Ch.3 preview - walk in the park

Duuuude.  The white tank top and little blue shorts Amir changed into would do him absolutely no favors if he wanted anyone to take him seriously as a grownup.  That was the simple fact of it.  The styling, the colors, the way it emphasized his softness and total lack of muscles – it reminded her strikingly of Bobby, actually.  The plucky Mouse from last weekend.

“Hey, um, Bobb—erk!—Amir, buddy …” she started to warn.

But he was far too distracted, staring – no, gaping – at her clothes.

Alice had loaned her a couple outfits from the studio, and she’d thrown this one in as a backup.  But after tromping through rivers and running around all of yesterday, this was the only clean outfit she had left.  Not just more revealing, but also a hell of a lot edgier.  More aggressive.  You could even say—

“Badass,” Amir breathed, echoing her thoughts.

She blushed, coyly covering her tube-top-wrapped breasts what little she could with the studded leather jacket.  But between the leather and her bare, rippling arms, she too had seen herself in the mirror and saw someone not to be fucked with.  It was hard to wrap her head around.

“It’s all I had,” she confessed.  “I didn’t—”

“Oh my god, it’s amazing!”

His boundless enthusiasm caught her off-guard.  “It’s not too much?”

“No!  Oh man, I can’t wait to see the look on their faces!”

***

It didn’t take long to figure out what he meant.  She’d picked a popular walk along the river nearby that led into downtown, where they’d then have lunch.  But compared to the few people staring at her at the grocery store yesterday, this was wayyy beyond.  It felt like everyone’s eyes were on her at once, and that was only a mild hyperbole.  People turned their heads, stared with the weirdest expressions, even elbowed their friends.

“They recognize me from the show,” Jen guessed quietly down at her buddy.  “They must.”

Amir laughed.  “No, I bet most of ‘em don’t.”

“So why are they so—”  She blinked as Amir cracked up again.  “What?”

“No one is this gorgeous, and huge.  Like, literally no one.  I’m just sayin’.”

Jen frowned.  “I am not that gorgeous.”

Amir’s bashful laugh begged to differ.  So did the guy walking by, who didn’t even try to hide that he was ogling her chest. 

Whoa.  She was beginning to grasp that her life in public was going to be much, much different from now on.