Hold My Hand

Finding Colors

Dana spent the next five minutes shooing the random customers out of the store. She closed the gate over the door and hung up an 'out to lunch' sign. Emma and I sat on the bean bags while she grabbed huge piles of clothes and took them to the dressing rooms. I sighed. "Don't worry Rue, I trust her." I looked at Emma, she was looking a bit too happy. "That's not it, I'm just wondering how much your sister isn't going to like this, especially if I have you here all day." She reached up and patted my arm, "It'll be fine. You don't really want me running around in white all the time do you?"

"I'm a guy, I could care less what girls wear." I crossed my arms. She giggled and leaned back in her bean bag. "So you don't go shopping, and you don't care what girls wear?"

"Well, I did go to some of the malls back home. Bluewater is nice, I like the building because part of it is all this beveled glass, it's pretty cool. And I'd take my niece to Centrale every month to make a new bear or some other stuffed animal. But I don't usually spend money on myself. Sometimes I'd stop and walk around a Marks and Spencer, but shopping isn't really my thing so...." I thought about how excited my cousin Elizabeth had been about Westfield London, the new mall that would be finished soon.

"And as far as girls stuff goes, I don't honestly care who made it, or designed it, or who's fashion show it was in. Clothes are clothes, as long as they're comfortable, who cares what's on the label?" I stared at my t shirt and jeans, "I have no idea who's name I'm wearing." Emma tugged on my shirt sleeve and I could not help but smile at the look on her face.

"If it makes you feel any better, I have no idea what I'm wearing either."

We both laughed.

Dana came back, looking a little exhausted. "What shoe size do you wear?" Great. Shoes too. Emma pulled off her sneaker and held it up. Dana took it and peered inside the heel. "Okay, eight and one-half, I always have those in stock." She turned to the wall behind us and started yanking boxes off the wall. "Follow me Barbie."

I shot a look at Dana's back, but Emma just giggled. "Rue, it's okay, it's my idea, so I don't mind." She held up her hands, and I stood, tugging her to her feet. I walked her to the largest dressing room at the end. Dana cleared her throat, "Do you mind if I'm in there? You're going to need help with a bit of it." Dana sounded unsure. "No big deal, I'm not a prude." That made Dana giggle.

"Just make sure HE stays outside." She pointed a white-polished nail at me. I gasped, how could she think that? My mouth was hanging open, and Dana barked out a loud laugh. Yeah, hardy har har.

She pointed back to the bean bag chairs and I went and tossed myself across them. "Stay right there and watch the fashion show." She ordered. "Dana, please, like I care what she's wearing." I crossed my arms and pretended to be mad. She just laughed and entered the dressing room.

There were odd clanging and shuffling noises as things were taken off hangers. And once in a while I could hear Dana's hushed voice, then Emma laughing. I rolled back on the bean bag and threw my arm over my eyes.

This was going to be awful.

I sat up when I heard the click of the door opening. Dana stepped out and pulled Emma behind her. She was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a dark green hoodie sweater that read 'I Rock' in gold across the front. Not bad. But I decided the best part of the outfit was the pair of sunglasses Dana had put on her. They were thin gold frames with a two tone brown lens. The shape was small and nice and the lens still let the color of Emma's eyes show through.

This might not be so bad.

"So how do I look?" Emma's voice was tight. She hadn't said it in a self centered way. She was honestly curious as to how good, or bad, Dana had dressed her.

"Much better." And I smiled as Emma's face lit up.

"So what am I wearing?"

Dana looked at her, "But I already told you."

I knew what Emma needed. She had trusted Dana because she was my friend, but wanted to know if she was the type of person to pull some kind of prank. I smiled at Dana and gave her a reassuring wink.

"A green sweater that says 'I Rock' and a pair of blue jeans. Emma smiled. "So you like it?" I looked at her again, "Sure, you look like a regular teenage girl." Then I paused. "How old are you?"

Emma actually blushed, "I'm eighteen, I'll be nineteen in August." She crossed her arms then dropped them and frowned. "How old are you?" Dana tugged on her arm and answered, "I'm twenty, and Rupert's nineteen going on sixty."

"Ha ha Dana, very funny." Both girls laughed at me. "So go ahead and put on the next outfit, I'm waiting." Dana looked at me oddly, and I shifted my feet under her gaze. "I thought you didn't care what she was wearing?" She stuck her hand on her hip in a very 'explain THAT' pose. Emma turned towards me and I felt my cheeks growing hot. Crud. "I mean, if she's just going to trust that everything fits then, whatever. But it's better to try them on right?" I crossed my arms and fought the urge to stick out my tongue at Dana.

"He's right, I need to try everything on first." Emma reached for her and Dana grabbed her hand and took her back to the dressing room, but not before shooting a look back over her shoulder at me. I didn't care what she was wearing, it didn't matter. But she did look nice. Well, nicer. White is good in moderation, but her sister had her dressing like a snow queen.

The next two hours went by a lot faster than I thought, there were only two things that hadn't really fit, and everything else had looked just as good as the first outfit.

"Okay, last outfit." Dana's voice called from the dressing room.

Good, it was about time.

Dana came out tugging Emma behind her. She moved out of the way, and my chest seemed to cave in on itself.

Emma was wearing a strapless pink sundress. It was frilly and girlie and had a white ribbon tied at the waist. She was wearing some wedge sandals that had white silk ties that wound around her calves, and a pair of pink rhinestone earrings that dangled to her shoulders.

"What do you think? Dana promised it wasn't to girlie, but it feels awfully fancy to me." She ran her fingers over the layered ruffles of the skirt. I stood there staring for a moment, when Dana nudged me in the side. Hard. I looked at her and then back at Emma and cleared my throat.

"No, it's not too girlie at all, you look very nice." Very nice. Too nice. My skin suddenly felt like I was under water, and my chest hurt. If I'd thought I knew what drowning felt like, this was it. What was wrong with me?

"Great! Then bag this up okay?" Emma put her hands together and did a little dance, bouncing a up and down a bit and side to side. I laughed. "What was that about?" I looked at Dana but she just shrugged at me.

"I've never actually bought anything before. This is kind of my first purchase. Ever. I know the phone is mine, but technically, you bought it." She dropped her hands.

"Cool, I'm breaking in your card..." Dana looked around at the mess they had made. "So what pieces do you want to buy?"

Emma cleared her throat and said matter-of-factly, "All of it."