Around noon on Friday, Trisha and three of her AOPi sisters left Athens, Georgia with Shelley in her BMW enroute to Daytona Beach. Besides Trisha and Shelley, the others on the trip were a cute redhead Candace and a dark-haired Amanda, both from Lakeland, Florida and an athletic blonde, Stacy, who was a native of Athens and the winner of the AOPi Father-Daughter Golf tournament back in November. Daytona was only the first of three Floridian destinations for the fab five in Shelley's 'Beamer.' Sunday night they planned to drive over to nearby Ocala, where Trisha's boyfriend Tim had arranged a work project for the AOPi girls to help do some work on a home for the charity Habitat for Humanity Monday thru Wednesday. Trisha also looked forward to having more time to spend with Tim considering how busy they both were back at school where they averaged seeing each other only a couple of times a week. After that Shelley had invited the girls to stay with her at home in Orlando and see Disney World and Universal Studios before coming back to Athens on Sunday.
It was pretty crowded in Shelley's car with all the stuff they had carried for the long trip, but somehow they managed to get to Daytona later that evening all in one piece. In fact, the girls had agreed to limit what they brought to handle the space problems. For example, they each agreed to only bring 4 pairs of shoes - besides the ones they wore in the car. Trisha had to agonize over which shoes to bring because she had about 9 pairs she would have liked to bring. Making matters even worse, one of the 4 pairs had to be a pair of work shoes that they would use later in the week in Ocala. After the long drive, the girls decided to take a walk down to see the beach after which they returned to the hotel to get a good night's sleep.
The next day, Saturday morning, the girls arose early and got ready for a fun day at the beach. They all dressed in layers with a swimsuit underneath and shorts and a casual top and various slip-on sandals. Trisha's sandals were the prettiest of the group - a pair of Red Gingham Van Eli flat-heeled slides.
Candace, Amanda and Stacy chose to split away from Trisha and Shelley and hit some of the beach shops after breakfast. Shelley and Trisha wanted to go ahead and have some beach time while it was not quite as warm and so they would be less likely to burn while trying to tan.
Trisha and Shelley found a nice spot on beach not far from the entry point and lay down, haphazardly kicked off their sandals into the sand and watched the others, mostly college students, frolicking on the beach tossing Frisbees, playing volleyball. Of course, guys and girls were busy scoping each other out. Down the beach they could see the MTV Spring Break Stage set up but at this early hour, nothing was happening as of yet. Trisha took the chance to read a little and Shelley relaxed to some of her favorite music through her headphones.
Around 11:00AM, Trisha suggested, "Hey want to take a break and walk around a bit then maybe grab some lunch somewhere?"
"Sure, we've been here for 2 hours and I'm getting a little bored."
Trisha and Shelley got up, shook off the sand and slipped on their sandals; then they gathered their things and started walking to the exit stairs.
Meanwhile, late in the afternoon on the previous day, Aaron Shell, the producer for the MTV reality dating show, Dismissed, was sitting in a beach-side bar near the MTV stage chatting with his boss, a MTV executive in New York.
"...But, that's what I thought you wanted?"
"Maybe so, but we don't want every show to be about a well-built horny guy lusting after a couple of hot lusty babes or vice-versa. Your show is becoming too predictable."
"Okay, so what do you want?"
"How about a nice intelligent guy and a couple of nice girls for a change of pace?"
"Where am I going to find that on Daytona Beach at Spring Break. It's pretty wild down here. Even if I do, will they be interested in doing our show?"
"That's your challenge - goodbye! (Dial tone)"
Aaron was disturbed at he prospect of finding what his boss wanted on such short notice.
Fortunately finding a nice guy proved to be not so hard. In a couple of hours he had already found Jim Wallace, a nice intelligent young man who was an engineering major from Vanderbilt University, to be on the show. But by nightfall he had still not found a couple of nice girls to compete for him.
Aaron was getting frustrated by late morning the next day having had no success. He walked toward the exit point to leave the beach to look in some of the nearby shops for a couple of good prospects for his show.
As he approached the steps a couple of cute coeds, one blonde and one brunette caught his attention. They looked nice and one of them was even carrying a book. He looked at their clothes and specifically the bathing suits they covered, the blonde wore a tasteful two piece reminiscent of the classic 1960's beach movies and a pair of matching white thong sandals and the brunette wore a pretty red one piece suit and the cutest pair of red and white gingham slides he had ever seen.
Thinking to himself, Aaron thought, 'Maybe they're the ones!'
Shelley and Trisha walked up the steps to leave the beach and they were startled by an unexpected voice from behind, "Excuse me girls." Trisha was in mid step and stumbled out of her right slide sending it through the open steps to the sand a few feet below. A bit embarrassed now, she shyly placed her toes on the step above and stood flat footed on her remaining shoe and turned toward the voice of the man behind them. Shelley also stopped to look back at the guy who sought their attention.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Aaron said as he stepped down and reached his hand in between the steps to retrieve and return Trisha's shoe and catch an eyeful of Trisha's pretty polished red toes. "My name's Aaron Shell and I'm the producer of a reality show we're doing here on the beach for MTV."
Shelley's attention was piqued by his claim to be from a television show - TV being her chosen profession - but Trisha was initially cautious since she was not much of a fan of MTV.
Shelley asked, "What show and what is it about?" Trisha seemed annoyed that Shelley was continuing the pursuit of knowledge about this guy who may have been trying to scam them. She had heard of such things like that before - men trying to take advantage of college girls on Spring Break.
Aaron continued, "I produce a show called 'Dismissed' and it's based on a real simple premise. We start with one guy and two girls on an afternoon date and early in the evening the guy dismisses one of the girls and we then send the winner and the guy out to dinner at a nice restaurant for the rest of the evening. Every other episode is alternately a girl and two guys." Aaron went on to give more details on the rules and Shelley was definitely more interested than Trisha. She felt like she was superior to Trisha in looks and would have no problem getting Trisha dismissed from the date. Trisha was not too interested until Aaron flashed a roll of $50 bills and told them, "For being on the show, each of you get $250 of spending money."
Shelley and Trisha were quiet and looked at one another and Shelley asked to be excused for them to have a few moments to discuss it.
"Sure, also, if you'd like I can show you the MTV set and give you a heads-up on what will happen."
Shelley and Trisha walked away a few feet and privately discussed the idea of appearing on the show.
"Trisha, it'll be fun! We get to spend a fun afternoon with a cute guy - I assume he's cute - and we get $250."
"What about Beau? And what will Tim think?"
"Well if we keep in mind that it's a game and if we do nothing to be ashamed of, what can go wrong?"
Trisha reluctantly agreed and Aaron proceeded to give the girls a tour of the set and told them to meet back there at 2PM to begin filming the show. He told them to keep wearing their present outfits and not worry about makeup. "This was supposed to be a reality show," he reminded them.
Excitedly Trisha and Shelley continued their trek to look in a few shops and eat lunch. Along the way they ran into the others in their group and gave them the news, which was jealously received.
Candace was the most surprised, "You're telling me that you two are going to get paid $250 to go out with a guy and one of you wins a free date with him and all of this is filmed and will air on MTV."
Trisha just began to realize that she was going to be on worldwide television with Shelley, her friend but friendly nemesis in the sorority. It was ironic that Shelley was placed in another situation of trying to compete against Trisha for something. That had become the norm for her. Interestingly Trisha did not care that much at all about the competition. She had the attitude that she wanted to do excellent in everything and if she happened to lose to Shelley having done her best effort, then so what. Shelley on the other hand was driven to succeed and beat all competition and was not focused on her own excellence. As long as she won then that was all that mattered to her. In head to head battles, Trisha was the winner about two times out of every three. Mere weeks away was the election for AOPi Sorority president and as the most excellent junior members, Trisha and Shelley were on the ballot.
Amanda added, "Maybe one of you will get discovered."
Stacy also added, 'Shelley, maybe this will boost your TV career."
The girls chatted some more about the show and Candace seemed to be the biggest expert. "I've seen 'Dismissed' and sometimes it gets pretty brutal. The girls go to all lengths to win the guy's attention and make the other girl look bad."
Shelley quickly noted, 'We won't be like that we'll just put our best effort out there for the guy to make a fair choice."
Trisha took Shelley's declaration with a grain of salt not expecting to get a free ride like she implied by her statement.
At 2PM, Trisha and Shelley arrived at the MTV Stage and Aaron introduced Jim to the girls. All three were pleased and so was the audience that had gathered below the MTV stage to see the introductions of the participants. Jim, was a handsome young man with short light brown hair and a nice medium build, like that of a tennis player. He was casually dressed in a golf shirt and a pair of Dockers khaki shorts and sneakers.
Gervase and Jenna, stars from the first CBS-TV Survivor reality series, proceeded to interview the three for the show. Jenna started with Shelley.
"So Shelley, where are you from and what do you do?"
"Jenna, my name's Shelley Sullivan and I'm from Orlando and I'm a junior at the University of Georgia and a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority."
"Okay, and how about you, Trisha?"
"My name's Trisha Kendrick and I'm from Atlanta and I too am a junior at UGA and an AOPi."
During the introductions, Jim took a good look at Trisha and Shelley and he felt a little shallow, in fact, trying to make conclusions based merely on looks. Shelley was a tall beautiful blonde and Trisha was a shorter yet pretty brunette. One thing that caught his eye right off as a differentiator was actually at floor level. Shelley had average-looking feet with non-painted mails and plain white cross strap thong sandals. Trisha on the other hand had beautiful feet with her nails neatly pedicured and colored bright red and her shoes were also a very pretty red and white gingham style. Sort of like Dorothy's ruby red slippers in the Wizard of Oz, Trisha's slides caught his attention.
"Wow, we've got a sibling rivalry of sorts today. So what do you think about Jim?"
Shelley chimed in first, "He's a good-looking guy. I think we'll have a great date."
Trisha followed with, "He seems to be a nice guy. I'm looking forward to getting to know him better on our date."
"Okay, Jim, how about you?"
"My name's Jim Wallace and I am a senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University."
Gervase asked, "Okay that's cool; what's your first take on Shelley and Trisha?"
"Wow! They're both pretty and seem quite nice. I think we'll have a fun and interesting date."
Gervase followed-up with, "So you like the sight of these cute Georgia peaches, huh?"
Jenna took over and dismissed the trio and the discreet cameraman on their date. The taxi provided by the show first took them to the Daytona International Motor Speedway where many a famous NASCAR event had taken place. It had only been a few weeks since Dale Earnhardt Sr. was tragically killed there and that made the visit more somber than it would have normally been. They got to walk onto the track, check out the pit crew areas and Jim took pictures as Shelley and Trisha alternately waved the checkered flag at the finish line.
Up until this point, the date was pretty much a time of getting better acquainted. In other words, Shelley played 'nice.' Jim was feeling a bit torn already since he thought that Shelley had an edge albeit a razor-thin one in the looks department with her height and blonde hair. On the other hand, Trisha seemed to be a more down-to-earth girl like he preferred. Jim also liked those pretty red sandals she wore. Trisha was not as interested in bragging on herself like Shelley had done somewhat thus far.
Jim and the girls left the speedway and went next door to a Go-Cart track called the Speed Zone where they could do a little racing of their own. Shelley made a play to sit in the same car as Jim and Trisha was about to cry foul but Jim suggested it would not be fair to Trisha to do that. Instead, all three got in their own car and prepared to see the green flag to get them started. Trisha toyed with the brake and accelerator and realized her slides gave her little control of the pedals. She discreetly slipped them off and stuck them in a pouch that hung from the seat below at leg level. Soon they were zooming around the track with the others in the same group. Midway into the second loop around the track, Trisha and Jim led the way but Shelley was close behind. On a curve, Shelley wanted to show off and she went around the side of Trisha and cut her off forcing her partially off the road but just missing a bale of hay. By the time she recovered, Shelley had taken over Trisha's position next to Jim as they crossed the finish line together.
Trisha's first thought was to confront Shelley and tell her off, but she decided to play a different strategy and see if it would make Shelley's intent backfire. Trisha stepped out of her car and retrieved her slides and slipped them back on and walked over to where Shelley and Jim had already debarked their go-cart. "Shelley, nice driving. Where'd you learn that move? You’ll have to teach it to me sometime."
Shelley was expecting to use Trisha's critique to make her look like she was boring and unable to have fun, but all she could say back was, "Thanks. I guess I learned that driving in Orlando with all the Disney visitors from all over the country and the world driving around."
Jim made note that Shelley had indeed cut Trisha off and also that Trisha took it very well and did not allow her to gain the upper hand. Shelley began to plot her next move as they rode in the taxi to take a tour of Daytona Beach and the nearby canal-like Intracoastal Waterway by tour boat. During the tour, Shelley played her game's 'Timeout' card and summoned Trisha downstairs for 20 minutes on the boat ride. This gave Shelley an opportunity to spend time with Jim alone on the deck of the boat and build herself up in his eyes. She took plenty of opportunities to brag on herself, play with her pretty long blonde hair and stretch out her long shapely legs.
When Shelley’s timeout was finished, the three returned to their competition and Shelley continued to scheme. She figured that taking the timeout first while on a romantic boat ride was a good strategy to start with. Trisha then realized that she also had a 'Timeout' card to use at some point and she looked for a good opportunity to play it and place to rent paddleboats and send Shelley away for 20 minutes.
Shelley decided that she would play on Trisha's weakness, not keeping her shoes on. Maybe if she got Trisha to look like a klutz it might seal the deal. The plan was to look for some activity that would require her to place her shoes in danger of coming off easily. Her sandals were also backless but with a toe strap were easier to keep on. It so happened that at the docking place for the tour boat there was a place to rent paddleboats and Shelley did not even have to recommend the activity. Jim suggested and Shelley was quick to agree. Trisha went along with the idea and they located their boat an elevated model with a bench seat and pedals for two.
Jim got on the boat first and helped Shelley on board. Trisha wondered what to do about her shoes. Should she leave them at the dock and risk them being stolen? Should she take them off and sit them on the seat and risk them falling off and into the water or should she just pedal with them and hope for the best. She chose the third option and kept them on. The way the boat was configured and since each girl anted to sit by Jim they agreed to do all the work and let him just relax.
Soon, Trisha and Shelley were working in unison to paddle Jim all around the roped off area of the Intracoastal Waterway. The Taxi driver and the camera man were in another boat and they kept in close enough range to get some good shots of the trio on the boat who were all miked for sound. Jim got an eyeful of these two beauties working hard and pedaling with their sandals. He was really enjoying the motion of Trisha's red and white slides and her red toenails as they flashed by in practically a whirr. With each cycle, Trisha's foot would flex on and off the sole of her shoe in a rhythmic motion.
Shelley was amazed at how well Trisha did with her shoes and she realized she'd have to intervene to cause a problem. She pretended to slip and took both feet off the pedals suddenly. The momentum threw Trisha of balance and her right foot slipped off the pedal and her right shoe flew forward onto the buoyant right float that was one of two 12-inch wide floats that supported the boat apparatus on the water. Amazingly, her slide landed upside down and the toe pointing inward and the upper caught on a bolt that was sticking up.
As Trisha stopped pedaling, the boat slowed down and this change in speed caused her shoe to sway back and forth on the bolt precariously hanging on while Trisha watched her pretty shoe in horror and embarrassment. Shelley took a risk and regained control of the pedals and gave the boat a jerk sending Trisha's shoe into the water.
"Oh no! It fell into the water!" Trisha exclaimed while frantically trying to locate where it landed in the water.
Jim replied, " I think we just ran the boat over it. Pedal backwards for a bit."
Shelley, now forced into cooperation pedaled backwards with one shod Trisha who stood up looking all around to try to locate her shoe. Her shod foot remained on the floor of the boat and she kept her unshod foot with toes flexed on the edge of her seat for balance support. Jim thought her bare foot was cute and pretty in that position but he longed for the opportunity to play Prince Charming with her shoe if found. After three or four minutes or so, Jim spotted a small flash of red just below the surface of the water off to the right side of the boat.
"I'll see if I can reach it." Jim said while swapping places with Trisha in the boat and leaning ever so carefully over the edge. He reached for the shoe and got it! Pulling it up water dripped a bit off of it and Jim heroically returned it to Trisha who gave him a thank you hug while a jealous Shelley realized her plan had been foiled again.
The cameraman got a lot of good footage of the shoe incident and it was included in the broadcast version of the show.
Soon they returned to the dock, turned-in the boat and got back in the taxi to drive back to the main part of the beach where there were some nice shops. As they passed a bookstore with a coffee shop, Trisha boldly played her 'Timeout' and invited Jim inside for a cup of coffee in the bookstore.
Shelley sat on a bench outside and calmly waited for the Timeout to be over. She hoped that she had done enough to keep from being dismissed later on in their date.
Jim and Trisha stood in line to order and there were a couple of people ahead of them - it was the busy spring break time of the year. Jim took notice as Trisha alternated playing with one slide then the other by wiggling her foot from side to side, taking her foot completely out of the shoe then thrusting it back in. A few times, she lifted her bare foot and scratched her calf slowly with her toenails totally unaware of how much Jim was enjoying it while they continued to become better acquainted.
Once seated, Trisha crossed one leg out toward the aisle and dangled the red gingham slide off the end of her toes and swayed it back and forth while they talked and again Jim took notice.
"Trisha, I'm letting you know that at 6PM when we meet up with the crew at the MTV stage, I'm making my 'dismiss' decision." While he spoke, Trisha became noticeably more nervous and started swinging her crossed foot at a more rapid rate.
Trisha thought that maybe Jim was going to be nice and give her notice that she was being dumped for the pretty tall blonde Shelley. 'At least he's trying to let me down easy,' Trisha thought while she awaited Jim to finish.
"Oh really, I guess it is close to that time. Wow time flies when you're having fun." Trisha doubted that she could sway him now but she always believed in playing nice.
"All afternoon, you captivated me. You're so pretty and nice and you played this game without any scheming or trying to influence me in any way and I appreciate it."
'Wow he sure is being nice in letting me down,' Trisha thought as her shoe flipped off landed on the floor with a light clasp exposing the same foot that had been left bare for a few minutes on the boat.
Jim took notice of her shoe coming off again and was about to continue when the cameraman intervened. "Twenty minutes are up!" On that note, Shelley came inside and Jim was unable to continue with his answer. Trisha recovered her errant slide and regained her composure. Trisha had picked out a coffee type that she knew Shelley liked and Jim had already bought it. He gave it to her and the three of them walked out with their coffees and continued to window shop along the shops near the beach.
Soon Jenna and Gervase met them again at the MTV stage and the cameras were rolling. Jenna introduced the segment to the future TV audience and Gervase addressed Jim, "So have you made your decision?"
"Yes I have, Gervase."
Jenna instructed Shelley and Trisha to stand on either side of Jim and hold hands. "Jim when I say so, lift up the hand of the girl you're keeping. The other girl is dismissed and will be asked to leave the stage immediately. The winner will stay and you will be taken by Limo to your dinner date destination. Ok, Now!"
And with no hesitation, Jim lifted Trisha's hand much to her surprise and even more so to Shelley's.
Jenna announced, "Shelley Sullivan, you're dismissed!" and she began to escort her off the stage where she was allowed to speak to the camera and express her dismay before leaving the stage area. Gervase followed up with, "And the winner is Trisha Kendrick and shortly you will be taken to a nearby restaurant to complete your date. Jim, why did you pick Trisha over Shelley?"
"Well, as I said earlier, both girls are very pretty but I thought that Trisha played the game with more class. She just tried to be herself and have fun and Shelley always seemed to be scheming against Trisha and bragging on herself. I like the more down-to-earth type."
"Trisha, how do you feel?"
"Jim's a nice guy. He treated me and Shelley well and I think we'll have a fun evening."
Jenna dismissed the TV audience and Gervase led Jim and Trisha to their limo, which whisked them to the Top of Daytona Restaurant, which sits on the 29th floor of the Peck Plaza. It was a nice place but a casual atmosphere that was well suited for Trisha and Jim's beach attire.
A lot of the pressure was off and Jim and Trisha relaxed and had a good time getting to know each other. It turned out that not only was Trisha nervous about the game because of Tim, but Jim was also nervous about playing because of his girlfriend. Lisa, from Bowling Green, Kentucky who was also a student at Vanderbilt. They talked about dating stuff and school stuff. They exchanged some good conversation concerning dating - they asked things to get the opposite sex's perspective while having no fear of who they were asking. Of course it was also nice to finally not be on camera and to have $250 of spending money for Orlando later in the week.
As before in the coffee shop, Trisha played fervently with her Van Eli Slides and Jim as before enjoyed watching her and her occasional misfires and cute recoveries. But most of all both relaxed and enjoyed good food, good conversation and pleasant company.
That night, Trisha returned to a room full of curious girls who wondered how her date went. Shelley was somewhat cool to Trisha about getting dismissed, but soon she too warmed up to Trisha and soon, the five of them were chatting and laughing well past midnight.
Once they arrived in Ocala, Trisha ran out of the car and Tim greeted her with a big hug and a kiss. Everyone of Trisha's friends already knew Tim since he and Trisha had dated all semester and He had also taken Trisha to the AOPi Valentine's Dinner. Tim led the girls inside the church where he was an Assistant Youth Pastor when in town and showed them the room that was set up with cots and a restroom with a shower. The other girls from their sorority who came to work on the Habitat For Humanity house were already there (they did not want to go to Daytona Beach before or Orlando afterwards - they had a place to stay in Tampa instead) and their cots looked well used.
Once the girls got settled, Trisha left the group and found Tim again. He held her hand, looked gazingly into her eyes and asked her, "What time do you want to go to dinner?"
Trisha wiggled one foot and playfully slipped it out and back into her shoe - a mustard-colored mule - flexed her pretty polished toes unknowingly catching Tim's full attention and replied, "Give me a half-hour to change clothes, okay?"
Tim agreed and went back to his office to wait. Meanwhile, Shelley and the other girls ordered pizza and hung out in the Recreation Room where they eventually watched TV and played games all evening.
Trisha had packed a special outfit for the night, a pretty pink floral dress that stopped a few inches above her knees and a pair of matching pink gingham mules with a small bow tied on the edge of the upper. She also placed her dark brown hair up into a pretty pony tail that hung 6 inches below her neck and adorned it with a matching pink and white ribbon. Her choice of clothing showed off her fresh tan that she had acquired from laying outside on some of the warmer days back in Athens and also from the couple of days in Daytona Beach. She got herself looking nice and walked out to meet Tim and go to dinner.
Ocala is not known for having a lot of four-star restaurants, but the place where Tim took Trisha, Nonnie's Stone Oven, was one of the better selections. They arrived and were seated minutes later in a quiet, dimly lit section of the restaurant where other tables seemed to be filled with young couples in love enjoying pasta, pizza and each other.
Tim and Trisha had both been pretty busy over the semester and had not been out but a couple or three times the entire month of March. Trisha was just as much at fault as Tim in the area of busyness. Between her classes and her sorority and Tim's work with the Sunday School class at church and even doing some long distance planning for the youth group in Ocala, they did well to talk on the phone every day or two, meet for lunch after church and go on a real date on Friday or Saturday night.
Tim ordered their drinks and appetizer and they relaxed in the comfort of each other's company - something they had not had enough of lately. They chatted a little about their busyness and also Tim's impending graduation in a couple of months which left Trisha wondering where the relationship was headed after that.
"That's great that you're still going to be able to graduate on time after taking last semester off." Trisha said this realizing she really would have liked for him to be in Athens longer but she wanted to be supportive. "Your plans to go to seminary in Dallas were able to stay the same."
"That's right. Classes at the SMU (Southern Methodist University) Perkins School of Theology start in August and I'm going to spend June and July in Ocala working at the church again. I've got a large load this semester but my advisors have been very supportive of my plans."
The conversation was about to get too serious for either's taste and Trisha changed the subject much to Tim's delight. "So what sort of work are we going to be doing on the house?" Trisha stretched her legs straight out in between Tim and the wall of their booth to where he could see them easily down to his left side.
Tim replied, "We're going to be painting and screwing on wall plates - light switches and plug-ins. There may be some caulking also. You ever used a caulk gun?"
Trisha crossed her feet at the ankle while they were still hovering in the air a few inches above Tim's seat and replied, "No, I can't say that I have. I think my dad's got one though. Stacy's pretty adept at stuff like that. She might be able to help caulk." Trisha finally dropped her feet down on the seat just as she decided to uncross them again.
Tim tried to not be too obvious in stealing an occasional glance at her pretty shoes and ankles as they continued their dinner conversation. He had gotten a glimpse of her feet earlier and he was hoping for an encore performance.
Soon he got an ounce of hope as he noticed that she had totally rested the heels of her shoes on the booth and slid both feet out of her shoes to the point where the heels of her feet were also resting on the seat next to him. One shoe was staying on her feet only by the length of her toes, which remained totally within the upper of each mule.
Trisha later began to wiggle her feet from side to side keeping her heels still on the seat. In between conversation, Tim noticed this maneuver and saw that as she swayed her feet, her right shoe was starting to come off. Gradually a little bit of toenail was revealed and as Tim made a funny comment about something, her shoe completely slipped off, fell off to the side and skid off the end of the booth in between the booth seat and the wall. Of course all of this was only in Tim's sight. Trisha had assumed her shoe was resting on the booth safe and sound.
For a few minutes, Trisha did nothing to try to recover her shoe. She and Tim kept talking about the Habitat house. Then she told him about her trip to Daytona - conveniently omitting the part about the 'Dismissed' TV show, knowing that Tim was not much of a fan of MTV.
Tim anxiously anticipated the moment when Trisha would try to get her shoe back. He soon noticed Trisha squirming in her seat across the table. She slowly lowered herself and stretched her bare foot outward with her toes pointed down, dropping her foot in several places trying to locate her shoe. Tim enjoyed the sight of her pretty foot off to his left bouncing on the seat. It would have been easy to ask Tim to get it for her but Trisha was embarrassed and wanted to first try to get it back herself.
After a bit longer, she gave up and brought both of her legs back over to her side of the table. She put her shod foot on the floor and crossed the bare one behind it at the ankle as she continued to tell about the beach and the shopping and the good food she and the other girls experienced. They received their meals and they were excellent - Tim had spaghetti and meatballs and Trisha had some excellent lasagna. Trisha did not worry about her other shoe as they finished their meals.
Tim feigned dropping his napkin at one point and caught a quick glimpse of her crossed bare foot 'in hiding' and he thought it was quite cute. When it was almost time to leave, Tim reached down between the wall and the booth and felt for her shoe, which was a few inches below the top of the seat. He barely touched it and it fell down the rest of the way and could no longer be reached without him being noticed.
Trisha could not wait any longer, "Tim, while you pay I'm going to stop by the restroom. Would you mind handing me my shoe? It fell off earlier."
Tim replied, "Okay, place your heel back up on the seat." This was his sly way of getting a close look at her foot while retrieving her shoe. It also gave him a chance to put her shoe back on. Tim reached down in between the booth and the wall and found her shoe and began to tug. The heel was caught on something making it not want to come out. "It's caught on something, give me a minute."
Trisha patiently waited while Tim struggled to get her heel free. "I got it," Tim exclaimed but then he could not pull his hand out. His watch, which was one of those divers watches with a thick face and attached onto the band with leather straps, was caught on the seat. "I can't get my hand out. My watch got caught." Tim was forced to release the shoe, pull out his hand and remove his watch.
Trisha was getting a little impatient and needed more and more to go to the restroom. She fidgeted her foot that was perched upon the seat of the booth, awaiting Tim to successfully replace her cute pink mule on her pretty exposed foot. She slid her foot back a bit allowing her polished toes to grip the very edge of the seat.
This time, unhindered, Tim was able to snag Trisha's shoe and place it back on her foot.
"Thanks. I was wondering if I was ever going to get it back," Trisha replied as she left for the restroom and Tim paid the check.
Tim took Trisha back to the church and advised her and the other girls to get plenty of rest. Of course, instead, the girls stayed up talking until 12:30AM. The 6AM wakeup call to get started on the house came mighty early indeed.
The first day at work was spent getting the girls acclimated to the work that needed to be done. Trisha and Shelley began painting the living room; Candace and Amanda worked on painting the master bedroom and the other girls worked on installing switch plates in the rooms already painted. Stacy was given the task of caulking around all the windows. The girls wore their work clothes, which consisted of old shorts, t-shirts and sneakers. Trisha wore a pair of old blue Keds with the backs flattened to make them easy slip-on and slip-off mules
Some of the church families hosted a dinner for the girls in the Fellowship hall where they enjoyed some good home cooking for a change. After dinner, Candace suggested the girls go out to window shop at the Paddock Mall there in Ocala - just to get out for a couple of hours and relax a bit. It was not a very impressive mall, not even as nice as Athens' Georgia Square Mall but it had a few nice stores to browse. They first walked through the Misses' department in Parisian and scanned some pretty spring and summer dresses. Stacy and Amanda tried on a couple of them each.
Soon they wandered over into Trisha's favorite area - the shoe department. They looked at the pretty sandals and slides and other nice shoes. Candace picked up a pair of blue low-cut flats and noted, "Hey you don't see these much anymore, but these are cute."
Trisha mildly replied, "Yeah, they're alright."
Stacy added, "I think that's a nice shoe. I used to wear that style a lot back in high school."
Candace added, "I did too. What about you, Trisha?"
"Well, I did have a nice pair of flats like that, with the low-cut upper, in 10th grade. They slipped on my heels a lot and rubbed blisters but I endured that because they were stylish and since they were easy to slip off in class or play with them while seated."
Stacy asked, "So why do you not wear those anymore?"
Trisha paused then replied; "I had an embarrassing incident back in 10th grade while wearing them to my school's homecoming game. Somehow, I got nominated for the Sophomore Homecoming Court - it was the only year that I was on the court while I was in high school. Anyway, it was early October 1995 and our Homecoming festivities were at the halftime of our football game with the Woodstock Wolverines. There happened to be a hurricane, Hurricane Opal if I recall, that had hit the Florida Gulf coast the day before and it rained about half a foot in Marietta the day before. It even blew down a large tree limb in our yard and my dad had to get out his chain saw to cut it up to get rid of it. To the game, I wore a plaid wool skirt, a matching blouse, white nylons and a pair of navy blue flats with the low-cut upper, just like those on the shelf. They were no longer new shoes and had indeed stretched out a bit - as do most of my shoes it seems. We rode into the stadium on top of the backseat of a convertible and the first sign of trouble was when one of my shoes worked itself off and fell into the floor of the car. I held up the other girls getting out when I stepped down to retrieve my shoe. Then we had to walk in a single file line out onto the muddy football field and stand next to the Freshman court, which had gone before us. Around the middle of the field, it was very muddy and sticky and I came out of both of my shoes. First the left one came off several inches deep in the mud and then when trying to step back to try to retrieve it, I stepped out of the right one. I could not find my left shoe but my right one was in my path toward the other side of the field so I slipped my foot into it, cringing as my muddy foot squished itself into it, and went on. My shoeless foot was brown from mud so I had hoped that few would notice. I stood with the other girls in one shoe and waited for what seemed like 10 years for the opportunity to walk off the field and go up into the stands. I decided that it would be better to keep my foot brown from mud to call less attention to my missing shoe than to clean it off. It was pretty miserable sitting in the stands with two muddy feet and one of those missing its shoe. Those around me teased me about losing the shoe as would be expected. Amber walked out on the field with me after the game and after 15 minutes of poking around I found it and got cleaned up for the Homecoming Dance in the gym."
"That's some story. I haven’t heard you tell that one before, how embarrassing!"
The girls continued to window shop and browse through a few stores but no one bought much of anything before they returned to the church to get a good night's sleep. Meanwhile, while the girls were having their own dinner and fun shopping, unbeknownst to Trisha, Tim was out to dinner with Mary and having a fun time. They talked about her plans to transfer to SMU in Dallas so they could continue to date after he started seminary. After riding the fence for some time now, Tim was now prepared to settle on Mary and end things with Trisha.
The next day, the girls returned to their tasks from the day before. Trisha and Shelley had about finished painting the living room by the time lunch was near. This is when a funny mishap occurred. Trisha was painting the ceiling with an extension roller and while looking up, she lost track of where she was stepping. An errant step landed her foot square in the can of white ceiling paint. The feel of cold thick paint caused her to quickly jerk her foot up and out of the can, leaving her shoe completely submersed in the paint. She placed her wet foot down on the unfinished floor and made a few white footprints as she tried to wipe off the paint.
Trisha ran outside and found the hose and quickly washed the white latex paint from her foot and ankle. Returning inside she dared to pull her missing shoe from the can of paint. She let the contents drip back into the can before hurriedly carrying it outside to wash it off with the hose. She was successful in removing the excess pain off her shoe, but she was left with a white sneaker to go with her unblemished blue one.
Trisha placed the wet, squeaky white sneaker on her foot and walked back inside just in time for lunch and the teasing from her friends who were amused at her two different colored shoes which she was left with to wear the rest of the day and the next.
After lunch she began to get irritated by the wet white squishy sneaker she was wearing so she went outside and took her shoe off and hung it on the chain-link fence that encircled the back yard in full view of the warm bright sun so it could dry. She returned inside wearing only her one good blue shoe and continued to work by Shelley's side in finishing their painting.
While working in one shoe, the regional director of Habitat for Humanity came by to visit the site and take photographs of the girls hard at work. Trisha was caught in her one blue sneaker with the back flattened under her heel and she had some explaining to do. The director was amused. After a few hours of sunshine, she went outside and her shoe was dry enough to put back on.
That evening, Tim ate church leftovers with the girls and asked Trisha to go with him for dessert afterwards and she eagerly agreed. She put on a nice pair of red shorts and a red and white plaid blouse and the same Van Eli Red Gingham slides from earlier in the week. Tim took her to Shoney’s and bought her a hot fudge sundae and himself a hot fudge cake. Trisha was having a good time laughing about her paint mishap and chatting about general stuff. She crossed one leg over the other and dangled her slide furiously as Tim soaked in the enjoyment of something he might not get to see again. She was feeling better about their relationship and she dared to ask Tim a probing question, "So Tim, It was almost a year ago we first went out and we've been dating more regularly since January. With you leaving for Dallas in June where do you see our relationship headed?"
The shock of Trisha bringing up the subject before him took a few moments to subside, but then Tim knew what he had to do.
"Trisha, you're a nice girl and I like you a lot.."
Trisha's countenance began to fall as she feared that there was a 'but' coming around the corner that would change things.
"..and I think you're very pretty. You caught my eye months before we actually went out but I was too shy to do anything about it. But.."
Then it came, the three-letter word that is one of the most dreaded words there is in the realm of interpersonal relationships.
"..we need to talk. This is hard.."
Trisha tried to keep her stoic composure but she was on the verge of tears. She encouraged him, "It's okay, just tell me the truth."
"Well, last summer I was looking so forward to seeing you in September at school and trying to date you. Then things happened at church and I stayed here in Ocala, of course. There's something you don't know. There's a girl from my church, named Mary, who attends Central Florida Community College that I got to know during the fall. We dated some during the fall and then it was soon time to return to Athens in January..."
Trisha wanted to interrupt and air her protest and let him know she was hurt and upset, but she decided to hold her tongue and let him finish.
"..I looked forward to seeing you again and seeing if I wanted to date you or continue to see Mary."
Trisha, now crying a little asked, “So, this semester's been a test, to see if I measured up to Mary?"
"No, I did not mean for you to take it that way. But what I did discover is that you're pretty busy with AOPi and friends and I don't think we're ready for a serious relationship. And with my leaving in June I did not see a 800 mile relationship working for us."
"How far is Ocala from Dallas? Is it not a bit farther than Athens and Atlanta?"
"Actually, she's going to be a junior next year and she has to transfer somewhere. She's also going to SMU in Dallas."
Trisha was floored with the news. It had been only 5 months since Chuck had dumped her in Atlanta at Huey's and now she was getting dumped in the middle of her Spring Break - what was supposed to be a fun and happy time. Trisha did not get as hysterical as she did when Chuck broke up with her. She did cry though and ask to leave.
"Sure I understand. I hope that I can convince you that this is not something personal against you. I think you're great! It's just not the right time for our paths to cross I suppose. I have enjoyed this semester a lot. I loved taking you to the Valentine's dinner. That is probably my favorite date with you. Of course our picnic last spring was right up there."
"I'll miss you, Tim, but I wish you the best as you move on. (Pause) Please take me back to the church, if you would."
In silence, Tim returned Trisha into the sympathetic arms of her friends and drove over to visit Mary for a couple of hours to tell her about ending things with Trisha before going home himself.
The girls made the short drive from Ocala down to the Sullivan's home in the Windermere community west of Orlando in just a little over an hour. Shelley took the girls on a quick tour of the grounds and also the house itself. Everyone was amazed at how nice everything was. The Sullivan home was large and well decorated in a blend of antiques and contemporary styles. They had a large swimming pool and a deck for entertaining and a nice view of the golf course that Shelley's dad helped to develop.
Around 6PM, Shelley, Trisha and the other three girls changed into pretty cocktail dresses and dressy heels for the elegant evening that Shelley and her twin brother Stephen had planned. Trisha wore a sleeveless candy apple red silk dress and a pair of matching Sigerson Morrison mules with a 2-inch kitten heel. She had also taken time to add some curl to her brown hair, which now had a few sun-drenched blonde highlights. Instead of adding a bow, ribbon or a clip to her hair, Trisha let it lay off her shoulders, allowing it to bounce effortlessly when she walked or when the wind blew. It kept its shape nicely. All the girls were well dressed and were looking forward to spending the evening with Stephen's friends. Candace wore a pretty dark green sleeveless and strapless style with matching strappy sandals with 4-inch heel that looked nice with her long auburn hair. Stacy wore a sleeveless light blue dress and a pair of 2 1/4-inch black slides that helped to accentuate her athletic build and particularly her muscular calves. She also tied her long blonde hair into a ponytail and added a matching light blue hair ribbon. Dark-haired Amanda wore a pretty light brown dress and a pair of matching 3-strap tan slides with a 3-inch heel. Finally, Shelley wore an elegant floral print dress and a pair of revealing white slingbacks.
By 7PM, Stephen's friends, who were from his Sigma Chi chapter at the University of Central Florida (UCF) arrived all nicely dressed in khakis or chinos of other colors and sports coats. A couple of the guys even chose to wear a necktie. Shelley's idea to have an elegant evening was working out well. Mrs. Sullivan and the family cook had prepared some nice heavy hors d'overes and pastries to get the evening started. Mr. Sullivan had smoked a ham, Fed-Ex'd from Arkansas, for the party and a condiment and accessory tray had been prepared to allow everyone to make their own sandwiches.
Stephen's friends, Russ, Mark, Victor and Ken, were pleased when they arrived and saw the girls. They all knew Shelley and that she was stunning but they were especially pleased that her friends were so pretty as well. Shelley immediately noticed that Trisha seemed to be the one the guys gravitated to first among her four sorority friends. She figured it must be the red dress since, in her mind, Trisha was no more attractive that the other three of her sorority sisters. Trisha was still feeling stung from her rejection by Tim the day before but she was trying to heed Shelley's earlier advice to relax, enjoy the party and talk to Stephen's friends. She stood next to the railing of the deck and playfully slid one foot in and out of one red mule.
With the exception of Stephen and Ken, who seemed to have an eye for Shelley, the other three guys soon found themselves fighting for conversation time with pretty Trisha who had not moved from her position against the railing of the deck since they guys showed up. Gradually, however, Candace and Amanda began to get some attention from Mark and Victor. Stacy, meanwhile, had already set her attention to Stephen.
Russ, who was wearing a pretty red and blue striped necktie and looked very distinguished, took a chance and asked Trisha, 'Would you like to go get some food?"
"Sure, sounds good,” Trisha replied while shoving her foot solidly back into her mule and began to walk over to the table with Russ. Soon the others followed suit and the conversation split into a couple of groups at the patio furniture around the pool. Shelley, Ken, Stephen and Stacy sat at one table and the other six sat at the other one. Again, Trisha became the center of their table's conversation. Trisha however tried to deflect some of the conversation to Amanda and Candace. Victor and Mark began to show more attention to the other girls but they still had taken a liking to Trisha who was visibly engaged in some vigorous shoeplay with her pretty red mules under the glass table.
The evening continued very nicely and on the clear night, the lights of Orlando were evident but there were also a fair number of stars in the sky and Victor, who was an Astronomy hobbyist, gave a brief lesson to the group on the heavens - pointing out various significant star foundations.
Around 10PM, Shelley suggested that everyone head over to a great new club she had heard about and even had a brochure. She read to the group from a brochure, "They have a stairway to enter the dance club on the third floor. Inside are two levels of bars, pool tables, and video games; the stage and dance floor are on the ground floor. Live bands perform oldie's from the 60's, 70's and early 80's. The atmosphere is relaxed and casual."
Most everyone seemed pretty interested in going. Not normally much into the club scene, Trisha surprisingly agreed to the plan. She was still feeling pretty upset after finding out about Tim's girlfriend, Mary, in Ocala. However she was having a good time and was enjoying the attention. Everyone was certainly well-dressed for a fun night on the town.
Trisha pulled Shelley aside and asked her, "Did you say anything to Stephen about what happened today with Tim? His friends are really being overly nice. It's almost embarrassing, really, if they're doing it because you said something."
"No, I didn't even talk to Stephen today until he showed up at the house. He and his friends just knew what time to come by. You're just charming them yourself - enjoy it." Shelley acknowledged the truth a bit begrudgingly.
Within minutes, Shelley and Stephen each had their carloads parked outside the club. They and their eight guests made their way up the stairs at the club and soon found a large round table where they could all crowd around and talk and enjoy the music.
Trisha ordered a strawberry daiquiri - a real one, not the alcohol-free kind. Having been 21 and legal for only a couple of weeks, and since she had had such a disturbing day, she decided to go all out. The others got similar drinks, a glass of wine or a mug of imported beer. Stephen and Shelley, who were still a few weeks from being 21, agreed to stay sober for the drive home and be the designated drivers.
Stephen's roommate, Russ, was the first to ask Trisha to dance. He was pleasantly surprised when they got out on the dance floor and discovered what a good dancer she was. Guys who did not know Trisha had no idea how she had taken classes to be a better social dancer. They also did not know that she played tennis a lot for fun and exercise and that helped her with endurance, coordination and leg muscle strength. He was amazed that she did so well wearing those pretty red backless shoes that he had been admiring all evening. He liked the way they showed off her well-shaped calf muscles. Mark danced a little with Candace and Victor danced some with Amanda, both returned to the table before Russ and Trisha, who stayed out on the floor for 2 or 3 songs.
Mark and Victor watched how good a dancer Trisha was and how pretty and energetic she looked on the dance floor. While the others rested and finished their drinks, Stephen and Ken danced some with Stacy and Shelley. Trisha and the others chatted about their schools, their sorority and fraternity, where they grew up, stuff like that. Trisha slipped her feet out of her mules, stretched them forward and rested them on the round table leg in the middle of the table.
About the time Shelley, Stephen and their partners returned, Mark was ready for his turn with pretty Trisha so he asked her to dance and she accepted. She replaced her feet in her red mules and stayed on the floor with him for three or four songs. A slightly jealous Candace asked Russ to dance and they only stayed on the floor for one and a half songs.
Trisha was ready for a break and she was thirsty from al her dancing so she got another fruity drink - this time a pina colada. She played with her mules a bit to rest her tired dancing feet. The lively conversation got a bit sillier and everyone was having a good time.
Victor, who had apparently been hitting it off with Amanda, still wanted his turn with Trisha so after she finished her second drink he took her out on the floor. By this time, Trisha was starting to get a bit light-headed and showing the affects of the alcohol. She was also starting to feel some discomfort in her feet from dancing in mules with a kitten heel, that were not meant for dancing. In the middle of the second song, Trisha stopped and pressed her heel of one shoe downward making it loose on her foot and kicked it off to the edge of the dance floor near the live band - then she did the same with the other shoe. They landed about 6 feet apart on the edge of the dance floor near the entrance to the where restrooms and the payphones were. Victor kept Trisha on the floor for four songs after which she did not seem to immediately care about retrieving her now uncomfortable shoes.
They returned to the table and no one mentioned her shoes but the other guys did take note of her pretty and perfect toes with the candy apple red nail polish. Trisha however did note that Stacy must have had similar discomfort because her black high-heel slides were under the table and she was still on the dance floor with Stephen. She had also consumed 3 imported beers over the course of the night.
About 30 minutes later, Russ asked Trisha to dance again. She teasingly and half-jokingly came back with, "Okay but you'll owe me a foot massage in return."
Russ excitedly accepted the payment terms for another dance. In fact he would have agreed to do that even if she had just asked straight out. He thought that she had the prettiest-looking feet and toes he'd ever seen. Trisha was not normally so bold, but the two drinks she had consumed had lowered her inhibitions just enough.
After returning to the table after the third song together, Trisha again stretched out her legs and rested her feet on the center table leg. Russ was eager to make good on his promise so he reached over and took Trisha's left calf and pulled it over to him, leading her to turn to the left side and face him. The other girls, who all had tired feet even though they had all danced less than Trisha, were amazed and jealous that their friend was getting a foot massage and they weren't. Russ and Trisha both enjoyed it as he massaged the left foot then the right for a total of about 20 minutes.
Trisha excused herself to the restroom and looked under the table for her shoes. She thought for a moment then remembered kicking them off on the dance floor earlier in the evening - well before midnight. She walked barefoot to the restroom and on the way back, decided it might be a good idea to retrieve her abandoned shoes. She looked around in the vicinity of where she thought she kicked them and after a minute or so, she saw her left shoe leaning against the wall under one of the payphones. She walked over and stuck her left foot in it and started to look around for the other one. Despite the late hour it was still fairly crowded in the nightclub. Victor, who had left shortly after Trisha, came out of the Men's room and saw Trisha hobbling around like an unbalanced stork looking for that errant right red mule.
"You finally decided to get your shoes back."
"Yeah, but I can't seem to find the right one anywhere!"
"Let me help you, then."
Five minutes became almost ten and she was getting very worried that she'd never find her other shoe. Victor aggressively looked in every nook and cranny under tables near the band's set-up, but they found nothing. Victor tried to take some of the blame, "I should have grabbed them when we were coming off the floor from dancing."
"Don't blame yourself, Victor. I was just careless."
Russ made his way to the restroom and caught Trisha and Victor still looking for her other shoe. "So this is where you've been. Have you been looking for your shoe all this time?"
"I'm afraid so, Russ," a dejected Trisha replied.
"I'll help look too."
"Thanks, but I think it's gone. Someone must have taken it away somewhere," Trisha replied dejectedly. "Let's go back to the table, Victor."
Giving up, Trisha limped back to their table, Victor coming with her, and Russ continued his trek to the restroom.
"Oh, I'm sick!" cried Stacy about the time that Trisha and Victor came back to the table and saw her sitting with her head down on the table. "Can we go home, Shelley? I don't feel so good."
The others then noticed Trisha's one shod state. Candace asked, "Trisha, where's your other shoe?"
"I kicked my shoes off on the dance floor and now I can't find the right one anywhere."
Shelley asked the other girls, "Is it okay if we go ahead and leave. Stacy is feeling bad. Trisha, what about your other shoe?"
"I guess we can leave. It's gone! Hey, Russ isn't back yet, I wanted..."
"Ken replied, "I'll tell him 'bye' for you."
"Thanks! Hey, guys, I enjoyed our evening together. I enjoyed dancing with you Victor and Mark. Tell Russ I enjoyed dancing with him too!"
The other girls said similar goodbyes and they carefully made their way to the exit and then down the stairs. Stephen walked the girls out to Shelley's car and helped walk nauseated Stacy down the stairs. Trisha took a couple of steps down the stairs one-shod then realized it would be easier if she took off her remaining mule. At the bottom, she put the mule back on to make her walk to the car softer and safer - for every other step.
Stephen walked back into the club after Shelley left and met Russ coming back from the restroom carrying Trisha's missing right mule.
Russ looked around and asked, "Hey, where's the girls? I found Trisha's shoe!"
Victor answered, "Shelley took them home. Stacy was feeling sick so they decided to leave."
"I’m sorry she was feeling bad. I wanted to say 'bye' to everyone."
Knowing that Russ had one of the girls in mind particularly, Stephen replied, "Trisha made a special effort to make sure we told you bye and that she had a good time dancing with you."
"Thanks for letting me know. I wanted to give her shoe back. Did she take the other one with her?"
"Yeah, she walked out of here lopsided wearing just the one shoe - she looked sort of cute, like a damsel in distress."
The guys decided to go ahead and leave as well. Of course the conversation on the way home was centered on the cute girls they had spent the evening with - Ken talked about Shelley but was warned by Stephen that she was already dating the quarterback of the Georgia Bulldog football team; Stephen talked a little about the cute Stacy with the athletic build. Candace and Amanda were given a brief mention by the other guys but Mark, Victor and particularly Russ, who were all seated in the back seat of Stephen's car, gushed over with complements about Trisha. In an amusing display of affection for her, the three guys fought over control of Trisha's shoe, taking turns looking at it, sticking their hand inside to feel the soft cushiony sole and feeling the soft leather upper. Once back at the Sigma Chi house, Russ regained his earned ownership of Trisha's shoe and took it inside.
Inside Shelley's car, the girls were less in a talkative mood given Stacy's nauseated state. Also, Candace and Amanda were a little jealous of how Trisha had gotten so much attention. Quickly, they arrived back at Shelley's house and went straight to bed.
The next morning, Mrs. Sullivan and their cook made a pretty continental breakfast tray and served breakfast on the patio out by the pool. They had some nice pastries, sausage biscuits, and fruit slices and lots of strong coffee. While they were eating they had a surprise visitor, Russ from the night before. He walked up to where the girls were eating, keeping his left hand holding Trisha's missing shoe hidden behind his back.
"Hi Trisha! Can you come here for a moment?" Russ asked with a smirk on his face.
Trisha, who like the other girls were barefoot, dressed in casual shorts and t-shirts, had their hair up in clips or pony tails and had on no makeup, walked over toward him and as she did, he pulled her missing shoe from behind his back.
"Oh Russ, thanks! Where did you find it?" Trisha asked, while Russ stooped down with her shoe and placed it on her foot - a perfect fit!
Standing, Russ began to explain, "After I left you and Victor and went to the restroom and finished my business, I washed my hands and tossed my towel toward the garbage can. I missed the can and stooped to pick up the towel I dropped. While looking down, I saw something red sticking out from behind the can and sure enough it was your shoe."
"How did it get in there?"
"I don't guess we'll ever know. I was afraid that someone might have done something unscrupulous with your shoe but it looked undamaged. Just in case, I cleaned it off before I brought it over here."
"Oh I appreciate that so much and you drove all the way out here to return it to me. That was so thoughtful." Trisha said before giving him a big hug.
"So you're going to Disney World today, huh?"
"Yeah, we're leaving in about an hour, or so."
"Hope you have a good time. I've got a couple of classes today, so think of me when you're having such a fun time. I guess I need to go now"
Trisha added, "It was really nice meeting you. I enjoyed our evening together and thanks again for returning my shoe." She then gave him an innocent peck on the cheek right before he walked back to his car to go back to school.
Trisha was the only one of the girls who had not brought an extra pair of tennis shoes with the knowledge that there would be plenty of walking their last two days in Orlando. She had intended on wearing the same sneakers she wore to work on the Habitat house but with one of them discolored they could no longer be worn without embarrassment. For their day of walking she instead wore a pair of mustard yellow mules with a very flat heel. The upper looked like a Mary Jane with a small thin strap across the middle of the instep. Trisha claimed they were fairly comfortable and they were indeed the shoes she had worn on the car ride down from Georgia.
Shelley noted "You'll probably regret not wearing tennis shoes. I know you intended to wear your work shoes, but maybe you should have brought two pairs."
Trisha replied, "Well, we were limited by space and I left them out when I made my final decision of what to take. These will be fine. They have a soft sole and they're pretty comfortable."
Stacy laughingly commented, "I thought maybe you chose them since they look sort of like Mickey Mouse's shoes."
Everyone, including Trisha the good sport, laughed at her witty comment. Trisha added, "Yeah, that's it. I wanted to be in style today."
The girls first arrived at the Magic Kingdom and rode the Log Flume ride and Magic Mountain. They wanted to get the best two rides out of the way first and that worked out well. Later in the morning, the girls walked through Cinderella Castle and guess who was signing autographs? The once one-shod princess herself.
Candace suggested, "We ought to try to meet Cinderella."
Shelley tersely replied while glancing Trisha's way, "How come? She's already in our sorority."
The others laughed mildly and Trisha acknowledged that there was some truth to her joke.
After waiting in line for 15 minutes, behind mostly children and their parents, they were face to face with the Cinderella actress. The photographer took a picture of all five of them with Cinderella then Stacy suggested, "Hey, Trisha, why not take a picture of you and her missing one shoe?
"Oh I don't know..."
Before she could really finish, Stacy asked the actor, "Would you mind posing for one more picture with one shoe missing like you were running from the ball along with Trisha (pointing to her) also with one shoe missing?"
The actor replied, "Well, actually I am supposed to be the happy Cinderella who has already found her prince but just this time.." She slipped off one of her shoes, which was a clear pump and kicked it behind her far enough so it would not be in camera range. She posed and placed her stocking foot out in front of her and asked Trisha to do the same. Trisha quickly kicked off her right yellow mule and stood next to Cinderella who placed her arm around Trisha's back. Trisha placed her bare foot out in front next to Cinderella's and the photographer snapped a classic photo that went immediately onto the bulletin board at the AOPi house when they returned.
Trisha replaced her shoe and the girls continued their whirlwind tour of the Magic Kingdom before riding the monorail over to Epcot to check out the attractions over there.
The rest of the trip went pretty well and about as planned. Trisha wore her same yellow mules to Universal Studios, slipping in and out of them often as they became less comfortable as the day wore on. On the ride home the next day, she wore the pretty red gingham slides that brought her fame and fortune on the 'Dismissed' TV show. To Shelley it was a subtle humbling reminder of what had happened back in Daytona a few days prior.
A few days after they got back from Athens, the episode where Trisha won and Shelley got dismissed finally aired and the whole sorority gathered to watch the festivities. The other girls enjoyed the show more than either of the participants. Trisha was a bit humble and shy about it and Shelley was not happy about being the loser. Amanda had the smarts to tape the episode and place it in the library for future AOPi sisters to see. Jay and Trisha's other friends also saw the episode and were very pleased how well she had done against her jealous nemesis, Shelley.
