When Jasmine enters the Mall, she
catches deep brown, intense eyes looking straight at her. They’re coming from a young man, about 28, with
equally deep brown hair, wearing a tuxedo, and exuding GQ – a model, on a
digital billboard standing at the front of the Mall entry. His eyes draw her in and keep her fixated,
mesmerized. Creepy. She wonders how the
photographer achieves this effect, and how the Mall’s interior designer sets
the photograph to have the model looking directly at Jasmine, where she happens
to be walking. She’s both drawn to him
and disturbed by him; he’s almost, but not quite, stalking her. He gazes her way interested, curious about
her, confident he’s cool and that she must naturally take an interest to
him.
But
the catch, the especially creepy part, is he’s not single. He’s about as
un-single as any man can be. This almost
stalker is a groom, standing with a
lovely bride with long, curled blond hair, set under a tiara of blue and white
flowers. Oblivious to his attentions,
she is looking upon him adoringly. Wake up, Bride! Is she not upset that her groom, the love
of her life, the one she is about to marry, is not looking onto her, but onto
another woman? Why is this lovely bride
in the photograph not bothered that her man is eyeing Jasmine?
Beneath the
photograph of Almost Stalker Groom and Adoring Bride are the words, “Bridal
Show,” followed by the date, time, place, and the bribes: “No Entrance Fee,”
“Free Gifts,” “Wedding and Reception Prizes,” and “Free Lunch Follows.” How can Jasmine spare Mindy from seeing this
intrusion to their Girls’ Day Out? She imagines
Mindy will probably enter from the same door and see it too. Could she distract her before she sees it? Perhaps she can pretend to be browsing toward
the front of one of these shops and call to Mindy before she sees the billboard
too.
Jasmine scans the shops. Directly in front of her is a jewelry store
displaying its own standing ad board by its front entry. The photo on this board portrays yet another
thoroughly in-love young couple, though this couple is not dressed for a
wedding, but more likely, a night out on the town. The young woman is wearing a stunning red
dress with a low-cut V-neck; she is sitting on a black suede leather chair, and, this time, her man is
doting upon her, while attaching a silver necklace with a bright ruby pendant
around her neck. This photograph is
sweet, feel-good, not creepy. But,
still. Next door is a cute clothing
fashion store for teen girls; next to it is a make-up shop; and next to the
make-up shop is another women’s fashion shop called, “The Roaring 20s.” Jasmine
knows, of course, that 30-somethings and even 40-somethings shop there too, but
would it remind Mindy she has only one year remaining of her own roaring 20s?
Better skip that one too. Next to The
Roaring 20s is a shoe store. Perfect.
The
front display, a pine wood table sporting multi-layered display risers, also in
pine wood, that features its latest styles, mostly boots, block heels, and wedge
heels on 2 ½ inch platforms. Jasmine
marvels those gaudy new fashions with more sole and heel than shoe and foot
could possibly be trendy, but she reasons the fashion won’t last. She’ll be sure to tease them with Mindy. Mocking the latest shoe would make a fun
start Girls’ Day Out. Come quick, Mindy, we’re starting here.
Just
then, Jasmine spots an intruder. To the
right of the front display is the shoe store’s ad board. A young woman with long, sexy legs is sitting
in a chair a sporting a spaghetti strap burgundy top, a black mini-skirt, and
the store’s latest block heels, also in burgundy. Could the store not have stopped at that
photo with the model wearing its latest release? Apparently not. On the floor, kneeling beneath the young
woman, is a young man, looking upon her lovingly, lifting up a black, velvet
case, shown just above the advertised shoes.
Atop the case is a glistening diamond ring.
Et
tu, Brute? Jasmine sighs. She knows her accusation of the shoe store exaggerates. It’s hardly a co-conspirator out to murder
her friend, but seeing the displays through the eyes of her heart-broken friend
makes Jasmine resent the mall as an engulfing monster. Jasmine and her friends have often mocked the
multi-billion dollar industry of women and romance, but right now, it’s
personal. Can the mall host any safe
place?
Jasmine
checks her cell phone for any update from Mindy. No text.
The phone reads, “10:04.” Jasmine
figures she’ll need to wander for about six more minutes, since Mindy is
faithfully ten minutes late to everything.
The two friends have held a Girls’ Day Out together only a few times at
random moments in the past few years.
Jasmine recalls her favorite. It
was just after Mindy had started dating Justin.
To Jasmine, the story of how Mindy met Justin belongs in a romantic
comedy. If Jasmine thought Tim’s proposal
to a song with the lyric, “Baby I’m amazed by you” was romantic, she found
Mindy’s song, and story behind it, with Justin even more romantic. Still, she smiles, they’re remarkably
similar. Both songs were of men who were
either “amazed” by their love or who found their love “amazing.” Perhaps a girl wants to be more than just
“completed” by her man; she wants her man to be “amazed” by her.
At lunch that day, Mindy told the story: “I
met Justin at a Bruno Mars concert. A
group of us friends were all going together and one of the other guys brought
Justin. Most of us were singing along to
all the songs, too loudly of course, I’m sure to the annoyance of all the other
concert-goers around us. When Bruno
began singing, ‘Just the Way you Are,’ Justin and I were the only two in our group
who could hit the pitch on ‘face.’”
“No
one can hit that note,” exclaimed Jasmine.
“Let me hear you.”
Mindy chuckles, ”I can’t do it as
well when I’m singing it with Justin.”
She looks around, sheepishly, at the others in the restaurant.
“You don’t know them,” urged
Jasmine. ”They don’t care. Sing it!
You can do it!”
Blushing, Mindy begins singing.
“When
I see your face
There’s
not a thing I’d change
Cause
you’re amazing
Just
the way you are”
“Beautiful!”
Mindy’s
blush turns bright. “Thanks. But I
didn’t hit that note like I can when I’m with Justin. Even that first time at the concert, we hit
that note perfectly, finished it precisely at the same moment, and our voices
blended into a lovely duet, even if I am the one to say so. Our group cheered, we high-fived, and then we
stood together and sang together for the rest of the concert. ‘I sing better when I’m with you,’ he said. ‘No,’ I replied with a smile, ‘I sing better when I’m singing with you!’”
Jasmine marvels such a perfect match
could have broken up, and Mindy’s been silent about what happened. Hopefully, she’ll open up today.
There’s Mindy now. All Jasmine needed to do was get lost in
Mindy’s romance to call her up. Thankfully, Mindy is not looking at the
larger-than-life digital billboards, the standing ad boards, or any of the
shops; instead, she’s waving at Jasmine, smiling. As Mindy approaches, Jasmine spots their
salvation starting point: a toy store!
Jasmine picks up her pace, greets her friend, hugs her, wishes her happy
birthday, and points to the toy store. “Let’s start here!”
Mindy
looks puzzled. “I’m turning twenty-nine, not nine!”
“You
want to stay young, right?” Jasmine
counters.
“Yeah.”
“And
this is Girls’ Day Out, right?” Jasmine keeps to herself her smug pride for
thinking up such a great argument on the spot.
“Yeah.”
“OK
then, let’s start here!”
Mindy
smiles wide. How did she ever manage to
find a friend like Jasmine?
Whew! That was close. Now how do we find something really special
for Mindy in this toy store?
© 2019 by karina. All rights reserved. Please use with permission or a citation that links to this blog.
