Simone Valentino

~~~7~~~

John and I walk into the department store and head straight to the dress section on the second floor.

"Do you need help finding anything?" asks a quaint saleslady with a too-big smile.

"No, thank you!" John calls over his shoulder without slowing. I don't spare the lady a glance as I pull John to the back of the store, where all the on-sale dresses are. But John clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

"For tonight you are dining in style, my dear." He says and smiles a little. I notice the tingle in his eyes and know I'm about to be treated like a girl's favourite dress-up doll.

He first pushed me into a fitting room with the ugliest blue dress I'd ever seen. Next was some strange flower thing. It looked like I had skinned an old couch. The next 5 or so dresses all had the same issues. I can't move, can't sit or can't stand to see myself in them. After struggling into a lacy purple gown with long sleeves, I'm ready to give up. I walked out of the fitting room and rolled my eyes. "John, your taste is terrible." I sighed and plopped down on the armchair next to the stalls.

"Actually, I think you're going to take that back in a moment." He handed me a pile of red fabric. 'Trust me' he mouthed and smiled.
"If this is terrible I'm going to buy the first thing that fits on the sale rack!" I say as I close the curtain to my stall. I smile a little at how easy the dress is to put on. It hugged my waist, then flared out, in a very flattering way. I did a small spin and smiled at how the red stood out on my skin. It was sleeveless, with soft fabric that hung around my biceps. The dress was shorter than most, hanging just under my knees. I walked out and John looked me up and down. "You're gorgeous." I blushed a little and went back to take it off and pay.

We got home and John immediately got to work. He sat me down in front of my vanity and rounded up everything he needed.
"It's already 6 so we won't be able to put your hair into rollers, but that's okay, your hair is lovely on its own. But we do need to fix those bags." John said and began adding cream to my face before adding powder. I leaned against my high-backed chair and began to doze off as John did his work.

"Up sleepyhead." I leaned forward and looked at myself. "I tried a few things and this is what I ended on." I had light to brown on my eye, with the brown on the ends to bring out my natural eye colour. My eyelashes stood out, and the pink on my cheek made me look like I was glowing. I smiled and thanked John. " No time for that, it's time to accessorise, you leave in an hour." H lifted up the dress and left as I put it on. He came back in with a purse that was the perfect colour. "I've packed for you." He said and gave me a sad smile. I opened it and found gum, my wallet with all my ID, a pack of cigarettes and a pearl-handled handgun.

"John."

"Please?" He said as I was about to give it back to him.

"It's your fathers, I can't"

"He adored you, Ellie, he would have understood, please just. Just take it."

Throughout the whole day, I'd almost forgotten what was happening, but the weight of it all hit me.

"Okay," I said and walked into John's arms. We stood like that, my face buried in his shirt, his head on mine.

"If I fancied girls I'd love you."

"I think you can love someone in another way. We both have no family, so I think we just love each other with everything leftover."

"Maybe you're right Ellie."