Jean-Philippe, Marie-Ange, and Maddie: Shopping Expedition (Backdated)

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Maddie fulfills her duty of Shopping Mule for Marie-Ange and Jean-Philippe. The redheads team up against the male of the group, and Maddie turns into the Maddie Lama.




Maddie bounced up and down on the cushioned circular chair, bags scattered at her feet, as she waited for one of the doors to open. There was a cushiony chair in the dressing room area! And a mini living room in the women's room! And someone had offered her something to drink! It was like shopping on steroids, and the teenager couldn't help but marvel in it. Well for the first few hours. But after sitting around at various stores for what seemed like ages, Maddie had definitely started to get bored and antsy. She just had to keep her eye on the prize and push through and all would be worth it. The end was nearly in sight, it was just hidden behind more shopping bags.

Jean-Phillipe came out of his dressing room first and paused, his expression somewhere between thoughtful and slightly distasteful. "I cannot find a single pair of pants that flatters my ass properly," he declared, throwing himself into a large chair with a huffing noise of annoyance. Of course, he -had- already purchased a variety of shirts in a variety of colors and cuts, which made up a fair portion of the packages surrounding Madelyne. The lion's share, though, belonged to his cousin who was still in her own fitting area.

"That is because you keep refusing to get them tailored." Marie-Ange came out of the women's dressing room area and frowned at the suit jacket she had on. "No? Yes? I am uncertain about this one. And your stubbornness about tailoring is why we have been to seven shops and found no pants for you. It is not going to somehow refute your proletariat credibility to have your pants suitably adjusted." She nodded at Madelyne and smiled. "And now you have a dilemma. Agree with the person paying for you to be a personal shopper, or agree with the person driving you home."

"Ummmm...." Maddie's gaze darted from one cousin to the other as she prolonged replying. There really was no right answer in this situation, the young redhead had surmised, and even if there was it's not like she had any idea how to answer it. After all, she was definitely more of a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl, and as long as everything fit she was a happy camper. And the only adjusting she did was rolling them up when she went wading or things like that. This was totally new territory, and for all that they were speaking English, they may as well have been speaking French for she was understanding nothing that was going on. "Ummmm... No?"

"You should never be afraid to stand up to my cousin," Jean-Phillipe instructed Maddie. "She is not the sort to renege on a deal. If you let her, she will walk all over you. And besides, if she were to refuse the terms of your deal, I know someone that can do perfectly serviceable work, if not up to her standards." He grinned and winked. "Just so long as you do not attempt to use it at Silver."

"I do not go back on deals for silly reasons." Marie-Ange said. "I was teasing. Sometimes it is hard to tell, I know. I think we need to call defeat on the issue of pants, retire to a restaurant that does not have plastic utensils, and perhaps make note of the fact that we are terrible people, encouraging our personal shopping assistant to acts of questionable legality. Also we need to discuss how my cousin is wearing long sleeves in ninety five degree weather."

The teen arched her eyebrows, resisting the urge to point out that this whole shopping trip was arranged because Marie-Ange was not merely encouraging acts of questionable legality, but acting as a total enabler to them as well. She kept mum, however, as expressing this out loud because loose lips sink ships, and that sales associate with the head to toe eyesore of a print was looking at her in a very strange manner. Or perhaps that was just what she looked like, but Maddie wasn't down for taking any chances.

Food, on the other hand, she was totally down for. It was the first thing she had really understood all day. The second was the comment about Jean-Philippe's sleeve length. "Yeah, dude," she said as she began preparing to carry their shopping bags. "You're like in an oven here with all the reflecting sun and everything. Aren't you like overheating or something? I mean, I don't know much about fashion, but I do know that you're not supposed to wear long sleeves on days when the heat index is a bajillion."

Jean-Phillipe answered by stretching his arms out to ride the cuffs of his shirt farther up his forearms, and revealing the ends of a series of a fractal-looking scarring that highlighted the placement of nerves, as well as some puckering that represented burns. He knew that his cousin had seen them, and that she was using Madelyne to make a point. He was surprised the younger girl had not seen them. He did not keep them secret, he just preferred not to display them.

"Dude!" It took a great deal of self-control for Maddie not to rush over and examine Jean-Phillipe's arms in more deal. Well, great restraint and the mound of bags she had to push aside or step over in order to make her way towards the Frenchman. "Dude!"

Without asking permission, she began pushing the ends of the sleeves as far up as they would go, revealing more of the scars. "These are awesome!" There was no attempt on Maddie's part to conceal how awestruck she was by the intricate series of lines on Jean-Phillipe's skin. "I mean, I've seen some pretty epic scars in my day but this one wins everything, hands down. It almost looks like you have a sleeve.

"Oh! You could totally get some ink over these and make it look like firebolts are traveling down your arms. That would be wicked. Besides, chicks dig scars." Pause. "Yes I know you're gay, but you know what I mean. You use your Wanted poster as man candy bait and you cover these bitchin' skin decorations? Seriously. I bet you could just be like Sir Sexy Scars and lure all the boys to your yard. Just be all 'Yeah. I'm a badass' and BAM! You'd like totally get laid."

"She does have a point. You could investigate the UV light tattoos if you wanted something more subtle." Marie-Ange sat down on the circular chair that Maddie had vacated with a satisfied air. "It would be, in fact, better than a milkshake, although I think that song may be using milkshake as a metaphor for breasts, so perhaps not your intended audience."

"I believe the milkshake is a metaphor for oral sex, cousin," Jean-Phillipe observed. "At least, that seems to make more sense to me." He grunted. "And as for the scars...it is not that I am ashamed of them or any such thing. Just...I tend to keep them private. They are reminders of...a time I have very mixed feelings about."

A very pensive look had appeared on the teenager's face as she stared off in the distance behind Marie-Ange's head. "I really want a milkshake now," she said dreamily. "An Oreo milkshake...." Then with a blink, Maddie's attention turned back to the matter at hand and she reached into her back pocket to pull out her iPod. She tapped at the screen for several seconds, sifting through the various apps she had downloaded. When she found what she was looking for, her face lit up.

"Ah ha! You!" Maddie pivoted so her body was directly facing Jean-Philippe. "The Dalai Lama says, 'Time passes unhindered. When we make mistakes, we cannot turn the clock back and try again. All we can do is use the present well.' He is a wise, wise man."

There was something a bit...strange, Madelyne quoting the Dalai Lama. But Jean-Phillipe had come to expect strangeness and quicksilver shifts in conversation with the girl. "Yes, yes, I know, live in the 'now'," he said. He rolled the sleeves of his shirt up to just below his elbows, meticulously ensuring the rolls were the same width on each side. If he didn't show the scars, he suspected the two redheads would not let it go.

"There is an app for the Dali Lama?" Marie-Ange was momentarily distracted by this, and then shook her head slightly. "It is an apt comparison. You may have mixed feelings about it, but we cannot erase the past, even if the future is still yet to be fully decided. If we are not the sum of our successes and mistakes, than who are we?"

"And Jean-Philippe," Maddie took both of his hands in hers. "You must learn to love yourself. For who are we but our closet neighbor? Embrace your past. Do not let it define who you are, but let who you are today define your past."

"Thank you, sensei," Jean-Phillipe intoned, with a playfully mocking bow to Madelyne. "I will keep your words close to my heart." He grinned. "I promise, I will be less secretive about the scars. The tattooing might be a bit much, though."

"Excellent. In that case, I think Madelyne's suggestion of an Oreo Milkshake is a very good one, but I, for one, need to have solid food before any chocolate." Marie-Ange said, somewhat distracted handing her credit card to an employee with instructions to just ring up everything.