Linnith had a small smile on his face as he held tightly to the strap of his satchel. His visit just outside of the city, with a school friend, had proved to be rather fun (even though he’d been reluctant to go at first). He had met the girl a few months ago and hit it off with her. When she had invited him over to her place, his parents had been ecstatic that their little boy seemed to be finally making friends. Linnith was a quiet kid, rarely ever making a fuss about anything — or even speaking up for himself. So his ability to make friends with anyone was very limited and usually only happened if the other person made the first move.
Gwen had been that kind of person. Linnith had been sitting on the outlines of the training field one day — dirty and tired from a session with a rather rough orderite boy that always seemed to like to go at him harder than anyone else. Gwen had plopped down, right in the dirt, beside him and began talking. She had been new at the school and it was only her second day. Linnith had listened to her talk, strangely comfortable in her presence despite the fact that she didn’t shut up for what seemed like hours. After a while, Linnith and Gwen grew to be close. So it was inevitable that one of them would invite the other over. Linnith was glad that it had been her to do the inviting.
He hadn’t known what to expect when he arrived at her home. It was a normal looking home, though much smaller than the one he lived in, and her parents looked about as normal as any other orderite he’d ever met. Gwen, though, was someone that reached beyond normal. There was something about her that made whoever she was talking to instantly comfortable. You couldn’t help but like her. They had spent the day being normal kids — play fighting, eating sweets and lounging about in her room. It wasn’t until Gwen started pulling out her many dresses that Linnith had grown uncomfortable.
Lately he’d been eying the clothes that his female classmates wore, wondering what it’d be like to let yourself be as free as the dresses seemed to allow. Would it be comfortable or would he feel strange with so much exposed? When she’d held a dress up to her and asked how it looked, Linnith couldn’t help but stare. Gwen had eventually insisted on him trying on a dress and though Linnith insisted that he didn’t want to, she eventually wore him down and he slid the dress on, cheeks flaming instantly. After a moment, though, and with Gwen’s grin and assurance that he looked ‘fabulous’ (whatever that meant) Linnith eventually grew comfortable.
The two of them sat, talking about the many different fashions — both for boys and girls — and Linnith, after some reluctance, finally divulged his interest in eventually designing his own clothes. And even told her about his past thoughts on dresses. By the time the play date was over, Gwen had folded the dress Linnith had tried on for her and stuffed it into his bag, insisting that he keep it and said that she never wore it.
A crack of thunder tore Linnith from his thoughts a moment before fat rain drops started to splatter down onto him.
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