Chapter 6

Candy and Lori-Beth paused at the door of Glassons.  Candy straightened her Karen Walker pants, while Lori-Beth smoothed the neckline of her D&G assymetrical top (see, these girls have class).  Rummaging through their Rendells handbags for their Zed credit cards, they pulled them out triumphantly and marched into the store.

"Candy!  This would go perfectly with your green contacts...."
Lori-Beth paused as she looked across the store at Candy.  She had stopped in her tracks, speechless, a variety of white pants in hand.

"Nathan", Candy whispered, as she looked across the room.  And there, looking at 3/4 pants, was the BDO stablehand.

"Candy!"  Lori-Beth snapped her fingers in front of Candy's face.

"Umm, yeah, don't see anything I like, let's go".  Candy grabbed Lori-Beth's white pants out of her hand, shoved them onto a nearby clothes rack, and pulled Lori-Beth from the store.

"Mmk, are you gonna tell me what's going on here?"

Candy sighed, she knew she couldn't keep a secret from Lori-Beth.

"See that guy in there?"  Candy gestured into Glassons.

"Dark hair, tanned?"  Lori-Beth followed where Candy's hand pointed.

"Yep...his name's Nathan, met him while you were drooling over Ronan, he's realllyy nice..."

Lori-Beth nodded and smiled, as she wondered if he had brothers or hot friends.

"...He's also the official Big Day Out stablehand". 

Lori-Beth didn't flinch.  "Point taken, point noted...what does it matter?  We're women of 2002, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, and I can see in your eyes that you really like this guy.  So we're gonna walk right back in there and accidentally bump into him, and you're gonna ask him to the afterparty".  Lori-Beth took Candy by the hand and determinedly marched back into the highly-respected store.  Suddenly both girls stopped in their tracks and gasped.

"He can't...he wouldn't...."  Candy breathed.

"He is..."  Lori-Beth responded.

For Nathan's shopping partner was none other than the small, blonde man who had approached them that very morning in the corridor. 

Well, it's sort of a funny story. You remember when I didn't graduate?

 Well, I know you had a lot of incompletes, but that's what summer school was for.

Yeah. Well, you remember when I didn't go?