New jeans and a Charlie story

Shopping! Back to school shopping...again. This is the week end before school that Texas doesn't charge any sales tax on school clothes, etc. I'd thought it started tomorrow, actually, and that by going today we'd be missing the crowds. My mistake. But it wasn't all that bad. Casey insisted that he didn't want or need anything. Charlie insisted that he wanted and needed everything. Charlie loves the tee's with his favorite bands (he got Metallica and System of the Down) and some by fender (they have skulls...why??) and some long sleeve shirts to wear over AND under them. He got a cute beenie with a bill on it... He's dressing between gothic and skater boy. Maybe gothic doesn't mean the same thing it use to, because he insists it's not gothic. It is to me darlin'. Casey just refused to look at or try anything on. We went into a pretty cool new store 'Buckle' and one of the clerks had gone to high school last year with Casey and he talked Casey into a shirt. Didn't look anything like what he's accustomed to wearing, but I really liked it. He gave in and got it.
Here is the kicker for the day...and, naturally, it's a Charlie story. As we were leaving the mall, I sat in one of those automated massage chairs. I've never tried one before, but Casey has and told me I'd like it. As I put in my dollar for the chair, Charlie spots an area down the corridor that has about 4 to 5 guys giving massages for $12.00. I yell at Charlie not to do it unless he's going to pay for it. He keeps going. See, the thing here is...I know Charlie doesn't have the money because he's been doing extra chores this week to make some extra money on his allowance to take his girlfriend out this week end. So, I'm wondering whether I should bail him out or let him suffer the consequences. I decide (since he's already grounded for another matter) to let him suffer. Casey and I go to the food court, get something to drink and watch the show. Apparently, it's a 15 minute massage. When it's done Charlie gets up, smiles and thanks them, and starts to walk off. The man that gave him the massage grabbed him, and it looked like they had quite the discussion. The masseur brings one of his co-workers into the conversation and Charlie just stands there looking very lost. They point at a chair, and we see him sit down. We figure they'll go get security. He sits there for about 5 minutes and finally they tell him to go. Casey and I followed him for a bit before we let him see us. We had hoped he'd get into a bit more trouble. On the surface, it looks like he got away with a free massage. However, he was very scared and he's taking $12.00 from the allowance he gets tonight, plus a $5.00 tip, up to the mall tomorrow and paying them. He swears he didn't hear me say "NO" or say "you'll have to pay for it yourself, I'm not paying for it for you". Hopefully, he'll learn to listen more carefully. If not, we'll probably be seeing his picture up in the local malls with the caption 'GET MONEY FIRST'. In all fairness, he did feel really bad (again, he promises he thought I would pay for it) and it was his idea to go back to the mall tomorrow and pay them before I'd even had a chance to tell him he was going to do it.
We went to the Guess store after the mall and I dropped the guys off while I shopped elsewhere. When I went back to pick them up, Casey had finally found something he liked. So, I'll consider today a success. New clothes and a new Charlie story. Gotta love it.