Chapter 28

Viv thought it would be awkward the next morning knowing they had masturbated together. But instead, it was a nonissue. Not quite like it didn’t happen, but Mac had only come over and given her a light kiss and a “Good morning, beautiful,” the word he had called her last night. He hadn’t called her that before. Maybe he was waiting for her to say something, or he didn’t want to embarrass her.

She kept watching as she got ready to run a few errands. It was a huge shopping day, but she was able to buy a few things online this morning. There were a few in-store-only sales that she wanted to check out.

“I’m going to go shopping this morning, if you wanted to come,” she offered, looking at Mac.

“Shopping?”

Viv nodded. “It’s Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is a big sale and shopping day in the United States. It’s geared toward Christmas presents, but it’s a good time to stock up on things you might need anyway. There are only a few things I was going to look for that I couldn’t get online. I know shopping’s not very exciting,” she said.

“Do you guys celebrate?” Mac asked.

“We do. Sometimes it’s just Thomas and me, sometimes it’s with his parents. It depends on if they found a great deal on a vacation now that they’re retired. We always celebrate with them, sometimes it’s just a little before or after Christmas. This year they found a great cruise to go on, so we’ll be celebrating with them on New Year’s.”

“Should I look for gifts for D and Thomas then?”

“If you want to,” Viv replied. She didn’t want to push him into something he didn’t want to do.

“That sounds fun. I’d love to go. I think it would be hilarious to get my uncle a Christmas present. What do we do for Christmas?” he asked, bending down to put his boots on.

“If his parents aren’t here, we keep it pretty relaxed. Pajamas or other comfy clothes, sit around watching movies and playing games. Sometimes we order in fancier food, sometimes pizza, sometimes Chinese or burgers, just depends on what we’re in the mood for.”

“That sounds like a good day,” Mac said. He was looking forward to a day of hanging out with his mate and his friends. He wondered what he could get Viv for Christmas. It was a month away, but he needed to think of something good. Maybe he could ask Thomas or maybe she would look at something today. He’d have to pay attention, he decided. He grabbed their coats from the closet. “Where are we going first?”

“Target and Costco. They’re close to each other, so we can park at one and walk over to the other if we manage to snag a parking spot. There’s a new air fryer combo thing Thomas has been wanting. I already told D I was getting it,” she said with a grin.

He would guess that D had been lost for ideas and she had snagged that one first. There was a lot of triumph and gloating in that grin. “I’ve never been in a Costco,” he admitted.

“Really? Oh, you’re going to love it. Well, maybe not today. Today is going to be crazy busy. I’ll have to bring you back when it’s calmer, maybe right at opening during a weekday. It’s like a little treasure hunt; they change stock so often that there’s almost always new things to see. They have everything from socks and shoes to refrigerators and washing machines, rotisserie chicken to laundry detergent. Probably not today, but they offer samples a lot of the time. They also have cheap hot dogs and pizza at the food court. The Costcos are different too; Texas can carry something different than Maine, Canada and other international ones have some different food court options as well.”

“Let’s go; you can show me. I’m excited to spend the day with you,” Mac said. It didn’t matter if they sat on the couch or shopped, he wanted to spend time with Viv.

As they climbed into the car, he finally broached the subject. “Are you okay with last night? I didn’t want to push you too far,” he said. He watched as a faint blush stole across her cheeks.

“It was perfect, not too far,” she said, her cheeks turning even redder.

“Good,” he said simply. “Now what should I get for Thomas and D?” he asked.

“You could always give them a joint gift, something for both of them. Maybe something for their wedding if they pick a date by then, or tickets to something. Like a play or an event, or something to do. I don’t know if we’ll get enough snow, but Thomas likes going snow tubing. Or a class together. One year we gave his parents a pottery class together. I’m not entirely sure what class they could agree on though, so that might be a bad one.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Maybe I could pay for a vacation, like a weekend getaway?” he wondered aloud.

“Sure,” Viv said. She didn’t know Mac had that much money that he could pay for a vacation for a friend. “Do you know what you might want to get your uncle?”

“No. I’m hoping something jumps out at me. I have time at least to find something,” Mac replied.

Viv nodded, focusing on maneuvering through the parking lot. It was extremely crowded, but she finally found a parking spot on the fringes of the lot. She grabbed one of the carts from the parking lot, thinking it would be easier to get one out here. The corrals were pretty full, the employees in the process of bringing some in.

“Stay close,” she said. “I get a guest in with my membership card. If you want to buy anything, just put it in the cart and we’ll use my card.”

Mac nodded, amazed that all these people were holiday shopping. It seemed like madness; oversized carts and people buzzing about. The noise level was deafening. You could feel the tension, stress, and anxiety in the air. Viv found the air fryer and he reached high to grab it.

“Let’s get in line to check out. I’ll bring you back and show you the fun of Costco another day when it isn’t a madhouse,” Viv said, after looking at his face. She began working her way to the cash registers. There were lines stretching far back, both for the cashier lines and self-check-out lines. She wanted to ditch the cart since they only had one item but knew from experience it acted a little like a blocker or shield around them. She really did want to show Mac the joys of Costco, but today was not going to be that day. Taking someone who didn’t really go shopping and throwing them in the deep end of Black Friday madness was probably a bit mean. She should have thought it out more but had been eager to spend more time with him.

They finally made it to the front of the line and checked out within minutes. They walked to the car. Viv turned to look at Mac as she put the air fryer in the trunk.

“You don’t have to come in for the next one, I know it can be overwhelming. I try to do as much online shopping as possible to avoid stores on Black Friday.”

“You must be crazy if you think I’m going to let you go into that madness without me!” Mac exclaimed, his eyes wide in disbelief. Was she out of her mind? The humans here were overcome with stress, greed, desperation, and a sense of urgency. Nothing good ever came from that cocktail mix of emotions. He needed to be there to protect her.

Viv laughed. “It’s not that bad. This is Target, I shop here all the time. Just be glad I’m not dragging you to Walmart.”

“Why Walmart?” Mac asked. How could it be worse?

“I’m not going in, but it’s right over there,” Viv pointed out. “Feel free to port in, no one will notice today. Just shadow first so you don’t get caught on a security camera. Stay in a corner and watch for a minute. I’m not in a hurry.”

Mac looked at her suspiciously but ported into the store. He looked around in disbelief. People were shoving each other, grabbing things out of each other’s hands. Children were crying, adults were shouting. Oh, this was much worse. How did the poor employees deal with this? That woman just stole a toy out of someone else’s cart! He stayed in the shadows, cloaking himself, and moved the toy back to the original cart. He walked around the store, viewing the insanity. He took video to show to his uncle. Recreating this would be a great addition to some of the lighter punishment levels. Mac ported back to Viv’s car.

“I would be eternally grateful if we never experienced this shopping day there. Ever. I feel so bad for the employees there. People were quite rude. I did get some inspiration though. I think I can recreate a punishment level that is perpetually a Walmart Black Friday sale and the souls in punishment have to work there as employees,” Mac told her.

He smiled when Viv burst out laughing. “Oh my god. It would be a great punishment! You should Google videos of it later for more ideas. There are some doozies. It’s made the news several times.

“I only have a couple of things to get at our next stop, and if the line’s not long we can get a coffee while we’re here. They have a Starbucks in-store.”

“I could use a coffee,” Mac said. A large coffee with a shot of whiskey maybe. Or three. He was glad they didn’t have anything like this in Netherworld. As bad it was here, adding in hellfire and magic would make it deadly.

Mac looked down as his phone rang.

“Uncle? Is everything okay?”

“Mac! Are you in danger? Do I need to come?” his uncle asked, his voice stressed and worried.

“What? No. Why?”

“You sent a video.”

“Oh! I’m out shopping with Viv for Black Friday and she told me how bad this store was. I went to see for myself. That was the video. I’m safe. I was thinking we could recreate it for a punishment level.”

“I can see the potential there,” his uncle mused. “Okay then. Have fun. Stay safe. You know how crazy people can get.”

“I will. Bye.” Mac clicked off.

“Uncle was worried when he saw the video,” he explained when Viv looked over at him in question.

Viv shook her head. These guys. “Come on. I’ll keep you safe,” she teased.

Mac followed her to the store, noting that compared to the other, this wasn’t so bad after all.