Love My Wings

Chapter 4

It was the hottest day of the year so far. Rory stared at his closet blankly for minutes and still hadn't decided what to wear. He threw clothes aimlessly on the floor until he heard Lei shouting from the living room. "Hey, Rory! Do we work today?"

"Nope, not today! The market's not open." Lei walked over to look for him behind the wall. "Okay."

He didn't expect to find a surprise around the corner. He stared at Rory puzzled by the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Rory said with a smirk across his face.

"Uh- I just, you um, work out a lot don't you?" Rory scoffed.

"No? I hate exercise, I don't wanna smell like sweaty armpits." It wasn't often someone got that kind of muscle from lying on the couch.

"Oh," Lei replied confused.

"Anyway, we have something very important to do today." Lei tilted his head in question.

"What is it?"

"Well, we both know that we can't have you sleeping on the couch forever. So... We're gonna go get the bunk bed from my mom's house. No one uses it and I've honestly always wanted it so... Yeah." Lei nodded and playfully saluted.

"Yes sir!" Rory laughed hysterically as they headed out the door. Lei's random outbursts of energy never failed to crack him up.

"Also, we need to get you some clothes. I'm not planning on sharing everything with you. Maybe we could go thrifting and see what we find." Lei hesitated.

"Do we have money to spend on clothes right now? I've barely helped for a few days." Rory pressed his finger over Lei's lips.

"Shhh, the customers you've attracted this week raised the sales. We made 45,000 Fleigens this week. If you want, I can give you 40% of our sales from now on."

"Oh god, I've never made money before. I feel-"

"Important?"

"Yeah, adulty," Lei replied.

"Yeah, it's normal when you're starting, So let's go shopping!" Rory sprang up and hovered as he did a little dance in the air. 

"LET'S GO! I need clothes anyway..."

They arrived at a brick building that like other structures in downtown Fleigendia, looked like it had been there for a while. There were stores upon stores stacked over each other, making the ground seem far away as they fluttered through. There were dozens of shops and cafes lining the busy street.

The store's magenta awning had vines growing along it. The whole storefront was glass-rimmed with gold metal. There were dozens of shops and cafes lining the busy street.

Lei followed behind Rory anxiously as if he would get lost. He was so easily distracted that he feared he'd wander off if he didn't keep him in sight.

"You can just look around and when you get what you want, I have the money in my bag, okay?" Lei nodded but said nothing. "I'll be hanging around here if you need me." What's up with him? Rory wondered.

"That's the women's section-" Lei spat. Rory shrugged indifferently. 

"Clothes are clothes. I like it here, there are girls in the guys' section too."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just didn't think you'd be the type to look here too." Rory scoffed as he kept looking through the racks.

"Listen, I may look like a hobo right now but I promise I have a whole fashion show at home." Rory dropped his jaw incredulously.