being hit by a bus had taken a number of things from her: the final months of her junior year, heels, crossing the street without her heart rate spiking.
regina didn't want to let it take her love for the mall.
when the spinal halo had come off and her physical therapist cleared her for activities outside the house, regina's instinct was to seek solace in familiar, temperature controlled jungle. to be seen by people. but it was going to be weird without gretchen and karen. basically since they'd become friends, if one of them had to miss a shopping trip, pictures had to be sent to them for approval. outfits for important events? put on hold until they could all see it in person. she'd spent so long with her own made up rules that part of her craved an opinion. even just so she could ignore it.
so she had dragged shane along, but by the second store he'd become so annoying that she'd sent him to the food court in hopes he would get lost there. leaving regina alone in a dressing room, scrutinizing herself in the mirror. she wasn't indecisive-- if anything, her ability to make choices for everyone was why she'd been the queen of the plastics. but there was no one more critical of her than herself when she was alone with a mirror.
when she couldn't take it anymore, she scooped up everything that had looked remotely good on her, dumped it on a counter for someone to hold, and stalked out. they'd been working on her rage in therapy and she tried to remember that basically every bad thing that had happened in her life, like, ever was because of people's perceptions of her or something. but then, what was so wrong with wanting people to tell you that you're pretty?
the scents of a thousand soaps hit her and regina is suddenly aware of where she is in the mall. how many times had she walked by pretending like she didn't know janis worked there and wanting janis to notice?
she made another decision.
"can i borrow you for like, five minutes?"
