Expensive and elegant

Becky soon found that online shopping was a thrill all of its own. She skimmed through the sites he had sent her, and found that her name showed at the top of each one - she was already in their system and just had to add what she wanted to her lists.

Some of the stores she recognized, and she knew they matched her current style. But her current style was plain and simple - the style of a homeschooled girl, not a worldly college student ready to take on the world. And so she closed out the tabs for the stores she would normally shopped for, and looked at some of the others he had recommended for her.

She picked a few that looked more upscale, with clothes that had a sleek elegance to them, and spent a few hours picking out beautiful sheath dresses, stylish blouses and other pieces to build a new wardrobe. A new wardrobe for a new Becky, she thought, feeling daring as she looked at the clothes she had picked out.

The girl blushed when she looked at the underwear on those sites, though. Some of it looked comfortable, and she added those for everyday wear... but there were fancier sets, too. Lacy bras and dark stockings, things her mother would scream about if she knew Becky even considered wearing them. And somehow that steeled her resolve; the recent graduate added a few sets of lingerie to her wish list as well.

Then she sent him an email and linked to the sites she had picked, the ones where she had added clothes to her lists.

"Hi Eric,

I hope these are okay! You're right, I need to look grown up. I'm not a kid any more."

She typed an apology for the price tag, and deleted it, multiple times. The cost of the clothes she had picked totaled thousands of dollars. But she couldn't figure out a way to make it sound right, so she sent the email as it was.

She wondered if Eric would think she was greedy or spoiled... but part of her wanted to be spoiled. For once in her life. And realistically, she knew that no one would ever buy her all of these - he was already kind enough to give her a new computer for school, but he could at least see what she was interested in.

Then she saw his reply, and sheepishly clicked it:

"Hi Becky,

No, you're not. You're a sophisticated young woman, and you will look beautiful in what you picked out. They should be at your apartment in a few days - I recommend not letting your mother see them."

She already knew that. Her mom would kill her if she saw those outfits. ...but wait.

"Is it all right if I ask which ones you got?"

And she could feel the heat rising to her face when she saw his reply:

"Hi Becky,

All of them. You need new clothes if you're going to be going off to college. This is a good start. ;)

When they get there, show me how they look on you. I want to see you properly attired."

The next few days went by in a blur for her. Her mom was working so many hours that it was easy to hide her new laptop - she probably could've had an elephant in her room and her mom still would have missed it. Becky felt a little guilty about not telling her, but at the same time, she was excited not to have to stress her mom out about pushing for new clothes for school.

She chatted with Eric and caught him up on what he had missed the past few years in the meantime, happy to have someone to talk to.