Becoming Paula

Come 5:00 p.m. though I have to face the world and leave the protective environment of my office. I have tried dating services and singles bars. Nowadays I just save my money and drink at home, not that I drink all that much. In my off times, I often go to the mall and just walk, just to be around people. I have found that there are a lot of people doing just the same thing.

Things began to change though, when I was at the Mall one Saturday afternoon. I had stopped outside on shops and looked up at the mannequins in the window, not really seeing but just out of rote. That is when I heard, “Oh Paul” called out. I turned and saw Ginny and two of the “girls” Barbra and Rachel come rushing to me. I waved at them and we exchanged hugs all around. They asked what I was up too and I said just walking around, getting a little exercise. Rachel jumped in and asked if I was window shopping. I said yes. I do a lot of that.

Barbra said, “oh really I bet you would look good in that.”

All three of the girls were giggling at that comment, and I was stumped until I turned around and saw that it was a dress shop we were standing outside of. I must have turned ten shades of red and I started to turn to escape but was caught by both arms and the girls said we were just kidding Paul, chill out dude.

Ginny said, “why don’t you come with us Paul.”

In this matter I didn’t feel I had any say in, because I was just whisked away arm in arm between Barbra and Rachel. They pulled me into the dress shop we were outside of they were like a pack of wolves circling carrion looking for the right morsel to eat. They picked several outfits each and left three purses on my arms as they went to the dressing rooms. They would model them for me then change and come out. This went on from store to store. I was even dragged into a lingerie store. They asked me what I thought about this and what I thought about that, luckily, they didn’t come out to model for me. I noticed that I got a lot of stares from the patrons there, especially since I had three purses on my arms. I wouldn’t admit it to them but I was enjoying being with them.