'No.'
Staring up at the department store lingerie shop, Brianna standing next to him, Jeff began to wonder if he should have answered in the negative, instead of his eager 'Yes!'. The weight of the situation was loaded onto him, and he was feeling it.
When he responded to her offer over text the previous night, Jeff had been too ecstatic to properly think what shopping would entail. While it was true that the bra cup was getting dirty and uncomfortable (damn the inability to put it in the washing machine with the other clothes) and that Brianna had made a valid point that it was slightly smaller than what the breast required, it was entirely different when he was outside and around people. He was about to enter a store to buy a bra, in public, and he felt like he hadn't fully thought this through.
On their way over, Brianna had told him she would feign getting the bra for herself, which took a great deal of stress off Jeff’s mind. But it was the… the risk of being seen, of going into a store designed specifically for women. It all just felt too overwhelming.
“Jeff? You okay?”
Brianna’s voice brought Jeff back to reality, and he responded with a forced smile. “Yeah, I’m great! You ready to... go in?”
Brianna shrugged, smirking coyly. “Only if you are.” The two entered the store, Jeff regretting that he hadn’t said anything to voice his worries to her. He was thankful to her for suggesting it, and giving him courage by going with him, but at the same time his anxiety was strong, and he didn't know how he would handle it.
The interior was coated in black, with splashes of bright red and pink dotting the walls, highlighting them in a bold feminine color scheme. The ceiling was also black, and reflective, with an equally dark tiled floor. Rows upon rows of undergarments hung neatly on hangers under soft white neon lights, in a variety of sizes and styles. Jeff felt his breast begin to stiffen, the sight of the lingerie bringing thoughts of arousal to his easily excited teenage mind.
Before he or Brianna could say anything, they were greeted by a dull, unenthused voice.
“Can I help you?”
Turning his head, Jeff caught sight of a tall somber goth girl staring him and Brianna down. Her large breasts were very barely contained by her far too tight black shirt, with a bra just as inappropriately sized squeezing deeply into the tissue of her chest. Jeff suddenly felt both less uncomfortable and even more so at the same time. He was glad that his current bra cup wasn’t digging into him the way this girl’s was, but also instinctively couldn't help imagining what that kind of overbearing tension must have felt like.
He also wondered why such someone so deadpan and brassiere-trapped was working in a women’s underwear shop, but he figured she probably asked herself that same question a dozen times a day, given her totally disinterested demeanor.
Brianna responded, defusing the situation before it could go anywhere awkward.
“Oh, we’re fine. Thanks. We, uh... were just going to look around a bit.”
The girl nodded briefly before taking a long look at Jeff, a doubtful expression on her face. “... even you?”
Jeff opened his mouth to try and make up some excuse, but once again Brianna managed to give him an easy way out. “Oh, no. No, he’s... my boyfriend. Just want, uh, h-his input and... yeah.”
The response satisfied the clerk, though they could both tell that there was very little that she would have questioned, or even cared about at all. The goth girl shrugged, walking off, and leaving the two to start their perusing.
Jeff, however, couldn’t help but return to what Brianna had said. 'My boyfriend.' Well... did she really mean that?!? Was it true, to her? After what they had done so far and what they had told each other? Were they official already? She had seemed so nervous after saying it. Was that actual nerves, or excitement? Embarrassment? Did she speak the first thing that came to mind, or-?
He realized that by zoning out, he had made himself far more conspicuous to the few other browsing patrons, a couple of whom glanced at him suspiciously and hid the underwear they were holding behind their backs. Swallowing, humiliated and not wanting to look like a pervert weirdo, he followed Brianna as they tried to locate the right cup size.
As they got to the “D” section, Jeff was confused when Brianna paused and turned to him. After all, he had been trailing her, as he was not any kind of expert in female underwear.
“Okay, um... what’s the size?”
Jeff blinked a few times, fully aware of what she was asking, but still surprised that she was asking it. In hushed whispers, they continued.
“I... I thought you knew what it was.”
“No. What is it?”
“I don’t know either!”
“Uh... shit, uh...”
As Brianna stood, rubbing her chin with a hand as she thought about it, Jeff was just about ready to tell her “it’s okay” and “it doesn’t matter.” But, knowing she had come out here for him, and himself desperately wanting something more comfortable, he held his tongue.
“Didn’t you say it looked slightly bigger than your... own?”
Brianna blushed, though clearly not annoyed or offended. “I think it did. I may have been wrong.”
“Let’s get, um... an E cup?”
“That’s way too big!”
“Okay, then. DD cup?”
“What kind?”
“..... there’s different kinds of individual cup sizes?”
Brianna chuckled, more amused by what Jeff had said, but quickly cleared her throat and apologized.
“Look, um... if you want... we could go to the changing rooms and... find out? M-Measure it ourselves?”