| JESSIE: "Dave? Are you gonna make it?" I teased as he trailed slightly behind me, in the seventh shop we'd been in that morning. "Jeez, Jess. Can't we slow down a bit? I'm sure in a couple of the other towns ther'll be some other stuff you might like.." he complained. "Come on, Dave. I just wanna get this DONE. I hate it as much as you do, but I still need something to wear TONIGHT." I told him. He sighed heavily when he caught up with me. "I s'pose. I honestly think that your husband would prefer you didn't get dressed at all." he grinned evilly, leaving me staring at him in shock. He laughed and looked at a dress sandwiched on the rack, between some beaded, guady looking formal dresses, then pulled it out and held it up. "What about this? It just LOOKS like you.." he said, completely out of character for him. "YES!!" I exclaimed after I took a good look at it. "Perfect! Thank you. Now we can go because I am STARVING and we are almost late for lunch.." I snatched the hanger from his hand. "JESS!" he exclaimed, "shouldn't you check the size?" he asked. I looked down at the tag, sewn in by the zipper. "Six..." I pulled a little on the waist area. "Stretchy.." It'll fit 'till we get home." I said and kissed his cheek noisily. "Let's go. I wanna see my husband.." I told him as he stood there blushing. "Okay..." he said softly and tagged along behind me as I found the sales lady and assured her I was finished shopping. "That was fast.." she said and started arranging all of my purchases and scanning the price tags. I thought I was hearing things as she continued to fold my things and bag them, Taylor's voice was echoing in my head. I turned and looked at Dave, confused, as he only smiled knowingly at me. "Well, hell.." I grinned sheepishly at him and turned to the saleslady. "Excuse me miss? Could you please turn that radio up? There's an interview on that I didn't want to miss." I smiled. "Just for a few minutes," I continued, "Dave has the station set in the car." She looked at me like I'd spouted horns or something, but did as I asked anyway. I couldn't help the huge smile that spread across my face as Taylor's voice, then Zac's came over the speakers. Dave grinned more widely as I stood, enthralled by the familiar voices on the radio. They sounded so good. They were smart, funny, and dodged any loaded question gracefully. "Here you are ma'am.." the saleslady shoved my bags impatiently at me. "Oh I'm sorry...here.." I said quickly and handed her my credit card. "Thank you.." she grumbled, annoyed. She caught sight of the name on the credit card just as the DJ doing the interview announced to listeners just joining the program that they were talking with 'Hanson' and taking call in questions. Her eyes widened and she looked almost frightened as she stared at me. I smiled at her and said politely, "I'd really like to get out of here so I am not late for lunch." then looked up toward the speaker in the ceiling. "Oh. OH." her eyes widened again, "Okay.." she said and scanned my card. She continued to stare at me and I started to get uncomfortable. "I really, really don't like to shop, so I like to get it all done at once when I have to. I hope I wasn't too much trouble." I told her and looked questioningly at Dave, who moved to my side, slowly. "Oh not at all, Ms Hanson..." she said a little too cheery, and a touch too loud. I was leaned over, signing the sales slip when I felt Dave's hand on my shoulder. I slid the slip toward the woman and turned to Dave. "I am starving." I said and smiled into Dave's concerned face. "Oh no." I said and looked past his shoulder. "Okay, how do you wanna do this?" I asked, as I shoved the smaller bags into the large one and slung it over my shoulder. |
| JESSIE: "The usual?" Dave said quietly, turning me toward the front door. "I'll plow and you follow. If anyone grabs you, flip 'em or give 'em a roundhouse and yell. I'll be right there Jess. You know that.." I looked back at him and smiled then let him in front of me as people flocked closer to me. There really were not that many, but the shop was small and the racks were crammed together, making it difficult to manuever through the small crowd without bumping into things or knocking them over. "Hey Jess.." Dave turned back to look at me, so he could see how best to get us out with little or no physical damage, to anyone. "I'm fine, Dave." I told him, looking over the top of a woman's head. I smiled warmly at her and pushed through as hands were suddenly thrusted at me, clutching slips of paper and pens. Voices calling my name filled my ears, and people kept closing in as I moved toward the front of the store, trying to find and area that wasn't so crowded with racks. "JESS!" I heard Dave call to me as he reached the front door. "I"M OKAY DAVE.." I yelled back. "Take this and grab the car alright?" I asked and shoved my overstuffed bag at him. "Jessie if you get hurt.." he said as I neared him. "You won't lose your job. taylor forgets that I can handle myself quite well." I said, taking slips of paper and signing my name as they were thrusted at me. "I don't see Alex or Eric anywhere, last I checked the were behind bars. Get the car and bring it around. I'm feeling claustrophobic." I told him, still signing papers. I saw him head out the door and break into a run, and the only thing I could think of was this noisy crowd was making me miss the interview and making me late for lunch with Tay. I kept smiling and signing, then groaned when I thought about how Tay would react to this. 'Good thing jakey's off somewhere with Abbey' I thought to myself, beginning to sweat from the heat the bodies closing in on me were creating. 'Else Jakey'd have half the crew here..' I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, but couldn't seem to get any fresh air. "Okay guys!" I shouted, "That's all I can handle today...eating for two you know.." I tried to joke, but the crowd didn't thin as it usually did, when I resorted to using my pregnancy as an excuse to exit a growing mob like this. I heard the door open and saw the top of Dave's head, but when I tried to move toward him, more bodies closed in on me. 'Where the hell are they coming from?' I thought and wiped the sweat from my forehead. "Come on ya'll.." I called out again, stunned that I'd already picked up that country term. "I need to get outside, feeling dizzy.." I stumbled a bit and heard Dave yell my name just before my head started to spin and I lost my footing. I felt a strong pair of hands grip my shoulders as everything went black. |