Chasing Butterflies Chapter 26: Thrifting (Patreon)

Luna did, in fact, end up choosing that dress. Even after Olivia helped her to pick out a few other options at subsequent shops, the blonde couldn’t help but gravitate back to it. Not that Olivia had truly expected anything different. She’d accepted and understood that it was the most likely outcome of her actions from the start.

After doubling back to buy Luna’s dress and the ones the other girls had selected, Emma turned to Olivia. “What about you? Which one are you getting?”

She shrugged. “Honestly? I haven’t quite decided yet. I have a few options in mind, but I have to think about it.”

“Well, you can’t wait too long! The dance is next week!”

“I know, I know,” Olivia chuckled. “I’ll figure something out.”

The group headed toward one of the mall’s entrances together. One by one, Olivia’s companions disappeared into the cars of parents and older siblings as they were shuttled home. When she was finally alone, she stood and stretched.

All right. I’ve got a little bit of time before I need to call my dad. I might as well make it count.

She regarded the sprawling shopping complex behind her. Now that Luna had taken her own dress, buying a copy for herself was out of the question. Matching with someone else in the same social group, and knowingly to boot? That would be a major social faux pas. Besides, there were plenty of dresses in there that could work. Even if she only took the last couple of stores into account, Olivia wasn’t hurting for choices. However…

…Those price tags… Yeesh. She winced at the memory. Regardless of whose money I’m spending, blowing so much on a single dress just hurts. It’s just so wasteful.

If she already had to get a different dress, then picking up one that didn’t cost a physically painful amount of money would be nice. Unfortunately, none of the shops they’d visited had been particularly inexpensive or thrifty. Which was no surprise. Malls weren’t exactly known for such things.

Thrifty… wait…

Olivia turned and began walking along the perimeter of the mall, ignoring the brightly colored storefronts that beckoned her inside. Her attention was directed outward. An assortment of little strip malls and big box stores ringed the complex itself, clustering around like hyenas clamoring around a lion and its kill. These buildings changed ownership far more frequently than the ones within the mall itself, though Olivia recognized a few of the ones that had protected their claims throughout the years.

I think I remember there being one around here… Maybe? Hopefully it’s still in business…

It was the kind of thing that she really, really made her miss having a smartphone. The device was just about the only thing that had kept her from getting lost every time she left the house, especially once she started driving. At least keeping the mall constantly on her left gave her something to orient herself by.

But luck had decided to take pity on her. About halfway around the mall’s exterior, she finally spotted it: Clementine’s Curiosities & Thrift. The plain red text across the plain, unassuming storefront sent a jolt of excitement through her. Olivia hurried across a couple of intersections and stepped into the tiny store.

To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure what to expect from the place. In all her time living in Ridgeview, she’d only seen the place’s exterior. Thrifting and clothes shopping were things she'd only taken up during the latter half of college, so the store had never particularly drawn her interest. It didn’t help that the haphazard knicknacks visible through its windows blocked any attempts to peer further inside.

Upon entering, Olivia found herself immediately surrounded by racks and shelves filled to the very brim with things. Dusty kitchen appliances, decorative glassware, framed pictures tacky enough that they had to have been offloaded from sheer embarrassment. All of it clustered around the entrance like a crowd of desperate salesmen, pushing and elbowing each other in their eagerness to strike a deal. Or like the treasure trove of a hoarder who had decided to open their home to visitors.

She took in a deep breath of the slightly musty air—then immediately regretted it. The sheer amount of dust in the air made her eyes water. Evidently, some of this stuff had been here for quite some time.

Which isn’t that hard to believe. She eyed a particularly heinous lamp with a paisley purple tasseled lampshade. Maybe that’s why it’s at the front. Or maybe I’m just a magnet for ugly today.

Carefully navigating between a display of books and old electronics—or maybe modern electronics, now—Olivia moved deeper into the store. She was just rounding a corner when a towering pile of books, boxes, and other rectangular objects seemed to appear in front of her, teetering dangerously to one side.

“Ah!” Olivia darted forward with hands outstretched, ready to intercept however much of the pending avalanche she could save. But then the pile spoke.

“Goodness! What in the world?!”

The stack jumped and shifted, righting itself at the last moment. Then a diminutive old woman popped her head out from behind it.

“What were you thinking, girl, jumping out like that?"

Olivia blinked in surprise, pulling back. “Oh! Sorry about that. I… didn’t see you there.”

Even in her teenage body, Olivia towered over the woman, who must have been under five feet at her full height. Her outfit was an anachronistic mess of eras whose only unifying trait was their beige and green color scheme. Considering how well she fit the general aesthetic, Olivia couldn’t help but wonder if this was the “Clementine” referenced by the store name.

The old lady huffed. "As you should be. Why, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

I could say the same thing. And besides, I was just trying to prevent an avalanche.

She smiled politely. "Sorry, ma'am. Ah, would you like some help?”

“Help? What for?”

Olivia’s eyes flicked up at the teetering pile that the woman continued to juggle. The woman met her gaze flatly. “I’m perfectly capable of handling myself, thank you. In fact, I was just on my way to put all of this back in its place when someone startled me. Honestly. Youth these days…”

The woman shook her head in obvious displeasure. Regardless, Olivia held her tongue. Arguing with an ornery old woman was not worth her time, and she doubted she’d get anywhere with it anyway. Not in the body of one of those “youth”. Besides, she had better things to do.

“I’ll get out of your way then.” Olivia offered. “Oh, but… could you point me toward the clothing? Specifically dresses, if you have any.”

“‘If I have any,’ she says…” The woman muttered with indignation. She turned to point one gnarled finger at the back corner, the motion causing her stack to wobble dangerously again. “Back there.”

Olivia had to suppress the urge to reach out and steady the pile. Her hands remained firmly at her sides as she thanked the woman, who simply sniffed and disappeared among the shelves once more.

Well. That was something. Oh, well. Hopefully that means the “youth these days” haven't beaten me to the punch…

The sheer press of stuff made it hard to know how big the place actually was. It also had no clear organization, with things lumped together in general areas rather than anything close to a labeled section. Occasionally, she’d hear a bit of movement, though whether that was due to other shoppers just outside her vision or objects shifting like an old house wasn’t clear.

The woman’s demeanor did raise the question of how exactly this place stayed in business. But before Olivia could ponder too deeply, the press of books and board games around her suddenly widened to reveal what she was looking for. Clothes. Rows and rows of them. A colorful array of garments from every conceivable era. Graphic tees hung right beside lacy nightgowns that must have been on loan from a Victorian-era museum. A red faux-leather jacket straight out of the eighties partially obscured a set of leopard print leggings. There were even shoes stacked above and below the clothing racks in jumbled rows, as though failing to take advantage of such real estate was a cardinal sin.

She’d somewhat hoped that dresses would occupy a separate section, but no such luck. Worse, there was no clear indicator of groupings by size—not that she would have particularly trusted them if there was. Which meant there was nothing else to do but dive right in.

Olivia began rifling through the collection with practiced efficiency. Most of the items available around here looked to be summer dresses and casual clothing, not the more formal pieces one would associate with homecoming. But luckily, her size and proportions afforded quite a lot of flexibility when it came to style. She managed to unearth a few that were worth trying on, assuming the place had a changing room for such things. Just as a sanity check, she glanced at the prices for a few items and let out a sigh of relief.

Much better. SO much better.

It wasn’t even close. Even if she bought a dozen dresses here, it wouldn’t come anywhere near the total of even the cheapest ones back at the mall. It was perfect.

Satisfied, Olivia renewed her search. The dresses in her hand were ok, but she still had her hopes up that she’d find one diamond in the rough. A real gem, the kind that thrifters dreamed of when delving into such places. And as she reached the end of the row, a gleam caught her eye.

Ooh! That one looks nice.

It was a flash of maroon fabric—not anywhere near the navy of her previous one, but that ship had already sailed. It was a bit bright, but dissimilar enough from hot rod red to look good. Something that would actually work well with her complexion.

Hope soared inside her. Olivia hurried forward, reaching out a hand to grab the dress. But as she tried to pluck it off the rack, she encountered unexpected resistance. Frowning, she jiggled the hanger and tried to dislodge it, only to hear a voice on the other side of the rack.

"Hm? What's this thing stuck on…?"

Olivia froze. It was a girl’s voice. One that sounded oddly… familiar.

Stepping around the end of the rack, she came face to face with another girl. A blonde, about her age, with perfect makeup and just a touch of glitter adorning her eyelids.

“Trisha?”