and blacks, nothing even close to what she wanted. Just when she was about to give up, Cadence looked up and saw a mannequin hanging in the corner, near the ceiling. She thought it was a weird place for the mannequin to be, but the one thing that really hit her was that she loved the dress it wore. She quickly called Shawna over and pointed the dress out, then went to find a salesperson to get the dress down.
The snotty woman working bitched and moaned about having to get the mannequin down from the ceiling, but in the end did it when Cadence asked to speak to the manager. After trying for fifteen minutes, the woman finally got it down, then stripped the life-sized doll of the white dress. She rudely tossed the dress to Cadence, who took it into the dressing room to try it on.
After a slight gasp from Cadence, she opened the door to show Shawna how it looked. Cadence stepped out of the room and made her way over to the three-way mirror. She smiled at the reflection, and didn't even need to hear Shawna tell her it was the perfect dress. She already knew. It was long and straight, with a slit up the left leg to her thigh. There was only one strap to the dress, going over her left shoulder. The beads, sequins, and glitter started on that strap at the top of her shoulder, then made its way down the bodice to fan out until it reached her hip. It was just the perfect amount of dressy for the wedding that Cadence had imagined.
Almost reluctant to take it off so soon, Cadence slowly walked back into the dressing room. She came back out shortly after, dressed in her own clothes, with the dress hanging over her arm. The sales woman that had helped her earlier was making herself busy so that she didn't have to help her again. As luck would have it, the manager walked up and asked if there was anything she could help with.
Cadence immediately smiled. "Oh, yes! Thank you! We were trying to get help from some other woman, but it seems like she doesn't want to be bothered today. I thought I'd need a catcher's mitt to catch the dress when she threw it at me earlier." Cadence said with laughter in her voice, pretending not to realize that she was speaking with the manager, and making it look like she wasn't trying to get the rude woman in trouble.
"She threw the dress at you?" The woman asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I don't think she liked the fact that we asked her to get it down from the mannequin that was on the ceiling. She's lucky that I fell in love with the dress or else I would have gone elsewhere. As it is, I'll be getting my maid of honor's dress somewhere else, that's for sure." Cadence said innocently.
"Well, I apologize for her rude behavior. If you change your mind about the maid of honor's dress, please ask for me and I will be more than happy to help you with anything you need." The woman said as she rang up Cadence's purchase.
Shawna stood in the background, snickering. She knew that Cadence was aware that she was speaking to the manager, but she didn't make it obvious. She didn't want the manager to think that she was just complaining to get the woman in trouble.
After the monetary exchange and another apology, Cadence grabbed her dress that was now on a hanger with a garment bag over it, and left the store with Shawna. Both girls broke out laughing once they were away from the store.
"You are so bad!" Shawna said.
"What? The woman deserved it, and the manager had a right to know what kind of person she has working for her. I could have been a bitch and ripped the manager a new ass hole, but I'm sure she gets enough of that. I'd much prefer to hear about a bad employee the way that I did it rather than having someone ranting and raving about it, right?" Cadence reasoned.
"You're right!" Shawna agreed. "Now, how about going into the department stores to find me a dress, now that we know what yours looks like?"
"Good idea my friend!" Cadence said as they walked to one of the large department stores.
After looking through the dress sections of two department stores and finding nothing, the girls were starting to get discouraged. They couldn't seem to agree on the dresses that they had to choose from. If one liked a dress, the other didn't. Shawna felt bad rejecting Cadence's choices, because after all, it was her wedding, but she didn't want to be stuck wearing a dress that she hated. Cadence agreed and didn't want Shawna to feel uncomfortable with the dress that she would have to wear.
In the third department store, they found a few good possibilities. Shawna took a handful of dresses into the fitting room, excited to have so many prospects that her and Cadence both agreed on. The final decision came down to a red tank dress with silver glitter in the shape of a rose, and a silver sequin dress with a black lace overlay on top. Cadence loved both of them, so she told Shawna to choose the dress that she was most comfortable in. They ended up with the black and silver dress, since it wasn't as tight as the red dress.
The final stop for the shopping trip was back to the shoe stores, looking for shoes for the wedding, and also some to go with the clothes that they bought. "I wonder if there is a 12-step program for shoe addicts?" Cadence asked.
"Well, you'd be the perfect candidate for the program!" Shawna told her. "Do you even have room for all this stuff?" She asked, looking at the six boxes on the counter in front of Cadence.
"Um…" Cadence mumbled, looking at the boxes. "If not, maybe Kristian will have to build me another closet or something." She laughed.
The girls finally left the mall and headed back home. They were trying to get home in time to have dinner with the guys before they had to go to work. Cadence was flying down the road when she saw red and blue lights flashing in her rear view mirror. She began to slow down and pull off the side of the road, muttering a string of expletives the whole time.
As the officer approached the window, Cadence rolled it down, flashing her best smile when she saw the decent-looking cop. "Good afternoon, Officer." She said in a sultry voice.
"Good afternoon." He said, his voice cracking just a bit. "Do you have any idea why I pulled you over?"
"Not really." Cadence said innocently.
"You were going 23 mph over the speed limit." He told her sternly, as if he remembered why he was talking to her, all hormones thrown out the window.
Cadence gasped. "Was I really going that fast? I had no idea! I am so sorry officer!" Cadence said as she batted her eyelashes at him and played coy. "I absolutely never drive that fast. My friend and I were just talking and I must not have been paying attention. I promise it will never happen again." Cadence told him, putting her hand over her heart as she promised, drawing the officer's eyes to her cleavage peaking out of her shirt and open coat.
Re-enter the hormones, seeing the valley between the mountains. A few beads of sweat began to form on his upper lip, even though it was cold outside. "Well, hand over your license and registration, and as long as you're clean, I won't give you a ticket this time. Just promise that it will never happen again." He warned her.
Cadence got the items that he asked for out of her purse, and he walked back to his car to enter her info into his system. He came back shortly after, and handed her license and registration back to her. "Everything's clear. I see that you don't live around here, do you come here often?" He asked Cadence, hopefully.
"Not really. Maybe once or twice a year." She lied.
"Oh, that's too bad. I thought maybe we could have dinner the next time you came through." He said, trying to be smooth as he leaned his arms against the open window frame of her door.
Cadence didn't want him to change his mind about giving her a ticket, so she kept her act up. "Well, why don't you give me your number, and the next time I come through, I'll give you a call so we can get together."
The officer nodded and handed her a business card. "My cell number is on there, call me." He said with a wink of his eye before he walked back to his car.
Cadence rolled up the window and slowly pulled away. As they got down the street and back up to full speed, both girls busted out laughing. Cadence had tears rolling down her eyes from laughing so hard.
"You little hooker! I can't believe you basically showed him your boobs to get out of a ticket!" Shawna laughed.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it? I wasn't about to get my first ticket after nearly ten years of driving!" Cadence told her.
"Wait until I tell Kristian about his innocent little fiancée!" Shawna said.
"I bet he'll be proud of me." Cadence said.
"Bet? Did I hear bet? What's the prize?" Shawna asked.
"If I win, you have to get up on the bar and dance tonight, like the girls in the Coyote Ugly movie." Cadence dared.
"Ok, and if I win, if Kristian gets pissed, then you have to get up there and dance." Shawna challenged.
"Deal!" Cadence said and stuck her hand out for Shawna to shake on it.
-)-
The girls pulled into the driveway a little later than they expected. Cadence didn't want to push her luck and get pulled over again for speeding after she got off so easily before, so she drove a little slower than usual. The guys had been waiting for them, so as they pulled in, Kristian and Jonah came out of the house to help the girls with their bags.
When Kristian looked in the back of the Rodeo, his eyes got huge. "Holy shit Cadence! Did you leave anything back at the mall?"
"It's not as bad as it looks." Cadence tried to tell him. "Ok, maybe it is, but at least I got my wedding dress! And, we had so much fun!" She said with excitement.
"Well, as long as you got your dress and you two had a good time, that's all that matters." Kristian conceded, pulling Cadence close to him for a kiss that he had been waiting all day for.
"Yeah, we had fun, the best part was on the way home." Shawna said as they all walked into the house with the shopping bags.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Jonah asked.
Cadence and Shawna took off their coats and put the bags down in front of the couch so they could sort out what belonged to whom. "Kristian, you're going to love this." Cadence said. He looked at her inquisitively, then Shawna took the opportunity to begin the story.
"Well, we were rushing to get home so that we could see you guys before you went to work, hoping to get a nice dinner in before you had to go to the club, and Cadence must have been going a little too fast." Shawna started.
"I got pulled over by a cop that told me I was going 23 miles over the speed limit." Cadence admitted.
"Ah, Cadence! You know how much that ticket is going to cost? That is, if they just give you a ticket. You may end up with a suspended license for that." Kristian groaned.
"It's ok, I didn't actually get a ticket." Cadence smiled.
"You didn't?" Kristian asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"No, she didn't, and do you know why?" Shawna questioned rhetorically. "It's because she flirted her ass off with the cop, showed a little cleavage, licked her lips a few times, and batted her eyes at him. I swear, I thought he was going to shoot a load in his pants just from how she was acting."
Kristian looked stunned for a minute, then grabbed Cadence and pulled her into his lap. "Good girl! Not everyone can get out of a ticket that easily!" He told her and kissed her forehead, then tickled her a little.
"Wow, she takes after you, Playboy." Jonah said to Kristian. "I remember that time you talked that woman cop out of a ticket a few years ago. I couldn't believe she fell for your charm." He laughed.
"So, you aren't at all bothered by this Kristian?" Shawna asked. "Even though the cop gave her his number and told her to call him?"
"Have you called him, or do you plan to?" Kristian asked Cadence. She shook her head no, rolling her eyes and giving him a dirty look for even asking. "Then why should I be upset?" He asked Shawna.
"Fuck!" Shawna exclaimed, grabbed her bags and walked to her room.
"What was that about?" Jonah asked, watching Cadence laugh at the situation.
"She bet me that Kristian would be pissed that I flirted with the cop to get out of the ticket, and she lost. Now she has to dance on the bar tonight." Cadence said, very satisfied with herself, and feeling lucky to have Kristian. She knew that there weren't many men out there who would accept their fiancée flirting with a cop to get out of a ticket.
Kristian and Jonah both laughed, hearing the bet. It would definitely be an interesting night at the bar!