The Trio's New Addition Pt. 01

Christie, Cindy and Brian have been consistently one-upping each other when it comes to their appreciation for trampling over the past nine years, minus the two years the girls were away on business. In that time, they haven't come across anyone whom they feel is anywhere close to their level.

They have met several dozen guys that have come close. Some have a higher pain threshold for heels than Brian does, but their complaining in one fashion or another has knocked them down a few pegs in Christie and Cindy's book. As for girls, there have only been two new friends made in the last couple years who share a similar attitude as Christie's formerly established posse, and who give Brian a good workout when they all pile onto him.

While there has been no shortage of entertainment for the trio ever since the success of their house-warming party, the house itself has unintentionally inspired new behavioral traits among the ladies as well as some of their friends due to its design. Ideas that were originally designated only for Brian have been passed around, but they have created conflicts since the ladies want to try them among each other, but no one other than Christie is bold enough to lie down and take one for the team, and even then, the others don't really want to hurt her and therefore can't get into it as much as they'd like.

In the last three months, however, Christie has picked up on someone outside of her friendship circle with the help of her gift, but she has yet to come across this person face to face. Her gift has always had a limited physical range as far as an origin point goes, or so she thought. She's used to picking up on someone across the room, or a small parking lot, like one that belongs to a restaurant, but this person she's sensing is much further away and for the first time ever, she's not sure about the distance.

It puzzles her to no end why the gift is acting this way, but it does bring a smile to her face when the strongest vibe she picks up is a trample one. Oddly enough that is all she can detect about the person. She can't seem to filter out any basic details like whether this is a guy or girl and for that reason, she feels like she's lucid dreaming the whole thing.

Today though, today stands out for Christie as her gift makes her question her abilities by giving her a clue that this person has ventured into the area and therefore encourages her to make it a point to search them out. She gets Cindy and Brian up to speed on the details, which are still vague other than the strength of the vibe. Brian is whole-heartedly certain it's a guy, and for the time being, Cindy agrees with him. Christie low-key agrees as well, but keeps an open mind.

Despite the ladies half-assed attempt to persuade him to be their body guard in the event this person does turn out to be a guy, Brian decides to stay behind as he knows they are just being courteous of his opinion. He also knows how lethal Cindy can be when provoked, and combined with Christie's foresight, he's confident that no one would stand much of a chance against them. With his decision made final, the girls take off.

The vibe leads them to a local department store. As strong as it is, it makes Christie feel like the first twenty people she sees are emitting it simultaneously, causing her to blush slightly for a moment. Cindy is still holding onto the idea that they are looking for a guy, and gets sidetracked by pointing out every cute guy they come across as they make their way around the store.

As they approach the books and magazines section, Christie gets hit with another clue about this person which halts her in place and forces a loud gasp out of her!

"It's a GIRL!" she randomly blurts out, catching Cindy by surprise and gaining a few questionable looks from people around them. She starts to hyperventilate from the influx of details that bombard her soon after!

Cindy guides her over to a chair nearby to help her calm down. "Are you sure? Where?" she asks as she kneels down at her lady's feet.

"Yes," Christie replies with a blank, straight forward gaze, "to the right."

Cindy looks to her right.

"My right," Christie clarifies without breaking her stare, "next aisle over."

Cindy looks to her left briefly before standing back up, pulling Christie along towards said aisle, hoping to get a peek at this girl as they pass by the end of it. Their glance is merely two seconds long, but they see their prize about halfway down the next aisle, sitting on the floor with her attention invested in a book.

"Her?! Seriously?!!" Cindy ecstatically whispers as she continues pushing her lady along.

Christie quietly nods as the two head off towards the hallway that leads to the bathrooms.

"My God she's tiny!" Cindy says trying to keep her voice down. "You're sure she's the one?!"

"I'm sure," Christie says taking deep breaths and holding her head from headache like symptoms arising from the rush of details continuing to pour in from this girl.

Cindy has never seen Christie act this way and it raises concern. "Hey, are you ok? Maybe we should reconsider-"

"No," Christie cuts her off, "I'm fine. I just need a minute."

She spends the better part of ten minutes composing herself to a coherent state, or at least as close as she can get before this girls vibe shifts and alerts her that she's on the move.

It doesn't take long to find her again, however, so the girls hang out a few aisles over allowing Christie the chance to gather any kind of useful facts to make small talk with. She is still having trouble filtering what she picks up, but with this girl's super obvious vibe and years of experience, a plan of approach isn't hard to create, and the ladies agree to separate for the time being.

Christie pulls herself together and walks over to this girl as mellow as can be. "Excuse me; do you know where the yoga mats are?"

The girl looks to Christie, looks behind her thinking she's talking to someone else, and then returns her look to Christie again, "Me?"

Christie smiles softly, "Yes you."

"Um, they're over near the bike section, I think," the girl replies quietly.

As Christie continues to ask where various items are, she notices the girl starting to get flushed in the face; not from being annoyed, but because the items in question all direct her thoughts to trampling in some fashion or another. Christie knows the girl doesn't work at the store, even though she's pretending to treat her as though she does, but surprisingly enough, the girl has an answer for everything.

"Last thing, I promise," she says, going for hook, line, and sinker, "how about walking shoes?"

The girl let's out a high-pitched croak, followed by her hand quickly slapping her mouth shut. Christie finds the reaction simply adorable, and decides to end her game and call the girl out, sort of.

"You seem to know quite a lot about this store... for someone who doesn't work here," she says, focusing her eye line on the girl's shirt where a name tag would usually be found.

The girl blushes intensely for a moment, then says something that even Christie doesn't see coming, "Well, how do you know I'm not just off for the day?" barely keeping eye contact.

Grinning sweetly "because three of the items I asked about aren't sold at this store," Christie admits.

The girl doesn't say anything in her own defense and turns to walk away in embarrassment.

"What's your name?"

The soft tone of the question stops the girl in her tracks. Checking her surroundings to make sure she still has an escape route, she turns and replies, "Gracelyn."

Walking towards her, "That's a pretty name. I'm Christie," holding out her hand.

Hearing that name perplexes Gracelyn for a moment, and while she's not sure why, she returns the greeting with a cautious but firm handshake.

"You have a lot of spirit sweetie, dare I say you're quick on your feet," Christie adds with a smirk and a quick peak at the girl's shoes. Gracelyn gets tongue-tied again by the 'feet' reference. "Would you care to join us for a drink?"

Completely unaware of Cindy's presence, Gracelyn replies, "Us?"

When Christie points her out with a nod, Gracelyn sees Cindy smiling back with waving fingers while waiting on a couch display that wasn't considered a quick escape route option, and was therefore completely glossed over. Although she doesn't recognize who these two are, the 'feet' reference compels her to accept the offer.

It is an awkward trek for Gracelyn as she quietly follows the girls over to the stores deli, which is accompanied by several small tables, each with two chairs. She watches as Christie takes a seat while Cindy hangs back to buy drinks.

"Come on, have a seat hun," Christie says as she pushes the other chair out from the table with her foot.

Gracelyn feels her throat tense up a little from watching Christie's foot touch her chair and almost falls into it due to her legs feeling like they may give out any second. With a dozen questions running through her mind, she asks the most pressing one first, "So what's this all about?"

"Well, quite honestly I thought our little interaction back there was rather amusing, so I thought it would be nice to see what makes you tick," says Christie.

"What makes me tick?" Gracelyn asks with a brief inquisitive look off to the side. "Nothing special I'd imagine."

"Oh I really beg to differ," Christie replies with a growing smile.

"Why's that?"

"Because your reaction to me asking about walking shoes was quite telling," Christie says expressing her interest by locking her eyes with Gracelyn's as she rests her chin on her palm.

Gracelyn gulps audibly and feels her own body heat radiate from blushing again.

"So may I ask why walking shoes would warrant such a response?"

"Don't worry about it. It's stupid," Gracelyn replies in a shameful tone.

"Awww, now I doubt that," Christie says trying to keep the girls morale up, "come on, try me."

"I really doubt you'd understand."

"What wouldn't she understand," Cindy asks as she pulls up a chair from a nearby table, handing Gracelyn one of three cups she has in a to-go tray, and takes a seat.

"She wants to know what makes me tick. She seems to think it's something special based on how I reacted to... um... shoes," Gracelyn replies, taking a sip of her drink.

"Walking shoes! Yes," Christie clarifies on the girls' behalf, "as you know, her reaction was interesting to me, so I was hoping she would enlighten me as to what prompted it," she says to Cindy.

"I see," Cindy replies switching her gaze from Christie to Gracelyn. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, hun. She's pretty open about a lot of things."

Gracelyn slumps back in her seat, locking her gaze on her cup, "If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that I wouldn't have to worry about what others thought of me."

"What do you think they think of you?" Cindy asks.

"I don't think, I KNOW people think I'm...odd. Many tell me to my face that I'm crazy, and...I'm not, just-"

"Passionate," Christie says finishing the girl's sentence.

Gracelyn shrugs her shoulder, "Sure," looking back up at Christie.

"Well that's why you have my full attention sweetie. I deal with 'odd' really well, I promise."

Those words almost bring a smile to Gracelyn's face, but her thoughts choke her up a bit. "I...don't even know who you two are. Why should I believe that you would think any differently of me?"

Christie smiles, "You'll just have to take our word on it," she says as she turns in her seat, leans back against the wall, kicks her shoes off and swings her feet up on to Cindy's lap.

Gracelyn is set off almost immediately from the sight, gripping her cup so tight it blows the lid off and spills her drink into her lap! Her reaction to it is dwarfed by her focus on Christie's feet on her friends lap, admittedly backwards from a typical reaction almost anyone else on the planet would have! Her focus is then broken when Cindy hops up and grabs a handful of napkins to aid in soaking up what's left of her drink on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Cindy asks as she hands Gracelyn a few napkins to dab her jean pants with.

Without the distraction, reality starts to set back in for Gracelyn and a somewhat normal look of shock forms on her face as she realizes how much of her outfit actually got wet; more than a few napkins will take care of for sure. She is soon consumed in embarrassment and rushes off to the bathroom without so much as a peep!

"That was dramatic," Cindy says to Christie with a smirk as she finishes wiping up the floor around their table. "Did you see that kind of reaction coming?"

"It was more animated than I was expecting, but yeah," Christie replies.

"Is she going to be any trouble?" asks Cindy as she returns to her seat.

"Actually no, believe it or not; she's exactly who we're looking for."

"You're kidding right? I mean, yeah, the attitude is there... I guess, but she's so small," Cindy says leaning in towards her lady, trying to keep her voice down, "what makes you think she's going to be open to what we want to do?"

Christie chuckles sweetly, "Now you know better than to ask that of me darling; at least I would hope so after knowing me for fifteen years!"

"You know what I mean though, right? She's like Kacie's size. There's no way we're all going to fit on her like we do on Brian."

"She thought I was going to step on you just now; that's what got that reaction out of her! It took her a bit to react to her drink because she was thinking about stepping on you too. Tracking her thoughts on the way to the bathroom - she was looking everywhere for places where she could do that!"

"What? No way!"

"WAY! Honey, you have no idea the level of passion she has for this! The best way I can describe it is to combine your passion, mine and Brian's about this, and together it is only half of what she has!"

Cindy is understandably speechless with a look of shock plastered on her face.

"It's no surprise at all why I'm having such a heightened reaction to her and why others think she's pure crazy; she can't relate to them, but she is perf-," Christie pauses from Gracelyn's vibe shifting again, "...oh no."

Cindy's shock and excitement barely wear off enough to respond in time, "What is it?"

"She wants to leave!" Christie says with a hustle to slip her shoes back on.

"Wait what?" Cindy asks as Christie gets to her feet and takes off. "Hey!" taking off after her, "what's the hurry? Why is she leaving?"

"You'd want to leave in a hurry too if you just embarrassed yourself in front of complete strangers," Christie tells her as she continues her brisk-paced walk towards one of the store's entry ways. Directing Cindy out, "she's heading for the other exit! Meet me out there and cut her off!"

Not knowing what Gracelyn's actual pace is, Cindy sprints down the front of the store to the next entry way and stops in between two pillars that line the door's pathway out to the parking lot. She catches her breath before seeing Gracelyn approach the door moments later from the inside while simultaneously impressed with how much lead time she gave herself.

Gracelyn makes it two steps out the door when she spots Cindy, halting her in place. She turns back to head for the other door, but sees Christie calmly approaching her.

"Leaving so soon?" Christie asks with a smile.

Gracelyn takes a moment to reply. "Ok, you do realize this is a little creepy, right?"

"What, leaving at the same time?" Christie says attempting to turn the odds in her favor. "What's so creepy about that?"

Gracelyn has nothing to come back with even though deep down she knows something is off.

"Can't be any worse than spilling a drink on yourself and leaving us with the mess."

"Well...no, but it's pretty close," Gracelyn replies with shame in her tone.

Christie giggles softly, "Indeed. We mean you no harm though; we just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I... I'm fine. Really," Gracelyn says with a deep breath. "Sorry about what happened in there. I just didn't want to walk around with a wet spot, so that's why I didn't come back."

"It's alright, I understand," Christie says as she slowly walks past the girl towards Cindy. She takes her next few paces slowly as she can sense frustration building from her new acquaintance.

"I like walking on people," Gracelyn blurts out initially with her back to Christie.

'Just like clockwork', Christie thinks to herself. She pivots on her feet to turn around, "What's that?"

Gracelyn turns to face her, "You asked what my deal was with the walking shoes...and it's not so much the shoes, it's walking...on people," she says hanging her head again. "It scares people off when I say anything about it, and since you were leaving anyway, I didn't see any harm in telling you."

"It doesn't scare me off," Christie says as she gently guides Gracelyn's chin up so that they make eye contact, "and I think you know that on some level or else you wouldn't have said it."

An overwhelming feeling of déjà vu hits Gracelyn as Christie smiles at her. She knows it can't be the place because she's new to the area, so it has to be something about the lady in front of her. It feels so obvious, but something isn't clicking just yet.

Christie senses the gears turning in Gracelyn's mind, and before the girl can put two and two together, she turns to Cindy and motions her over along with a finger gesture for a card. "Tell you what," she says turning back, "go home, change," holding her hand up for Cindy to slip a personal contact card into, "and if you aren't shaken up too much by then, consider coming over for a visit." Handing Gracelyn her card, "We would be honored to have you!"

"What? Seriously? You just hand your card to random strangers?" Gracelyn asks as she glances over the cards print.

Christie turns to head off with Cindy, "I trust you," she says with a smile and a wave.

Gracelyn watches them walk off around the corner of the building, temporarily unable to move due to being locked in thought about what the déjà vu is from. After a few minutes of not getting anywhere with it, she shakes it off and leaves for home.

The drive home nags at her. She replays Christie's actions in her head trying to place some kind of memory or trigger, but the embarrassment of her reaction keeps her distracted. Back at her place, she paces back and forth between her room and the living room on the other side of the wall, dropping off her shirt and jeans into the stacked washer-dryer unit. At first, she changes into the next thing she lays her hands on, but the more she eyes Christie's card, the more she thinks about taking her up on her offer - eventually changing into something that resembles the semi-classy attire Christie and Cindy had on.

Meanwhile, the ladies fill Brian in on what they found.

"SHUT UP! A GIRL?!!" he exclaims.

"You're the one who didn't want to come," Christie tells him with laughter in her voice.

"Hey, cut me some slack! You two and our friends are the only ladies I know who are into trampling like we are, so it's only natural that anyone new matching what you mentioned earlier would be a guy!" Brian says in his own defense. "Soooo, since it's a girl - where's she from?"

"You can ask her that when she gets here," Christie replies.

"Why would I ask her? You were in her presence for what, a half hour?"

"Barely."

"So you should've been able to pick up those details in that time, no?"

"I told you the gift is acting differently with her. It's not letting me sort those details out right now."

"For real?" Brian ponders for a moment. "The last time you had problems with it was when you two were away on business."

"Yeah, it's kind of like that, but at the same time, kind of not. It ended up barely working at all when I was away from you and then got better when I came back. With her though, it feels like it's been working in overdrive the whole time. So much is coming in that I can't focus on just one thing. I've been trying to slow it down, but I haven't had much success with that, just enough to spare myself from a headache."