The month was getting to the end, as well as prom season and there were several suits and dresses that still decorated the halls and racks, you know, for the ones that were so busy to find one in the beginning or for the ones that forgot about the dance and need something that doesn't come out from the parents' wardrobe.
I once had someone who had forgotten he had a date and had to take her to the dance hours before the dance happened!
I don't judge, I help.
Luckily, it was still kind of slow around, as the ones who almost always need our help are the ones coming on the last week before prom season is over. I was cleaning some racks when I heard the most loud and obnoxious entrance ever into the store.
Help!
I need somebody...
Help!
No just anybody...
Help!
Won't you pleeeeeease, help me?
Help me, Help meeeeee!!
Everyone (and, when I mean everyone, I mean everyone) in the store turned around to find the origin of the noise. What I saw was the most strange combination of expressions and feelings, I had a problem believing that was coming from those people.
It was group of three men, one teen and two grown ups. It was obvious the teen, around seventeen/eighteen, was neither one of the men's son or even related, but according to the distance he wanted to place between him and the middle man, it was obvious that it was embarrassing. My heart went for him.
The man on the very left (that means, my left) was doing the same as the teen, meaning, walking away from the middle man. He was short blonde and built, not very tall, but tall enough. He was wearing a sport shirt and some jeans, very casual, along with some trainers and a windbreaker. He was wearing glasses, though he was rubbing his eyes, probably as a consequence of the stupidity and embarrassment of his friend.
The middle man, the one both teen and grown up were trying to distanced themselves of was... bizarre, as there's no word better to describe him. He was wearing a white V-neck, along with some black trousers and suspenders. On top of that, he was wearing a long dark rain coat. His mischievous smile meant he wasn't even close to embarrassment. On top of his head and on his hands, an old record player. The one that is big and rectangular?
Based on observation, this guy was recreating John Cusack.
I looked around, looking at the staring people. I didn't know what this guy wanted, if a hand or an applause. I decided that he settled for some help.
"Hello, my name is Tiffany... How can I help you?" I walked closer, snapping the rest of the shoppers back to their previous activities. Some were even glaring at the man with the recorder.
"How nice of you to volunteer and help us, Tiffany!" the guy with the recorder told me, nicely, before making the gesture of wrapping an arm around me. But, it was stopped by the blonde guy.
"Valdez, you're married and have two girls, emphasize on the two girls!" the blonde scolded him, though it was obvious the recorded guy, also known as Valdez, was joking around.
"Relax, SuperMan... I was trying to ease the tension..." Mission: Accomplished!
"I should had come with Mr. Solace and Mr. di Angelo..." the teen complained, not believing his luck. I looked around, trying that no one was paying attention to us.
"Ho! That wounds me, pal!" Valdez placed a hand on his heart, mocking hurt "That you want to come here with your future in-laws to pick a suit to take their daughter to prom instead of us..." The words maybe be spoken as a joke, but the pale skin on the teen was enough to be real. I decided to step in.
"So, shopping for prom? We still have a few suits that could interest you..." I encouraged him, before they followed me.
"Um, you think you could have something that matches a dark red prom dress?" I stopped dead on my tracks, before turning around to see the teen "You see, my girlfriend bought-"
"-a dark red greek styled dress, long up to her knees, one shoulder on her right and asked for an invisible shoulder on her left, so she wouldn't spend all night pulling up her cleavage?" I completed for him, earning a gaping teen and two suspicious grown ups. I, at least, had the decency of blushing "We only owned one dress like that and I kind of helped your girlfriend to pick the dress..." I explained to him, smirking.
"Wait, Reyna came here?!" Valdez questioned me, like if I was insane. The blonde guy rolled his eyes and nudged him.
"Your wife is a woman too! Why always the tone of surprise?"
"Because she could skin me alive?"
"Could you find me something that could match, not entirely with her dress?" the teen begged me, guiding me away effectively from the argument that could be evolving from the adults. I nodded and guided him towards the section where the suits were and began searching through the rack.
"Would you like something dark or you prefer something more lightly...?" I asked the teen, before I looked up. The teen, along with the blonde man were thinking and looking through the racks, obviously not knowing what to do.
"All I know is that when either Thomas or Sapphire have to dress for prom, my wife will be the one dressing them" the blonde man joked, earning a chuckle from the nervous teen.
"Oi! Jason!" Valdez had made a new appearance, dressed in one of the most extravagant and horrible suits the store had. And he was wearing it proudly "What do you think? Think I can sneak into the prom and chaperone these two rascals?"
"What I think is more that one will ask you if you got lost on your way to a gay club..." the blonde man, Jason, laughed at his friend, soon followed by the teen.
Well, there's one way to break the tension...