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The Look

Friday at last and not a minute too soon. Work had been brutal the past week and Sheila longed to get on the road and head over to Vibha's. She remembered she had not picked up a gift for Vibha yet - the answer to What would Vibha really like was not as simple as it had once been.

The farmer's market was an unplanned detour just before she hit the freeway. Maybe inspiration would strike as she wandered around fresh produce and fruit. As she tried to decide between the Black Forest cake and the even more decadent Pineapple Cheesecake, she noticed an exceptionally beautiful woman looking at her somewhat curiously.

It was a look Sheila was used to for as long as she remembered but it still made her smile inwardly. The woman wore a black tube top with Bebe sequined across her substantial bust. Her short hair style accentuated her perfect features. The vividly colored butterfly tattoo on her left ankle drew attention to her slender legs. She was the kind of woman who is so used to arresting attention that she has grown blasé about it. Yet she was just the kind of woman that took notice of Sheila and wondered what it was about her that made you want to look. She was not perfect or beautiful in the classical sense.

Her first crush from the high school days had commented when she smiled she looked a lot like Pamella Bordes - back in the day Bordes was in the news a lot and tabloids were full of her pictures. The likeness was undeniable. While her grandmother was convinced she was not pretty enough to find a good match in the marriage market, men who came into Sheila's life often told her she was attractive in a hard to describe way but almost destructively so; chances of her finding someone interested in her as a potential wife were slim to none - she just didn't have that vibe. Sheila smiled at the woman in black and she smiled back confused and embarrassed at being caught looking.

Back on the road, Sheila called Vibha to let her know she was about two hours away. "Great ! I'll get dinner started." Vibha sounded happy and excited. "I got you some Black Forest cake." Sheila told her "How did you that I have been craving chocolate for days ? With Gaurav out, I couldn't get some from the store." Vibha said and both of them felt the long forgotten comfort of a very old friendship.

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