A Clothing

As one would have expected, working at a clothing store was mind-numbingly boring. Sometimes- and by sometimes, he meant all the time - Dan wondered why he ever chose to work at a clothing store. At first, Dan chose the job because the clothing store was located within walking distance of Dan’s house and even though Dan didn’t have much work experience if any, the store was still willing to hire him. Dan needed the money and he knew that this was probably the only option so he decided to take it.

Did he regret that choice? A little. The job paid well but it was boring, as stated before. Most of the time, Dan just stood behind the counter, trying not to seem bored by keeping himself busy by organizing items on the counter. He watched customers walk in and out and mastered the art of maintaining just the right amount of conversation while helping people check out the items they purchased.

Since the clothing shop was a small, local one, there weren’t a ton of people who came in on a daily basis and since he worked the weekday shift in the evening, not many people visited.

Everybody who worked at any retail store, or stores similar to that type, always had a crazy customer story to share. Most of those crazy customer stories involved old or rich people getting upset over a small matter but Dan didn’t even have a crazy customer story that involved either. The most interesting encounter Dan had the store was a woman who brought five dogs with her into the store, read the sign that said “no dogs allowed”, and walked the dogs out before Dan could get a chance to ask to pet them.

Then, one fateful day, Dan finally got his unique retail story. He was behind the counter per usual, reading a magazine since nobody was in the store to judge him when a young man walked in. The young man had pale skin that would have blended in perfectly with his white t-shirt if his shirt didn’t have royal blue accents on the sleeves. He was wearing black jeans and his black hair was swept up in a neat quiff.

While his outfit radiated a general sense of confidence, the man seemed rather uncertain about being in the store as he began walking aimlessly through the aisles of racks of clothing. Dan, being a good employee, decided to walk up to the man and introduced himself, “Hi, my name is Dan. I work here. Do you need help finding anything?”

“Uh, hi. I’m Phil. I, uh, came here to get new clothes but I don’t, um, really know what to get. There are just so many options and I can’t choose,” Phil sounded genuinely distressed as he explained his dilemma. Dan was rather surprised that Phil couldn’t choose as he seemed to have established a general aesthetic already but nevertheless, he decided that he was going to help because he had nothing better to do with his time.

“I can help you. Allow me to pick out three outfits for you to try on.” Phil gave his approval by nodding and Dan studied Phil for a moment, trying to decide what style of clothing to give him. This caused Phil to become unbelievably flustered and he blushed as Dan looked him over again. To be honest, Dan thought Phil was quite handsome but didn’t admit it as he thought that would be crossing a line.

Afterward, Dan began putting together the outfits and in about five minutes, he had three outfits prepared for Phil. As he handed Phil the clothes for the first outfit to try on, Phil seemed stunned that Dan was able to pick out the outfits so fast and walked to the dressing room to change with an aura of uncertainty. Dan waited eagerly for Phil to change and after a couple of minutes, Phil stepped out of the dressing room in his new outfit.

As Phil approached the mirror to see how it looked on him, Dan did a once-over of Phil to see how the outfit suited him. He was wearing black ripped jeans that exposed his pale knees and he was wearing a plain bubblegum pink t-shirt under a baby blue crop top with a small white flower stitched in the center. The darkness of his jeans perfectly balanced out the pastel vibes of his tops and it perfectly suited Phil.

“I actually like this one quite a lot. It feels like something I could mix and match,” Phil remarked incredulously, turning his hips this way and that way to see his outfit from different angles. His confidence seemed to be slowly increasing so Dan handed him the second outfit and Phil dutifully returned to the dressing room to change.

When Phil emerged from the dressing room, he had a more confident look on his face as he stepped into the mirror to see how the second outfit looked on him. Dan wanted the first outfit to contrast with simple colors but with the second outfit, he wanted the contrast to be more in the patterns.

Phil wore a jean jacket with a couple of rose patches ironed onto the sleeves and had a simple black and white striped shirt. He wore pants with a floral pattern and cuffed edges that made the entire outfit give off vintage vibes. It was a stretch from what his style was but Phil seemed to enjoy as much as he enjoyed the previous outfit, if not more.

“I’m ready for the third one,” Phil turned towards Dan with a determined expression on his face, as if he was ready to face whatever fashion challenge Dan had. Dan found this endearing and handed Phil his third and final outfit. Phil changed quickly and eagerly walked to the mirror to see how he looked.

With this third outfit, Dan wanted to give Phil the boldest impression ever. Phil was wearing fishnet leggings under a pair of ripped jean shorts and he had a dark purple three-fourth sleeves top with a silver unicorn in the center. When Dan imagined it, he was imagining more of a dark but sweet style but when Phil wore it, he gave off friendly e-boy vibes, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“It’s a nice change of style. I think I’ll buy all three of these. Thank you so much for picking out outfits for me!” Phil graciously thanked before he returned to the dressing room to change back into his normal clothes. Dan walked back to the cash register and waited patiently for Phil to return, completely ignoring the open magazine he had been avidly reading earlier. Dan was a little upset that Phil has tried on all three outfits in quick succession because he wished that Phil could stay longer because he really enjoyed Phil’s company.

Phil walked up to the counter and placed the outfits on the counter, watching as Dan scanned the price tags on each of the outfits and calculated the total price on the cash register. He told Phil the price and after Phil paid, Dan printed out the receipt and wrote his number in pen on the back of the receipt before handing it to Phil.

“If you ever need me to help pick out an outfit for any reason, here’s my number. And feel free to stop by here on weekday evenings,” Dan smiled when Phil accepted the receipt with a grin on his face.

“I will definitely do that. See you around.”

With that, Phil turned around with his new clothes in his arms and left Dan daydreaming about the day that Phil would return.