Not keen on overnighting in the change room, Rei opened the door and poked her head outside. The beach was deserted, and the sidewalk leading from the gift shop to the parking lot was similarly vacant. Promising... but getting back to the lockers would take her right past several windows, and she'd lost her locker key with everything else. Maybe she could appeal to one of the shopgirls for a loaner suit?
Taking a deep breath, Rei stepped out and marched stiffly to the gift shop. There was a hand truck with cartons of product being delivered just outside the door. And a mob inside.
Rei couldn't believe it! Peeking around the jamb, she saw what looked like every tourist from the beach, poking through the overpriced stuff on the shop racks. There had to be thirty people in there! Rei swallowed her panic and glanced at the dolly. She saw a box advertising kids in swimsuits and grabbed it, hoping it would hold something she could use.
"If I can get my stuff out of that locker, I'll buy the lot," Rei promised herself, fast-walking back to the changing room.
In relative safety, Rei had a look at what she'd boosted. It would be embarrassingly tight, but she could make a kid's swimsuit work...
Except she hadn't made off with swimsuits. She'd nicked a carton of that novelty sunblock that changed you colors. Blue, in this case.
Rei sighed heavily and stared at the ceiling for several seconds.
The delivery guy had left a utility knife wedged halfway into the box, and Rei used it to cut through the tape. There were a dozen 8-ounce bottles of lotion inside, and some promotional material wrapped in blue foil. Nothing resembling an outfit, or a way out of her predicament.
"Call it the worst idea ever, but..." Rei said to herself, shaking her head.
Two bottles and ten minutes later, Rei was royal blue from soles to forehead. Creative use of the box cutter on the promo slicks yielded a blue foil sorta-bikini-bottom and a pair of improvised pasties. The slimy lotion provided a tacky layer to stick her 'outfit' to, and it was a little hard to see where the blue foil ended and blue Rei began. Assuming no one got too close, she might be able to pull it off.
Rei glanced in the mirror, getting her first good look at her handiwork, and burst out laughing. She looked ridiculous, reeked of the lotion's blueberry fragrance, and crinkled when she walked. But that could all add up to an excellent distraction; her blueness was more remarkable than her near-nakedness.
Stepping back outside, Rei hustled the remainder of the sunblock carton to the gift shop door, dropping it off and walking past the window. The crush of shoppers was still there, but no one spared her a glance. Which was incredible, because Rei caught her reflection in the plate glass and couldn't help laughing again. She was a walking blue light special.
Safely past the gift shop, Rei made it to the snack bar and locker rental window. One girl was covering both sides, and a gaggle of kids were chomping ice cream at the benches in front of the lockers. Rei's appearance started a minor riot, which she tried to laugh off.
"Sorry, I managed to lose the key to my locker," Rei told the girl at the window. The girl was so busy tying her face in a knot to prevent braying laughter that Rei got a replacement key without any questions. Almost painless!
As Rei made for her locker, the younger kids pawed at her while the older ones asked her why she was blue (the oldest just snapped away shamelessly with his camera). Rei put a prudent distance between herself and the locker rental window, the girl who'd given her the key now doubled up with laughter and calling her friends over. Proceeding with her entourage, Rei tried to keep grinning. Her makeshift promo-suit was better advertising than the company could have managed on the shelves.
To her complete lack of surprise, Rei got to her locker and...
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