Chapter 20

Entering the shoe store Liam didn’t feel the anxiety like he had had when entering the first store, or even what he felt when Megan brought him over to the kiosk to get his ears pierced. These were just shoes, sure she was going to make him buy high heels, but he was already wearing a a pair now. A glance down at the three inch heels strapped to his feet with the leather band across his foot he bit his bottom lip for a second or two. It was amazing he picked up moving in them as quickly as he did, without Megan’s help he would have broken his ankle or smashed his head on the floor as he fell.

She had drilled into him how to walk, one foot in front of the other, heel to toe, swing his hips and then had tied a belt around his thighs to keep him from taking large steps. It wasn’t second nature to him and he didn’t glide in them like Megan had instructed, but he no longer wobbled. They made him feel like he was off balance, well them combined with the extra weight on his chest, it made him constantly aware of what he was wearing and how he looked. The sound of his footsteps with the click clack of the heels that once told him to look around for a potentially sexy girl still sounded good to him, but now there was no sexy girl for him to look at, just himself trying to move from one location to the next that Megan wanted him to visit.

“Go have a seat over there Leah, I will see if I can find someone to help us today.” When he went shoe shopping he walked down the aisles for something in his price range that looked okay, if they didn’t have it in his size he would ask an employee if they had something in the back if he didn’t see one he would just keep looking. Apparently she was going to show him a different way to shop and he wasn’t going to argue. A good girl never argues or complains. He told himself as he moved to a seat, smoothing the skirt of the white dress he was wearing, wishing the words didn’t come so easily to his mind like when someone said a line from a song that just got stuck in your brain.

Sitting there he thought back to what Megan said about getting him an Alto Sax again, he wasn’t sure why she would do something so nice. Heck he hadn’t even thought about it in so many years that just the idea of it alone made him smile. It was a trap, he didn’t know how, but it had to be one. Was she going to replace the reed and mouthpiece with a dildo? Just stick it right into the cork and make him do things with it? That sounded bizarre, but he knew it had to be something. While he was lost in thought, he paid little attention to what Megan was off doing.

For her part, Megan walked up to the counter giving a little wave as the woman behind it came around and gave her a quick hug, the woman’s thin smile growing at the sight of the elder Best sister. “Megan! What a nice surprise to see you. What are you doing at the mall so early on a weekday?”

“Good morning Christine. I’m actually outshopping with my boyfriend’s daughter.” She pointed over to the seat with the feminized young man in it who looked to be staring off into space with a smile on her face. He recently got full custody of her, the mother is sadly no longer around and the poor girl lost almost everything she owned. So I thought it would be better if I took her out shopping for shoes and clothes and such.”

“Oh that poor dear. It must have been hard on her for all of this to happen, but it looks like she is enjoying herself with you. Of course who wouldn’t want to spend time out shopping with you, let alone a teen girl. You have such a caring soul.”

“Christine, I don’t know where you got the idea people like spending time with me or that I’m such a good person, you give me too much credit.”

The rail-thin woman gave Megan a hard look, her eyes only trailing off to Leah for a moment. “Your niece adores you, you spend time with both her and her best friend. From what Jeremy says for their birthday you are going to do baking lessons with them. Not something I would expect any teen to want to go do with an adult and few by themselves, but I understand they were both excited about the gift. Not only that, but I saw for myself the relationship you still have with your younger sister and now I see you are helping care for a child that isn’t even related to you.”

Christine was a stern woman who seemed to have few friends and while she worried about her son being shy and introverted she had those same traits keeping her from expanding her social circle. Yet she seemed like a good person, her husband worked a low paying job, and while she complained it made things harder, she said she would never bring it up with him. He came home happy, and with enough energy to spend time with Jeremy and help around the house. While she worked almost every day at this store she owned in the mall. When Megan asked why she didn’t hire a general manager she had only shaken her head saying there was nothing wrong with hard work and how doing it herself allowed her to be able to afford hire wages for the employees she did have.

This woman’s praise of her was genuine and it hurt her. She did have a good, even a great relationship with her little sister, she was so proud of her, but everything else was false. She had no happy niece, her own daughter hadn’t spoken to her in little over a month. Even then she only got small talk to catch up so that Becky could ask her for money. She had been happy to give it, her ex husband wasn’t going to be able to afford to give her anything and it made her at least a little happy to contribute to her life. Pushing and forcing Charles, Liam, Bailey had given her an outlet for her frustrations and had made her happy, but being praised for them like she was a good person at least momentarily made that feel shallow.

“It isn’t at all like that, but still I appreciate the compliment.” Megan said her own smile felt much thinner than when she had hugged the woman. “Is your son working today by chance? Leah is new to the area and I thought it might be a good idea to introduce her to the right sort.”

Looking past Megan, Christine gave the girl another look. She had a small frame, a cute bob cut with bangs, large blue eyes, a small nose and big lips along with a chest bigger than her own. Young girls nowadays seem to be more endowed than when she was younger. Leah sat crossed legged, bouncing one of her feet as she smiled off at nothing. Her outfit was cute and it wasn’t often she saw young woman walking around in heels in everyday life. She was sure her little Jeremy would love to spend time with her if he could work up the courage to say two words, but then again he was starting to come out of his shell after meeting Bailey and Candi who he couldn’t stop bringing up. “He is in the back organizing a delivery, give me a few moments and I will send him right out to help.”

Coming back over to Leah, Megan sat down beside the pretend teen. “Help is on the way, when he comes I want you to flirt with him like we talked about earlier. When he asks what he can help you with tell him we are buying several pairs of shoes today and you need his help and opinion. Make sure to lay it on thick, you understand?”

“Yes Miss Megan.” Thick like all the bullshit you are filling my life with. It took him effort to keep from rolling his eyes. He had done the best he could to come to terms with having to flirt while at the mall, he was not going to suffer the consequences. He would never, but the way she talked about things she would make him do if he was bad made him understand why people ****. The actual sight of blood had always made him queasy, in highschool when he stood up to a football player he had been quick to punch him, hitting him in the face instead of the gut like his brother told him and had broken the much bigger boy’s nose. That would have been good for his reputation if he hadn’t passed out from the blood flowing through the other boys fingers and falling to the ground and the red liquid on his own hand. He could understand the rage and idea of acts of ****, but something inside of him just couldn’t handle it, something inside of him was too gentle and he hated it.

“Good, now today we are getting you a single pair of sneakers, as you will being starting to do some aerobics to help you stay in shape and become more flexible. We will get you a pair of wedges, at least one pair of sandals and more than a few pairs of heels that will not be less than three inches. Got it?”

“I got it Miss Megan. Heels, Sneakers, Wedges, with at least a three inch heel.” Sneakers… Liam smiled at the idea, he didn’t think that would be on the table. “Miss Megan, can I ask you a question about the shoes today?”

“We are about to buy you some of your favorite things in the world, I’m surprised you have the self discipline to ask. Go ahead Leah.”

“Miss Megan, you know how I love heels, the higher the better.” Liam added a girly giggle to try and sell the enthusiasm that he didn’t not feel. “But I was like thinking, what if I found the perfect pair of shoes without a heel. Do you think I might be able to get them if I just loved them!?” Instead of what you want me to get he added to himself.

“You are such a girl, always wanting more shoes, of course you can look down the aisles for what else you might like, and because you are getting a pair of flats and love heels, what was it the higher the better you said? Why not tell the person coming to help that you prefer heels with a four inch heel.”

“Oh… ahh, that sounds… lovely!” It took a moment for him to find the right girly word. The victory for getting a pair of non heeled shoes had cost him more than the victory itself.

When Liam saw who was coming over to help his eyes went wide and his mouth hung a little open, he knew this person. Knew of this person. He couldn't remember his name, he didn’t even pay attention when it was said when they met, he had just called the boy buddy. This was the kid that sat between Candi and Bailey when he sat down with that at the mall. It wasn’t long ago, but with how his life had been going these last few days it felt like a lifetime ago. When the girls departed he had gotten, made him give up their phone numbers and he just forgot about him, till now.

He had been so dismissive of the person coming this way, but he had seen Liam, knew who he was and now was coming this way. Liam was terrified he was going to see him for who he was and he was friends with the girls. He would tell them about him pretending to be a girl. Shit, shit, SHHHIIIIIT!!! While his brain panicked, a part of him was reminded that a good girl never uses foul language, causing him to look over to Miss Megan, not sure if he had cursed out loud or just in his mind.

“Good morning, Hi Mrs. Best! I heard you needed help, what can I do for you?” Jeremy said coming up, trying to keep his eyes on Bailey’s Aunt instead of the cute girl next to her with reddish brown hair.

“Good morning Jermey. Please use Miss instead of Mrs, but I was hoping you could help Leah here, she needs to get more than a few pairs of shoes today.” Megan glanced over at the disguised young man and whispered loud enough for Jeremy to hear. “Close your mouth dear, can’t have you gawking at the cute boy.” She gave Jeremy a little wink.

Flirt… I have to flirt, shi… darn. He corrected himself with a less offensive word after he freaked out thinking he might have said something she would consider a curse word a moment ago.

“I don’t know about all that, but I say with how beautiful you both are it is a big compliment that you think so.” Jeremy said, his face feeling like it was burning from the large blush coming to his cheeks. It took a lot for him to compliment them back instead of just sinking into himself, but Candi had been telling him how he needed to push himself, even when he felt nervous or uncomfortable to help him grow.

“Do you think…” Liam trailed off repeating to himself again that he had to flirt and hope this teen didn’t suddenly point at him and call out his real name and say how he was a freak. “I was hoping a cutie like you could help me get some shoes today. I needed a pair of sneakers, some wedges and a bunch of high heels…” He glanced over at Megan. “Everything needs at least a four inch heel oh and I can get a pair of flats!”

“Any specific styles or colors?”

Liam glanced at the woman next to him, but she was of no help. He would rather just go look at them, but he didn’t know anything about shoes unlike this kid. “Whatever you think would look good on me.” Liam said flashing the boy a smile, large enough to show off his braces that still made his teeth hurt. One heel was going to be as bad as another, so it didn’t really matter what he came back with. The final decision wasn’t really going to be up to him anyways.

When Jeremy came back, Liam became all too aware of the mistake he made when giving him directions with his pick of sneakers. “Heeled sneakers isn’t something we have a lot of in inventory, if you find something online you would like. If you showed it to me…” Jeremy looked over his shoulder at his mom looking at something on her laptop by the register, he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable like she had to go to him if she didn’t like him.. “Or anyone here, we can order them and have them in stock for you, but I did find these that I thought you would like. They are wedge sneakers, they have a hidden, sorta hidden three inch wedge heel. I know they aren’t four inches like you wanted, but I thought you might like them.”

The shoes in question had a white rubber soul, black fabric with little white dots across it like a night sky and two velcro straps that went over the laces. “Those do look like something you would like, why not try them on?” With the stupid smile on his face he glanced at the ever so helpful woman. He knew she was going to be the arbiter of what they bought here, but what little joy he had in his mind for getting sneakers vanished. Now that she had seen these, he knew this was what she was going to make him wear to do whatever workout she had in mind.

“Nothing says Leah Megan Summers like a pair of sneakers with a heel.” He was being sarcastic, Miss Megan didn’t acknowledge it and the kid didn’t seem to catch it. So he stuck out his foot, letting him unbuckle the blue and brown heel. Feeling the cool air of the room on his now exposed foot felt good, that along with the sudden ability to un-arch his foot felt amazing. Soon the sneaker was put in its place and then the same was done for his other foot and he was **** to walk down the aisle, catching the teen watching him in one of the mirrors throughout the store. Good… good the kid didn’t recognize him, but instead of perving out over his inflated backside, Liam said to himself as he put one foot in front of the other, having to admit these were much more comfortable than the shoes he just had on.

Walking with a heeled sneaker like this was a new experience, but one far superior to the three inch heel he just had on. “How do they feel?” Jeremy asked with a big smile. He could see Leah was still smiling and knew that was a good sign, he just didn’t know if she was being polite or not with his selection.

“Actually, they are a lot more comfortable than I thought they would be.” A small rush of joy filled Jeremy as she praised his selection.

“That is wonderful to hear, I was worried when you wanted a pair of sneakers with a heel on them, but I am glad it worked out.” She didn’t intend for this to happen, but was happy with the outcome.

The next pair of heels Jeremy brought were something he thought looked hot on the one girl who tried them on and figured if Leah wanted him to pick, why not something he wanted to see a girl wear. The shoes looked like something that was old fashioned with a modern twist. The toe was black, along with the heel that went up to the back of the shoe, while the rest was white, and had three black buttons that looked like the shoe buttoned in the front, even if it zipped on the side. When he brought them out and still saw Leah smiling his hopes soared again as he put one hand on her calf as he slipped the shoe on.

Liam was not enjoying feeling the hand on his hairless leg, being touched by another guy was worse than the retro sexy shoes that were being placed on his feet. As his finger slid down his calf to zip up the shoes his body shuddered a little at the unwanted touch and unfortunately gave the boy the opposite impression. The heels were higher than ones he had been practicing with, but the advice he was given on how to walk in heels still held true, he just had to take smaller steps. Making the trip up and down the shoe aisle take longer, and showing him how uncomfortable heels could really be and the worst part he knew was that there were heels even higher than this, that he really hoped she wouldn’t make him try on. The small trek made Liam rethink his earlier opinion of heels were heels and how it didn’t matter what he was **** to wear. These shoes somehow screamed girl more than the ones he was **** to practice in and he wasn’t even sure why he knew that to be true.

While Liam was walking down the aisle Megan smiled at Jeremy as the teen watched what he thought was another attractive teen that he obviously was attracted to. It has been her plan to set up Jeremy with Leah and have Bailey help seal the deal, but what Christine had said gave her pause. He was a good kid, and should find a girl he could be happy with, but with how shy he was, there was no telling when that would happen. Maybe not till college when he worked past his own issues, or till he found a girl who was just forward. The pause in her consideration didn’t last long, Liam needed to be punished and by setting up Leah with Jeremy it would help him learn what he liked in girls and to be more outgoing with the self esteem boost from dating Leah, who she had to admit turned out to be beautiful.

“I can tell you like her you know Jeremy.” His head whipped around looking at the older woman in shock. He did like her, she was pretty, but he didn’t know he had been so obvious. “You can tell?”

“It is easy to see, but I’m not sure if you noticed, but Leah likes you too.” Megan said, looking directly into the teen boy’s eyes.

“She… she does?!” The hope that soured in him was a thousand times bigger than what he felt when picking out shoes for Leah, but felt much more shaky like it was just a dream.”

“Didn’t you hear her call you a cutie earlier? Or notice how whenever you look at her she looks away?” He heard that, but didn’t really believe it and a lot of people avoided looking at him so he paid that no mind, but he did notice how she shuddered when he accidentally ran his fingers down her calf to zip up her shoes.

“You are a smart boy, a little shy perhaps, so I will help you out. If you would like it would be okay if you asked her out to lunch, whenever your break is. The two of us will be out shopping here at the mall for hours more and I know if you asked she would say yes. That is if you would like to actually take her out on a little lunch date. Just something to think about, we are nowhere near done here.”

Jeremy felt his heart beating faster thinking about asking Leah out, he would love that, but if she said no then Miss Best would tell Bailey and Bailey would tell Candi and both would end up thinking less of him for just hitting on Leah when she was only here to buy shoes. Still though Miss Best wouldn’t lie to him, she was Bailey’s aunt and she knew they were friends.

As Liam came back, eyes down at his feet instead of head held high he was ready to take these off and never see them again. “Look at that, she can’t take her eyes off the shoes you picked out Jeremy, I can tell she just loves them. Don’t you Leah?”

It was posed as a question, but he knew it was not one. Not only that, but he hadn’t really flirted with Jeremy like she asked, no told and he was worried about what else she might want him to do if he didn’t follow directions. Flirt… flirt how do girls flirt?! He asked himself, thinking about how girls were overly touchy and giggled a lot. So in the uncomfortable heels he stepped forward to the kid and wrapped his arms around him, so that his hands were on the back of his neck, while looking him in the eyes as she smiled. “These are just perfect, I love them! Thank you for picking them out for me!” Liam giggled for good measure as he saw the boys face practically light up red.

“We ahh, we ahh, we have some more in that style if you want.” Jeremy stammered, in awe at what was currently happening. Not only was the girl openly flirting with him, but it felt like she was practically asking him to kiss her with how close she was to him and her lips looked so kissable. They were like soft kissable pink glossy pillows.

“That sounds perfect, Jeremy why don’t you get those and a few more things you think she would look good in.” He had a hard time looking away from the girl, but when her touch stopped lingering he was able to tear his eyes away and hurry off to do what Miss Best asked.

When it was time to ring them up he was surprised they were buying ten pairs of shoes, with only a single one of them not being a pair of heels. The total was coming to over nine hundred dollars, so when he put in his employee discount it he saved them over a hundred dollars. He had looked over at his mom when he put in his employee code, she noticed, but had only smiled at him.

“I ahh, um hope you enjoy your purchases today and I hope you have a good day. A ahh, I mean a great day!” He said feeling more and more nervous as he thought about asking Leah out and how he should have done it before he put in the discount so she didn’t think he was asking to go out because he did that.

“Thank you for your help today Jeremy, you have a wonderful day too.” Liam said cheerily, happy to be leaving the store, getting away from the kid who couldn’t keep his eyes off of him. Liam turned to leave, while Megan gave Jeremy a pointed look as she nodded her head towards Leah.

Then he felt a light nudge from his mother, who seemed to be in on what Miss Best had said or had read into the situation with just that nonverbal queue. Stepping away from the counter he took a few steps closer with large strides before he called out to her. “Leah, umm.” His smile grew brighter when she turned back around. “I was hoping ahh, wondering really if you would have lunch with me today. I know you are busy with shopping in all, but I have my lunch break in about an hour and a half and I was…” Jeremy’s voice trailed off, it taking all the courage he had to get that out. Wishing he had the bravery he felt when he had asked for Bailey and Candi’s phone numbers when he first met them, but Bailey had openly flirted with him and… Jeremy smiled even more as he thought about how brazen Leah had actually been with how she held him.

“There is a place in the food court that has amazing burritos. Then we could go sit on a bench outside the pet store, they always have animals playing in the front display, it is my favorite place to have lunch.” His burst of confidence started to wane when Leah didn’t answer.

Liam didn’t know what to say, he had never been asked out before and definitely not by a man… let alone a kid. Jeremy was practically a child… Liam tried to swipe that thought away, it wouldn’t matter what age he was, he did not want to be spending more time with him. His blue eyes shifted over to Miss Megan. She wanted him to flirt with him, but she didn’t say anything about a lunch date. “That is sweet and I would love to, but I can’t.”

Jeremy’s heart felt like it was crashing down at the rejection, he should have known. He did know, he was just lying to himself. Bailey and Candi were gorgeous and flirty, but even they only saw him as a friend, nothing more.

“I’m sorry, I’m just spending the day with Miss Best and it would be rude of me.” Boom use my own tormentor to get out of a bad situation. Liam thought, congratulating himself on navigating the situation in a way to let the kid down easy. He was so shy and stumbled over his words so much it was a miracle he had an in with the hot blondes he saw him with when they first met. Though both of them were the flirty type, so they might have asked him to lunch.

“That is appreciated Leah, I love it when you show me you have a good head on your shoulders. I am a little amazed you still chose to spend lunch with me over a boy you like, that means a lot. How about you take Jeremy up on his offer and I will pick up something for myself and Christine and come back here for lunch. Does that sound okay to you Christine?”

Jeremy’s mother gave her son a smile, not much bigger than her normal thin smile, she didn't want to embarrass him. It took some pushing, but he was starting to come more and more out of his shell and she loved seeing him grow. “That does beat my usual plans, I would love that and Jeremy if you need to take a little more time away I think I can manage the shop till Kelly comes in for her shift.”

The young seventeen year old boy beamed, he was so happy. “Thats.. Thats great Mom, thank you. See you back here in about an hour and a half then?”

Standing perfectly still Liam looked over at Miss Megan, who gave him a slow deliberate nod. “Sounds perfect, I wouldn’t miss it!”