Soul Streets

Dressing Up

"Oh, this is going to be fun. Don't worry Shane, I will be gentle."

"Sherry...I think its a little too tight, can you loosen up a bit? I'm not used to this kind of thing."

Sherry pushed the tie up to the edge of my collar and straightened it so it came straight down the middle of the freshly pressed red shirt.

"If its too loose then you will shame the family in front of Macha. Besides, being in a family like this, you will have to get used to wearing dress clothes."

"Why is that? Is there a lot of like, gang politics?"

"You could say that, you could also say that we get these cleaned very often. They are nice suits, and its not hard to get red out of red."

I let out a big swallow, my Adam's Apple bobbing in my throat.

"Don't be so worried about it," Sherry said, patting the chest of the suit jacket as she straightened the creases. "We don't fight much, only when we find it necessary. But I rather fight for power than deal dirty for it like Charley does. Trent's dad had us in our golden age, the height of our territorial control, and he did it all through well calculated force and strategy. He wasn't a coward like Charley is."

"Does it make you a coward? To not want to fight that is," I muttered under my breath.

"No," Sherry said as she sat back onto a couch in what she had referred to as the green room. A very casual place like the living room had been but had much less furniture and bright colors. There was a small bed off in the corner, and couch posted against the wall next to a changing room. The rest of the room was an assortment of small tables and chairs as well as a projector with two lines of chairs in front of the screen. "It makes you a coward to not fight for what, and who, needs to be fought for."

"Ah," I said as I moved my gaze around the room, trying to keep myself from looking at the seductive body splayed back on the couch.

"Wanna help me get into my dress?"

My face had too have turned beet red as I turned toward a snickering Sherry, starting to slide her shirt up off her chest.

I turned around so that I wouldn't face her and tried to quietly preoccupy myself with a random spot on the opposite wall.

"Chicken."

"I'm not a chicken."

"Every other guy would have taken full advantage of this kind or situation," Sherry whispered into my ear, wrapping her arms around my neck and placing her hands on my chest. A warm sensation spread across my back as she pressed herself into me, "so what does that make you? You're either gay, or a coward from what I can tell."

She's not wearing a bra. Is she even wearing clothes? What am I thinking? What am I even doing here? Is this all a joke?

"And trust me Shane, this isn't a joke. Everything that is happing right now is very real."

They were alone in the room, not a single soul in sight. I hadn't seen a single person besides Sherry since we had left the training room. But it seemed all too convenient for this to actually be happening.

"I'm a gentleman, I have morals like everyone else. And if that makes me less of a man for it then so be it. If not taking advantage of you makes me a coward then I will be a coward."

I could hear Sherry chuckle from behind me as she took her hands away from me.

"Turn around, Shane."

I turned around and Sherry was wearing a shimmering red dress that fell almost down to the floor with a long slit up of the side of her left leg.

"How did you..."

"I change fast, but I have a fear about changing in a room by myself."

"Then why didn't you change in the changing room?"

Sherry smiled, "who knows?" She said as she pranced out of the room in her bright red heels.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To see Trent before the ceremony, someone should be here to come get you in a bit."