Page 18

Trying on Clot hes is Hot

H elena waited in a chair in the changing area, sitting next to the tri-fold mirrors. Changing rooms like this always seemed to ha ve a set.

“How’s it going?” she called into the sizable stall where Rafferty had dis appeared.

All that came back was silence. She leaned forward a little to glance under the door, and she saw his socked feet standing there, already slipped in to pants.

“Raffie?” she called gently. ““Do you n eed help?”

“I just…” he said, sounding frustrated. “This ne ck thing…”

“ Your tie?”

“Well, I’m trying to!” h e barked.

“No, I mean, it’s called a tie,” Helena corrected. He didn’t respond. “Do you want me to come in and h elp you?”

“No, I can get it … if I just…” The sounds of struggle on the other side didn’t inspire c onfidence.

“Raffie, just open the door,” she said.

After another few seconds of struggle and several more under breath curse words, the mechanism on the door rattled and the oversized thing swun g inward.

The demon man stood there in the black dress pants, his black shirt untucked, definitely struggling with the modern tie in his hands, which he had somehow tied into a confusing knot that he could n’t undo.

“Oh, I see. Okay, we’re going to have to tuck that shirt in first.” She reached for his pants, then stopped. “Can I t ouch you?”

“What?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“I’m just going to tuck your shirt in, but to do that right, I need to undo the pants to lay it flat. So can I t ouch you?”

“What? Yes, yeah, it’s fine, whatever,” he dismissed, working on the tie.

“Oh, okay,” she said and undid the top button of the dress pants. “I just thought you woul d object.”

“No, I don’t care what happens to this body. You lose your sense of personal space or modesty pretty quickly in hell,” he said, finding the right bit to pull as the knot in the tie finally cam e undone.

“It’s just with Honey back there, you were very defensive.” Helena reached around his waist, flattening his shirt to smooth it down his backside, trying to ignore how her cheeks were burning hot as she did it. Rafferty didn’t seem to min d at all.

“Well, she’s her,” he muttered, holding his arms up as he waited for her to finish adjusting his shirt, the tie dangling from one hand.

“And I’m me?” Helena asked, straightening so she could bring the top of his pants together to button and zip up. As the zipper ticked its way up his crotch, her eyes drifted upward to look up into those eerie, but beautiful, starbu rst eyes.

“Yeah,” he sai d, softly.

They held the breath between them for an eternity.

“You have starbursts in your eyes,” Raffer ty noted.

“What?” Helena asked, cocking her head slightly to the side.

“Within the brown of your eyes, there is green. It looks like a starburst,” he said.

“Oh, t hank you.”

“I didn’t pay you a compliment—just statin g a fact.”

“ Oh. Okay.”

Another still mome nt passed.

“Do you have the tie?” Hel ena asked.

He handed it to her, and she shifted back a little, partly to catch a breath, but partly to also measure out the tie in her hands. Then she looped it over his neck and focused on doing her duty, turning the silky cloth over in her hand until it tightened into a perfect Wind sor knot.

“There,” she said, brushing her hands down his shoulders even though they were perfectly smoothed down. “Now you look handsome.”

He shook his head. “Don’t. Don’t do that. Don’t be kind to me,” Rafferty whispered, his voice growing thick. “Don’t be ki nd to me.”

Helena blink ed. “Why?”

“Because it isn’t going to last,” he barked, backing away looking more sad and angry tha n afraid.

“Shh!” Helena shushed urgently. “Keep your voice down. We’re not the only people in t he store.”

He obeyed, but it did nothing to slow down the urgency of the words coming out of him. “None of this is going to last, and then in two weeks it’ll be over, and I’ll be back there in a place where nobody is kind. Don’t you understand?” He paced, lifting his hands up but at a loss as to what to do with them. “Don’t you understand—this is worse. This makes it far, far worse, to feel someone be kind to me, knowing it’ll end forever, and I can’t take it with me. They’ll rip it from me, given the chance. Or, even worse, I’ll do something stupid and sell it off because a memory of kindness… You have no idea what that is worth there.” He continued pacing like an animal as he spoke, so clearly in pain.

Helena didn’t flinch away. Instead, she cornered him. His back was to the wall before he realized she was there, and he tried to flinch back as she reached out her hands. “No, don’t! Don’t, please,” he begged, his voice pitching down into a whisper as he pleaded. “Don’t do th is to me.”

But she didn’t stop. She knew she needed to keep going as she wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him down into a hug. “It’s okay,” she w hispered.

He could only resist a second more before he collapsed into her, his face buried into her neck, his arms wrapping around her and holding on like she was a life preserver in a vast, dark sea.

He didn’t cry, but he shuddered and she just held on until i t passed.

“You’re right. I can’t stop you from having to go back,” she confirmed. “I’m sorry ab out that.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “I did th is to me.”

“Listen to me, Rafferty.” She licked her lips. “You’re right. I don’t know you really. I mean, I don’t know what you’ve done. I don’t need to. But I can’t be anything other than who I am. I just want to be kind to you, and I know you’ve had too little of it. I like you , Raffie.”

His head shook a little as if he couldn’t accept that statement as true. “Why?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I just do—”

“No, why do you keep calling me that nickname?” he asked.

She pulled away then, to look up into his face, which had become blotchy. “Because I’m your friend . You don’t have to be mine, but I am yours, Raffie. And friends give each other nicknames,” she said.

Now a tear did slip down his face, even though he tried to hold it still as a stone mask. “I don’t deserve you,” he whispered.

She shrugged. “This isn’t about deserving. If good memories are currency in hell, then, let’s go make you the richest demon in all seven levels of it while you’re here,” she said, offering him h er smile.

He made an effort to return it. “You are so beautiful, Helena. Hellie,” he tried. Then he wrinkled his nose. “It doesn’t sound the same.”

“It’s fine. I like it,” she said. “Hellie and Raffie.”

“Hello, knock knock, how’s it going in there?” Honey called from the other side of the door.

Helena took a step back to give them some breathing space. She turned toward the door. “Good, really good. I think we’ll take the suit.”

“Do you mind if I take a peek? I was guessing with the pants,” Honey offered.

“Is it alright?” Helena asked him. He nodded and she unlatched the door.

Honey came in, holding a shoebox. Her eyes zeroed in on the cuff of his pants. “Oh, I told you, I’m good. That is going to fit just right once we get you into the right shoes.” She held up the box. “Wanna see if I’m three f or three?”

“Yes,” Rafferty said, adjusting the tie around his neck before adding a belated. “T hank you.”

Honey paused a moment, beaming at him, as if his thank you really hit her in the heart. “You are so welcome,” she said softly. “I just love my job, making people look good. It makes a body feel valued, you know what I mean?”

She knelt down before him to open the shoe box, pulling out a slick black dress shoe with a square toe. “Now, these are a little on the pricey side, but they will last you forever and are built like a sneaker inside, so really comfortable. And if you buy them with the whole suit I should be able to swing you a nice discount.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” Helena agreed. This was going to hit her in the pocketbook, but it was worth it. “We’ll definitely take the who le thing.”

“Helen—Hellie,” Rafferty started to object, but she touched his upper arm with her fingertips and he quieted.

“My treat,” she assured him. “It’ll be fine.”

Honey continued to beam up at both of them before offering the opened up shoe for the human-looking demon to s lip into.

“Oh cherry pie, I’d give these clothes to you for free if it wouldn’t get me fired. You look too good in them,” Honey assured, tying the laces of the first shoe then bringing forth the second one. A few moments later, after several adjustments at cuff, seam, and a good tug on the back of the jacket, she stepped out of the dressing stall. “Oh my. Look at you.” She gestured over to the tri-fold mirrors, inviting him to look.

“No, that’s okay. I don’t need to—”

“Go ahead,” Helena insisted, giving him a little push on his back.

Reluctantly, he stepped into mirrored space, rolling his eyes. Then he sighed and lifted his head to look. He froze.

Honey brought her hands up clasped before her, her smile beaming even more if that was possible. “Now, look at that. A man who has found his true self,” she said.

Rafferty squinted at the three people reflected in the mirrors. “I’ve never been a vain person,” he said.

“It’s not vain to like how you look,” Helena assured him. “Do you like it?”

He kept staring, then rolled his shoulders. The images in the three mirrors did the same. “Yeah. I guess it’s alright,” he conceded.

“Oh high praise indeed!” Honey declared before turning to Helena. “Usually all I get is an acknowledging grunt.” Then she bent down and lifted up a large paper shopping bag with the store’s logo on it. “Here’s for his other clothes. I’ll meet you both out front and then you can get on with your da-ate!” She sang out the last part with a little excited shimmy, then the store clerk disappeared out to the ma in floor.

“Yeah,” said Helena. “Then we can get on with our date.”