Bri is absolutely still willing to help Mackenzie

Nightmarish scenarios flooded Mackenzie's mind. Images of Bri walking off and driving away without another word, abandoning the redhead at the mall with only a towel to wear. Her mind, used to suffering through the worst-case scenarios, extrapolated from there. Bri would undoubtedly take Mackenzie's phone and keys (which she had so nicely offered to carry in her purse) with her, leaving Mackenzie with no way to call for help, even if she had someone to call. And so, Mackenzie would be **** to walk all the way back to campus in the bitter cold and dreary rain. But, her mind interjected, she certainly would not be making such a trip with the luxury of a towel. No, Mackenzie's towel would undoubtedly be ripped away from her by a random mallgoer, or somehow become trapped in the revolving door as she exited. And Mackenzie would be **** to make her longest naked trek to date, with car after car honking at her exposed form as they drove by. No one would pull over and offer to help or give her a ride, of course. That would be far too fortunate of an event to ever happen to Mackenzie. She'd arrive at the dorms hours later, soaked and chilled to the bone, only to find Willow wasn't coming back for the night. And, with no key and no RA present, Mackenzie would be **** to spend the night sleeping in the common room. No one would be gracious enough to lend her anything to wear, of course, but maybe, just maybe, someone would take enough pity on her to at least give her a blanket.

But that's what I deserve, after all, she thought dismally to herself, for thinking someone might actually be nice enough to truly help me in my darkest hour. I should've just stayed in my room...

"Sorry!" Bri finally said after what had felt like an eternity.

"What?" Mackenzie muttered, snapping out of her daydream (or perhaps more accurately, daynightmare?).

"I'm so sorry! You're right! I wasn't even thinking!" Bri bent down and gently helped Mackenzie to stand back up. "Let's get you something to wear first!"

"You... you mean you're still alright with... with buying me clothes?" Mackenzie asked hesitantly as Bri ushered her towards the discount clothing store.

"Of course I am!" Bri beamed. "What kind of a friend would I be if I changed my mind on you now?!"

And with that, the two of them entered Nothing is Pricey. For a moment, Mackenzie felt a hint of tears coming to the corners of her eyes, a bit of her faith in humanity restored. She idly wondered if the past few months had taken a harsher toll on her mind than she'd assumed. When had she gotten so cynical?

The girls were both pleasantly surprised to find the store was actually quite crowd-free. It wasn't deserted, per se, but compared to the flood of people outside, it was downright barren. It seemed this wasn't one of the various stores offering blowout sales that weekend. All the better in Mackenzie's mind.

The towel-clad girl ran over to the first display table she saw and greedily grabbed at its contents. She pulled on a drab brown and green long-sleeve shirt on over herself, then quickly grabbed a nearby pair of dark gray sweatpants. They were soon whisked up Mackenzie's slender legs, shoving the now unnecessary towel out of the way in the process. Then, fully clothed for the first time in nearly 24 hours, Mackenzie let out a gigantic sigh of relief.

"Feel better?" Bri asked from beside her.

"Only about a thousand times better," Mackenzie said with a small chuckle. Bri beamed an angelic grin that melted Mackenzie's heart a little. The redhead blushed and glanced away, noticing her discarded towel lying on the floor. She bent down at the knees and picked it up.

"Oh, while we're here we should probably grab you some shoes, too!" Bri said, having noticed Mackenzie's still bare feet as she'd watched her friend crouch down. "Why don't you go look for some," she said playfully as she plucked the drenched towel out of Mackenzie's grip, "while I go throw this old thing away?"

"Oh, but I-"

"Mackenzie," Bri said soothingly, as if reading her mind, "I can buy you as many towels as you want. Especially new ones that aren't dirty and ripped up, okay? No need to hang on to this old thing."

"I... guess you're right," Mackenzie chuckled as she tied the pants' drawstrings, feeling a bit foolish. "That sounds good. Thanks, Bri."

"Be right back!" she said with her usual amount of cheerfulness. Mackenzie shook her head slightly in disbelief as her newfound friend practically skipped off. How had she ever gotten lucky enough to cross paths with this angel?

She made her through the store, keeping an eye out for shoes of any kind. The closest thing she'd come across so far were some slippers, when she heard a deep voice from behind her cough pointedly. She turned to see a surly looking gray-haired man in a shirt that read 'NiP Loss Prevention' and her heart immediately sunk.

"You planning on buying that merchandise?" he asked in a wary voice.

"Th-these?" Mackenzie replied, gesturing to the pair of slippers she'd picked up.

"I mean the merchandise you're currently wearing."

Mackenzie gulped. She'd had run ins with various types of mall security officers before, and they had never gone well. And this man was exuding the exact same sense of authority. And he somehow knew that Mackenzie was wearing clothes she hadn't paid for yet.

"I-I am!" she said, growing more nervous by the second. "Or, I mean, well, my friend is!"

"Your friend...?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I mean, technically I don't have the actual money for it," Mackenzie blurted out nervously. Only after she'd said it did she realize it might've been a mistake to admit.

"Are you saying you don't have any way to pay for those clothes you're wearing?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"M-my friend does! She'll be back in a second. Then we'll pay for these, I swear!" Mackenzie was sweating bullets by that point.

"Uh-huh," he said with no small degree of skepticism. "I think you better come with me, miss."

"Wait, no!" Mackenzie began panicking as the man approached her. She frantically looked around, **** for any sign of Bri. "She'll be right back, I promise! Just wait a minute!! Please!!"