Bethrothal?
an excerpt

As I sit on my royal throne chair in my bedroom I hear the taps of my mother’s heels on the linoleum floor outside my room. I, Princess Tamia, have long awaited this “talk” from my mother. Just then my mother bursts through the door with enthusiasm.
“Great news!!” she says, “Your father just signed a betrothal to the King of Timahi. Your groom is on his way!”
I jumped up from my chair in surprise and anger. “Daddy did what? My what? What have you done?” I screamed at her .
My mom calmly replies, “Honey, it's time that you move out of here. Your father and I've waited a long time for this. The prince’s name is Romeo. Now get into some suitable clothes so we can go shopping for a few dresses to have when he gets here.”
“I don’t want to go shopping. I don’t want to get married. I want to run away.” With a big sigh I plop down on a different chair to think. My mother plops down right beside me as close as she can.
“Honey, maybe you’ll fall in love with him. After all, your father and I—…” Her sentence gets cut off short because I finish it for her.
“Had a betrothal contract. I know. You tell me this like every day. Why couldn’t he sign a betrothal for Tayla? She is older than I am.”
“Honey, Tayla isn’t as mature as you.” she sighs. “Come on.” My mother stands up and offers me her hand. I take it but I don’t totally give in. I let go of her hand as soon as I am out of my chair.
“Can we have a dinner where the guy, I mean, prince, whoever he is, has dinner with the whole family? Then he, the man, I mean prince chooses who he wishes? Just in case. If he picks me then I will get to know him. If I find him tolerable then I will marry him. Otherwise, the answer is no. Deal?”
I hold my hand out to her for a truce. After a shake of her head my mom shakes my hand. “Alright," I say. "I’ll get changed and we’ll go shopping.”
“I’ll be waiting in the car for you. Don’t take too long dear.” My mother waves as she walks out of the room. The guards close the door for her.
“I can take as long as I want.” I think to myself. “But I probably shouldn’t make mom wait in the car too long.” After changing into a pair of jeans and a sleeveless blouse with some flats I am ready to go out the door.Grabbing my pink purse with my sunglasses and things I go to the door to leave on a shopping spree. The door is opened for me and I, of course, say thank you to the guard. After all, I'm not that stuck up. He nods in return. I slip my hand in my purse and slide on my sunglasses. I then go to the car and slip in next to my mom. I am grinning.
“Wow. You actually didn’t take that long.” She says with a big smile on her face.
“Well, I didn’t want to keep you waiting mom.” I smile as I continue talking. “So, where to?”
“I was thinking we might go to the new shopping mall right outside of town. They probably will have some new stuff. What do you think?” My moms face takes on a pleading look.
“I’ve wanted to go there but I didn’t think I would go there for this. Let’s book it.”
“All right, to the new shopping mall please.” My mother says to the driver as she sits back and relaxes. I follow her lead. After about twenty to thirty minutes of driving the driver announces our arrival at the new mall to us. My mother and I exit the car.
“Let’s go shopping!” I say excitedly to her. My mother and I are about to walk into the mall when we both realize that we should tell the driver how long we will be so he knows when to return.
“I say we will be a while. What time is it?” My mother asks me. I take a look at my watch before replying.
“It’s almost 12:30. Maybe we should tell him to come back around…. 4? How’s that sound to you?” I look at my mother expectantly for an answer.
“Ok. That sounds good.”My mother walks over to the driver side door and speaks with the driver. She then comes back and the driver goes off. I pull out my cell phone and sets alarms to go off at 3:30 and exactly 4:00.
“Let’s go mom. We’ve got some time to kill." We link arms then go into the mall. “So, where should we stop first?”
My mom thinks for a moment then says, “I say we look at shoes. You need some more new ones and I want to see if I can find a nice pair or two.” She grins at me.
“Um…. What about all the bags? We should have thought of that when we left.” I start to look around to try and find a solution to our problem. My gaze falls on a hot guy standing a little ways away from us.
He’s wearing a pair of fancy, expensive black suede shoes, a pair of torn jeans and a nice baby blue polo shirt. Suddenly, the guy turns his head and looks right at me. At least it feels like he is. He smiles and I smile back in reply. The guy turns his head toward my mother and this is when his smile gets even wider. I look over at my mom and see that she seems to be in very deep thought.
Just then the stranger starts to walk towards my mother and I, turning fully towards my mother I say to her: “Let’s go. We’ll figure it out later.” I am about to pull my mother out of her thoughtful face and pull her away when the stranger reaches us.
“Hello.” He says with a smile on his face.
“Oh, hello.” My mother replies so simply. She sounds very friendly.
“Hi.” I say so quiet he can barely hear me.
“You two ladies seem to have a problem. Is there anything I can do to help?” His eyes twinkle as he says this.
My mother speaks up even though I put my hand up to no avail. “Why yes. Thank you for asking. You can help us kind sir. We are going to be shopping for a while and we don’t...” I decide to speak before my mother can finish her sentence.
“Know which store we want to go in first. I’m pretty sure we shall go and look at some of those nice dresses in that store over there.” I point to behind him for emphasis and pull my mom away.
We get to the store rather quickly and started to look around. I try on many dresses and show them all to my mother. I am so excited about all the dresses that I am not paying attention to my surroundings. If I was I would realize that the stranger is watching me model all the dresses for my mother. After thirty minutes my mother and I purchase many of the dresses. Finally, I start to remember why we ran into the store and that our problem still isn’t solved. As we start to walk away from the register with our purchases I see him again.
The stranger I was trying to run from. Suddenly, he smiles and starts to walk towards us again. I move my face to the side and pretend to be interested in the display window to another store. Then I hear his footsteps very close.
He speaks up and I turn my head towards him. “Is there still a problem ladies?” I roll my eyes and mutter, “What difference will it make?”
I speak up saying, “Yes, there is a problem. You see, we knew that we like to shop a lot and all that stuff. We knew that but... well, we didn’t bring anyone, you know like my dad or someone, with us. So, sadly, we will be carrying around a lot of bags and we can’t bring them out to the car because we had someone drive us and then we’ll go home later. So,there you have it. Our problem. We are shop-a-holics and we can't carry all of our bags. However, I'm pretty sure you're probably busy with other things and we’ll be on our way.”
I look at my mother and she is smiling at the guy like she knows something that I don’t. The guy gets a sparkle in his eye along with a grin on his face.
“Actually," he replies chuckling, "to tell you the truth, I don’t have to be or go anywhere for a while. I have the day off. So, if you ladies want the help I would be happy to come along. Carry your bags and things of course.” He chuckles a little more and I glare at him. My mother speaks up.
“Well, kind sir, if you are nice enough to help us we would greatly appreciate it.” My mom turns her head towards me and winks. This is followed with her “we pay him for his services” look.
“Great!” his face lights up. “I’ll take these then and we’ll be on our way.” He takes the bags from me and my mother. He then sees that I have a pink purse and gets a laughing look on his face. He just says, “Nice purse. Pink.”
“Why yes, thank you. I like it.” I then lean in closer and whisper loudly, “That’s why I use it.”
My mother and I chuckle while the stranger just smiles. We are very discreet in giving looks to each other. My mother's look says: "Watch it. Remember." To which I reply with a look of my own. "Come on, let me have a little fun."
We link arms again with the stranger not far behind. We then proceed to walk into the nearest shoe store.We enter and he is right behind us. My mother and I are talking as if he isn’t really there. However, we still talk cautiously.
I start the conversation. “So, what type of shoes do you want to get mom?”
“Hmm... Well, I was thinking I want to get a nice pair of comfy tennis shoes. Then a pair or two of dressy shoes and a pair of nice high heels.”
Me and my mom both wear about the same size shoe. Sometimes, we even share shoes. We both go to the kid’s shoes first to make sure that there are no pairs we like.
The stranger man looks down at the shoes my mother and I are wearing and gets a frown on his face. “Um, why are we going to the kid’s shoes? You two can wear kid’s shoes?”
Without changing my pace I turn my head around to reply. “No, we don’t wear kid’s shoes. We just go to the kid’s shoes to see if we like any of them. Also, a three in kids is the equivalent of a five in ladies.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.” He gives a “he he” smile. I smile and turn my head around to see that we have already arrived at the kids shoe department.
“Alright, let’s see what we got.” I turn into the sizes three and up aisle. I look through them until I find a pair I like. I pull out a box, then look at them one more time and slide them back into place. I pull out another pair and hold the box. They look ok so I look around and find a place to sit down.
I see a small bench with a mirror behind it and sit down. I set the box down beside me and the stranger looks in it. I pull out one of the shoes to try it on. The shoes are a pair of high tops. They're an imitator brand and they have a blue funky shaped design on them.
He looks at the size to see that they are a 4 and a 1/2. He raises his eyebrow in question as he says to me, "You really think these will fit you?"
“They might. I’m going to try them on. We'll see won't we?” I stick my hand in and see that all the stuffing is out. I then slip my right shoe off with my other shoe. I pull out my hand and stick my foot in the new shoe. Surely enough it fits my foot.
“Hey mom!” I eject my voice towards her.
“Hmm? What is it dear?” She says as she is looking at a box in her hands. She turns her head towards me. “Have you found something?” She walks over with her box of shoes and looks in my box. She smiles. “I like these. They fit you? I’ll get them. What do you think of mine?” She lowers her box so I can look inside hers as she looks down at the shoe on my foot and nods.
“Oh, do they have those in my size?” My face gets an animated look as I say this. She smiles. “Please tell me they have those in my size.” I repeat. My mother slowly walks to about where she was earlier and looks up. Her eyes fall on a specific pair as she pulls the box down. I slip off the shoe I tried on and put it back in the box. I close the box and put it on the floor next to me. My mother places the new box next to me. “Oh, they’re beautiful mother. I think I’m going to get these. I can wear them at the dinner.” I then put the new shoe on my foot and it fits me.
Her face gets very thoughtful. “What will you wear with it dear?” I smile from ear to ear.
“I’m pretty sure I can find something to go with these if not, I’ll wear something I already have. I like for things not to match. Remember our deal?” My eyebrow raises at her.
“All right. You want them. You get them.” She is already shaking her head.
“Yes. I love these shoes. What do you think? Do you like them?” I show them to the guy and he grins then looks in my box.
He chuckles. “What are you going to wear with those?” He smiles and shakes his head just like my mother did a few minutes ago. I take off the shoe on my foot and put it back in the box.
I scowl at him. This is followed with a grin. “You can’t side with my mom. It is like an unwritten rule of shopping with mothers and daughters. You always agree with the daughter.” After I get my original shoes on, I then walk to the next aisle to find more shoes.
He quickly catches up with me. “Wait!” he calls…. “Hold on a second.” He’s right next to me and walking in step with me. “Look… what’s your name?”
I'm silent for a second before I speak. “Tam. Call me Tam.” I flinch on the inside. “You’re not lying.” I tell myself in my mind. “Tam is in your name. You’re okay.”
“Ok, look, Tams…. Tam… They just didn’t look like they would go with anything. I’m not a fashion expert. You know? They just look different to me. That’s all. However, I think they will look good on you and you’ll figure something out. I was just teasing. Cheer up.” Then he stops and smiles for a moment. “Turn that frown upside down. As one of my brothers would say.” He chuckles.
“You have brothers? How many?” I smile at him thinking of my own siblings.
“Well, there’s Charles, then Tom, then Romeo, me, John, and William. I also have two sisters. Tamera who is after Tom, and Tori. She’s right behind me. So I have quite a few siblings. Thankfully, not that much sibling rivalry.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of people. I don’t have that many siblings. I only have three sisters and one brother. There’s Tayla. She’s the oldest. Then Nathan, me, and lastly my twin sisters who are younger then me and annoy me constantly. Their names are Karrie, and Tanae. I love them though. Life would be pretty dull without them.” I smile and shake my head as a memory pops in my head. Just then my mother comes over and interrupts us.
"So, we have two pair of shoes for you. None for me. Help me find a nice pair or two Tam. Please. Let's look for a nice pair of high heels first. I would like to have the same amount of shoes for both of us. You know how your father hates it when you get more then I do." She winks at me jokingly. I'm so glad that she didn't use my full name. She must have been listening earlier. As usual.
"Is there a specific color or style your looking for mom? Like the tie up kind? Or maybe the one where you see your toes? Or a specific color? How high do you want the heel to be?" I smile because she knows that I am trying to mess with her.
"I want to try and find a nice red or purple pair. I don't care about all that other information. Just look for those two colors in heels. I nod my head in affirmation then start to scan the shoes. I look at the top row and spot a nice red color. I reach up and pull it down. It is a wedge heel and it has a medium length string attached to the back of the shoe to tie.
I hold up the box as I speak. "What about these mom? They look nice. They're a wedge. More stability." I bring the box down and pull one out. "Hmm?" My mom looks my way and walks over. She takes the shoe in her hand then finds another bench with a mirror behind it because they are in every aisle.
She slips off the shoe she has on and starts to slip on the one I gave her. "They seem to be a little too small. Maybe a half size bigger?"
"Ok." I walk a little further down the aisle as my mom takes the shoe off and puts it back in the box. As I get out the half size bigger I see a purple snake leather pair right next to it. I pull out that pair too and go show them to my mom. The purple pair has about an inch and a half heel. I walk over with the two boxes and put the red pair down then show her the purple pair.
"Oh. I like those." She hands me the other box I left her with and as I put those away she tries on the new red pair I gave her. "Yep. I think I'm going to get these. I love these purple heels. I hope they fit me." She slips it on and it fits so she puts on the other one and walks for a little bit. She walks like she is a model.
"You totally have to get those mom. I won't get the same pair. We can share. Now we're even. Let's find you that pair of tennis shoes. Trying to get in shape?" I ask her with a quizzical expression.
"Well, I don't know. Will you join me?" She asks me back with the same tone of voice I gave her.
"Sure. Why not. But then we would have to both get tennis shoes. Because all my pairs are just for walking not actual tennis shoes. Let's go. I don't need any more pairs unless you want a pair of flats or something else you see in this aisle?"
My mom looks on both sides of the aisle before walking towards me. She then shakes her head. "No. Just let me put back on my shoes I had on and we can look at the tennish shoes. These heels are just fine." She sits down on the bench and I walk towards her to put the shoes she just took off in the box as she puts on her other shoes she was wearing. After we are both down I carry all the boxes and we go to the tennis shoes. I set the stack of boxes down on the first bench I see and start to look through the tennis shoes. After a while of walking I find a nice pair of purple and white tennish shoes. I pull out my size and look at them. I shrug and go back over to the bench with all the other shoes. I set the box of tennish shoes on the floor and start to untie my shoes and take them off. I then take out the right shoe and after I am sure that all the stuffing is gone I stick my foot in. It would seem that I need a size bigger. I put the shoe back in the box and go back over to where I found the pair. They don't have the next size bigger so I get the box with the shoe I just tried on and put the box back. My mom then calls me over to end of the aisle where she is. I walk over there without my shoes on.
"Look at these. They seem like a nice pair. What do you think?" She is pointing at the shoe on display so I turn my head towards it and see that it is a black pair with some purple and blue on it. They look nice so I nod my head in affirmation.
"Sure. I like these. Why don't we try them on? I pull out a half size bigger then she gets and we sit down on the floor to try them on. I slip on mine and it fits with a little extra space. I then tie it and put on the other shoe. After they are both tied I stand up and turn around. My eyes see that the stranger isn't that far away looking at me and my mother. I walk over to him. "What do you think? They're comfy. And stylish of course." I stand next to him and wait for my mom to come over as we talk.
"They look nice. You going to get them so you can get in shape with your mom? You two would have the same tennis shoes. You should buy matching sweats. I like them." His eyes twinkle whenever he speaks to me for some reason.
"Maybe. That sounds good. Not many people would see us anyway. We would take a private route. How about you? You go to a gym?" I ask him and then tilt my head to the side as in question. He thinks a moment before replying to my question.
"Not really. I get along fine. I don't exercise all the time but I am fit enough." He laughs a little bit when my mother walks over and speaks before I can reply.
"I think I'm going to get these Tam. What about you?" She knows that she just interrupted my conversation and she did it on purpose because of that stupid bethrothal contract. I smile and turn my head just to get on her nerves.
"Well, they are comfortable and stylish. I think I'm done. What about you?" I then turn my body to where I can look at both my mom and... this guy by a simple turning of my head.
"Yes. I think I'm ready. Let's get our other shoes back on and pay. We got more shopping to do!" She winks at me and the guy. "By the way, my name's Tina. Whats yours?" She is looking directly at the stranger when she asks this. His face seems to take on a little panic and then after 10 seconds, he calms down and replies.
"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself to you earlier. I go by my nickname, Athren. You can call me that." He smiles before he begins speaking again. "So, where to next?"
"Well, I don't know. What do you think mom? WE do have a lot of shopping to do. What do you think? We have to save the big stuff for last." I walk over to where my origianl shoes were and take off the tennis shoes then put on my flats. After that is done I put the tennis shoes back in the box and take all the boxes in my arms to go purchase them.