In the morning, my big brother and I needed to make a final appearance at the police station, then we were on the road again. Instead of trying to drive twelve hours to catch up to our schedule, we just drove four hours and essentially pushed our entire schedule back by a full day. That was actually a good choice, because, being a Sunday, most places would be closing around dinnertime instead of staying open late.
After checking in at the hotel and leaving our things in the suite, we went for a late lunch at an Applebee's across the street from a mall. Once back in the car, before he turned on the engine, Eric surprised me greatly:
He gave me $50 in cash.
"What's this for?" I asked.
"I was thinking last night as I watched you sleeping in my arms that I don't know if you have any nice lingerie. Every woman should have some nice, sexy lingerie, even if only for herself. So I figured that there's gotta be a lingerie store there in the mall across the street, so go have at it."
I was shocked. I honestly did not know what to say, so we ended up driving across the street in silence, but when we got out of the car, I gave my big brother a big hug. For once, I did not care who saw us or what they may have thought of our public intimacy. He was right: I had never had any truly sexy lingerie for myself, and while it had never crossed my mind until he had mentioned it, I wanted to wear something sexy, something which only he and I would ever see.
Like many malls, this one had a Victoria's Secret store, so that was where I went. There were so many options to choose from, and for a moment the selection made me feel a bit heady. Seeing all the lingerie, however, and especially all the busty women in the store (and the two men openly ogling the busty women in the store) made me very self-conscious, however, and it was a vicious internal battle to prevent myself from blushing from embarrassment.