Wear - Chapter 5

The next day, August 24th, Emma and Wyatt sleep in until almost noon. After they wake up, they both go to the clothes store that Emma sells her clothes at. When they arrive, the sign above the front door reads “Savvy Threads” and the store looked rather small. When they get inside, there was just one old woman working at the front desk, Matilda. “Emma!” Matilda cheers when the two of them walk inside the store.

“Hey, Matilda!” Emma says back, “I’ve got more!”.

“Great, great!” Matilda says, “I was worried about our stock for a minute there”.

Wyatt looks around and says “But it looks like you have plenty to sell here…”.

“It’s not about the quantity, child” Matilda says, “it’s about the quality. A lot of people actually buy her clothes, and I was worried when we were running low”.

“They sell that fast?” Wyatt asks, sounding impressed.

“You’re amazing, Matilda!” Emma says, “thanks for making sure my clothes sell well! I didn’t know anyone bought anything of mine!”.

“No, no” Matilda says, “the clothes sell themselves, dear. I merely run the cash register. By the way, is this a new friend of yours?”.

Matilda points at Wyatt and Emma nods her head. “Yeah” Emma says, “his name is Wyatt. We go to the same class”.

“Class?” Matilda asks, “not classes? Your school must really run on a short budget… most other schools have multiple classes for each student”.

“Harrison is a little… unique” Wyatt says, “and it’s all I could afford. Beggars can’t be choosers, y’know?”.

“It doesn’t matter where you go in life, son” Matilda says, “it just matters where you take yourself. Now let me see what you’ve brought today, Emma”.

Emma takes a couple dresses and shirts out of her backpack, and unfolds them for Matilda to see. Matilda silently inspects the dresses and shirt, impressed by the work. Emma uses the best cloth that she finds to make the clothes she doesn’t keep, and uses what’s left for herself. This way, she doesn’t ever feel like she’s letting Matilda down. Matilda was the first human to accept Emma, even whilst knowing that she’s a laibah. After a while, Matilda hands Emma some money for the clothes, and the two start to leave. Matilda stops Emma before they walk out of the door. “Emma!” Matilda says, “one second, dear. I just need to talk about recent sales for your clothes in private. Um… Wyatt, was it? Can you give us a moment?”.

“Oh, uh… sure” Wyatt says as he leaves the store and waits outside.

Emma walks back up to the desk where Matilda stood, and asks “Is everything alright? Are sales slowing down?”.

“The sales are fine, dear” Matilda says, “I’m just worried for you. I’ve known you for a while, and you’ve told me about the last… friends you’ve had. I don’t want this one hurting you like the last”.

“Oh, right…” Emma says, “you’re too nice to me sometimes, Matilda”.

“I’m just an old woman trying to watch the world move in the right direction” Matilda says, “it’s no skin off of my bones if I help a nice young woman like yourself”.

“No… skin… what?” Emma asks.

“It means it’s no problem to me, if I at least try to look out for you” Matilda says. “It was supposed to be funny” and Matilda laughs quietly.

“Yeah, there are times I worry too” Emma says, “but I think I can trust Wyatt”.

“Have you told him?” Matilda asks.

“N-no… I have not” Emma says, her head hanging low.

“Then how would you be sure?” Matilda asks.

“I just…” Emma begins to say as she thinks, “I just want to think it’ll work out. I don’t think he hates laibah, and he’s really nice… sometimes he’s silly… and sometimes he really tries to help”.

Matilda looks down at Emma with a worried expression. “Dear” she asks, “do you love the boy?”.

Emma nearly jumps at the question. “What!?” She asks, “n-no! I don’t… it’s not like-“.

“That’s beginning to sound more like a yes as you continue” Matilda says. “Look, Emma, it won’t work unless you know you can trust each other. Take your time if you have to, move at a slow pace, get to know each other more… or simply rip off the bandaid, which means get it over with quickly and tell him. Based on how he reacts, you could quite possibly have your answer”.

“But I-I’m not…” Emma begins to say. Emma takes a deep breath and says “You’re right… like usual. I like him, maybe even more than that… but I feel like the more I get to know him, the harder it becomes”.

“That certainly sounds like love, child” Matilda says.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right again” Emma says, “but… that’s what makes it worse. I feel like it’d be easier to tell him… if only I could hope to only be friends… but I can’t”.

“The heart wants what the heart wants, dear” Matilda says, softly.

“Well, the heart is a freaking idiot!” Emma says. “Maybe I could easily tell him I’m a laibah in… I don’t know… a week or so? Maybe more, maybe less!? But only if I could think of us as just… friends… and nothing else. It feels like it’ll be so much worse now, and I can’t explain it. I mean, maybe it’s just because a human and a laibah could just never work out”.

“You feel like it’s forbidden?” Matilda asks. “Plenty of people would probably agree… however, you live as you want to live. Rules are guidelines to follow, not a strict testament. At the same time, there also haven’t been any rules against it. As well as, I’m sure you wouldn’t be the first. Somewhere in this world, it’s probably already happened”.

“But!” Emma shouts, “what if he says we can only be friends… because I’m a laibah?”.

“Take your time” Matilda says, “find out for yourself. If you want my opinion, I’d say that if it’s what you really want, then give it a shot”. Matilda leans in closer to Emma and whispers, “also, the Autumn Festival is just around the corner, you know. Take your time, until then, to get to know him. If you feel like you’re ready, try telling him how you feel during the festival. I’ve heard a lot of couples began during the festivals”.

Emma looks up at Matilda, thinking about it. She then nods her head and says “Alright… I guess I’ll try it. Since apparently my heart is dumb enough to ask for more, without giving me any answers on how to get more, it’s all I have to go on”.

“That’s the beauty of it, dear” Matilda says. “Now go on. I’m sure you have lots to do”.

“Thanks, Matilda!” Emma says as she bows her head slightly and begins to walk away.

“Remember, child” Matilda says, “ripping off that bandaid is still an option. If you don’t want to do it, then you’ll have to be careful. Someone else who may know about your secret might do it for you… I mean, not me, of course. Be careful who you let know about your secret!”.

Emma walks out of Savvy Threads, and meets with Wyatt just beside the door. “Was everything fine?” Wyatt asks.

“Mmm-Hm!” Emma says. “No need to worry, just some small talk”.

“That’s good” Wyatt says.

Suddenly, the door opens up and Matilda sticks her head out of the door. “Can I ask you something real fast, sonny?” She asks Wyatt.

Wyatt points to himself in confusion. “Me?” He asks.

Matilda nods her head and Wyatt walks towards Matilda to speak. When Wyatt gets close, the two of them walk inside the store so Emma couldn’t overhear them. “I just wanted to know something, since you seem like a new face around here”.

“What is it?” Wyatt asks.

“Do you hate laibah?” Matilda asks.

“What?” Wyatt asks. “Why do you-“.

“There’s a lot of laibah outside of the city” Matilda says, “and a lot of them frequent these streets. Knowing that, do you have a problem with laibah?”.

“Not… really” Wyatt says.

“What would you do if I told you” Matilda asks, “that I am a laibah?”.

“That doesn’t seem like… much of a problem to me” Wyatt says. “I don’t see why I should hate you for that”.

Matilda stares into Wyatt’s eyes, as if to try and test if he were lying. After a while, she smiles and says “Don’t worry, I’m not really a laibah. Just a curious old bat”.

“Ah” Wyatt says, sounding a little disappointed.

“That reaction sounds like you expected otherwise” Matilda says. “But it’s true. Our store owner won’t allow laibah to work here. He says they scare away the other customers”.

“N-no, I get that” Wyatt says. “I’m just a little disappointed, I guess”.

“Disappointed?” Matilda asks.

“My first friend was a laibah” Wyatt says, “and I guess I just grew to like them more than humans. I grew up in the slums, on the north side of the city. All there was there was a bunch of loud and obnoxious humans with little to no laibah anywhere. I guess I was just… interested in them more because I got tired of what I was surrounded by”.

“Interesting, young man…” Matilda says, “that’s definitely something. Well, have fun you two. Don’t get into any trouble”.

“O-Okay…” Wyatt says. As Wyatt walks away, he whispers “Weird old geezer…” to himself.

“What were you guys talking about?” Emma asks as she laughs slightly.

“Oh, nothing much” Wyatt says. “She likes asking personal questions, doesn’t she?”.

Emma giggles and says “That’s Matilda alright. She’s always been like that for as long as I’ve known her”.

The two of them walk back to the dorm. When they get inside, they realized they forgot something. Emma meant to take the dress she sleeps on to the store too, but because she’s been using it as a bed, she totally forgot. “Oh no” Emma says as she picks the dress off of the floor.

“What’s wrong, Emma?” Wyatt asks.

“I was going to take this to Matilda too, but I forgot” Emma says. “I was using it as a bed for so long, that I forgot to take it with us… but if I sell this dress, then I’ll also have to sleep on the floor…”.

Wyatt does a fake cough to get Emma’s attention. When Emma looks over at Wyatt, he was pointing at the top bed of the bunk bed. “Why not use the actual bed that’s been here all along, like I suggested a while ago?” Wyatt asks.

“Are you sure I can use that?” Emma asks.

“Am I sure-” Wyatt begins to ask, “no one else is using it! Of course you can have the bed! If you want to sell that dress too, we can go back. We have plenty of time”.

Emma nods her head and says “Okay” in a low voice.

The two of them head back to Savvy Threads and walk inside. “Back already?” Matilda asks.

“Sorry” Emma says, “I forgot that I had one more to bring”.

“Don’t worry, child” Matilda says, “you must’ve really been at work with all these”.

“Yeah, Wyatt even let me miss class once because I stayed up all night” Emma says.

Wyatt begins to laugh to himself, as if he was feeling good about himself for doing it. Suddenly, Emma jabs him in the side with her elbow and Wyatt says “Ow!”.

“Wyatt, can I talk to Emma once again in private?” Matilda asks. “I need to have a talk about her overexerting herself”.

“Oh… yeah, okay” Wyatt says with a suspicious look on his face.

After Wyatt leaves the store again, Matilda looks down at Emma and says “I had a talk with the young man”.

“About what?” Emma asks.

“About laibah” Matilda says.

“B-but, Matilda!” Emma complains. “Why would… What did you tell him!?”.

“Don’t worry, dear” Matilda says, “I didn’t tell him about you. I just wanted to make sure he wouldn’t betray your feelings just because you’re a laibah”.

“… and… what did he say?” Emma asks, softly.

“He seems promising” Matilda says. “Apparently, his first friend was laibah. He’s all clear. I even gave him the ol’ look in the eyes to make sure he wasn’t lying test. He doesn’t seem to hate laibah one bit”.

“Yeah…” Emma says, “I think I’ve already known that… but”.

“But?” Matilda asks.

“But what if he still feels that he can’t… be closer” Emma says, “all because I’m a laibah? Even if… we could… you know… get that close… I don’t think I could tell him about that, ever”.

“Hm…” Matilda says as she thinks to herself, “that is quite the conundrum. Shall I go ask him if he’d be willing to date a laibah then?” Matilda teases Emma.

“No!” Emma panics. “Please, no! Don’t do that”.

“Alright, alright” Matilda says, “settle down. I was only teasing you”.

“Yeah, and giving me a heart attack” Emma says, taking deep breaths. “You’re too lively to not do something like that!”.

“Oh, quit your piping” Matilda says, “you’re too young for having a heart attack that easy”. Matilda hands a little more money to Emma and says “Remember to take your time. Don’t rush things. But also remember that it can’t work out unless you’re honest with him”.

“Alright, Matilda” Emma says as she walks away, “just try not to get too involved in this”.

“I won’t” Matilda assures.

“Promise?” Emma says, looking very worried.

“You’re such a worry wart” Matilda says, “I promise”.

Emma and Wyatt make it back to the dorm room once again. After they get there, Emma immediately lays down on the top bunk of the bunk bed. Wyatt sits down on his bed beneath her and says “It’s already been a long day, and the day is barely half over”. Wyatt then begins to scratch the back of his head and laugh. “At least it was fun” he says, “but we still have time to do something else, if you want… can you think of anything to do?”. Emma doesn’t respond. “Emma?” Wyatt asks, but Emma still doesn’t respond. “Hello?” Wyatt asks as he stands up. Emma was laying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. “Earth to Emma?” Wyatt asks as he waves his hand over her head.

Emma’s head shoots off of the bed as she looks down at Wyatt. “W-What?” She asks.

“Are you okay?” Wyatt asks. “You seemed like you were really zoning out”.

“I’m… fine” Emma says.

“Are you sure?” Wyatt asks. “Because the other day, you seemed to be having a really bad dream. You were even crying in your sleep and everything… are you sure you’re fine?”.

Emma nods her head and says “Yeah… just got a lot on my mind”.

Wyatt looks down, feeling like he’s somewhat helpless in this situation. He feels like something is wrong, but he doesn’t know how to help. “I-if… you say so…” he says.

“I’ve been thinking” Emma says, “the Autumn Festival is coming up soon, isn’t it?”.

Wyatt takes a sigh of relief and asks “Is that what was on your mind? Y-yeah, I think it’s in just about a month”.

“Do you… maybe…” Emma says as she tries to find the right words to say “wanna go together this year? I-I’ve never been to the festival before. I was kind of hoping that we could… go?”.

Wyatt smiles and says “Yeah, sure! Let’s do it! I’ve never been before either though, so I won’t make for a good guide”.

“That’s better!” Emma says, “I don’t really need a guide, I’m just glad I have someone to go with! It can be a first for both of us too!”.

“Yeah” Wyatt says, “it’ll be tough being around so many different people, but it should be fun. What should we do for the rest of today? Do you want to just relax?”.

“Oh… yeah” Emma says, “I think I’ll just relax for now”.

“Alright” Wyatt says as he stands up. “I’ll be right back then!”.

“Where are you going?” Emma asks.

“Ah, well” Wyatt says, “my check from work was finally cashed in today on my cash card, where I keep my money stored. I was going to go pick something up, like maybe some food. If you want to stay here for now, I’ll just be right back”.

“I can come with” Emma says as she sits up.

“Alright” Wyatt jokes, “then let’s go on one more quick adventure for today”.

The two of them find the nearest general store, which was a couple blocks away from Savvy Threads and Out & About. There, Wyatt buys some dry food they can store in the dorms. Wyatt also buys a pillow, a blanket and some sheets.

“What’s all that for?” Emma asks.

“It’s for your bed” Wyatt says with a smile. “I wanted to be able to get this before, but I didn’t have enough money”.

“It’s… for me?” Emma asks.

“Yep” Wyatt says, “hopefully it makes you feel more at home”.

Emma was silent for a moment, before she looks up at Wyatt and says “Thank you!”.

“Anytime” Wyatt says. “It wouldn’t be fair if I were the only one sleeping well, and you definitely seem like you could use a better sleep”.

“It’s not even my birthday yet” Emma says with a laugh.

“Wait, when is your birthday?” Wyatt asks.

“December 25th” Emma says.

“On Christmas?” Wyatt asks. Emma nods her head, seeming a little shy. “That’s way too cool!”.

“It’s not… that cool” Emma says. “When is your birthday? I’ll try and return the favor”.

“You don’t have to do that” Wyatt says.

“Just tell me when your damn birthday is…” Emma demands.

“July 2nd” Wyatt says. “You kinda… already missed it… b-but don’t worry, it’s fine. You don’t have to-“.

“Then next July” Emma interrupts. “I’ll return the favor”.