I need space. Those were the words Jacky said to Ryan the night before they both left for separate colleges. Now, each of them will try to learn who they are without the other. Will their paths lead them back together?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Jacky
Jacky's phone buzzed in his back pocket, but he had his one arm full of clothing and both Billy and Lilliana pushing him toward the dressing room. The stalls were arranged around a circular couch, with a tri-mirror. "You need to come out in each look," Billy instructed. "No self-censoring."
"What if something doesn't fit?" Jacky muttered, heaving the pile of clothing onto the bench in the dressing room stall.
Billy grinned. "Then come out in those fabulous boxers!"
Grimacing, Jacky shut the door in Billy's face.
He shook out his arm. He hoped Billy and Lilliana understood that it would take him longer to get dressed than most people, and some of the shit they had piled on he'd need help with. They had insisted despite his objections. With a deep sigh, he pulled out Billy's first "look": a pair of blue-green pants artfully ripped at the knees and a striped button-down shirt with rolled up short sleeves. So many buttons.
As he removed his pants, his phone fell out of the back pocket and bounced on the carpeted floor. "Shit!" He dove for it, but it went right under the door. With his pants acting as ankle manacles, he crashed into the flimsy walls and barely managed to stay upright.
"Oopsie," Billy called out from the other side of the door. "I'll hang onto your phone – oh. Oh! Oh."
"What?" Jacky leaned against the wall to wrestle one foot out of his pants. "Did the screen crack?"
"Nooo." Billy's voice was too coy.
The damn pant leg did not want to release its hold. "Motherfucker." Finally his foot released, he almost fell again, then he opened the stall door and held out his hand.
Lilliana shrieked and laughed and covered her eyes, and only at that moment did Jacky recall that today's underwear was a pair of rainbow boxer briefs, and the dressing room area where Billy and Lilliana was visible to anyone browsing the clearance section. Jacky kept his body hidden behind the door. "Give me my phone," he growled.
"Mr. Jennings, please, return to the dressing room," Billy ordered, smirking at the phone. "Also, what is your passcode?"
Jacky slammed the door closed and locked it. "Fuck off."
He sat down on the bench to yank off his pants and put on the pants Billy had selected. He tried to tell himself that the blue-green color wasn't that much different than jeans.
In a voice as sweet as honey, Billy asked, "Would you like me to read you the text that Ryan just sent to you?"
"Are you fucking serious?" Jacky almost launched himself up, but he had only just gotten both ankles in the pants. One-handed, he started the process of pulling the pants up. They were much tighter than what he normally wore.
"Is that a yes?"
"Billy—" Jacky yanked at the belt loops of the pants. Inch by inch he got them on. "Don't read it."
"Okay," Billy sang, "but I think you'll like it."
"Jesus Motherfucking Christ!" The pants finally on, Jacky ran at the door and opened it. "Give me my phone!"
Billy wagged a finger. "Uh-uh. Put on the shirt. I need the completed look."
Gritting his teeth, Jacky ground out, "I have been waiting four fucking days for that text. Now give me my phone." He took a threatening step toward Billy.
"I love seeing you all fired up," Billy purred. He held up the phone and read, "I'll always want to hear from you."
"He totally wants you back," gushed Lilliana.
Jacky lunged and grabbed his phone. Then dropped it as he tried to thumb it open. Snatching it up before Billy could get his hands on it again, Jacky headed into the dressing room stall and locked the door before trying again.
His hand was shaking.
I'll always want to hear from you
He had to press his hand over his mouth so he didn't make any noise as the tears started coming. He was such a fucking idiot. Wiping his eyes, he read the text again.
A rap on the stall door made him jump. "Do not text him back immediately," Billy said.
"I'm not." Jacky had no idea what he would text back, anyway.
"I mean it. The plan is still in place. Makeover, then you'll win him back."
But if Ryan was interested in getting back together, what did he need a makeover for?
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking you don't need a makeover if he already wants you back."
Jacky scoffed.
"Okay, let's run through a scenario, shall we? Perhaps while you change into that shirt I picked out to go with those pants."
Jacky rolled his eyes, but took off his t-shirt.
"You keep wearing your emo garb, and you meet up with Ryan. You broke up with him because you felt like you needed space to grow, yes? Or at least that's the lie you fed him. So what happens when he sees you for the first time in months and you look the same or possibly worse?"
If Jacky hadn't been half into the button-down, which he'd only half-unbuttoned to make his life easier, he might have slammed the stall door open and shoved Billy to the ground. "Ryan liked the way I looked before," he growled, snapping his arm down and adjusting the shirt. He glared at his reflection in the mirror. He didn't look like himself at all. He unlocked the door and stalked out. "And now I look stupid."
"Now, now," Billy purred, coming forward to adjust the shoulders of the shirt to fall better and buttoning up two more buttons. He stepped back, hand on his chin as he assessed. Nodding, he stepped in close – much closer than Jacky was comfortable with – and grinned as he grabbed the waistband of Jacky's pants.
"Whoa, there, killer!" Jacky sputtered.
But Billy was just tucking in the front of the shirt. "It's called a French tuck," Billy explained, and dragged Jacky to the mirrors. "See? It defines your waist."
Jacky tried to dodge Billy's hand, which raked through his hair. Lilliana just giggled from her seat on the cushion. "Those pants make your butt look good."
Try as he might, he couldn't reconcile these clothes with who he felt like. "This doesn't look like me."
"This doesn't look like the old you," Billy stressed. "This could be the you who is on vacation in Provincetown. The you attending a casual wedding."
"No," Jacky said.
"Fine. But you're trying some of the other looks."
"Fine."
"And then we're going to help you figure out what to text back."
Once back in the stall, Jacky couldn't help smiling a little. Ryan had texted him back. Things were going to go back to normal, whether he had new clothes or not.
