Things continued to surprise and amaze me at the restaurant. The past two mornings I'd had to stand there and show my room card to claim my complimentary buffet breakfast. Then they'd stuck me at the back, at a table next to the kitchens.

This morning I'd just started to reach for my purse when the guy at the desk smiled "No need for that miss Stewart, come with me."

"Thanks Allan," I automatically smiled back at him. He led me to a table by the windows, with a nice view of the slopes.

It was the same guy as the previous two mornings, except now he stood a good six inches taller than me. The guy who only yesterday made me juggle two crutches and a broken leg to fish out my room card before he stuck me in a crappy table at the back suddenly knew my name at a glance. I didn't even get the impression he was being flirty or anything. There were no suggestive looks or half-smiles or whatever.

I wondered how I knew his name, but as I took my seat I spotted the name-tag on his shirt. I was just getting settled when a waitress arrived at my table.

The same lady who acted like she wouldn't give me the time of day yesterday was at my table in under a minute with a cup of fresh coffee for me. She smiled, "Here you go hon, two milks one sweetener right? Help yourself to the buffet whenever you're ready. Just bear in mind they start packing it all up at noon."

I smiled back again as I accepted the coffee, "Thank you Mary, you're amazing!"

As she turned and walked away I was left wondering why everyone was treating me so differently, and why I was suddenly acting so outgoing and affable.

I found myself wondering if it was just because I was a cute girl today, or if there was something else going on. Like if some other aspect of my life had changed that I hadn't figured out yet. I almost wondered if I was suddenly famous or something, though it seemed unlikely.

Eventually I made my way to the buffet. I left my jacket draped over the back of my chair but remembered to bring my purse along. After surveying the array of hot and cold food I almost grabbed my usual before I realized there was no way I'd be able to eat that much now.

I ended up with one little pancake, two strips of bacon, and a spoonful of scrambled eggs.

As carried my plate back to my table I spotted that group of three I'd seen yesterday, the guy with the two hot girls.

They were all around my age. The guy was about my height, or rather the height I was yesterday. Now he was nearly half a foot taller. He was handsome, with short light-brown hair and hazel eyes and lightly-tanned skin. He looked like he kept in shape too, no belly on him, but I could see some muscles under his clothing.

The blonde was closer to the size I found myself this morning. She had shoulder-length wavy light-blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and fair skin. Just like yesterday she had the same cute but slightly ditzy look on her face. And this morning she and the guy had their arms around each other. Yesterday I wasn't sure, but today I was fairly confident they were a couple.

The brunette was the one who caught my eye yesterday and this morning was no different. She was a little taller than the blonde, sort of in between her two friends in terms of height. Her hair was a rich dark brown and hung partway down her back. Her eyes were dark too, and gave her a sort of mysterious seductive look. Her skin was tanned and to my eyes at least, she was gorgeous. She followed a couple paces behind the other two.

Just like yesterday, the three of them were already finished eating and on their way out, probably ready to hit the slopes.

Yesterday the guy and the blonde looked at me with poorly-concealed smirks of amusement, but today I caught them both sort of checking me out as they walked past. Their looks were casually appreciative, and the guy at least looked interested.

Yesterday the brunette had given me slightly sympathetic look. This morning her eyes lingered on me a little longer than either of her friends.

I found myself looking back at her, and for a moment our eyes met. She smiled at me and gave me what I'm pretty sure was a flirty wink. Without even thinking about it I found myself smiling back at her and I returned the wink. Before I could say anything she turned and hurried away to catch up to her friends who'd already moved on.

I stood there a few more moments as I watched her disappear out of the restaurant, then finally returned to my table. The whole encounter left me with a mix of confused feelings again.

As I ate, I started wondering again what else in my life was different. I was sure there had to be more. I didn't want to believe it was something so shallow as being a cute girl made people treat me better. After all, I was still the same person inside regardless what I looked like on the outside.

Or was I?

I tried to compare how I felt yesterday or the day before, to how I was feeling now. It was hard though and it felt like it wasn't a fair comparison. The past two days I was a depressed loser limping around on crutches with a broken leg. I was isolated and grumpy, so of course I frowned a lot and my mood was sour.

Now I was a cute girl who people were noticing and paying attention to, I was smiling at strangers and pretty girls were flirting with me. So no wonder I was in a good mood and felt happy.

The food was ok and the smaller portion was more than enough to satisfy me. When I was done eating I left a few dollars tip for the waitress, then grabbed my jacket and purse.

My next stop was the washroom. I used the toilet and washed my hands, then found myself touching up my lipstick and checking my hair again before I even realized I was doing it. Finally I pulled on my jacket and slung my purse over my shoulder, then made my way out of the resort building and over to the parking lot.

I wasn't sure whether to be surprised or relieved or disappointed to find my car was mostly unchanged. It was the same four-year-old compact I'd picked up cheap last year when it came off a lease.

As I got inside I realized it wasn't exactly the same. The interior was a lot cleaner, like girl-me obviously didn't eat so much fast food. Or if she did, she didn't leave the trash to build up in the back seat of the car. After a glance down at my small waist I decided that no, tidy or not girl-me just didn't eat that much fast food.

When I started the engine, I was momentarily surprised by the loud music that suddenly started blasting out of the car's sound system. I never really listened to much music before, but apparently girl-me was a fan of cheerful pop music with a fast beat. My first inclination was to just turn it off, but it was actually kind of catchy and the up-beat tempo sort of lifted my spirits a little higher than they already were.

So I left the music on, though I did turn the volume down slightly.

Before pulling out of the lot I dug that business card out of my purse and punched the address into my car's GPS. I knew I wouldn't have any trouble getting to the town, but I didn't know my way around once I got there so the guidance would be appreciated for the last part of the drive.

The roads were clear and it was a bright sunny day, which made for a nice fun drive. A few minutes later I was slowly making my way north along Main Street. I was singing along with the music and enjoying myself.

I'd never visited this little town before but it looked like a pleasant, friendly place. The downtown area had holiday decorations up, festive lights and bows adorned the street lamps. It was a quarter to one on a Thursday afternoon, it was about two weeks till xmas, and there were a good number of people out and about downtown.

I wound up ignoring the GPS and just drove around the town for a bit. I was enjoying the views and the tunes a little too much to stop just yet. This was one of a handful of resort destinations along the south end of Georgian Bay. I figured it would be really pretty here in the summer, but even now with a blanket of snow over everything the area still looked really nice.

After my third loop around the downtown and along the lakeshore I gave in to the nagging GPS and let it guide me to my destination. I pulled into a public parking lot that was only a hundred meters or so from the shop, according to the map screen on the dashboard. Then I sat there a few more minutes as I waited for the current song to end before I turned off the engine.

It was nearly one o'clock when I finally emerged from the car. I was still in a pretty good mood as I looked around the parking lot and got my bearings, then set off in what I hoped was the right direction.

I soon found myself on the sidewalk on Main Street, and began hunting for the shop. It took me another minute or two to get to the right address, but instead of an occult store I found myself looking at a tattoo and piercing parlour on the left, and a seedy looking bar on the right.

The bar looked like exactly the kind of place I'd never set foot in, but the tattoo place actually looked kind of friendly. The interior was bright and clean and neat, and I could see a young woman and an older man sitting behind the counter having a conversation as they waited for customers. As I continued looking through the windows I found myself wondering about getting my ears pierced. For some reason girl-me hadn't done that yet, and it felt like the sort of thing I'd want to do.

The place wasn't busy and I was just starting to think about going inside when I remembered why I'd come to town in the first place. I felt myself blushing as hurried away.

I moved a little ways past the tattoo place then dug the business card out of my purse again to have another look at the address. That's when I finally noticed the storefront on the side of the building, facing into a side-street.

Business-card in hand, I marched down the little alley and up to the boutique's door. I pulled it open and stepped inside, and was nearly overcome by the strong smell of sandalwood incense. My eyes started watering as I suppressed a sneeze.

For a few moments I just stood there inside the door blinking and fighting to regain my composure. Coming from the crisp clean winter air to this was like stepping into a tiny elevator with one of those women who puts on perfume by the gallon.

Once I was able to see clearly again I let my eyes sweep over the interior of the small shop.

Just to my left was a wall display of incense sticks and cones. Beyond that, the wall was covered in little baggies full of herbs and loose incense. Along the back wall I spotted a couple fully-stocked bookcases, and a grey door with an 'employees only' sign on it. There were a couple tables in the middle of the store, one was full of crystals and other rocks. The further table was full of candles and candle holders.

To my right, a display beneath the window showcased crystal balls and strange little mirrors, while dream catchers and other shiny things hung in the window. Then there were a couple display cases in front of the right wall, with the cash register over there too. I found myself wandering in that direction, the first display case was full of jewelry and I was soon staring at the rings and necklaces. There were even some earrings in there which made me think again of the piercing place around the corner.

I was so lost in my own thoughts admiring the jewelry I hadn't even noticed the teenage girl standing behind the counter. So when she broke the silence and spoke to me, I startled so hard I nearly jumped out of my boots.

"Is there anything I can help you with, miss?"

PurpleCatGirl

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