Chapter Text
After eight weeks Adira didn’t even bat an eye at the mummy launching itself out of the coffin the second she opened the door. The anguished screams that erupted when she passed the hidden sensor chilled her blood about as much as a harmless nursery rhyme. Even the bat that dropped from the ceiling couldn’t make her jump.
Back in August, the frights had delighted her, but they no longer brought her any joy. Back then she’d thought working in the temporary costume store would be a blast. After all, she’d told herself, she loved Halloween! How awesome would it be to experience for two whole months?
The answer to that turned out to be “not very”. The customers were rude and demanding. It was always busy. No one ever put anything back where it belonged. And the cherry that sat atop the immensely disappointing sundae was that the costumes they sold were absolute crap. Of course, they were still required to wear a costume every day. And it had to be one of the costumes the store sold.
“Oh look, it’s the Sexy Wizard of Oz,” Pallegina commented dryly from her spot behind the counter. “Very chic.”
“I’ll have you know that I’m the Sexy Dorothy of Oz,” Adira corrected with wry smirk. “Nothing says ‘down home innocence’ like a blue gingham bustier, an obscenely short skirt, and white thigh high tights.”
“I stand corrected. My sincerest apologies to Her Sexiness, Miss Dorothy of Oz. Are you ready for our thrilling last day?”
“Ready for it to be over.” She wasn’t looking forward to being ogled by every man who came into the store, but at least her time there was nearly at an end. Once she’d signed into the system she proceeded to look for a spot to pin her name tag. “This would be much easier if I wasn’t so boobtastic right now. I’m pretty sure Dorothy never had these problems.”
With the tag in place, she noticed, for the first time, what her friend was wearing. Or more specifically, not wearing. Instead of a costume, Pallegina was clad in a t-shirt and jeans. Her sole effort to dress up was in the elaborate feathers entwined in her already feathered hair. “What are you supposed to be?”
“I’m a peacock. A majestic being with feathers so beautiful they should not be overshadowed by unnecessary cleavage,” she said proudly.
“The boss is going to have a cow.”
Pallegina gave an uncaring shrug. “What can he do? Fire me? I simply don’t care. I’d gladly go home and help my girlfriend finish setting up for her party.” Every year her partner threw what ended up being a legendary halloween bash. “Speaking of which, what time will you by? Maneha wants to know. And will you be wearing that?”
“I’d rather die than come dressed in this. It’s bad enough I have to wear it now.” As in previous years, Adira had put a lot of thought and effort into what she wore for Halloween. This year was no exception. “I have something awesome planned for this year.”
“I assume it will be one of those things I don’t understand.”
The problem with being a costume design genius was people hardly ever understood what she was supposed to be. It wasn’t rare for her to spend the entire evening explaining her concept to everyone. “Someday I’ll find someone who gets my ideas. Maybe this year will be different.”
“I wouldn’t count on it, darling. We love you, but we scarcely understand you.” Pallegina patted her on the shoulder. “But should you come across this mythical unicorn, make sure to invite them to Maneha’s party, yes?”
~~~
As expected, the day was miserable. Adira spent hours racing back and forth through the store, trying to help all the last minute shoppers find the perfect costume. As the hours passed, the customers became increasingly more snippy and impatient, as if it were her fault they’d waited so long to do their shopping. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d had to bite her tongue to keep from telling someone off.
The dressing rooms were a disaster area. No sooner had she gotten one cleaned up then someone would waltz in with an armload of outfits and leave it looking like Halloween had exploded behind the curtain. Eventually, all she could do was pull out everything left in each room, dump it on a pile, and hope she’d be able to put it away at some point.
That point never came and by the time the store was close to closing the pile had reached mountainous proportions. The number of people in the store had dwindled, allowing her to catch her breath and the enormity of the cleanup task ahead of her was more than a little daunting. More than anything she wanted to just throw away her stupid red shoes and curl up into a ball on the floor, but all she could do was stare at the mass of returns
“Rough day?” A deep voice from behind startled her back to reality and when she turned she found a blond man as broad as his voice sounded watching her. “You alright? Kinda looked like you were communing with that stack of clothes.”
Adira found herself distracted by the strangely attractive smirk etched on his lips. “Sorry? I...uh guess I’m a little overwhelmed right now,” she admitted. “It’s been crazy, but...can I help you find something?”
“Looks like most everything in the store is on that pile there, but it might be worth a shot.” The wink he gave her set off an unexpected flutter in her belly. “I was supposed to be out of town this weekend so I didn’t bother with a costume. Plans got cancelled and I got roped into going to a friend’s party. So here I am, at your mercy.”
Gods help her, but she liked the sound of that. What was going on with her? He wasn’t even the first above average attractive man to come into the store day. She shook her head in an attempt to focus her her thoughts. “Does it have a theme? Your friend’s party, I mean.”
The bearded man sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “It’s a wine and cheese tasting party where we’re apparently going to read some horror stories from the 1800s.”
“Oh.” She managed to stop the laugh that bubbled up, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “That sounds like it could be fun.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d ever been to one of Kana’s parties.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if she could go along with him to see for herself. Quickly a voice in her head reminded her that she was a professional with a job to do. He was a customer. True, he was a ridiculously good-looking customer, but a customer all the same. “Are they really that bad?”
“Not if you’re one of those intellectual types...which Kana certainly is.” He turned to flip through a few of the pre-packaged costumes that were still hanging from their hooks. “And let’s just say I certainly am not.” A tension manifested in the fine lines around his eyes as he studiously examined the package in his hands, but it was fleeting. “What about this?”
His selection earned him a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know. The nun is a bold choice.” She tried to keep a straight face as she pictured him wearing the habit. “You’re so tall the bottom of it is only going to hit your knees. You’d be showing a lot of leg for a cloistered sister.”
“Wouldn’t want that, would we?” He chuckled warmly and put the nun’s garb away. ‘What would you recommend? I mean...out of what little you have left?”
“There’s really not much here, at least that hasn’t been tried on by at least a dozen people.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Pallegina waving to her and motioning towards the doors. It looked like she’d already started to close. Adira pretended not to notice and instead began gathering as many of the unopened costumes as she could find.
“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got. Let me know if any of these speak to you.” As she called out the name on each package, she hung it up on one of the empty hooks. “Top Gun Pilot. Chef. Mobster. Gangster.” They exchanged a look. “I’m sure there’s a subtle difference between them.”
“Oh, of course,” he said, looking from one to the other. “Mobsters wear pinstripe pants while Gangsters have this jaunty pocket square. What else you got?”
“News Anchor.”
“You mean Anchorman? Ron Burgandy?”
“No, I mean the unlicensed, sub-par quality News Anchor.”
“Ah, okay then. Pass.”
“Good call. The moustache is horrible.” A thought entered her head and she was giving it a voice before she knew it. “The whole facial hair thing you’ve got going on right now is so much better. It suits you.”
His smile at her compliment lit up his eyes. “Glad you like it. I’ve had it for so long I’ve kinda forgotten what my face looks like without it.” After a few moments of silence, he sighed. “I appreciate your effort, but I don’t think I’m going to find anything. It’s a real shame, too. I love Halloween and if I hadn’t expected to be out of town this weekend I would have had something planned out a month ago. These pre-packaged things just aren’t my thing.” A stricken look crossed his face at the realization of what he’d just said. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to insult you...I just meant….”
“No no no, don’t worry,” she interrupted him with a smile. “I agree. These things are horrible. I’m only wearing this because they pay me to. Once I get out of here I’m changing into my actual costume.”
“Am I allowed to ask what that’s going to be?”
“I’d have to explain it and you might...not get it,” she said, trying to be as tactful as possible. “No one ever gets it.”
“Okay, well now I’m intrigued,” he admitted. “How about this? You tell me what makes up your costume and I try to guess what it is.”
She considered his request. What did she really have to lose? “You have to promise you won’t get mad if you lose.”
“Cross my heart.” He made the corresponding motion over his chest. “And if I get it right you let me walk out of here with those cute little kitty ears over there.”
“Agreed.” She held out a hand to shake and seal the deal. At the clasp of their hands together she felt a shivery tingle flow through her fingertips. She wondered if he felt it, too, or if it was completely one-sided.
“So? Let me have it.”
“Hang on, hang on,” she said, trying to think of the best way to present the details. “Okay, so I’m wearing this old army helmet, boots, and a camouflage-painted bathrobe. Then I’ve got a basket to carry around a Barbie dressed as a witch, and a stuffed lion. That’s it.”
“Give me a minute. I can get this.” He focused his eyes on some unseen spot on the wall, deep in thought as ran through the details in his head. “A witch, a lion, a bathrobe and the army...oh!” He snapped his fingers at the realization. “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe! That’s it, right? Am I right?”
“Yes!” Her answering grin was genuine and she clapped her hands happily. “Give me a second. I need to savour this moment and remember how it feels.” She reached for the cat ears and slid the band over his head. “Congratulations! And now you’ve got what some people would classify as a costume for your wine and cheese party.”
“Wonderful! Fabulous!” Pallegina’s strong voice swept towards them. “You both win and I’m thrilled for you, but we need to close the store.” As she approached the pair, Adira recognized her own phone in her friend’s hand. “You, what’s your name?”
“Edér.”
“Good. Thank you, Edér. This is my friend, Adira.” She handed him the phone. “Put your number in here and she’ll call you.” Once he handed her the phone back, she returned it to its rightful owner. “Call him. Go out for a drink. Later. We need to close and I want to leave this horrid place forever.”
They stood together awkwardly after she left, neither exactly sure how to proceed after that. Adira stared down at his number in her phone, her heart racing at the sight of it. “I’m sorry about her...I can delete this if you want.”
Was it her imagination, or did he look stricken at the suggestion?
“Don’t delete it. Your friend may be pushy, but don’t waste a good idea.” He grinned broadly. “You ever want to go grab a beer or something, give me a call.”
“I can do that.” She glanced over to where Pallegina was pacing at the front of the store. “You better go now or she’ll kill me and you’ll never get that drink.”